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Weekend Goals -- Nov. 15, 2024

I suppose I should think about my weekend piano goals. It looks to be a good weekend for practicing.

Technique

I've been doing a smattering of different things for technique lately. I started Czerny's Op. 849 (Thirty New Studies in Technics) and have been workinng on the first exercise for the past few days. I also have my Oscar Peterson book and the usual scales, arpeggios, inversions, Hanon, and octave exercises. I've been putting about 15% of my practice time into technique this month, and I think I can already tell the difference.

My main technique goal will be to master Exercise 1 of Czerny. I can play it at quarter note=80, but the recommend tempo is HALF NOTE=100. So, quarter note=200!! That will probably be impossible for me, but I'd like to get it to a nice, fast tempo.

The Entertainer

This one is sounding good--amazing, actually, considering I've only been working on it for two weeks, and not every day. It's come back and is pretty solid except for a couple of section endings. I've been working hard on clean octaves, and it's sounding better.

For my weekend goal, I want to be able to play The Entertainer with no mistakes at 100. My goal tempo is something like 125 or 130. Right now I'm playing it about 80. I could play it faster (and I am so tempted), but I'm being very strict about playing cleanly. So slow practice it is, along with a modest goal.

Liszt

This piece is hard!! I don't have a good fingering for the first cadenza, so I've started working on the B section (literally the B section, since it's in B major!), which actually seems pretty manageable. The A section is also sounding pretty good, though I'm still not sure about the fingering. I desperately need a lesson with Deborah.

My goal for the weekend? Continue working on the B section, and get it to a point that I can play it slowly, using good fingering and paying attention to dynamics. I'm not currently working with pedal, but I may add that once I reach the goal.

Blues

Can you believe that I'm feeling very unmotivated about playing the blues? I'm playing a lot, improvising, practicing everything I've learned ... but it feels aimless, even though the whole point it so "wander" and improvise. I don't like feeling aimless. I want to work on something. I want to strive for a goal. But when the goal is "make up stuff using the tools I'm learning, and it doesn't matter how good or bad it sounds, just keep going and making up more stuff," it doesn't sit well with me.

So, my goal for the weekend? Keep wandering? How about ... make a short video of a major blues scale improvisation. That's a good one. Even if it's not great, I want to get that done. Only after I've "graduated" from the major blues course can I move on to the Bible of Blues Riffs.

Jingle Bells Rag

I am having so much fun with this one, even as it occasionally has me pulling out my own hair. I have it pretty solid at 80 right now--significantly slower than the goal, but it's good for now. While I want to continue working on tempo, I need to revisit a few sections that I've struggled with lately. So that's going to be a big focus of my work on this one.

The goal: Revisit the problem areas that have popped up, work out the kinks, and see if I can up the tempo to 85 or even 90.

Maintenance Pieces

I still haven't made my Solace video, so that is a big goal for this weekend. In fact, I'll probably make it tonight.

I will continue to work on my maintenance pieces, playing one or two a day. I've really enjoyed playing Maple Leaf Rag lately. Some mornings I'll just sit down and play through my three Scott Joplin pieces, and they all make me so happy.

Recap

Hopefully I will be happy with my progress by the end of the weekend. To recap:

  • Czerny will sound smooth and mistake-free at a moderate tempo.
  • The Entertainer will sound great at 100.
  • I'll be able to (slowly but beautifully) play through the Liszt A and B sections, minus the first cadenza.
  • I'll have a major blues improvisation to share with the PWJ community.
  • Jingle Bells Rag will be smooth all the way through.
  • I'll have a Solace video to share with the PWJ community and beyond.

These are some big goals, and I'll only reach them if (1) I end up with as much practice time as I think I'll get, and (2) I don't get the same wrist pain that wrecked my practice goals last weekend.

Let's see how it goes!


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