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Weekend Recap (Nov. 16-17, 2024)

I had hoped to put three hours a day into piano this weekend, and I came close! I put in FOUR hours on Saturday, but then I only practiced an hour and a half on Sunday. I had dropped my daughter off at volleyball practice at 1:00, but then she got sick, so I had to go pick her up and take her home. And then I had to be back at the gym (about 20 minutes away) for a 2:30 parent meeting, and then I had to do the week's grocery shopping on my way home. So I pretty much drove back and forth yesterday from 12:30 to almost 4:00.

Because I had a sick child, I made a big pot of homemade creamy chicken noodle soup for dinner, which took up a good part of the late afternoon. And then after dinner, we put up the Christmas tree and further decorated for Christmas. By the time all that was done, I only had energy to sit on the couch, pet the cats, and look at the pretty tree while we listened to Christmas music.

I did practice early yesterday morning, though, and I got some good work done. I'm keeping up with my goal percentages pretty well, though I'm still lagging in Blues and have put more into Technique than planned.

I keep thinking I need to adjust those goals, but for now I'm keeping them where they are.

Liszt Cadenza Progress!

Liszt got the bulk of my attention. Good news on this front: The A section is sounding beautiful (still slow), and I worked out a fingering for the cadenza! My piano teacher had reached out to another teacher, who sent him a copy of the two cadenzas with their fingering, and it was so helpful! I ended up using what they had, with a couple of exceptions, and I can now play the cadenza! It's still very slow, but at least now I know what I'm doing and can feel confident that I'm using a good fingering.

Bible of Blues Riffs!

I started the Bible of Blues Riffs course on Saturday! I didn't watch the whole first set of riffs, but I learned the first few. I worked them into my blues improv this morning, and they sound good! I also did a lot of improv with the blues shuffle and the rootless voicings in I-vi-ii-V. The Bible of Blues Riffs course teaches a boogie-woogie left hand that I'm going to start using as well. It was a good weekend for blues, even though I'm still behind on my goal.

Jingle Bells Rags Problem Areas: Solved!

Jingle Bells Rag got quite a bit of attention as well. It's sounding good at about 90, and I worked on the few problem areas as planned.

Czerny Coming Along!

I worked on Czerny both days, and I'm really enjoying it. I didn't think I would, but I guess I forgot that I'm a weirdo who thinks technique exercises are fun. Exercise 1 is coming along, and I should have it at a pretty good clip in time for my piano lesson next Tuesday.

Entertainer Octave Breakthrough!

I had a bit of a breakthrough with The Entertainer! I kept flubbing the octaves, particulary the ones that include the third in the right hand. I learned that if I push my hand forward into the keys (kind of a "punching" motion), the force spreads my fingers just enough that I can hit the keys cleanly. This wouldn't be good for playing lots and lots of octaves because (1) it would make my hand tired, and (2) it results in a punchy, staccato kind of sound. But it's find for The Entertainer--there aren't too many octaves in a row, and the punchy sound is perfect.

No Solace Video, Very Little Maintenance :(

I did not make a Solace video, and I didn't spend a lot of time on maintenance pieces this weekend. I would have on Sunday if I'd had more practice time, but alas. I'm just happy that the first part of the Liszt is starting to come together.

I will try to post some videos of my progress over the next few days.

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