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A Tale of Two Hats, and a Piano Update

So far, 2025 has been terrible for piano practice!

January 1st was great. I put in almost three hours and was excited about such an auspicious beginning to the new year.

I didn't practice on January 2nd (boo), but January 3rd was good, with just a little over two hours of practice that Friday night.

But then ... volleyball tournament season started, and I wore my volleyball-mom hat all weekend. In fact, I left my piano-player hat at home and didn't put it on until Monday night. The best news? My daughter's team got second in Silver, coming out 8th out of 12 teams! I know that doesn't sound great, but it's a lot better than any of her other teams have done. I'm hopeful for a good season (or at least a better one) this year! Here is her team winning their final game of the tournament.

Back to piano: I ended up not practicing at all on Saturday (January 4th) because we were so busy packing everything, and then we didn't get home until late Sunday (January 5th), and I was exhausted.

Last night (January 6th) I didn't get to the piano until 8:30, but I did manage to practice for about an hour. And then this morning (January 7th), I worked on Bare Necessities for 26 minutes before having to leave for work.

I need to make dinner and run tonight, but I'm still hoping to get at least an hour in between all the chores.

We're supposed to have another volleyball tournament this weekend, but snow is expected and we're waiting to hear if the tournament will be canceled. If it isn't, we'll likely have to leave mid-day Friday. If the weather is bad on Saturday, we may have to stay in the hotel one more night and not come home until Sunday. This will make it another fun-for-volleyball-but-terrible-for-piano weekend.

However, if the tournament is canceled, it will be an amazing weekend for piano. Though I must admit, I hope we can have the tournament. There aren't many hats that I'll use to replace my piano-player hat, but my volleyball-mom hat is one of them. I just love watching my daughter play and cheering her on.

Piano Update

Even though I haven't practiced much, I can still provide a few progress updates.

Liszt: Last night I reviewed the first cadenza because I hadn't focused on it in a while. It was a good review. I'm also able to play the first part of the second cadenza pretty quickly with blocking and have been focusing on playing it as written. The transition from blocking practice has been harder than anticipated. I also plan to start working on the second part of that cadenza soon, possibly tonight.

Joplin: Pineapple Rag is fun! It's not super-hard, and if I'd been able to practice every day, I would be lot further along than I am. As it is, I can play the first section at tempo with the music, and I can play it more slowly by memory. It's time to learn the B section, and I'll likely start that tomorrow.

Bible of Blues Riffs: I have memorized all of the one-note riffs and am working them into my general blues improvisation/review. I'm about halfway through the double-note riffs. Memorizing has been easier than I thought it would be because some of the riffs are variations on riffs I memorized in the 10-Lesson Blues Challenge.

Ragtime Maintenance: My main ragtime maintenance goals for January are to (1) bring back Bare Necessities and (2) make performance videos for Solace and The Entertainer. I've played through Solace and The Entertainer a few times but haven't tried to make a video. I worked on Bare Necessities this morning for the first time in a week, and I struggled in a few areas. By the time I finished my practice, I'd worked out the kinks in the A and B sections. I really need to play this one on a more regular basis so I don't lose it.

And that's it. Not the best update, but it is what it is. I'm excited about practicing tonight and tomorrow night, and if the volleyball tournament does get canceled, I can be comforted by the prospect of some of monster practice sessions this weekend!

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