No-Practice Thursday (but I did get my run in ...)

Yesterday, January 2, I didn't practice piano at all. Horrors! I was so tired yesterday morning and didn't wake up in time for a morning practice. I'd planned to practice after work and before driving my daughter to her 7:00 volleyball practice, but then they moved her practice up to 6:00, which meant I had to pick up a fast-food dinner for her, rush home from work, and get her to practice. I went for my run while she was at practice (as planned), and then went to pick her up at 8:00. She didn't get out of her practice until almost 8:15, and then I had to stop by Kroger on the way home. When we finally got home, I had to take a shower because I was covered with dried sweat from my run. By the time all that was done, it was almost 10:00 and I was beat. I went to bed.

So, no piano practice yesterday. That's the bad news.

The good news is that I have kept up with my running plan for six weeks now!

Yesterday's run (run 12 minutes, walk 2 minutes, X 3) was my longest yet. It was also my first run in my new running shoes that I bought on New Year's Day. They feel so much better than my old ones. I'm more sore than usual today--I'm not sure if it's the longer run or the new shoes. I feel good, though.

This morning I worked on Czerny because I was behind in my technique percentage. I really want to get back to Liszt after working so hard on Liebestraume over the break. It's not the kind of piece that allows you to skip a few days and then come right back to it. I need to work on it a little (or a lot) every day to internalize it all.

Despite my no-practice Thursday and a volleyball tournament this weekend, I'm feeling positive about the weekend. I will get to practice both tonight and tomorrow morning. I likely won't practice at all on Sunday since we'll be at the tournament. I'm hoping to get a total of at least three hours by the end of the weekend.

I also hope to make a couple of videos to share here soon!

Comments

Eureka! Secondary Dominant!

I am such a nerd, and I love being a nerd! Today I was working on Section 5 of You Are My Sunshine, specifically on getting this section up to performance level. In other words, I was practicing being a performer , not an arranger . But then, of course, I came up with another idea. I had just played the delicate sixths and descending rag rolls of "when skies are gray" (I chord) and then moved to the parallel octaves of "you never know, dear" (leading to IV). The shift sounded abrupt to me. Harsh. It needed something. It needed musical WD-40. Something to ease the hinge between textures. And then I stumbled upon it! Right before moving to IV, I can slip in a V7/IV — a secondary dominant! So I tried it, and it sounded so good that I actually yelled "Secondary dominant!" out loud in my house like I was Archimedes discovering water displacement in the bathtub. It's such a small thing. One little chord. But it smooths that transition, leaning the harmony ...

The Rusty Lock and Key

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The Tyranny of the Dots

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Picking Up the Pieces: A Piano Practice Journal

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