Skip to main content

Weather Cancellation and Bonus Practices!

Good morning! The volleyball tournament was canceled this weekend because of the weather, so I got to enjoy some bonus practice sessions. Between Friday and Sunday, I practiced almost eight hours!

Snow in Georgia!

I have no videos to share (as usual), so I'll just give a recap of my progress, along with this week's goal.

Liszt, Liebesträume

I can play the second cadenza at a decent (slow, steady) tempo! I found it much easier to learn than the first cadenza. So I have both of those and now just need to work on getting them up to speed. I also spent a lot of time on the difficult middle section (between the two cadenzas) this weekend. It's sounding a lot smoother, and I can play the whole thing by memory. This morning I started working on the final section, following the second cadenza.

This week's goals: Drill the final part of the middle section (right before the second cadenza); continue drilling both cadenzas; learn the final section.

Joplin, Pineapple Rag

I can now play Sections A and B pretty well! I love section B with a passion. It's tricky but so much fun once you get the hang of it.

This week's goals: Further solidify Sections A and B; learn Section C.

PWJ, Bible of Blues Riffs

I have made it through the one- and two-note riffs. I think that's about 20 of the 60. I'm going to spend a few more days on them so that I have them down solidly by memory.

This week's goals: Incorporate the new riffs into my blues improvisation. Maybe see what I can use in Amazing Grace. Move on to the next riffs when I feel ready.

Ragtime Review

I spent some quality time on Bare Necessities this weekend, including the tricky final section. It is sounding a lot better than it was when I first started working on it again. I really need to just play through this one several times a week. I also did some good review of Solace yesterday, spending about 20 minutes on the tricky parts of Section B.

This week's goals: Revisit Maple Leaf Rag and Jingle Bells Rag, which haven't gotten much attention this month. Continue to play Solace and The Entertainer every few days. Spend a little extra time on Bare Necessities.

Blues Review

I played through Amazing Grace a few times, making sure I still had the written section before moving on to the improvisation section. This one needs more attention, I think.

This week's goals: Incorporate new riffs; see how I might adjust them for Amazing Grace.

Classical Review

I didn't spend much time on classical music this weekend (other than the Liszt). Both the Chopin and the Rondo are sounding pretty good whenever I play them, so I'll just keep revisiting them periodically.

This week's goals: Play through each classical piece a few times every few days.

And that's it. It looks to be a decent week for practicing. I've started a new running program and will be running five days a week (instead of three), but I don't think that's going to cut into my practice time too much.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Rethinking Bare Necessities

Today's breakthrough moment (there are actually two of them) focuses on "Bare Necessities." As you'll remember, I discovered Jonny May's arrangement back in early March and immediately decided to learn it. I printed out the music, started the course, and proceeded to learn the stride section, posting a few videos of my progress. Ha. I bet those videos make it look like I was making progress. I guess I was ... but not really. And I realized something this weekend that I hadn't before: Because I was thinking of "Bare Necessities" as a "fun" piece, I wasn't practicing it seriously or diligently. I wasn't treating it as something I wanted to master. This mindset might work with an easier piece, but this arrangement isn't easy. The result: despite a little progress at the outset, I wasn't moving forward. I was stalled. Breakthrough #1 The first breakthrough was realizing that if I truly want to learn this piece and play it well,...

March Goals Recap/Looking Ahead to April

It's April 1, and time to revisit the goals I set for last month. I practiced a total of 50.45 hours in March, averaging 1.62 hours (or just over an hour and a half) per day. Realistically, I practice about 45 minutes to an hour a day on weekdays, and I usually get at least one longer practice (or multiple shorter practices) in on one or both days of the weekend to bring the average up. CLASSICAL GOALS Chopin, F Minor Nocturne March Goal: Have entire piece by memory and performance-ready. I have about 90% of the piece by memory, but I still have some work to do before it's performance-ready. The only two sections that I don't quite have are "The Agitation" and the "stretto" section with the seventh chords. I'll work on both this week and will have them both memorized before the weekend. April Goal: Finish memorizing, and polish, polish, polish! My focus now is really on phrasing and dynamics. I have the notes down, even in the difficult passages. Fro...

Maple Leaf Rag Breakthrough

Oh, Maple Leaf. Where to begin? At the Beginning I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I learned the A and B sections of Maple Leaf Rag back in the 1990s. I can’t tell you if it was early, mid- or late 90s, but it was during those 10 years after I’d graduated college, when I was playing a good bit of piano but not taking regular lessons from anyone. I don’t remember teaching it to myself at all. I just know that, at some point, the first half of Maple Leaf Rag was part of my two- or three-song repertoire of pieces I’d be able to play by memory over the next 25 years. It was always sloppy and I knew it, but people loved it, and so I played it if there was ever a piano around. Back in January, I decided to properly re-learn those two sections, and to finally learn the C and D sections of this wonderful piece. I worked on these over the next month or two, learning (and-relearning) the notes pretty quickly ... but it took time to memorize, and also to get everything to tempo surpassing a...