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.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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,...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more