Pineapple Rag, Section A

Folks, I bit the bullet. I signed up to participate in the next Piano With Jonny student recital.

I paused a moment when I got to the "What will you be playing?" section. What would I be playing? Solace? Liebestraume? A blues improv? Pineapple Rag?

Yes. Pineapple Rag. It's not ready for performance at the moment, but I know I can have it ready in time for the recital.

My minimum practice goal for this one is as follows:

Focus on one section each day, drilling as needed and playing through 12x.
Play through the entire piece 3x/day.

And that's it! I have it memorized and have done the hard work of learning the tricky parts. What remains is to get it up to tempo and figure out how I want to play it (dynamics, pedaling, improv, etc.). I also want to get to where I can play it without thinking, the way I can now play Maple Leaf Rag.

I'll get there.

Yesterday I focused on the A section of Pineapple Rag. I got overly ambitious in the video and decided to continue on to the B section, at which point I crashed and burned. But it's coming along nicely.

I love this piece so much--it is musical happiness, and it always puts a spring in my step!

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