Picking Up the Pieces: A Piano Practice Journal

  How is it almost time to flip the calendar to July? I swear I just started my June spreadsheet, but here we are, with June nearly in the books. July will be a bit of a whirlwind--partly because I'm sneaking away for a week of vacation. This means I'm keeping things focused: no shiny new pieces until August. Instead, I'll focus on Liebesträume and America the Beautiful for performances, keep up with my maintenance pieces, and dive into a few creative projects that have been swirling around in my brain for a while. Still, I need to have goals beyond "focus on," "keep up with," and "dive into." Let's make them SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound)! Liszt: Back in the Spotlight After a short break, I'm putting Liszt back on the priority list. My mission? Get it performance-ready before vacation. I'm aiming for an August recital--maybe Piano with Rebecca B or a video to share on social media. I'm hoping...

I haven't had a chance yet to seriously work on Jonny's jazzy intro to his "America the Beautiful" rag. This morning I had about 5 minutes before taking my daughter to driver's ed, so I sight-read through the intro once. It hasn't come together yet, but you can see that some sections are easier than others. None of it is really hard--it's just jazz, which means the usual harmonic rules (at least the ones I'm used to in blues and ragtime, and even classical) don't always apply. One reason I'm not crazy about jazz is the constant reharmonization and the dissonances ... but I really, really love this arrangement. This first take is a bit rough, full starts and stops as I hunt for notes. But stick with me—it will sound great after a few days of practice!

When the Song Gets Lost in the Style I was playing yesterday's recording of Jonny's "America the Beautiful" rag for my husband last night, and he gave me the strangest look. "What?" I asked. "I can't even tell what that song is," he said. I sang along to help him follow the melody, but he just shook his head. "I don't hear it. I don't hear 'America the Beautiful.'" I thought maybe my version was too slow and mistake-riddled, so I played a recording of Jonny himself playing it. It still just sounded like a bunch of tinkly notes to him. I was floored. This isn’t the first time this has happened, either. Awhile back, I played a bluesy improv on "Silent Night," and he couldn’t decipher that one either, even when I sang along. I shared that recording on Facebook, asking friends to name the tune. Some recognized it instantly, but others? Completely stumped. How can a song be so clear to some and unrecognizable to...

Ah, the joy of trying to make a quick video while your teen daughter is pushing you to hurry up so you can get her to drivers’ ed on time! That was my life this morning as I worked on Jonny May’s delightful “America the Beautiful” rag. Where I’m At I’m having a lot of fun learning this rag—it’s not too difficult, and the structure is simple enough that my brain is buzzing with improv ideas. Now that I’m mastering the score, I’m ready to start adding my own signature, and perhaps a key change. (No more details for now in case it doesn’t work out!) I also have the option of learning Jonny’s page-long jazzy intro, which I’ve sight-read a few times. But it’s tricky, and I’m not sure I can have it ready in time for my July 4 deadline (particularly since I’ll be away from the piano all weekend). The Video This progress clip is at a slow tempo, and my playing is a little raw and wooden, as I’m just trying to make sure I hit all the right notes. Despite my best efforts, I fumble a few notes (I...

Here is a post I shared on in the Piano With Rebecca (PWR) group . I am making important practicing discoveries these days! Retrieving Maintenance Pieces: Lessons Learned On Saturday, I posted that I was about to tackle my neglected maintenance pieces. I was afraid it would be a miserable weekend of stumbling through a dozen or so pieces that I'd worked so hard to learn and memorize in the past year. I started with an interleaved approach (7-minute intervals), alternating between with Mozart's Rondo alla Turca, Jonny May's "Bare Necessities" arrangement and Scott Joplin's "Solace." It was, as expected, quite frustrating as I struggled to re-learn measures I'd mastered just a few months before. Switching to Block-Style Practice In the afternoon, I switched to do a more block-style approach with three other pieces ("The Entertainer," a bluesy "Amazing Grace," and Chopin's Nocturne in F Minor) and accidentally discovered the ...

June’s almost in the rearview mirror, and what a ride it’s been at the piano! This month has dished out some serious highs, a few lows, and a whole lot of learning. With one week left, I’m ready to wrap it up strong and set the stage for an exciting July. Let’s dive into the good, the not-so-good, and what’s on the horizon. June’s High Notes (and a Few Flat Ones) This month was a whirlwind of progress and a few stumbles. Here’s what went down: Big Wins: I nailed Pineapple Rag (or is it Pine Apple? Who knows!) not once, but twice in performance. It felt like a graduation ceremony for this sassy, syncopated gem—time to hang its diploma on the wall! I also kicked off a new weekend ritual: dusting off old pieces to keep them shiny and ready. Plus, I’m making serious headway on two new projects: America the Beautiful Rag (perfect for July 4 vibes) and a great G Blues Improvisation course from PWJ . The Struggles: Mid-June, my daily Liszt practice hit a wall. Between pouring my heart into ...

 Here it is, folks. "Pineapple Rag" in all its glory! I made a few mistakes, and the C section wasn't as strong as it usually is, but overall, I'm happy with the video. Enjoy!

I have graduated from Pineapple Rag! Of course, I never truly graduate from anything, but Pineapple Rag will no longer be an active piece after this week. Starting this weekend, it joins my ever-growing mountain maintenance pieces that I'll revisit every weekend. Two Performances! I've performed it twice: once in the Piano with Rebecca B group last Saturday, and finally at the PWJ student recital yesterday. My Piano with Rebecca B performance wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible either. I approached it as a run-through for the PWJ recital, which I signed up for last month (or maybe in April). I wasn't able to practice much between the two performances, thanks to a ridiculously busy week and some hand pain due to my ganglion cyst and pinky arthritis. I tried to practice Wednesday night and made it about fifteen minutes before I had to stop. I honestly thought I would have to cancel on PWJ. Alas, I showed up and played, and it went quite well! Not perfect, but I was ...

I am taking a Piano With Jonny course in G Blues Improvisation. I learned the C blues scale when I was 11 or 12 years old, and, while I never actually learned to play the blues then, I've always known and played that scale. My long history with the scale may be part of why I have struggled so mightily to master G blues improvisation. The C and G blues scales are very similar — start with a white key, go up a minor third to a black key, then up a whole step to a white key, a half-step to black key, a half-step to white key — and then it changes. In C, we go up a minor third to B-flat, whereas in G, the minor third is to F natural. This shouldn't be that hard, but I have had so much trouble making the switch to G! I keep throwing in the F# from the C scale, and then the E-flat. It's a mess. To show you what I mean, here's a video I talk about (and unintentionally demonstrate) some of the problems. As you can see, I'm slowly getting better at blues in G, but I still h...

Good news! I'm ready to start playing through the Liebesträume No. 3 occasionally. I'm hoping to perform it at a student recital in July or August. Here's my first attempt at playing it from memory on video. It has a few memory lapses, some more obvious than others, but I'm posting this to track my progress and see how far I've come by recital time. Question for Readers (if I have any):  Have you ever struggled with memorizing a piece or performing under pressure? Share your experiences in the comments—I’d love to hear your stories and tips!

Here is my latest rendition of the A (1x) and B (2x) sections of Pineapple Rag. I have just over a week before student recital #1, and just under two weeks before student recital #2. I worked hard on this over the weekend (despite being sick from an antibiotic reaction), and it's getting there! I still have some work to do on dynamics and articulation, but I'm very happy with where I am at this point.

 I made this video a few days ago but never put it on the blog ... so I'm doing that now. :) By the way, I do not  like my new camera setup because it makes my upper arms look gargantuan. They need some toning, but they're not that huge in real life. (At least I hope they aren't!)

I love spreadsheets so much. (But not as much as I love piano!) Here are the stats for May! "May-tenance" Goals I had big plans  to bring all of my maintenance pieces back up to speed in May. It didn't happen. I revisited them each at some point , but I couldn't dedicate the time needed to have them ready to play by memory at a moment's notice. There are two main reasons for this: I put more time into technique than planned. Beneficial? Yes. Worth the extra time? Absolutely. Good for meeting the original goal? Nah ... but the technique work will help me to be even better  at my maintenance pieces. I signed up to perform Pineapple Rag  at two online student recitals, so about halfway through May, I focused more time on it. (The result? Not only is it now almost performance-ready, but the happy music has me dancing and humming my way through real life!) While I'd love to have more maintenance pieces in my back pocket, I now have Pineapple Rag down pretty well, a...