Picking Up the Pieces: A Piano Practice Journal

The school year has kicked off, and life has turned into a whirlwind! I'm making the most of my piano time when I can get it, but it's been touch-and-go for the past week. To make up for the missed practices, I've begun exploring musical work away from the keyboard. Two activities have been key: mental practice (studying the written score away from the piano) and ear training. Both are great brain workouts, but I have to admit, ear training has been a lot more fun! Ear Training Adventures Over the past few weeks, I've tackled PWJ's beginner ear-training courses on intervals (ascending and descending) and triads. Even though I can play most tunes by ear, it's a challenge for me to identify intervals out of context away from the piano. I did better with triads, but there's still work to do. To practice, I've made recordings where I play triads in different inversions and try to identify the chord quality (major or minor) and inversion. It's wild to rea...

At lunch today, I had the opportunity to hear a fellow student perform Liszt's Liebesträume. As you know, I've been working on this piece for awhile and, despite making progress, I've been thinking of dropping it in favor of more creative piano pursuits. I played it for a few minutes last night, and all I could think was, "ugh, ugh, ugh." How can it still be so sloppy (compared to Kissin's recording, at least) after so much intentional, slow, and loving work over the months? Well, there's the fact that I haven't practiced it regularly since June ... But still. Even though I love this piece more than just about anything, I want to move on. Last night, after ugh-ing my way through Liszt, I switched over to Jonny's lead sheets course ... and time disappeared. It felt like maybe 15 or 20 minutes, but suddenly my husband was home from his meeting and an hour had gone by. How on earth did I focus that hard for so long? The Release At some point during to...

When I started playing around with "You Are My Sunshine" as a ragtime piece, I nicknamed it my "YAMS Rag." With Scott Joplin’s Pineapple Rag still fresh in my mind, "YAMS Rag" makes me think of a sweet potato casserole with pineapple. I can almost smell the casserole when I play this. Hmm, maybe I should call it my YUMS rag ... Anyway, I've dabbled with the idea of the YAMS rag for years, but this weekend I decided to look at it more seriously--more like an arranger. I'm using what I've been learning at Piano With Jonny --rag rolls, slides, turns, and other techniques. It's still early, but I got excited and recorded a quick video to share on the PWJ Facebook group. I knew it wasn't polished--it was literally my first day working on it--but I thought it would be fun to show where I'm at. Then someone commented, "Awful." Just that one word. At first, it was kind of funny--who leaves a comment like that on a rough draft? Bu...

I’ve already logged seven practice hours this month, and I didn’t even practice this morning! St. Louis Blues Challenge This weekend, I kicked off Jonny May’s "St. Louis Blues" challenge. Learning his arrangement in G should be straightforward, but the real test will be improvising in G. I’m excited to apply techniques from the 10-Lesson Blues Challenge and Bible of Blues Riffs to make this piece pop. My goal? Master Jonny’s written section this week and spend the rest of August exploring G blues improv. There’s a second part to the song Jonny skips, and I’ll likely skip it too unless I get bored with improv (unlikely!). I’m aiming to wrap this project by month’s end, so I’m keeping my ambitions in check. (I briefly considered taking on  this tougher and more impressive version , but after pushing hard on Pineapple Rag, Liszt, and my America the Beautiful Extravaganza over the past few months, I’m ready for something more manageable!) Here’s my first St. Louis Blues video: Le...

Hi, piano friends! I’m finally ready to share my August piano goals with you! Over a few lunch breaks, I tinkered with my practice log (yes, my trusty spreadsheet!) and had a little heart-to-heart with AI to figure out what’s doable this month. I’ve decided to push some projects to September and October to keep from overwhelming myself. Here’s what’s on the musical horizon! America the Beautiful As mentioned in my previous post, I'm shifting this holiday piece to my maintenance pile, but I'm going to give it a little extra attention for a September 11 performance at an assisted living facility. I’m not going nose-to-the-grindstone like I did in July (whew!), but I’ll polish it a few days a week to have it memorized and at tempo, with all of the improv included. Liszt, Liebesträume As I also mentioned earlier, I'm at a crossroads with Liebesträume: Do I prepare it for a Piano with Rebecca B recital, or let it rest? I’m hoping to chat with Rebecca in another week or so to get...

Hello, lovely piano friends! July was a whirlwind of 46.2 hours at the piano -- quite a feat considering a week-long vacation and 1.5 post-trip days when I could barely muster the energy to sit at the piano. Was it a successful month? I’m leaning toward yes, with some sweet wins and a few projects that, well, fizzled out. Here are the highlights. An Unexpected Gift: “America the Beautiful” Picture this: We're all packed for vacation, rushing to the tiny Augusta airport (two gates, folks!) for a 6 a.m. flight. But a low tire throws us off, and we miss check-in by two minutes. The airline’s computer says, “Nope, you’re done.” Disappointing? Sure. But the gift for me was a bonus day to play piano, tidy up, and plan our trip. That extra day truly was a gift. I poured hours into “America the Beautiful,” determined to share a video before vacation. I’d been bummed about not finishing it earlier, so this felt like a second chance. The video isn’t flawless, but it’s a milestone I’m proud o...