Four Days into August: 7 Hours of Practice!

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: Left-hand shuffle with basic melody.

This video covers Lesson 2 of the course. (Lesson 1 was just the melody--it took about 30 seconds to learn, so no video needed.) The new shuffle pattern is the biggest hurdle so far. It’s similar to ones I’ve played before, but it still took focus to make it feel natural.

In Other News

I’ve booked a lesson with Rebecca on Friday to discuss Liebesträume and how to polish the broken-octaves section in Rondo alla Turca. It was a solid practice weekend, and I’m hoping this week’s sessions are just as productive. Stay tuned!

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The Rusty Lock and Key

I'm in a room. There's a door in front of me. On the other side of that door is a whole world of adventure and imagination and joy and delight, but for the moment, I'm locked in this gray little room. The door itself has a lock that is all rusted. I've tried to open it in the past, but I've never gotten very far. Sometimes I try to scrape the rust off the lock. I also have a rusty old key that I occasionally try to polish. Each time, after I've made a little progress, I'll put it into the keyhole in hopes of opening the door. It turns a half a millimeter or so, but the brief excitement at my progress dies quickly when I realize, once again, the lock isn't opening. I set the old key aside, and from there I can forget about the door, the lock, and the world outside, for months—years, even. But then something happens—I hear birdsong, or I catch a glimpse of color—and I pick up the key and start picking away at the stubborn rust. That dark little room is my ...

The Amazing Practice Tracker 2.0: Leveling Up My Piano Game

(Apologies for the cheesy clip art. I needed to come up with something, or the Blogger template would show a fuzzy, overly-enlarged snippet of the first chart below.) When I showed my husband my piano practice tracker, he said I should market and sell it. Ha. It’s not for sale, but I’m excited to share how this tool has transformed my practice—and why it might inspire all three of my readers. Since my last post about the Amazing Practice Tracker, I’ve made it even better. Here’s a peek at how it works, using my June data. All The Pretty Colors, All the Pretty Winners My tracker now sparkles with color: darker shades for active pieces, lighter ones for maintenance, technique, and sight-reading. Each day, the piece I practice most gets a bright yellow highlight—a little “gold medal,” if you will. (Click image for a slightly larger view.) A leaderboard automatically shows the day’s top piece and time. And if that isn't enough, I keep track of the month's leaders--specifically, ho...

Dance of the Digits

Note: I've expanded significantly on this post over at my other blog, A Sort of Notebook . I am loving Liszt. I love the way my hands have to "share" the melody. I have so much to write on that, but I'm borrowing a computer and don't have enough time to do it justice. Suffice it to say that I've practiced three and a half wonderful hours today, and about two hours on Liszt alone. What I find wonderful about Liszt is that it pushes one hand hard, but not too hard. Then the other hand gets a turn to be pushed. But it's never both at the same time, and never one hand for too long. It's hard to explain. When I have more time to write, I'll word things rather more eloquently, I'm sure. All I can say now is that my fingers feel like they're dancing a wonderful, graceful dance. I've been trying to "play with my body," as my piano teacher says to do, so all of me is dancing. And Standchen, though it still need a lot of work (like, um...

Picking Up the Pieces

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