Picking Up the Pieces: A Piano Practice Journal

As October approaches, I’m already thinking about which Christmas song to add to my repertoire this year. (I’ll share a September recap and October goals soon, but today’s focus is on my holiday project.) Last year, I tackled "Jingle Bells Rag," which I started learning in September. It was a challenging piece, but I managed to have performance-ready by Christmas. Here it is, in all its glory, including one charming flub at the end: This year, in my efforts to get away from complicated reading-by-the-dots pieces, I'd like to do something a little simpler, and a little more flexible--something that allows for creativity and doesn't demand hours of passage-drilling. Sadly, this rules out my initial idea: Jonny May's "Silent Night Rumba" in the style of Dr. John. It's delightful (listen to it here ), but it's too intricate and challenging for my timeline, especially if I want to balance other projects. Instead I'm considering three options for m...

 Yesterday I revisited an old song, and a younger version of myself. I wrote “Of Heroes Who Never Die” when I was 18, and I hadn’t touched it in at least a decade—maybe two or three. But yesterday, when I gave myself a few minutes to just play, listen, and feel at the piano, this song came bubbling up from the deep recesses of my memory. My version from yesterday (video below) sounds a little different from before—a little grittier, a little less ballad and a little more rock 'n' roll. I can still hear Roy Bittan's influence, and I can tell I've added a touch of Chuck Leavell, and maybe a bit of Bruce Hornsby. Those inspirations have shaped the song’s current vibe, but the lyrics are another story ... Yes, "Of Heroes Who Never Die" has lyrics. I wrote it back then as a tribute to a real-life hero whose light went out way too soon. Some still resonate, but others make me wince at my teenage earnestness. I’m tempted to rewrite the cringey lines, maybe even reco...

This week at the piano has been… unexpected. I didn’t set clear goals for September—life was too busy (I wrote about that here ). I vaguely planned to prepare for my assisted-living performance during the first week of September, but I wasn’t feeling great physically or emotionally, so I canceled it. That left my September piano goals in limbo, but here’s what I’ve been working on anyway. Playing Liszt (with emphasis on "playing") I’ve now put over 100 hours into Liszt’s “Liebesträume No. 3,” and it’s finally feeling like a comfortable old pair of jeans. I keep meaning to revisit recordings to check my interpretation, but I just love sitting down to play it my way. I’ve listened to hours of “Liebesträume” over the years, especially this past year, so I think my version is just fine. So there. Back to Bare Necessities! This was not planned. I guess I thought I'd try to get “ Bare Necessities ” back to performance level for the recital, but there was no way. Still, I've...

In the Billy Joel documentary And So It Goes , Billy talks about "reading the dots." He didn't want—or need—to "read the dots," meaning the music notes on the page. He had developed his own rock 'n' roll piano style and, after a few years of classical training, he left the dots behind. I didn't want to read the dots, either, once upon a time. As a little kid, I had a good ear and could quickly figure out just about any tune on the piano. But in first grade, I finally started piano lessons, thus beginning my life with the dots. The Wall of Dots Between Me and Music I hated the dots! I wanted to learn them, sure, but it was so hard. If my teacher played what was written, I could play it right back for him. But if he asked me to play it from the dots, I felt like I would pop a blood vessel in my brain. It was so frustrating for my six-year-old self to have the code to a simple tune sitting silently before my eyes and not be able to crack it and bring th...

Y'all! Picture this: It's 90+ degrees, and the Georgia sun has been blazing down on me since noon, and now Chuck Leavell, the legendary Rolling Stones pianist, is hammering out a soul-stirring "Honky Tonk Women" solo right at the piano just feet away. And, readers, I GOT TO MEET HIM! This weekend at the Blind Willie McTell Music Festival in Thomson, GA, was unreal. Lots of great performances, and then there was Chuck—his show was phenomenal, and he was so kind when Dan and I randomly wandered to the artists' area to say hi! Goodness, I am a sight with that sunburn. I couldn't stop smiling all day after this pic! Chuck has been around for much longer than I've been even listening to rock & roll, so I guess I'm a bit of a latecomer. But I got to make up for some lost time this weekend! Here he is playing a bit of "Honky Tonk Women." The solo starts at about 1:04. [Ugh, ugh, ugh. The video won't upload. Copyright issues, probably. Will t...

Juggling Work, Family, and Volleyball Work has been nonstop, and I’ve been coaching volleyball on the side. Most importantly, I’ve been prioritizing time with my 15-year-old daughter—helping with her studies, shuttling her to school and volleyball practice, and taking evening drives where she belts out Taylor Swift and Gracie Abrams. These moments are precious. She’ll be driving herself soon and won’t always want to hang out with her mom, so I’m soaking it all up. Do I miss playing piano? Absolutely. Would I change my priorities? Not a chance. Gearing Up for a Performance Next week, I’m scheduled to play at a local assisted living facility—less than a week away! I need to carve out serious practice time to prepare. Here’s what I plan to have ready: The Entertainer   Maple Leaf Rag   Solace   Pineapple Rag   Bare Necessities Rag   America the Beautiful Rag   You Are My Sunshine Rag   Amazing Grace (gospel with a bluesy...