Picking Up the Pieces

Yesterday at the PWJ Annual Holiday Awards, I was honored to be one of the Classical Performance Award winners! As you can see in the video below, I got it for my Liszt "practice video" that I posted earlier this year. While I was happy to get the award, it felt a little ironic, considering my decision to move away from classical music—and learning written scores in general—and more toward writing and arranging. But then I thought it was a fitting (and affirming) end to this very long era of my life. As this was a fun online event yesterday, no one made acceptance speeches. But if I'd made one, it would have gone something like this. The Would-Be Speech Thank you so much, everyone! I am genuinely honored (and honestly a little surprised) to receive this award for Liszt's Liebestraum No. 3. I poured my heart and soul into learning and mastering that piece this year, and it's so nice to be recognized. Thank you to Jonny and the PWJ team—and to this community for a...

My sweet girl is now 16 years old, with a driver's license! And she drove herself to school for the first time this morning! I'm so proud of her I could burst. I also felt a little weepy and nostalgic this morning. The song "Turn Around, Little One" was on my mind, so I figured it out by ear and made this quick video before leaving for work. Enjoy!

I’ve finally nailed the intro, outro, and first full run-through of Jonny May’s intermediate/advanced “Silent Night Rhumba” arrangement. Here it is! I flub a few notes in the middle (as usual), but I’m proud of myself for powering through without stopping—or making any primal frustration noises. Coming soon: Part 2 (up an octave with extra embellishments) Part 3 (full solo) Fingers crossed I’ll have everything finished—and maybe even stitched together into one complete performance—before the year ends!

Remember my piano slump? The one where November felt like an endless month of barely touching the keys? Well, guess what—it's over. In just the first week of December, I've already logged almost as many practice hours as I did in the entire month of November. That's right: I'm back! Most of my time has been happily devoted to Silent Night Rhumba, Jingle Bells Rag, and You Are My Sunshine Rag. Rounding out the Top 5 are Chopin's A Minor Waltz and Liszt's Liebestraum. I've also been doing a lot of technique work (as usual), along with practicing 2-5-1s from a PWJ course. All this momentum now has me thinking about my the future ... Sneak Peek: 2026 Piano Goals I'll post an official goals blog later this month, so consider this a preview. :) Goal: Limit Projects Overall My main piano goal is to LIMIT MY PROJECTS. My failure to do so this past month is part of what led to my slump. I also want to limit the DIFFICULTY of my projects--in other words, avoid pie...

Send help. Roland Nicholas (my piano) and I are in counseling, and the piano isn’t speaking to me. Well, not exactly ... For the entire month of November, my faithful Roland sat in the corner like a dusty houseplant. Total practice time for the month ? A pathetic 11 hours. I probably spent at least as many hours scrolling X. What happened? I Re-discovered Muscles A couple of months ago, I learned that my club's volleyball coaches would have a full-day training session in early November, and that we would be doing some of the drills. Ack! After years of a desk job + 1-2 hours of piano daily + a car accident September, I knew I needed to get back in shape! So I started the daily workouts. Fantastic for glutes, great for triceps, terrible for Chopin and ragtime. The workouts pretty much replaced my piano-practice sessions for a few weeks. A Busy Month for Coaching Early November was a whirlwind of middle-school volleyball clinics, subbing for sick coaches, and the full-day training wh...