After You've Gone: Getting Close, Despite Pedal Challenges

I think I'll be ready to make a graduation video for After You've Gone by mid-month ... and that's despite being nearly derailed after weeks of progress. The culprit? The pedal. Or the lack of one.

I explain more in the video:

I've made a lot of progress on this project over the last couple of weeks. The left hand jumps feel genuinely automatic now, and I honestly had started to wonder if it would ever get there. The right hand is doing what it needs to do, and I have to admit that my rolls and punches are sounding really nice. Even the improvisation is starting to click, though that's the part that still needs the most work.

But then I cut the pedal, and it was like learning a different piece.

I almost never play completely pedal-free, unless maybe it's Bach ... and even then I'll sneak a little in. So removing it in stride piano—where I primarily used it to connect my rolled tenths—was kind of a shock to my system. It threw off my timing, my tone expectations, everything. It took several days just to get it back up to speed, now pedal-free.

But they were days well spent, as I reflect in the video.

The Graduation Video Plans

Here's the structure I'm planning:

Moderate tempo — melody with stride left hand, then improv with four on the floor
Fast tempo — melody with stride left hand, then improv with stride left hand
Moderate tempo — back to the melody with stride, to close it out

I'd love to work in some right-hand runs and left-hand walkups eventually, but I'm saving that for when this becomes a maintenance piece. Right now, the goal is simpler: just play it in a way that shows I've actually absorbed what the PWJ "After You've Gone" lesson had to teach.

I'm close!

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