In my journey through the Learn New Repertoire Faster Challenge at Piano with Rebecca B , I’ve reached Day 19 of Jonny May’s stride arrangement of Ode to Joy . Sadly, I have no video from this morning's practice because I was short on time. Day 19 At this point in the challenge, I am spinning three plates: Continue learning Batch 6 Continue reviewing Batch 1 after its seven-day break Begin reviewing Batch 5 after its two-day break It's a lot, and it feels like a lot. But I'm getting it done, little by little. Batch 6 Learning/Batch 1 Overlap This morning I worked on Batch 6, Passage 2, which I'm calling the A section tag: a short restatement of the A theme before the outro. It's another one of those "not technically hard but mentally demanding" passages that are all over this piece. First there's the left hand, which follows a new descending pattern, and any departure from "1-5 boom-chick" takes adjustment. Then there's the right hand,...
Piano practice blog focused on stride, ragtime, blues, and more, with daily notes on technique, repertoire, and the process of learning music more deeply.