Picking Up the Pieces: A Piano Practice Journal

February practices are going pretty well, particularly considering I haven't had as much time for piano this month. I've done a pretty good job of balancing things, and my percentage goals have guaranteed that I would spend more time on You Are My Sunshine and Amazing Grace -- two songs that I fiddle around with now and then, each time thinking, "One of these days I need to really work on this." This morning I focused on Amazing Grace. Here is a video where I explore some of my improv ideas. I'm having so much fun.

We are a week into December, and I haven't practiced nearly as much this month as I did in November. I should be able to get some good practice in this weekend. My daughter has volleyball stuff both Saturday and Sunday, so I'll be out of the house a bit to get her to and from. I'm also planning to work out on Sunday afternoon. Other than that, I'll be home--washing sheets and towels, cleaning the bathroom and kitchen, and practicing the piano. Oh, and I need to go Christmas shopping. I keep forgetting. Anyway, onward to the piano goals! Technique I have the Czerny Exercise 1 at a good clip. I've started learning Exercise 2, which is even more delightful than Exercise 1. While Ex. 1 focuses mainly on the right hand, Ex. 2 is very left-hand heavy. I've played through the first half (luckily, it's an easy sight-read), and my goal for this weekend is to simply learn the second half and become comfortable playing the whole exercise before I start upping the tempo...

  It's rare that I have a weekend that offers potentially unlimited practice time ... but I just may have that this weekend. And if I do? I want to take deep dives into a few different areas. First Cadenza of Liebestraume I've already broken down the cadenza theoretically, and it makes total sense--it's just a back and forth between D-flat minor and E-flat major in various inversions. But playing it is not so simple, and I feel like I need a good, long practice session to get it comfortable and automatic under my fingers. Blues Improvisation I diligently do some blues improvisation every single day, usually for 10-15 minutes in the mornings while waiting for my daughter to get ready to go to school. But I want to take some time to (1) improvise alongside actual recordings and (2) improvise alongside the backing track provided by PWJ. All of my improvisation so far has been just me and the piano, and I'm feeling a need to add something. I don't need a long practice s...

 Last spring, I was at my parents' house for a few days, and I'd brought my little keyboard. The keyboard isn't great for actual piano practice, but it's wonderful for learning theory and styles. So, when I wasn't playing for my dad, I spent much of that weekend going through the Beginner/Intermediate course of "Amazing Grace" on Piano With Jonny,  Here is a video of me playing for my dad after a day of going through the course lessons. Later (as in recently), I checked out the Intermediate/Advanced version. It's much more difficult, but I seem to be getting it. I still have some work to do. I made this video yesterday morning, and I'm happy to say that I've improved since then, but I'm still not there yet. So enjoy this progress video. Warning: I ramble for a couple of minutes before I ever start playing anything.

I did not see this coming. On Wednesday after work, I headed north to Brevard, NC, where my parents live. My mom was getting cataract surgery Thursday morning, and even though my sister lives here in Brevard, my mom wanted me here to stay with my dad while she was getting surgery. So I packed my laptop (so I could work remotely) and my 61-key Yamaha keyboard (so I could at least do some minor 7th and blues improvisation exercises). I got a good bit of work done (I had to), but I honestly didn't expect to get much done on piano. Boy, was I wrong. Looking for "Amazing Grace" I wanted to play "Amazing Grace" for my dad. Even though I can play it by ear, I wanted to find a good arrangement. I was looking ... and then it dawned on me that Piano With Jonny probably had one. Well, they have a whole course on how to play Amazing Grace in a gospel blues style! Not only that, but they have it in intermediate and advanced versions! My time to learn something new was limit...