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...
Piano practice blog focused on stride, ragtime, blues, and more, with daily notes on technique, repertoire, and the process of learning music more deeply.