Picking Up the Pieces: A Piano Practice Journal

I had wrist pain this weekend, so I wasn't able to move forward on some of my weekend goals . I still got some good practice in. I have dorsal wrist impingement , according to Dr. Google. Technique My plan was to work on Czerny Ex. 2. It's an exercise primarily for the left hand, and it was my left wrist that was hurting, so I started Ex. 4 instead. (I wasn't crazy about Ex. 3.) I learned it pretty easily and will work on getting it up to speed this week, and I'll return to Ex. 2 when my wrist pain is gone. Liszt I am through most of the C Major section in Liszt! It's not as difficult as the B Major section (though it sounds like it is). It's still not easy, so I'll work on it a bit more before moving on to what's next. Jingle Bells Rag The goal was to increase the tempo to 100. I spent quite a bit of time on the right hand since my left hand was hurting. Last night I finally brought the left hand in. I'm very close to having it hands-together at 100...

So much for my weekend of unlimited practice time . Thanks to a case of wrist pain, I only practiced for about an hour on Saturday. I felt better yesterday and practiced for a little over two hours. So, I got three hours in total. Not bad, but nothing close to the five or six hours I'd anticipated. Weekend Practice I spent a lot of time on Liszt , but I am very frustrated about this piece. I could learn it, but I can't figure out what fingering to use. I am missing Deborah, my piano teacher from Asheville. She would have me work out a fingering, but then she would adjust it as needed, actually writing it onto the music, and when I would try her fingering, it was like a miracle had happened. She helped me to become better at working out fingerings, but Liebstraume is a special case becuase there are so many tenths (which I can't reach), and so many options for which hand will play certain notes of the melody. I messaged her through Facebook to see if she might be up to an on...

My plan for today was to post about my scales breakthrough. I've actually already written the post; the only thing missing is the videos to demonstrate how fabulously I'm playing the D major and B harmonic minor scales. Alas, yesterday at work, I was having a lot of hand pain while typing. This happens on a semi-regular basis, and it's weird--I don't have (or I don't notice) any hand pain at the piano, but at times it's almost impossible to type at work because of the aching in the back of my right hand, mainly from just above the middle of my wrist up to the bases of my fingers. Last night I sat down to practice, and ... it wasn't happening. At least not to the degree I'd planned. I ended up doing a good bit of left-hand work on the "Mad Chase" section of Chopin , as well as some review/repetition on the stride section of Bare Necessities ... and that was it. I wasn't going to touch Maple Leaf or the Bare Necessities ragtime section with ...