Playing at the art shop today!

ShiroKuro

Some of you might remember that there’s an art shop with a grand piano at the local mall, I’ve played there twice now (and the people who work there made it a point of saying I should come and play again). The last time I played there, I met someone who also plays piano and we talked about coordinating to go there and play for each other.

Well, today’s the day! (This also came together fairly quickly)
We’re going to meet up today and play for each other. I think I’m going to play three pieces.

I’m going to talk to her, and the people who run the art shop calendar, and suggest we form a piano club. Some of you may remember that I’ve been wanting to find “piano friends” here and figure out a way to create performance opportunities. While, this may be it. Stay tuned! 🤞🤞🤞

When it rains, it pours (e.g., see my upcoming cello+piano plans here: https://forum.pianotell.com/d/2415-help-how-to-get-a-piece-into-your-fingers-as-quickly-as-possible)

ShiroKuro

P.S. a lot of us here at PT talk about wanting to always have a piece or two ready to play, so that if someone asks you to play something, you can. Or if you come across a piano, you can play it.

The last time I played at the art shop, I kind of decided to keep some of my polished pieces more “at the ready” because I was hoping to go there again and I thought it would be nice to have 3-5 pieces to play. And I want to play for people during the summer when my schedule is more relaxed. So I’ve been cycling through a few pieces at each practice just to keep them fresh.

Well thank goodness, because otherwise I wouldn’t be ready for today!

twocats

ShiroKuro P.S. a lot of us here at PT talk about wanting to always have a piece or two ready to play, so that if someone asks you to play something, you can. Or if you come across a piano, you can play it.

I was going to retire "June" after next week but maybe I should at least keep it in my fingers. June and the Beethoven Rondo have been the only pieces that I can (somewhat) play from memory for the last 30-some years and it is a bit embarrassing if I can't play anything without a score. Because it's not like I carry my iPad around with me! I did go to a piano shop once and ended up pulling up a very tiny score on my phone that I could barely read 😂

ShiroKuro

twocats maybe I should at least keep it in my fingers. June and the Beethoven Rondo have been the only pieces that I can (somewhat) play from memory for the last 30-some years and it is a bit embarrassing if I can't play anything without a score.

Definitely keep it in your fingers!

I rarely have my iPad with me either. While I was traveling in Japan last summer, I had a few pieces I could play practically by memory, but I had the score on my phone and I used that as a kind of memory hint. But then a few months later (sometime last fall), I was somewhere with a public piano and sat down and pulled out my phone score and tried to play from the score. Now, granted, I hadn't played the piece in a few months, but the score was so small, I quickly gave up! 😛

ShiroKuro

"Can we stay here until the song ends?" "Yes, of course! I'm enjoying it too!"

While I was playing at the art shop, two people were browsing and as they started to leave, that's what I heard them saying.

🙂

All in all, I think I played six pieces. And I got tons of positive feedback, from the people working in the shop, from customers and from the other pianist. It was great!!! And such a confidence booster.

OMG I just realized!! My hands didn't shake at all!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay!

The pianist played some fun things, she's very good! So all in all, it was a lovely little event! I am planning to talk to the people people who run the shop and see if I can get the to let me start a piano club. They have a calendar and I think if we could get in the calendar and people could see it, other pianists might show up as well.

We shall see!

But first, I have to go practice those cello duet pieces! Yikes!

twocats

ShiroKuro I'm so glad you're making the piano club happen!!! I'm sure people will love it.

Monviso

I love that people stayed just to hear you! - And on a practical level, it proves that it's good for the shop; it's fab that it benefits everybody!

ShiroKuro

Thank you both!

Now I need to think/strategize about how to approach the art shop …

This might call for a new thread…. 😅