Pallas

I'm so sorry for your loss Pallas. I'm glad the music is helping you to get through this.

    I am working through Faber Classics Book 1. This piece "Prince Denmark's March" has a trill that I've never encountered in the method book. After lots and lots of practice, I finally get something that is maybe passable? It still does not sound quite right to me, but I am having a hard time telling what it is.

      iternabe I am working through Faber Classics Book 1. This piece "Prince Denmark's March"

      That music sounds excellent. That is a very nice tune indeed. Thanks for playing that for us to listen to. I like that one.

      That is exactly what it is about. The more you play that tune ... the more your mind/brain/body gels with it ... and the more you will explore ... to play it in your way. And the way you're playing it now sounds good to me. Great start.

        Iternabe - your playing and music before inspired me to play a short portion of the tune - but using the sort of standard issue patterns (like arpegg etc) - to try to generate some nice sound from the piano over here. I was thinking about what to play - and then got a bit stuck - but then ended off with a basic trill or short ornament. I generally don't use trills in my music - but trills certainly can sound nice when used sparingly. And I do like the sound of trills. This really short bit is really inspired by your vid. My playing here is simple notes - but fortunately the piano sounds nice to compensate a bit hehe.

        LINK1 PDM - WAV

        LINK2 PDM - FLAC

        (flac file is three times smaller - both audio above have the same content).

        It's only an example of what I mean about exploring etc. I didn't think too much about it -- but what happens is - with more thinking, it's possible to build and refine or evolve it in some direction - where the essence is still in there. Best regards.

        11 days later

        I am working on "Caro Nome" in Faber Classics Book 1. It's a nice tune, but all those staccatos in piano are so tricky to control. After getting it roughly in shape, I wondered how the aria should really sound, so I looked it up in YouTube. What a delightful surprise - it's so beautiful!

        Still not playing, just pecking at the keyboard every few days. Once I get back in the saddle I'll move on but for right now, just keeping Wolf under my fingers. Not trying to polish it, just keeping it semi-fresh.

        Hi

        Mostly working on my grade 8 pieces. A Scarlatti Sonata in D, an Impromptu in b minor by Coleridge=Taylor being the main focus at present. Also as a long term piece I've also started working on Chopin's Grande Valse Brillante Op. 18, over the last week.

        Cheers

        Simon
        All round average Jazz, Blues & Rock player.
        Currently working towards ABRSM grade 8.

        I just finished working on a Mike Springer arrangement of "Misty", so now I'm starting on an easy piano arrangement of Benny Goodman's "Stompin' at the Savoy".

        13 days later

        Opened my Faber again. Oh joy! it's more of the same old, same old. 🤮

        Short term project is Angeline Bell's Balestrand. 2 pages and I can finger my way through the first page (terribly) already. I need to back up and break up what I'm playing until I can play the segments properly. Maybe by the next PT recital it'll be ready. I said maybe so don't go getting your hopes up.

        Also started on Willie Nelson's version of Always On My Mind. I can almost play the RH for the first line. I emphasize almost because the melody is kicking my butt. It'll sound better after I learn the LH and put it together, but for right now it's just not working well because it's still too early in the learning process. This piece is a long term project of at least 6 months or so.

          Player1 Angeline Bell is a treasure and also a machine, writing so much new material in such a short amount of time. Did you see that she's just gotten yet another sheet music book out and has two more in the pipeline?

              plop_symphony

              Interesting news, I hadn't heard.

              I know that she takes inspiration from other music when writing her own pieces, which I'd consider normal. Maybe that's what drives her muse.

              Andrea Dow is just as prolific in her composing. They aren't the same and each has its own feel and technical/proficiency requirements to play their works well. I have books from both composers.

                I generally have 5 pieces in the works - a sight reading quick study, a Piano Adventures lesson piece, a classical piece, a non-classical piece and relearning an old non-classical repertoire piece that's been forgotten.

                My current batch of 5:

                Piano Man - Piano Adventures Adult Popular 2 book (4 page not-so-quick study piece for sight reading practice).
                Jazz Reflection - first piece in Piano Adventures level 5 book.
                Khachaturian's "A Little Song" (aka "Ivan Sings" or Andantino) from his Pictures of Childhood Book.
                Zigzag by Lee Evans.
                God Bless the Child (repertoire piece that I relearning).

                You all are juggling so many things, I am envious. So far, besides scales and arpeggios, my practice has always been limited to two pieces. Right now, they are:

                • Variations on a Theme by Haydn - polishing the pedaling and dynamics
                • Aria (Theme from La Traviata) - learning

                Once I can get a good enough recording of the second piece, I will start the next new one.

                  iternabe

                  Those of us on the lower levels also have lesson pieces to contend with. These weekly or bi-weekly pieces, plus a short term piece, and a longer term piece, usually makes 3 things going on at once. Which for most people is manageable without burning out.

                      Player1 I only started in January 2024. I am on the lower level! I will have lesson piece again when I start Faber AIO book 2. No long term piece yet, and I am fine with that.

                        TheBoringPianist with competitions over for the year, finally getting around to some of the pieces in my backlog. I guess I'll usually have a larger piece that will take on the order of a month or longer to learn — in this case, the Scriabin Fantaisie in B minor, Op. 28. I'm still trying to even finish reading through this to be honest lol. I've got the exposition mostly figured out and can read slowly through most of the rest, but the recapitulation B theme and coda A theme are giving me fits and I just end up skipping them every time in favor of the "easier" (read: less insane) parts. I'll probably need to dedicate significant time to each one separately.

                        Meanwhile, have been working through some smaller pieces as well over the last couple weeks:

                        • Blumenfeld - Etude for the Left Hand Alone, Op. 36
                        • Medtner - Fairy Tale in G# minor, Op. 31 No. 3
                        • Scarlatti - Sonata in G Major, K. 14

                        "You're a smart kid. But your playing is terribly dull."

                            In keeping with the upcoming change in season, I am working on my best imitation of Sangah Noona playing Autumn Leaves. (South Korean jazz pianist).