Michelle R's Profile - Tonebase Piano Community

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Re: Week 2: First Steps
@Mark Cooper Super cool! I love the clarity.
- Mom, fitness instructor, lover of music
- Michelle_Russell
- 3 mths ago
- 1
- The "Unfinished Business" Challenge
- Reported - view
Re: Week 2: First Steps
First of my week 2 updates: short practice sections, each measure on repeat (4x) then move to next measure. The goal is to move seamlessly from one measure to the next,…
- Mom, fitness instructor, lover of music
- Michelle_Russell
- 3 mths ago
- 8
- The "Unfinished Business" Challenge
- Reported - view
Re: Week 2: First Steps
For this week, I'm going to spend more time on the left hand especially where there are small leaps (practice in isolation, as well as with eyes closed slowly to feel topography of keyboard from one…
- Mom, fitness instructor, lover of music
- Michelle_Russell
- 3 mths ago
- 8
- The "Unfinished Business" Challenge
- Reported - view
Re: Anyone like to improvise?
@Peter Golemme If he records one, I'll send it to you. When he plays at church, he often improvises for several minutes on whatever I've sung for the meditation --- and makes sure to find a way to…
- Mom, fitness instructor, lover of music
- Michelle_Russell
- 3 mths ago
- 2
- Discussion of the Week
- Reported - view
Re: Week 1: A New Hope
@Dustin Anderson I haven't seen anything yet either.
- Mom, fitness instructor, lover of music
- Michelle_Russell
- 3 mths ago
- The "Unfinished Business" Challenge
- Reported - view
Re: Week 1: A New Hope
@Alexander Weymann I don't know this piece, but even just the LH alone looks super complex. I imagine even these sections took quite a bit of time just to work out! I'm impressed already!
- Mom, fitness instructor, lover of music
- Michelle_Russell
- 3 mths ago
- 1
- The "Unfinished Business" Challenge
- Reported - view
Re: Week 1: A New Hope
@Maria I typically only have tension of the bad variety when learning a new technique or just something new. Once I figure things out, I’m good.
- Mom, fitness instructor, lover of music
- Michelle_Russell
- 3 mths ago
- 1
- The "Unfinished Business" Challenge
- Reported - view
Re: Week 1: A New Hope
@Dustin Anderson Thanks, Dustin! The tension is much better. I spent considerable time working super slowly with the right hand, deliberately relaxing the thumb when it released the key.…
- Mom, fitness instructor, lover of music
- Michelle_Russell
- 3 mths ago
- The "Unfinished Business" Challenge
- Reported - view
Re: Week 1: A New Hope
@Maria Thanks. My teacher encourages me to move quickly as soon as possible, because I tend to linger in slow-practice-land. My son, on the other hand, is encouraged (same teacher) to SLOW DOWN his…
- Mom, fitness instructor, lover of music
- Michelle_Russell
- 3 mths ago
- 2
- The "Unfinished Business" Challenge
- Reported - view
Re: Week 1: A New Hope
@Vidhya Bashyam Thanks, Vidhya. Slow practice and I get along quite well!
- Mom, fitness instructor, lover of music
- Michelle_Russell
- 3 mths ago
- The "Unfinished Business" Challenge
- Reported - view
Re: Week 1: A New Hope
End of week one, I can actually play all the way through at a relatively steady, albeit devastatingly slow, pace reminiscent of a slow-motion scene in a horror movie (actually,…
- Mom, fitness instructor, lover of music
- Michelle_Russell
- 3 mths ago
- 4
- The "Unfinished Business" Challenge
- Reported - view
Re: The Official Lisztomaniac Complete Transcendental Etudes Challenge!
@Maria I often, but not always, listen to the piece first, then I look for patterns and similarities. Then fingering. When I begin practicing, I group similar sections into practice segments,…
- Mom, fitness instructor, lover of music
- Michelle_Russell
- 3 mths ago
- Upcoming Challenges and Two Week Intensives!
- Reported - view
Re: The Official Lisztomaniac Complete Transcendental Etudes Challenge!
@Noel Nguyen great! I find it intriguing how different everyone's learning styles are. Thurmond is a big-picture-first learner, and after he has his vision he then goes back to the details.…
- Mom, fitness instructor, lover of music
- Michelle_Russell
- 3 mths ago
- 1
- Upcoming Challenges and Two Week Intensives!
- Reported - view
Re: Week 1: A New Hope
@Dustin Anderson Lovely playing. I enjoyed the clarity and how I could hear everything in all those layers! Very cool. And your set-up reminds me of Thurmond's first private teacher's set-up.…
- Mom, fitness instructor, lover of music
- Michelle_Russell
- 3 mths ago
- The "Unfinished Business" Challenge
- Reported - view
Re: Michelle's Diary of a Beginning Pianist
@Peter William Thanks so much, Peter! I had always wanted to play the piano. It's wonderful to begin fulfulling a life-long dream. 😊
- Mom, fitness instructor, lover of music
- Michelle_Russell
- 3 mths ago
- Your Practice Diary
- Reported - view
Re: Week 1: A New Hope
@Alexander Weymann "Hopelessly devoted"?
- Mom, fitness instructor, lover of music
- Michelle_Russell
- 3 mths ago
- 2
- The "Unfinished Business" Challenge
- Reported - view
Re: Week 1: A New Hope
@Noel Nguyen Dang! Looking forward to the full meal deal!
- Mom, fitness instructor, lover of music
- Michelle_Russell
- 3 mths ago
- 2
- The "Unfinished Business" Challenge
- Reported - view
Re: The Official Lisztomaniac Complete Transcendental Etudes Challenge!
Thurmond's teacher has approved either #6 or #11. As soon as Thurmond has decided, he'll post his preferred etude to the group.
- Mom, fitness instructor, lover of music
- Michelle_Russell
- 3 mths ago
- 2
- Upcoming Challenges and Two Week Intensives!
- Reported - view
Re: Anyone like to improvise?
My son, @Thurmond R, improvises often and as a result many of his compositions have an improvisitory feel to them. In fact, one reason we ended up with his current teacher was because he wanted to…
- Mom, fitness instructor, lover of music
- Michelle_Russell
- 3 mths ago
- 1
- Discussion of the Week
- Reported - view
Re: Mastering Tricky Passages and answering your questions!
@Dustin Anderson Hi Dustin! Thanks for the input. I am releasing my RH thumb from the key, but upon further inspection I noticed that I am not relaxing it.…
- Mom, fitness instructor, lover of music
- Michelle_Russell
- 3 mths ago
- Live Calendar
- Reported - view
Re: Mastering Tricky Passages and answering your questions!
@Noel Nguyen @Noel Nguyen said: (he king, me pawn) Haha! That gave me quite a chuckle - especially since I won a chess game against Thurmond with a pawn (granted,…
- Mom, fitness instructor, lover of music
- Michelle_Russell
- 3 mths ago
- 1
- Live Calendar
- Reported - view
Re: Mastering Tricky Passages and answering your questions!
@Noel Nguyen Thurmond spent the month of March working with Filippo Gorini, and one of the many wonderful things he taught in their lessons was: fingering is a very personal thing,…
- Mom, fitness instructor, lover of music
- Michelle_Russell
- 3 mths ago
- 2
- Live Calendar
- Reported - view
Re: Mastering Tricky Passages and answering your questions!
Any general advice for maintaining relaxation in the right hand while learning the Bach Little Prelude in c minor (BWV 999)? Things that have helped: I have changed the fingering my teacher gave me…
- Mom, fitness instructor, lover of music
- Michelle_Russell
- 3 mths ago
- Live Calendar
- Reported - view
Re: Week 1: A New Hope
@Alexander Weymann Thanks, Alex. It’s quite a lot of fun to play. This section, at least, still seems to be in my fingers. The biggest challenge I have (then and now) is relaxing my right hand.
- Mom, fitness instructor, lover of music
- Michelle_Russell
- 3 mths ago
- 1
- The "Unfinished Business" Challenge
- Reported - view
Re: Week 1: A New Hope
@Aaron Lovely playing; such a rich sound.
- Mom, fitness instructor, lover of music
- Michelle_Russell
- 3 mths ago
- 2
- The "Unfinished Business" Challenge
- Reported - view

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