Week 3-4: Playing Comfortable for someone!
Hello and welcome to the WEEK THREE Main Thread for this challenge! 
Hope that you are having a wonderful end of year and festive holiday celebrations!
Alright everyone - this is the thread where we'll all be posting our daily updates.
Make sure you've read the rules before replying (<- click)
Twice a week between December 28 - January 6 I hope to be reading your daily updates in this very thread right here!
Here is this week's assignment!
1. Play for someone, but focus on being comfortable!
2. Don't worry about mistakes, we are working on something different! We will fix the mistakes after this run through!
3. Record your run through so you can go back and mark down what went wrong and went well!
4. Come to the forums and let us know how things went! What do you need to work on? What went well? It is great to be detailed so that you can really keep a good record of what to improve!
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Would anybody be interested in doing a small zoom setup for this weeks run though with someone watching? I was thinking Monday as my office is closed for New Years Day. Send me a PM if you’re interested and we can coordinate a time!
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Michael Sure, Michael !! x
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Michael oh yes, I would. I was going to apologize to Dominic and skip this assignment as I'm not very good and don't want to inflict my playing on any of my friends!! It's a short piece (Bach invention #2). Would that be okay?
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Michael yes, this would be great if the time works out. I played for my son, but I play for him every day so I don't think it counts. :-) I'll send a PM.
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Gillian It looks like we are in the same time zone, so if it doesn't work out with Michael we could play for each other via zoom.
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Michelle R Thanks. Sounds good!
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Michael I just saw this message. Missed it.
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In the middle of this community challenge I have discovered Penelope Roskell and decided to completely overhaul my technique! So I am doing her daily warm-ups, and from now until Jan 7th parachute touch and cantabile slur exercises, plus nimble finger touch exercises... I love Tonebase!!
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Gillian I am planning to dive into her workshops once the holidays are over. I bought her book as a gift to myself, and it just arrived yesterday. I'm hoping her book in combination with the lessons on Tonebase will help me to learn correct technique.
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Michelle R Love it! I just ordered the book today as I received an Amazon gift certificate for Christmas! It won’t arrive until early February, so I’ll use the Tonebase lessons until then.
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Thanks to Michael , Michelle R and Will Green for participateing in the zoom run-through today. It was great meeting you, learning a little bit about your piano journeys and hearing you play. And thanks also for providing a supportive place in which we less advanced students can learn. That means a lot. I was more nervous than anticipated, and blew things I thought were secure! But I was keeping a note of which bars they were so I can go back and work on them. It was definitely a worthwhile, if slightly terrifying, exercise!
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Gillian Penelope Roskell is just brilliant!
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It was a challenge to be comfortable while playing in front of others! I didn't quite access "comfort," but It wasn't dreadful either. What I noticed:
- I thought I was playing very quickly, but when I listened back to the recording I was playing at the tempo I had planned.
- I made errors in places I don't usually make errors. My fingers were nervous, and my thinking got ahead of my fingers in places.
- I found that I was trying to listen to the people who were listening to me, while at the same time trying to remember how to play the piano!
IOW, my focus was not very focused. - When I made errors, I was able to pick it right up without too much pause.
- A thought for me: When I was an athlete, I knew how to harness the nervous energy and use it to enhance my performance - indeed, when I wasn't nervous my performances weren't as good! I need to learn how to harness this energy and use it as an aid in my playing, thereby making it a positive part of performing rather than the negative it currently is.
Thank you Michael , Gillian , and Will Green for gathering via Zoom. It was a lot of fun to hear your playing today.
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Michelle R Such a great time with you and everyone!!! xx
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Thanks to ALICE for hosting a Zoom session today for us to practice playing in front of each other. I definitely felt a lot more pressure when I played for her. It was such a great experience.
I also recorded myself afterwards (not during the live Zoom meeting). I could play it a bit faster than last time, but I think I really need to pay attention to a few places where I tend to make mistakes or lose the sync between both hands when I speed up.
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AJ Thanks for watching me play. I feel completely exposed when playing for an audience. I can hardly access the "being comfortable" part.
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AJ I enjoy the lightness and "bounce" in your playing of this Gavotte, and I wonder if (ALICE) we might consider forming a beginner/not-quite-so-advanced playing group that can meet periodically to play for each other via Zoom so we can find our way to "comfort."
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Michelle R Would love to! What have you been playing lately?
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Michelle R Thank you! I think that's a great idea!
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AJ ALICE I've been playing for less than a year. The only piece I've completed and know (other than pieces from the piano technique book I've used) is the G Major Minuet from the Anna Magdalena Notebook. I've begun working on Mozart's G Major Minuet, plan to work on the g minor minuet in the Anna Magdalena Notebook, and spend time learning scales. I have other goals (Scarlatti K32; various smaller pieces by Bach). I don't have a teacher, but my son (who does have a teacher) helps me out as needed. I was surprised at how nervous I was when I played in front of the small zoom-group on Monday.
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Michelle R Those Minuets are not easy to play well. I made a lot more progress once I got a private teacher. I love K32 too! Are you playing at the community concert?
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ALICE I'm not sure if I'll play at the Communiity Concert yet. I'll probably decide on Friday.
I'd love to have a private piano teacher, but right now the budget only allows my son to have one. Perhaps in another year!
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AJ Beautiful :) x
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Will Green Thank you!
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Michelle R Those are great pieces! I love them too! Since you use to be a gymnast you must have amazing body control/coordination and competition experience, which would definitely make it easier for you to learn the piano and perform in front of people. Piano, in my opinion, is pretty much like sport: you have coordinate different muscles to achieve the effects that you desire. I look forward to seeing your progress！
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