NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS! š„³š¹š„
Happy New Year to the whole tonebase Piano community!
As much we may love the piano, itās not so easy to set goals and stay committed to realizing them over the course of a yearā¦ at least, itās not so easy to do this alone, which is how I often try (and fail) to undertake such goals.
Thatās why Iāve created this thread. Here is a place for anyone and everyone in the tonebase community to come up with your individual piano-related New Yearās resolutions and support each other in our efforts to realize them.
PARTICIPATION
- Make a post below to announce your piano-goals for the new year,
- over the coming days, weeks, and months, use the sub-thread of your own post to keep us all updated us on your progress (videos encouraged!)
- and in the meantime, scroll through to read each otherās resolutions and click āreplyā to offer advice or words of encouragement.
RULES
- Please try to keep conversations within sub-threads, and only make a single new post to share your resolutions. This will help keep the mega-thread clean so we can navigate more easily and check in on each other.
- Keep in mind that there are people of all ages and ability levels in the tonebase community, so if youāre one of the more advanced ones donāt gloat about it, and if youāre a novice donāt be shy.
- If you donāt want to share your goals, youāre still welcome to comment on other membersā thread.
SEE MORE SEYMOUR
- Watch the inspiring new video from Seymour Bernstein (see below) where he gives new year's advice to pianists from all walks of life. And, if you ever feel discouraged or stuck, this video is always there for you!
MY RESOLUTIONS
- I will go first! Iām supposed to play Rachmaninoffās 2nd Concerto (henceforth: āRach 2ā) with an orchestra in the fall. Iām usually a terrible procrastinator with learning new music, so my resolutions will try to counteract that:
- I resolve to give a beautiful, original, and confident performance of Rach 2 this coming fall!
- I resolve to have the full piece learned by the summer, with the 1st movement memorized and in my fingers by February 1, the 2nd movement by April 1 (Rachās birthday), and the 3rd movement by June 1.
- To get there, I resolve to practice the piece a minimum of 30 minutes every weekday, and 2 hours each on Saturday and Sunday.
- Finally, I commit to mindful practice, enjoying playing the piece slowly and carefully (itās sounds great slow), and always listening.
NOW ITāS YOUR TURN! LET'S GO! š š¹š¤
181 replies
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My resolution for 2022 was to find a duet partner, and I've managed to find 4 (3 pianists, 1 violist). My resolution is to enjoy our time together and not get in my head about perfection.
I think I'm also going to go with Seymour's advice to spend 10-15 minutes a day playing tunes by ear. Six months is small investment to have that intervallic skill.
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That's a great resolution., Leah Olson, I'm stealing it. Out here in the middle of nowhere (Kerhonkson, NY, in case I've missed someone) it's a bit difficult. Too bad WI isn't nearer. Good luck.
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I really enjoyed the Seymour video!
I'm not really a resolution person, but my plan is to continue my current path working on an AA degree in piano. I had a good first semester this fall and hope to build on that, learning more music that is challenging but doable while being kind to myself (and others).
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I am old and retired, so my first resolution is to make it through another year!
1- I belong to two in-person piano groups and one online group (in addition to tonebase), so I would like to play in as many recitals and informal meetings as possible.
2- My wife is a clarinetist, and we collaborate as much as we can. I am the weak link, since the piano parts are so difficult, but I would like to continue this tradition as much as possible.
3- Play some more American music. Last year I performed Ives "Alcotts" from the Concord Sonata in a couple of recitals, and this year I would like do the Gershwin Preludes and hopefully the Barber Nocturne.
4- Do a few of the "easier" Chopin pieces. I have the Henle collection of 17 pieces in progressive order of difficulty. Better to play the easier pieces well that the harder pieces poorly!
Sounds like a lot!
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Ugh, Sorry, and I hate to be THAT person, but a long time ago I read somewhere that announcing goals out load publicly makes you LESS likely to achieve them! It didn't take long to search a site that confirmed this! https://www.inc.com/melissa-chu/announcing-your-goals-makes-you-less-likely-to-ach.html. So with that in mind- here goes: I HEARBY AM NOT VOWING TO 1) Practice More 2) Memorize My Pieces 3) Perform More 4) Compose More 5) Be More Organized 6) Spend Less Money 7) Spend More Time with Family 8) Sit Up Straighter 9) Love and Pray More 10) Be Positive 11) Stop being THAT person! Happy New Year to all the wonderfully talented people on ToneBase!
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Fabulous interview with Seymour.
As an octogenarian hobbyist my 2023 goal is to prepare a short concert for my friends and neighbors entitled "A Taste of Debussy while sipping French wine". I will perform mostly early, beautiful pieces by that genius and satisfy my desire to share his music.
Thanks for the great idea for us Tonebasers,
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My resolution is two-fold: to create a repertoire by revisiting pieces I already know. Polish and memorize and "live" with those pieces and aim to cycle through them regularly. And secondly, to explore, learn, and understand deeply new pieces that I can add to that repertoire. These along with improving my technique and musicianship.