Michelle's Diary of a Beginning Pianist
Welcome to my practice diary.
Many, many years ago (approximately 35!) I played Double Bass, so while I am not new to music I am new to piano. I decided to get "serious" about learning to play in October/November of 2022, learning on my own at first.
I'm editing this in December of 2023. It's been an interesting year - I took my first piano lesson in January, which resulted in an injury and what ended up being about 3 months away from the instrument (after I realized I shouldn't be playing at all). I wasn't sure I would be able to play again, so I deleted all videos that I had made previously. In May, my son needed to switch teachers again as the teacher he had started working with in January just did not work out. So I began to consider re-starting my own journey of piano adventures. My son and I both have the same teacher, now, and I am beginning to feel more confident and am thoroughly enjoying learning not only how to play the piano, but lots of other fun musical stuff. We sing solfege, too (I may or may not post videos of this!), which I have found to enrich my personal enjoyment of listening to music - and I've always loved to sing, even if my voice isn't so wonderful.
Comments are welcome - I look forward to seeing everyone in the various challenges and community concerts!
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I love your ornaments! Looking forward to hearing more of the piece :-)
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I'm attempting to learn (and memorize) 1/4 of this piece each week. I made it to week 2 and have it learned and memorized with only slight pauses. Still working on wrist position - lowered the bench and it helped - but thinking about wrist as well as fingers and music means that the flow of the piece is just not there (ie, not making it a menuet). I'll get there! I'm super proud of myself for having learned any of it, and it feels wonderful to be able to play this little bit of music. :-)
Still having trouble with my strange little finger. I remember when I played Bass as a teen that my little finger would often get stuck in position (bow hand), and it seems that there may be a ligament issue that is something I cannot correct.
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Michelle R sounds like it's coming along nicely!
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Michelle R It's great that you started playing the piano! So glad that you are having fun :)
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Week four update: I finished memorizing and can make it through the piece with only a few mistakes (and some tempo irregularities!). I've noticed in memorizing this piece over the past month that my memory has improved in other areas as well. Not a bad side-effect! I'll learn some Mozart for November while continuing to work on this piece, adding the repeats and seeing what fun I can have with it.
To anyone who listens to the video, I apologize profusely for the missed note on the final chord. Yikes! Sorry!
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Michelle R Fantastic! I'm so glad you're pleased with your progress because you should be. Bach is always a mental workout because it requires a lot of independence between the two hands. I really liked your articulation, and I think you captured the spirit of the piece. Beautiful tone as well. I think that's a good choice to memorize if you really enjoy the piece. I can't get to the same place of freedom when I'm reading a piece versus playing it from memory. It does take longer, though. Have fun with Mozart. Can't wait to hear!
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Well, I spent the last two weeks trying to learn a short section of the Mozart C Major Sonata K545, knowing it was above my level but choosing to challenge myself. I didn't get very far, but it was time well spent. Now, I'll return to my original plan which is to learn a short Mozart piece in two weeks: Minuet in G, K.1e (yes, another minuet in G...I'll branch out after this one).
I'm still working on the previous piece - now that I pretty much have all the notes under my fingers, I'll work on a steady rhythm as there are still a few places where I get finger-tied and pause, or slow down. Once I have the rhythm more steady I'll consider adding the repeats with ornamentation.
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Michelle R I think stretch goals are always worth it. K545 is a gem, and you'll be ready to play it before you know it. Looking forward to the next Minuet!
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Leah Olson Thank you, Leah. I hope to have a recording done this weekend.
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Michelle R I came across a piece you might like. A Sonatina in G Major by Beethoven. You can find the score on IMSLP. Might be a nice thing to try after your minuet :-)
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Leah Olson Thanks for thinking of me, Leah! G Major is such a happy key - we probably already have this since my son loves to play anything by Beethoven.
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I meant to post sooner, but we were thrown a curve ball last week. My son's piano teacher let us know that she would be unable to continue lessons with him after their recital (December 17). So, I spent time that I would normally have been practicing looking into the teachers she recommended and also checking other options. Where we live, there aren't any teachers that can help my son with his goals - to get to an appropriate teacher would require 3-4 hours of travel each way for a one hour lesson, so we have instead relied on online lessons. Thankfully the pandemic caused many excellent teachers to transition to online lessons, so his teacher for the past 18 months lived on the other side of the country. I'm hopeful that the teacher he's having a trial lesson with in a week and a half will be a good fit (this teacher is in a doctoral program in the Southeast US). She encourages her intermediate/advanced students to work toward certification with the Royal Conservatory. I've often wondered about that program. One of my friends, who now lives in the midwest, has voice, piano, and theory certificates through the RC and recommended it highly for my son.
Now, to me! I worked on the Mozart Minuet in G, K1e this week. I've decided to use the sheet music from the ToneBase download - the music I had was only half the length of the one on ToneBase. I've made it through the first 1/4. I've also been in the Bach TWI, so have been dividing my time among the Mozart, a short Bach Chorale, and continuing to improve the Minuet from the Anna Magdalena Notebook.
Here is my progress video for the week.
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Michelle R Glad to see your post! I hope the Bach TWI is going well. I was tempted to join, but it was too much with the holidays. Sorry to hear that your son needs to find a new teacher, though I agree, there's a lot of wonderful teachers online. I haven't worked through any of the RC stuff, but I think it really helps with all around musicianship. I've been working with a different teacher on composition and sight reading who is an RC examiner in the UK, and he's been wonderful. Hoping to post a new sight-reading video on Friday.
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I was unable to practice as much as I would have like over the holidays, so progress on the little Mozart minuet has stalled. I have worked a bit more on the Menuet from the Anna Magdalena Notebook. I'll post it below.
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Michelle R BEAUTIFUL!!! I love this piece, fond memories with it. Thank you +
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Michelle R So glad to see your post! I really like the balance between the two hands, and you have nice long lines in the soprano part. Well done!
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First post of my new journey:
This is a piece I've been working on for a couple of months - "By the Seaside" by Jean Louis Gobbearts. It's posted also in the end of the year community challenge, but I wanted to leave it here as well. I'm learning to use the pedal with this piece, which I think went pretty well! Over the next couple of weeks, I'm going to work on some dynamic changes.
I'm also working on a Menuet en Rondeau by Rameau, but it's early days with that one. I'll consider whether or not to post an 'at the beginning' video! A new piece is on its way, which I'll work on over the holidays.
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Here is the Rameau piece I've been working on for just over a month: Menuet en Rondeau. It has been enjoyable to learn. I wish I'd filmed myself earlier, as I noticed something I'm doing (or not doing) when watching the video. But at least now I can go back and make a (hopefully) simple correction to my right hand!!
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Michelle R Beautiful Michelle!
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Will Green Thanks so much, Will!! I've missed you, brother. I hope all is well.
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Will Green So happy you are back!
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Beethoven Sonatina in G Major: began working on this on April 13. I plan to post how I'm working on this with regular updates (hopefully!!) so I can see the progress I make. It already feels like progress is "slow," but day three does have me somewhat successfully playing the Coda with the LH blocking, trying to maintain a steady (slow) tempo. It's getting there. I've also started the exposition hands separately, but haven't recorded it yet.
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This month was the fresh start, new piece challenge and interestingly enough, I started 3 new pieces this month! So, here is the Mozart k2 Minuet which I've had for about 2 weeks. I'm trying different bench heights - I think this might be just a bit too low in this video, but my wrists are looking much better. (I really do own more than one shirt.....)
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So, here is where I am at 14 days in on the Beethoven Sonatina in G major. I have provisionally memorized it (meaning, I just finished my memorization today and it's not solid, yet), and can play through with hands together at a super-slow tempo. Now, I'll start working small bits to get them up to tempo, with dynamic contrast, and correct articulation.
(I tend to hunch over when trying to play from memory - something else to work on!!)
Warning - this is slow, and not so steady...and is 3 and a half minutes long.
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Beethoven Sonatina G Major mvmnt I, week three progress. It is now in a listenable condition! Hopefully ready to move on to mvmnt II in a week or so!!
