2024 NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS!

Repertoire Goal: Moonlight Sonata

Fur Elise and Bach: Invention #8 in F#

Lifestyle Goal: Practice every morning and evening for 30 minutes

Personal Goal: Play the three songs memorized in front of a group of friends (gulp!)

1. repertoire goals

I don’t have much free time aside from the scores I have to learn as well as the pieces I must play with students, but I would like to re-learn “Et Incarnatus Est” from Mozart’s c minor mass and record it with a friend. I also want to prepare a short program of Spirituals to perform with one of my voice students. Finally, I should learn the third movement of Mozart K545 since I have a student who is playing it, and I never studied it!

2. Lifestyle goals

I need to organize my apartment!

3. Personal Goals

I need to buy a new car.
 

4. Anything else?

 In 2024 I want to play the piano with ease and free from shoulder tension.

I want to learn how to play a concerto properly and am looking for someone to teach me maybe one or two lessons. 

As I combine with a playback, I realize that I am always a little bit faster ie rushing or out of tempo. 

Maybe someone can help me? 

Thanks in advance. 

I am an adult beginner (54) - having started to learn some 6 years ago with no prior knowledge of Western Classical Music - began at the very beginning with learning to read sheet music. Took me nearly 4 years to get a hang of how to practice and where I am heading, etc. In January 2023, I decided to sit Trinity College London Piano digital exams - did my Grade 1 and now gearing up to submit Grade 2. Passed the TCL Music Theory exams Grade 1 and 2.

In 2024 I hope to:

1. Submit my Grade 2 exam material for marking by end of January.

2. Learn Prezold minuets in G major and G minor (ToneBase lessons)

3. Re-learn Chopin Prelude in A major (learnt it a few years ago, with little overall control - want to revisit and see if my fine motor control is any better!)

4. Prepare for Grade 3 TCL exams, both Piano and Theory.

5. But the most important goal is to expose myself to performing-in-front-of-others, to be able to share without going to pieces and without the post-performance destructive self-criticism. As I write I realise that to do that one has to be deeply humble - how else does one really learn?

To this end, I am going to set up my YouTube channel and post pieces I intend to 'practice for performance' and share it with friends, once a month (hopefully). I might start my Practice Diary thread in this Community - did not consider it before. Active engagement and feedback and learning from each other are excellent goals in a community but I am guilty of minimal engagement and the main reason for this is lack to time (being in a full time high-pressure job). Indeed, the reason to learn piano in the first place, apart from having always wanted to, is more for therapeutic reasons that anything else. A practice session is often like active meditation now, with the mind engaged in something as healing as music making.

Dominic, Dominic Cheli , I was wondering about the thread to post what we are working on for feedback from you - a kind of masterclass where you are giving feedback when there are two-three posts. Is that still active? Would be wonderful to have your guidance of the specific pieces which I want to particularly build up to performance level, pieces I can play anywhere, anytime!

Thank you for this space and time,

Happy 2024!

Rashmi

Repertoire/Musical goals:

• So many pieces on the wish list but my top pick is Chopin Polonaise op 71 no 1. Hopefully one more Chopin Etude and more of Bach Sinfonia.
• Learn to memorise when learning a new piece right from day 1

Lifestyle goals:

Less procrastination and more discipline in dealing with chores

Personal goals:

Keep improving, and feel more at ease interacting with people.

Happy New Year tonebase community! Here’s to a great and musical 2024. I hope you have all had good holidays.

Whilst working on the Schubert challenge, and several times last year, I was thinking that I hadn’t been playing much Beethoven recently. So, I’ve had the crazy idea to revise many of the sonatas that I have learned, but also to learn some of the ones that I have not played in the past. I have played most of the ones with titles, although not the Hammerklavier and I don’t see me playing that any time soon if I’m honest. But I thought I would start at the beginning with the first one in F minor, and continue to learn/revise the first 12 over the course of this year.

One a month. How crazy is that?

But I would also like to work on the Chopin studies.

I was very interested in the Cortot exercises that were discussed in an earlier challenge last year, so, I was thinking to add one study per month as well , this is probably truly crazy.

I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep this up, although the holiday month has been quite busy and I have made a reasonable start to the first two of each opus so this is where I’m going to start from.

January will be Beethoven Sonata Op. No. 1 in F minor which I have never played before, and Chopin study Opus, 25, No. 1.

Hopefully I will be playing some of these in the online concerts.

Right now I’m off to practice!