Week 3: Keep the Momentum
By now, the challenge is getting real!
You’ve chosen your piece, spent time with it, and hopefully started to hear it take shape. But this is also the point where things can get hard. The easy excitement of beginning fades a little, and you’re left with the more important part: staying with it.
That’s what Week 3 is about.
Not perfection. Not having everything solved. Just continuing, even when the going gets tough.
Maybe you’ve hit a section that still won’t settle. Maybe progress feels slower than you hoped. Maybe you’re realizing how much more there is to do. That’s normal. In fact, it’s part of the process. This is often the exact moment when real growth happens, if you just keep showing up!
This week, the goal is simple: keep the moving forward!
Even a small step matters:
- one passage a little steadier
- one phrase a little freer
- one practice session where you stayed patient
- one moment where the music started to sound as you like
That is momentum.
This week, share where you are right now:
- a short clip from your practice
- a passage that’s improving
- a place where you’re still stuck
- or a few thoughts on what it’s been like to stay with the piece
And if you need, share what might be frustrating you, too.
We are all in this together.
Week 4 will be about recording. This week is about building the resilience to get there.
Keep going. Stay with it. You may be closer than you think.
167 replies
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Time sure goes real fast suddenly, doesn't it?
Here is my practice video for this week. During practice I'm mostly trying to disengage my training wheels, which means my muscle memory. I don't believe muscle memory ever needs to be deliberately practiced, as it comes with the repetitions anyway. In fact, I find it better to forcefully try to disengage it during practice, in order to reinforce the other memory modalities., hence all the pauses. Most of the time I fail, but when I succeed, it reveals weak spots that would otherwise only be revealed in performance (when it matters). I call it unmasking the devil! Remember, the devil's ultimate treachery is convincing the world the devil does not exist. So when I can unmask it during practice, it is a major victory, albeit uncomfortable, as you can see and hear in the video. (Warning: there will be screams and grunts, but the cursing has been removed.) And oh yea, there is also a head transplant. The reason for this is that I tried to replicate 's top down camera view, only to be horrified to see that my giant head was obstructing the view of the keyboard! I couldn't decapitate it, but I did plaster a picture of a random guy's head on mine, because I don't like my gray hair. The vanity! The plus side is that it makes the video more interesting, not to mention extremely funny:
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Arghhhh! I posted something yesterday which is still labeled "pending review", which I think means you can't see it yet. I'm already 2 Weeks behind the rest of you. So here's the link to my equivalent of a "Week 1" post, which will have to suffice until the Robo police decide upon my punishment**:
So here it is, half-memorized, most of the notes learned, but not yet performable:
Rachmaninoff Prelude in Bb Minor, Op. 32 No. 2, Unfinished
**I'm not sure what my offense was, but I did use a common word that describes the emotional peak or high point of my piece.
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I have just returned from an amazing trip to Montana! Needless to say, I didn't touch a piano for 8 days! Then when I got home and caught up on things....another day had gone by. Every time I looked at the piano I thought "ok, just sit down and play for crying out loud - you won't have forgotten everything" and thankfully.... very pleased was I! Somethings even sounded better! Now that I am back in the saddle - (and I was in a saddle in Montana) I am getting caught up on lesson repertoire and the music for this challenge - Wild/Gershwin Embraceable You. My biggest challenge with this piece is mental and physical pacing. I am working on finding places to regroup mentally and physically before getting to certain rapid passages. Also continuing to bring out the melody. I am not a Jedi yet - haha!
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Week 3 Update - Mouvement (Images I, Debussy)
This week's practice has been a bit frustrating as I have been unwell for much of the week and it is difficult to concentrate effectively on such challenging music when you do not feel clear-headed. My original plan for the week was to try and record a complete A and a complete B section but I realized that was going to be too big a goal, so I just focused on the complete A section. This opening section proved to be quite difficult to record to my satisfaction but I have included one of the better attempts below. I am sure it will feel a little less 'slippery' as I get back to feeling normal and have a bit more time with it to finesse some of the pedal work.