New Regimen for Piano

My return to the piano, begun about a year ago, has continued largely without break. In addition to picking up a lot of the pieces I used to know, I have learned a new piece: Beethoven's Sonatina in G. More recently, I had felt my fingers getting 'mixed up' or even feeling stiff as I was playing. It was very frustrating, especially in some of the more difficult passages where I needed to be nimble. Right about that time, I went away on vacation and then more recently I was sick for a week and a half. So my practicing was curtailed for a good period.

What I found upon returning was that my playing was more relaxed, a bit slower, and the 'mixed up' stiff feeling in my fingers is completely gone. I think what was happening is that I was blowing through these pieces I was familiar with. I was 'practicing', not playing. It brought to mind something that I read from a Zen master who was explaining the purpose of Zen studies. To explain, he used a music metaphor and said (I'm paraphrasing): "the purpose of listening to a piece of music is not to get to the end." Meaning that it's the music itself we enjoy, and the completion of the task (listening) is not the point.

I think this goes for playing music as well. I was getting to much into 'practicing' and playing all these songs a certain amount of times each week. What was happening is that it was becoming a task, not a performance, and I was playing faster as a result. This is what led to my hands getting gummed up. Now that I'm really playing again, the legato lines are nicer, the errors are far fewer, and the MUSIC is back in what I can hear myself playing.

I've decided to alter my practice regimen as an experiment. The pieces that I have down, I am going to limit myself to playing once a week or when the mood strikes me. The new piece and the Diabelli sonatina I'm still relearning will be the core of my practice, plus a new sonatina by Clementi (totally new not picking it back up) and Bach's Air for G (again totally new piece). I'm also not going to relearn any more older pieces. The goal is to keep my grasp of the material I have relearned because I do like it, but to put the focus on picking up new material. Seems like trying new material is the best way to challenge myself as a performer and grow, not slogging through material I have already learned.

Practicing this way seems to take a weight off me. It's not that it's easier really. It's probably actually harder because I'm working with material I'm not familiar with and trying to learn it. However, there is a freshness in my practice sessions now. I feel like I'm learning...and that it is what this is supposed to be about.

We'll see how it goes.

Progress in Piano

Been working and travelling for work a lot, so haven't been blogging much.

I've continued practicing my piano and was very encouraged by how quickly I picked up some of the pieces I used to know, such as Prelude in C Major (Bach), Fur Elise (Beethoven), Valse Sentimentale (Schubert), and some preludes by Chopin. However, I could feel my hands were not managing the pieces with the dexterity they had 10-15 years ago when I was last playing.

Hanon

Since I've stuck with this for a few months, I decided it was okay to buy a new book. A very practical purchase though. The only exercise books I had are the ones from my youth (Fingerpower, Know Your Scales and Arpeggios). The first was just too simplistic for me as an adult learner, and the second - while a good resource - seems more about getting familiar with sharps and flats in each key and the basic chords. So I bought Hanon's The Virtuoso Pianist, which is an exercise book written more than a hundred years ago. Playing these pieces is a time-tested way to improve strength, so I now start my practice sessions working here. Apparently, once you learn all sixty exercises, you can play the whole book in an hour. Lofty goal indeed, but why not? I need practice with the basics!

Getting my strength and fingering back up to par should help me reconquer my old repertoire with more control, plus aid me as I re-learn some other pieces: Sonatina in G Major (Diabelli) and Pachelbel's Canon in D.  And, just to keep things interesting, I felt it was important to learn some completely new pieces: Beethoven's Sonatina in G Major (and then continue to work in the Sonatina album) and "Vittorio, Mio Core" a great Italian art song by Carissimi.

Maybe as I get into the Christmas break, I'll work up enough nerve to post of a video of my playing? Hmmm...

Back to Piano...still!

A while back, I posted that I had gotten back to playing piano. Well, I have stuck with it! Long ago, I had a fairly decent repertoire for a beginner. Almost all classical music. None of it was super difficult stuff; it's mostly the kinds of pieces "any serious student has in their repertoire" (according to the one of the books of sheet music I have).  I've really enjoyed getting into this again; it activates a whole other part of my brain.

Chopin

One of my favorite composers to play (that sounds pretty presumptuous since I haven't got scads of composers that I play!) is Chopin. He was born in Poland, so he's a countryman. His stuff is really emotional, and there's a somberness to some of his pieces that I really love. I'm re-learning a couple of his preludes and a waltz. Some of the pieces are really short so they are quick learns. But some of the chords this guy has in his music! It's like you have to stretch your thumb and pinky as far as possible in opposite directions and it's still almost impossible. I think I read somewhere that he had a very wide reach with his hands. Must be true, because the sheet music offers alternate ways to play some of the chords so that you lose one of the outside notes. And that's good, because there's a few chords that I physically cannot do!

I'm also relearning a sonatina by Diabelli that I used to be able to play all the way through. Much longer piece with different sections/movements/whatever you call them.  Diabelli is much more light and happy in tone. He's a good antidote to all the Chopin. 

The best part of this is the mental break it offers. I come home for lunch, eat, and zip through a couple pieces. After I'm done it's like I've taken a mental bath. My mind feels clearer and I'm more relaxed and in a happier state of mind. I think it's because I have to focus so much on my playing that my mind just ejects any extra baggage sloshing around in my skull.

One thing I've never done is play in front of anyone. Jim hears me sometimes, but he's not really listening, and I really try to practice as much as possible when I'm alone.  In fact, I'm not sure I could play in front of someone. Maybe when I get a better handle on some of these pieces. For now, though, this is a very private thing.

Back to Piano!

The creative resurgence continues....

Just the other day, for no specific reason, I just had an urge to sit and play piano...and I could still rattle of the first several bars of Fur Elise by heart. Talk about something being stuck in long term memory! It was utterly effortless and I barely even had to think, my hands just knew where to go.

I've been coming home for lunch each day and getting fifteen minutes of practice in and then maybe a little bit when I get home. I'm picking up some of my old repertoire: a couple preludes I love by Chopin, Valse Sentimentale (Schubert), and a sonatina by Diabelli that I learned all the way through ten years ago. I'm so happy to be back on it. We'll see if this lasts.

Makes me not feel so bad about all the years I wasn't creative...you really can always come back to it.