Friday, May 23, 2008

Not much (piano) going on this week

Two factors have, happily, conspired against my playing any piano this week. First, we had a good week of weather. Spring is no longer a rumor around these parts, it's actually happening. We've been outside with the kids pretty much every free moment we've had. Second, Jillian and Jason have begun traipsing up and down the street without training wheels. At first, this required that I run alongside, saving them from potential catastrophes. (This is ok, I needed the conditioning in preparation for next week's volleyball tournament in Atlanta.) They've gotten better as the week wore on, though, which means less running, and more just keeping an eye on them, applying band-aids as required, and hollering as cars approach.

Anyway, I don't have much piano progress to report. I haven't even begun Scarborough Fair. Instead, I wanted to post clips of two pieces I find very compelling, and would like to learn over the next, oh, year or so.

(I promise will try very hard not to flood you with Youtube clips. But for now, you'll just have to deal with it.)

The first is from Ludovico Einaudi. It's a recording of Nefeli, off his Eden Roc CD. Nefeli is not the easiest of his pieces... that would be Limbo, most likely, but I couldn't find a clip of Limbo that I liked. Nevertheless, I am told Nefeli isn't impossible, and I would like to begin learning it some time next year. Limbo might come before that.



Any of you out there taking Christmas list notes, you might be interested to know that compilations of Einaudi sheet music can be had off Amazon. Just saying.

Next is something that appears to be much more challenging. The video clip itself is interesting enough. It's a compilation of self-photos, taken every day for over six years. Just the discipline required to do this is frankly pretty astounding. But I am much more interested in the accompanying piano music. Most of it is left of middle C, and there are even runs anchored on the lowest note on the keyboard. How cool would it be to be able to play this?



The music is Everyday (go figure) by Carly Commando. $7 off her MySpace page.

So, family (I know you're out there!), between now and the time I can play Liszt or Chopin, this is the sort of music you're going to hear me practicing. Well, that and my regular pieces I'll be playing out of Alfred's. Consider yourselves warned.

1 comment:

Michelle Himes said...

That's a beautiful piece. I'm sure you are looking forward to playing it on your future new piano/digital piano in your new house. Good to have a carrot to propel you through your Alfred Book.