(Side note, speaking of Einaudi. I placed a late Father's Day request for the Einaudi sheet music book. I think I could get started on Limbo.)
Because Jillian was sleeping a lot after her surgery, there wasn't much piano playing this weekend. (Our piano, you see, is just steps away from the hallway that leads to bedrooms.) And it's sort of funny, every time I did sit down at the piano, Jillian would appear within a few moments. Once, after I'd been on the bench for maybe five minutes, she mimed to me that she would like to play the piano. I have always immediately honored these requests... any time my daughter wants to get on the piano (except when someone is or should be sleeping), I'm all for it. Another time, I had played maybe ten minutes before she asked to go kick the soccer ball with me in the back yard. How do you say "No" to that? Another time, yesterday, in fact, I had only enough time to sit down and open Alfred before she showed up and asked to play Uno Spin (highly recommended, BTW, if you are looking for a kid game for, say, a birthday present or something). She's going to make me think she doesn't like my piano playing.
I joke, of course, but right now, I'm not very fun to listen to. I am working on The Entertainer, and have spent most of my bench time over the last week working on it HS. I pretty much have the individual hands down, and have even given in when it comes to using my thumb on a black key. (There's just no getting around it, resistance is futile.)
"We WILL use our thumbs on black keys."
But there is just so far you can go HS... at some point, to make actual music, you need to use both hands at the same time. And that is where I am now, trying some of the individual phrases hands-together. Slowly. Methodically. Over... and... over... again. Making errors basically each and every time. It's a necessary part of the process, but one from which I wish I could spare the rest of the house.
Finally, there is another local piano on eBay. It's a Baldwin 243, about 20 years old, currently at $500. But it already has a bid, will probably have quite a few more, and we're not in a position, yet, to go after it. But when the time comes, I could see being interested in something like this. I like the plain, simple, minimalist lines.
3 comments:
Great to see you're getting the Einaudi best of book! That was one thing I purchased along with my alfred's book one from amazon (in order to get free shipping on both, of course!). At that tiem the best of book was just under $25 which is the free shipping point.
Limbo is pretty good exercise and really isn't that difficult. Of course, I've still not played it through error free but I'll get there some day. :)
Sawtooth, how long have you been learning piano? Would you say Limbo would be fair game for someone who's been at it for five months, like me?
Also, I would be interested in hearing your opinion on other Einaudi pieces. I already know In un'altra vita is off limits for beginners, but with Einaudi, it's sometimes hard to tell what is hard and what is easy. Some of his complex pieces are, I hear, easier than they sound, and some of his easy pieces, I hear, are much harder than they sound. Have you had any success with pieces other than Limbo? Maybe Le Onde?
awtpp: It's actually AnthonyB from piano world. Such is the world of confusing online screen names, eh? :)
Check your piano world private messages.
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