Always Wanted to Play Piano

Light blogging to resume in 3, 2, 1...

2010-11-14T11:48:00.002-06:00

Sorry for extended blog silence. And it won't entirely abate, but I did want you to know we're still kicking it here 41 miles west of Chicago. Among topics I may or may not get to before the year is out:

Where HAVE we been, anyway?
How not to move a piano
Christmas music
Jillian and I will be doing a recital together in January
So, I is a triathlete
Work is awesome (or at least, it should be by the time I get to this post)
Kuhlau Sonatinas are hard
Brief Einaudi concert review

- Aw2pp, who voted a couple weeks ago mainly to preserve his right to complain about topics like redistricting versus reapportionment.

So I married a triathlete

2010-08-16T12:36:00.005-05:00

Congrats to Sue, who finished mid-pack in last month's Woodridge Mini Triathlon. And if it wasn't for a displaced bike chain, combined with her utter terror at swimming long distances (hello, Hylands, any suggestions here?), she'd have finished even higher.

But believe it or not, her eldest two children (Jillian and Jason, perhaps you've heard of them) followed up with triathlons of their own. Rock on! I am so proud of them, but for different reasons. For Jillian, the race was difficult and uncomfortable, and she wanted to quit halfway through. After some water and encouragement from mom, she want out and ran her third leg, and finished strong. Jason, I am proud of him for his enthusiasm and spirit. On the way home, he told us he wanted to do that again. Which reminds me, I need to see if there are any other events upcoming...

The mom / triathlete, and part of her Pit Crew. The sharpie number stays on your arm for a few days, and it looks really cool.

Jason kicks off his race.

Jillian finishing leg 2 of hers, a 5k bike (on a bike that is really not built for this sort of thing). Jillian was very unhappy at this point it time, I later came to learn...

... but she felt better at this point.

Not to long after, here came the World's Largest 2nd Grader.

The Three Triathletes and the Rest of their pit crew.

- Aw2pp, Official Family Couch Potato

10 Amazing and Stunning Piano Pieces

2010-08-16T10:21:00.001-05:00

10 Amazing and Stunning Piano Pieces

No recital piece this time

2010-08-10T12:31:00.004-05:00

For the first time in, I guess, a year and half, I won't be submitting an ABF Quarterly Recital piece. The Kuhlau Sonatina just isn't there (it's hard, did I mention that?) and I just can't bring myself to submit Hava Nagila from Alfred's. Partly because it's a somewhat fun but mostly annoying piece of music, and partly because I am simply not playing it very well. I am sure if I played it better it would be more fun than annoying, but for as long as I have been working on it, I'd have thought I would have reached that point by now.

I'm not happy about this, I must say.

In other (and related) news, we spent most of the last week in Tennessee, helping Gramma MA spend some of her timeshare points in Gatlinburg. Brief synopsis: first part of the trip was hot, crowded, touristy, and quite a bit of fun, but probably not enough fun to return for. Second half was spent in the Smoky Mountains National Park, and... wow. Words fail me (as they often do). Amazing, outstanding, even more fun than Dollywood, if'n you can believe that. (Which is really saying something... Dollywood had the added bonus of continuous ragtime being piped through the park, coming at you from all directions.) Lots of spontaneous fun that we didn't plan for, and didn't see coming.

- Aw2pp, who is considering wearing a coonskin cap at all times, henceforth.

Larry King Style

2010-07-29T08:15:00.005-05:00

Back in the 1990's, I used to listen to a short annoying* fellow on the radio. Jim Rome was (and, I believe still is) the guy's name, and frankly, I couldn't get enough of him. I listened to him as much as my day job would allow. He had an interesting tonal delivery, something of a blend of Snoop Dog and Jeff Spiccoli. I was teaching at a large Houston-area high school at the time, and even found, completely unintentionally, that I began to adopt certain aspects of Jim Rome's manner in my communications with my students. They were not impressed.

* I mean "annoying" in the most endearing sense. He'd privately embrace the label, I'm certain.

One of the things about Jim Rome that remains with me to this day was his complete and utter disgust with Larry King. King's USA Today columns, for example, evoked powerful derision. Those columns were a stream of unrelated thoughts. The only way to know you had gone from one to another was by reaching an ellipsis... So his columns from the mid-90's read something like this:

I like puppies. In fact, I would be suspicious of anybody who doesn't...
Alan Greenspan was on my show last night. I've said it before, and I will say it again: he's a sharp fellow... I should floss more... This Internet thing may really turn into the Real Deal some day. You'd be surprised what all is out there...

In hindsight, Rome's scorn was completely unfair, as King's writing style was well ahead of it's time. Many early bloggers, and modern-day Tweets and Facebook posts all resemble the kind of material Larry King offered in USA Today 15 years ago. Larry King, Ladies and Gentlemen, the world's first Web 2.0 content provider!

With the notion that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, I will now compose the remainder of this post in mid-90's Larry King style.

Packing up the family tomorrow morning for another round of road-trippin'. This time, we are meeting Gramma MA in Gatlinburg. Hello, Alpine Slides...

Piano is hard. Have spent most of the summer on a Kuhlau Sonatina. Might have it presentable for the August ABF Recital, who knows...

Jillian is working on The Entertainer in Alfred's Book One. She seems to like that version better than the one in her book. She's really coming along...

Einaudi is coming to Milwaukee October 16. Tickets are still available, although I don't have mine yet. Wonder if there will be some sort of Pianoworld meetup...

Speaking of Einaudi, how did that Anthony B. get so good, so fast...

Sue and I have been doing triathlon training this summer. Hoping to complete a race in September. I hate running. Running is hard. The swimming and biking, not so bad...

Thinking about moving to the Nashville area some day. Nice town...

After one year in my Honda Insight, I've driven about 15k miles, and averaged 48.6 mpg. Not bad. I'm wondering what that new Hyundai Sonata Hybrid will be like...

Jim Rome tried to establish a market in Chicago. Didn't take here. Wonder why...

We've had 9 inches of rain at my house this month. That's a lot...

Elroy Jetson... can you imagine raising that kid...

I still haven't watched my recital performance. I will some day...

- Aw2pp, who promises never to do this again.

Hot Air Ballons, Weight Loss, and Piano

2010-07-16T09:26:00.003-05:00

The Internet has covered a lot of off-the-wall topics since Al Gore gave it to us decades ago.

Bacon taped on a cat.
Bluhd ("not funny!").
Fail!
"My-lah-HEE! My-lah-HOO! My-la-HA-HA!"

(You choose your own 15 minute phenomenon.)

But never in the history of the Interwebs have these three topics mashed into a cohesive whole. I will now attempt to rectify this unfortunate gap in our collective consciousness.

I am told, from those who know considerably more about it than I do*, that piloting a hot air balloon requires two things: careful attention to detail, and the ability to plan well in advance. The reasons for this are few and simple. First, you only have so many controls at your disposal. You can add heat to the balloon to increase lift. The same effect can be derived by reducing weight, which requires throwing things or occupants out of the basket**. Your other control is to do nothing, thereby gradually cooling the balloon, and decreasing lift. That's it. That's all you got. Otherwise, you are at the mercy of the wind, updrafts / downdrafts, or rope tethering you to the ground.

* - I know basically nothing about this, so it wouldn't be hard to find someone who knew more.

** - Is that what they call it? I wanted to use the word "Canopy" here, but I couldn't pull the trigger on it. See, I told you I know very little about this.

The main difficulty here, and the thing that requires careful planning, is that any adjustments you make on these controls take quite some time to manifest themselves. Depending on conditions, it may be 30 seconds, perhaps even a minute before you notice any change in the balloon's behavior. Novices, then, tend to over-correct course, out of fear that they didn't do enough. This can be a little dangerous, as once a balloon builds momentum in a certain direction, it tends to maintain it. Extreme corrections will produce extreme results, just not right away. An expert balloon pilot, like an expert automobile driver, politician, surgeon, teacher, athlete, or what have you, gets the job done effortlessly, with few adjustments and a keen eye on subtle results.

I have a weight loss / fitness level theory based on the concept of piloting a hot air balloon. Over the years, I have tried to foist this theory onto my poor wife about a dozen times. As an Exercise Science major in college, she is significantly better informed on this topic, which makes her approval of my thoughts and ideas in this space very important to me. So the fact that I have yet to get her to buy into my theory is a little deflating*, I must say.

* - Heh. See what I did there?

Anyway, my theory goes like this: losing weight (and achieving a desired fitness level) works just like piloting a hot air balloon. There are only so many adjustments you can make. The course corrections you implement take longer to manifest themselves than you'd think. Folks can think that their efforts are in vain, and give up before results should have been expected. You see the parallel here, I hope. The most important thing is to stick with the plan, then make subtle adjustments downstream as necessary. Because once positive momentum is obtained, it actually isn't that much tougher to keep it going in the right direction.

The corollary is that this works both ways, of course. Negative behavior patterns may not manifest themselves immediately, either, but it's the negative momentum you generate that is the bigger problem. One day sitting on the couch* makes sitting on the couch the next day just that much easier. Skip a day on the treadmill, and the next day is much more likely to be skipped. Eat badly one day, and you may as well have those potato chips the next day, too, what does it matter? And so on.

* - We need a new metaphor here. I know of nobody who actually sits on couches, by the way. We have four couches in our house, and they go pretty much unused. Recliners, on the other hand...

Now to piano. Works the exact same way. I don't believe single practice sessions, single lessons, or even learning single pieces of music make a measurable impact in my ability to play the instrument. It's the cumulative effect that does the trick. And the effect is not easily observed. In fact, not at all observable at first (at least, not for me, anymore). But the day-to-day improvement, derived from consistent contact with the piano / keyboard... this is where it is at. The more you do this, the better you get, and the more, in turn, you do this. Positive momentum begets more (both qualitatively and quantitatively) positive momentum.

And, unfortunately, it works both ways. Skip a day, skip a week. Bemoan your lack of progress. Skip another week because, wow, this is hard, and you haven't really improved in a few months. Is this even worth it after all?

In each case, piloting a balloon, building a better diet / fitness regimen, and practicing piano, the answer to fixing the problem is the same: do something. Nothing drastic, but change the unwanted pattern. Then be patient as the results come, which they inevitably will. Once you see those, observe them closely, and make subtle changes as necessary.

- Aw2pp, preachin' the Blues.

Back from the 2010 Tour de Dixie

2010-07-12T08:46:00.002-05:00

Since last time, we have spent nights in:

- Elizabethtown, Kentucky
- Blairsville, Georgia
- Montgomery, Alabama
- Smithville, Tennessee
- Louisville, Kentucky

Along the way, we played two pianos (thoughts on those coming later) and drove around suburban Nashville, pretty much convincing ourselves we'd like to move there someday. This week, I'm back in the saddle with work, and will spend most of the week in Indianapolis.

Thanks everyone for your comments on the piano touch post.

Anthony, can you send me a link or some information on Einaudi's Milwaukee date?

- Aw2pp, whose Odyssey is 2,514 miles closer to the end of its journey

Some observations on piano and key touch

2010-06-29T15:39:00.003-05:00

Recently, while staying at a Marriott that was hosting a convention, I happened across a large Kawai grand piano. And of course I sat down and hammered out a halting version of Hava Nagila, followed by an absolutely outstanding Le Onde. The people in earshot (there were two or three, it turned out) were duly impressed.

And so was I. The piano as probably around 6' in length, and the bass was fantastic. Some of the middle notes were a little out of tune, and I'd have liked some more sustain, but my main reaction was to the key feel. As much as I liked the sound of this piano, I found the touch to feel cheap. Which really surprised me, for reasons I'll get to shortly. Over the course of the next two days (lots of downtime at these conferences, not to mention the 375 mile drive home afterwards) I gave this significant thought. Results follow, and I would really like your input here. Don't make me go back to Pianoworld and start a thread in the Piano forum on this question... things can get ugly in there.

After thinking about, every piano I've played, with two exceptions, can be categorized according to touch in one of two categories.

The first category I'll call "Switches". Every key is clearly pressed or not pressed, in the same way a switch is either on, or off. These pianos offer some initial resistance when a key is pressed, which lightens mid-travel down to the bottom, ending abruptly. Done well, these keys create sort of a snick-snick sensation, something akin to rowing through the gears of a well-tuned manual transmission. Almost* every digital piano I have ever tried has this feel, including higher-end Rolands, Casios, and Yamahas. But lower-end digital pianos, such as Casio's CDP-100 and the ubiquitous Williams pianos sold by Costco (and others, one presumes) have them as well. Even a number of acoustic pianos, such as my piano teacher's piano (a tiny Emerson grand), Sue's cousin Patty's piano (a tiny Apollo grand), and the large Kawai I mentioned earlier. I mentioned that piano's action surprised me... when I looked up the serial number, I saw that it had been built in 2006, which meant it had the much-lauded Carbon-fiber action. I didn't care for it. It felt cheap to me. Sure, many high-end instruments have it, but so do some low-end instruments, and (unfairly, I realize) I associate the sensation with cheaper instruments.

* - Almost, that is. Hold that thought.

The second category is the opposite of the first. I'll call these "Mushers". The keys have a gradually increasing resistance as one presses towards the bottom. But the bottom isn't a firm, abrupt end... rather, it is soft, cushioned one, where it is sometimes difficult to know whether you have, in fact reached the bottom. Ole Bessie, my in-laws' ancient upright, has this feel. So does the recital piano at church (a 10 year old Kawai RX-1, I am told). My old colleague Jeff had a Charles Walter I once told you about... it had this feeling, and I really liked that piano. Then again, my Houston friend Mitch has a 15 year old Young Chang grand that I didn't care for at all... and it had it, too. I can't think of a digital piano I have played that replicates this feeling.

I guess if I had to choose between the two categories, I'd have a slight preference for a Musher. Done well, I feel like I have greater dynamic control (insofar as I have any such control at this point). But the problem here is that it is easy for this to get out of whack, and if the resistance doesn't increase / decrease progressively up and down the keyboard, it becomes very difficult to play well. (This is the main problem with Bessie, whom we've gotten to know very well recently*, as well as the Houston piano.)

* - More on that in an upcoming post. You wouldn't believe it.

Those two exceptions? Among the couple-dozen pianos I have played over the last two years, only two cannot be easily categorized as either a Switch or a Musher. The first is our very own Casio Ap-200. Mainly, the touch is so light, it defies categorization. It lacks the initial resistance of a Switch (which is why I preferred it over similar Yamahas). But the end comes somewhat abruptly, making dynamic control difficult.

The other? My college buddy's Steinway. As luck would have it, we're going to stay at Dr. Crane's house this Thursday night, on our way down to see my Dad in Montgomery, AL. I'll let you know what Jillian* thinks of it. Somehow, his piano, although it underwhelmed me at the time (weighing the experience of playing it versus what I know it costs), nevertheless managed to be neither a Switch nor a Musher. And yet, it was both. Which makes no sense. And I am not a good enough writer to come up with fancy words to demystify this. We'll just have to play Le Onde on it, and get back to you.

* - Although, no matter what she thinks of it, we're not getting one of these... I majored in Math (among other things) at Vanderbilt, and as such, have a pretty good facility with numbers. Even I can't count high enough to estimate the unimaginably large number of software licenses we have to sell to even begin considering a new piano. Much less a $60k Steinway. It would be easier to just commute to Kentucky and play Dr. Crane's once in awhile.

So help me out here. Does this match your experience? Most of you who commonly stop by (thanks for doing so, by the way) are piano players your own right. Some (hi, Anthony B) have very nice digitals, far upmarket of mine. When you cross-shopped, did you experience this same dichotomy? Others (hi, Professor K) experienced the confusion and joy of playing many highly-regarded grands... how would you describe your pianos, and those you like / dislike?

- Aw2pp, who obviously thinks about very frivolous things on long road trips.

Succinct Book Review

2010-06-28T11:40:00.004-05:00

The Supplement to Larry Fine's Piano Book is the best bathroom reading since the last Calvin and Hobbes Treasury was released.

- Aw2pp, who may have to start turning down offers from the NY Times Book Review crowd if he keeps churning out quality material like this.

The Secret to Classical Music: It's Just Music - Culture - The Atlantic

2010-06-21T13:04:00.003-05:00

Once again, my apologies for extended blogger silence. I was at a conference most of last week (although the hotel had a piano... more on this soon). And this week, we're doing our best to get something closed before the close of our Fiscal Year at the end of this month. But, since you probably allocated a certain amount of time to fritter away anyway (you're here, after all), take the five minutes it will require to read this.

The Secret to Classical Music: It's Just Music - Culture - The Atlantic

There are two follow-up posts as well. Great stuff.

- Aw2pp, who is available on TV, on the Internet, and on Your Phone.

Where's the recital?

2010-06-09T09:54:00.004-05:00

Sorry for the delay, I am still recovering from Epic Fail (as the kids these days say). I haven't had the ~~time~~ courage to pull the camera out of the trunk of the car, much less view the clip or post it to Youtube.

Really, it was bad, and I am a little shaken and discouraged from it.

- Aw2pp, who doesn't park anywhere after a 2" snow fall.

Back from the recital

2010-06-04T21:44:00.003-05:00

Briefly:

Jillian was amazing. Awesome. She played with a smile on her face, and clearly, obviously enjoyed being up there.

Mine? I was so bad, so unbelievably bad, that I am actually a little proud of myself for plodding through. More details later.

- Aw2pp, who now needs to go resume his place on the Blackhawk's Bandwagon.

Pre-Recital Practice

2010-06-04T13:53:00.003-05:00

I've read threads Piano World (Home of the World Famous Piano Forums!) where folks posit that one should NOT play their recital piece the day of a recital, until it is actually time to do so. This is crazy talk, to me. I want to play as much as I can, then show up 90 minutes early and play it again on the recital piano. So far, I've probably gone through it a dozen times today, with probably a dozen or so more ahead of me. And you know what? It's not going well. Little annoying errors here and there.

Just saying is all.

(Quick update with information that doesn't warrant its own post... just played three takes in a row that I liked. I'm quitting while I am ahead.)

- Aw2pp, who bets Chopin went through this all the time.

T-minus one day...

2010-06-03T15:54:00.002-05:00

... before Recital. Yes, tomorrow evening, Jillian and I play in front of dozens, nay, SCORES of friends, family, and curious onlookers compelled to attend only by their sense of morbid curiosity. I had my last pre-recital lesson yesterday, during which time I played Le Onde three times*. The first, not so well, but then again, I never play well at the beginning of a lesson. But who among us does?

* - Yes, that probably means I've now played it 300 times over the last three months.

The second, sloppy, and in fact, I got distracted halfway through, thinking about an error I made in the first half, and how I was going to play it SO MUCH BETTER the second time through... which, of course, since I was distracted, I messed it up even worse. But the third...

... the third...

Wow. I know a lot of words, but I don't know of any to explain how satisfied I was with how I played it the third time. I was another person. The music took on a new life.

Naturally, I have no expectations that that will happen again tomorrow. But wouldn't that be cool?

- Aw2pp, who is starting, for the first time, to play piano.

Tale of Two Trip Legs

2010-06-01T08:30:00.004-05:00

I had to get creative to get to Phoenix. For the outward leg of the trip (Chicago to Phoenix), I cashed in some miles. For the homeward leg, I bought a last-second fare. Let's examine the differences.

Chicago - Phoenix
This was sweet.

"Need to check a bag, Mr. Aw2pp, no problem? How about two, no extra charge? Very good then. Now, see all those people standing in that long security line? Yeah, the unhappy ones looking at their watches? Go around them to the priority lane, and we'll get you through TSA screening quickly. When you get to your gate, listen for priority seating, and board before everyone else does. Sorry we couldn't get you in First Class this time, it's all filled up. But if you book a little earlier next time, we can make it happen for you. Would you like an Exit Row seat instead? Window or aisle? Ok, very good then, thanks again for flying American."

Phoenix - Chicago
Because, as you know, our tournament ended a little sooner than planned, I was at the airport this morning 11 hours before my scheduled flight. Thinking being, it would be better for all involved if Sue could pick me up at, say, 11:30 AM (while Jillian and Jason were at school) rather than at 9:30 PM (when Jill, Jay, Ro and Joey should be sleeping, but instead would have to accompany her on the 82 mile trip to and from O'Hare). So how did that go for me?

"Hey you, if you want to check that bag of yours, it'll cost an extra $25. What's that, you want to be added to the stand-by list for other flights to O'Hare? Are you serious? We only allow our Platinum Plus and Executive Platinum members to stand-by for other flights. You are clearly NOT one of those. In fact, you bought your ticket May 16, so you are way down on the priority list. It'll snow here before you get on one of these earlier flights. On some days, we would allow you to pay $50 extra for a spot on the stand-by list, and you're welcome to give that a try, but today, you have no shot. You'd just be wasting your money. Not that we wouldn't be glad to take it. Anyway, enjoy your 11 hours at Sky Harbor airport, and enjoy your middle seat on your three hour flight to Chicago this afternoon. Thanks again for flying American."

Any idea what to do in Phoenix for 11 hours? At least I get to sleep in my own bed tonight.

- Aw2pp, whose boarding pass says simply "Steerage".

And that is that from Phoenix

2010-05-31T23:35:00.003-05:00

We're done. We never did recover from the disappointment of losing our Gold Bracket play-in match. So, as I feared, we were an emotional no-show in our early afternoon Bronze bracket match, and lost it 0-2. So we're done.

Very disappointing result for us. Finished tied for 32nd overall.

Pics, vids and maybe some stats in another week or two.

- Aw2pp, who is now headed to aa.com to see if there are any early flights home to Chicago.

So much for the Gold Bracket

2010-05-31T11:59:00.003-05:00

Lost our first Gold Bracket challenge match this morning. Congrats to Rizen from Hawaii, who played a tough, hard-fought match that was marred near the end of game 3 by some dishonesty by the winners. At this moment, we're moping around the Phoneix Convention Center, feeling somewhat sorry for ourselves for losing in the way we did, angry at ourselves for not playing harder / better, and disappointed in the other team for some calls they should have made on themselves, but chose not to. "It's Nationals... this is why we pay for officials, so they can make the calls, not us*." Well then.

* - To be fair, most teams would agree with this. As would most of my teammates. Except when it costs them (us) a match. This is one of those things that I guess I understand, but is much harder for me apply personally. If I touch the ball, I say so. If I touch the net**, I say so.

** - Those of you who have been out of volleyball for a few years may be surprised to hear that you are now allowed to touch the net under most circumstances. I know, I hate it too.

Next up is the Bronze Bracket. Unlike the Gold, which is double-elimination, any match we lose in Bronze will end our tournament. Winner of the 12 team Bronze bracket will take home Gold Medals (go figure) that say "Bronze Champions". They'll also be able to claim a final National Rank of (counts it up...) 25th. We are going to need to get our heads back on our shoulders before our first match... or our trip through Bronze is going to be short and sour.

- Aw2pp, who will now go find the closest Subway, then go back to the Convention Center.

Day two update from Phoenix

2010-05-30T23:07:00.001-05:00

Easy day today. Two matches, two wins, I played only the first.

After dropping our second match yesterday, we seem to have composed ourselves, and took care of business in sweeping both matches today. To recap, now, pool play:

Match 1 - RVC Red (from Boston), we won 2-0
Match 2 - Vamo' Alla (from the Chesapeake area, not Indiana as I had previously thought) we lost 0-2
Match 3 - Graywater VBC (Seattle), 2-0
Match 4 - Balls and Beers (Milwaukee, natch), 2-0*
Match 5 - Metro Long Beach (New Jersey), 2-0

* - Midway through game two of this match, I had one of the top 5 kills of my 20-year volleyball career. It was unusual... I knew I was going to be set, and I figured they (the other team) knew, but when I went up to swing, I found myself all alone, no block in sight. I questioned this momentarily. "Where is everyone?" No block ever appeared, so I swung away. I'll post a clip of this if I can.

Other than our moment of inattention against Vamo' Alla, we've had an easy time of it. Problem is, Vamo' Alla swept the pool, which means in order for us to advance to the Gold Bracket (where Championships are won, of course), we now need to win two matches instead of one. So 8:00 AM tomorrow, we'll take the court against Rizen VBC, from Hawaii. They are exactly the kind of team that gives us fits... little, quick, smart. I'm officially concerned.

Last comment, completely unrelated to anything. My Yahoo email address sent some spam a couple of nights ago to everyone in my address book. Ordinarily, this is a sign of a virus, but in this case, I don't have the Yahoo address installed on any email client*. Which suggests to me that this was a problem on the Yahoo side (and if anyone can point me somewhere that might verify this, I'd be obliged.) If'n it happens again, I might be forced to cancel that email account. Not sure what else I can do about it. So apologies go out to those of you who were spammed a couple days ago. Here's hoping that's the last of that.

* - Like Outlook or Lotus, for example. Viruses commonly are written to co-opt these programs.

Depending on how we do tomorrow, it could be a very, very long day.

- Aw2pp, virus-free since 1998.

Day one update from Phoenix

2010-05-30T20:03:00.003-05:00

We ended up being seeded a gaudy third, which is really an endorsement in a 72 team field. After the first day, though we proved unworthy of the compliment, dropping a match to a small, unassuming, and feisty team from Indiana. We made the mistake of rolling our eyes during their lethargic and unimpressive warmup, and sat two of our best players*.

* - Yes, I was one of those who sat. It's a long tournament, the Open, and I willingly take every break offered to me.

We rebounded later, winning our third match of the first day, and finishing 2-1. All is not lost, but the path to the Gold bracket probably is now one match longer than it should have been.

- Aw2pp, who now understands what people mean when they say, "But it's a dry heat."

Piano takes a break for a few days...

2010-05-28T09:44:00.004-05:00

... unless my hotel has one, in which case all bets are off.

My flight leaves this afternoon for Phoenix, for the 78th Annual USA Open National Volleyball Championships. Or as my Junior Olympic coaching friends call it, "That Big Party USAV Uses To Fund Itself For The Rest Of The Year." Or as I call it, "The Annual Convention of Really Tall People."

Last year, as you may recall, we finished 5th out of 48 in Men's A. It was an insane result, really, much better than we had a right to expect. After all, we started a 5'10" (ie, unusually short) setter, and me, a 6'5" (ie, somewhat short*) 40 year-old (ie, unusually old) middle blocker. This year, our setter is no taller, I am a year older, and yet, even though 72 teams** are entered, optimism is high. We'll find out our seed tonight, then get underway tomorrow. Daily updates to come, including match results, soreness complaints***, and a running tally of the number of people I come across who are taller than me.

* - Ok, Sue, fine, I admit it, I am no longer 6'5", I am 6'4". Maybe.

** - Moving the tournament out west seems to attract a large number of West Coast teams.

*** - This year brings an added challenge, in that I am saddled with something called the Croup. It's a virus that has been going around the family for a few days (thank you Joey and Rowan). Before the doctor diagnosed them last week, I had heard of Croup, but thought that it was a made-up disease our great-great grandparents dealt with, or something that had been eradicated years ago with the advent of sterilized operating rooms. (See Dropsy, Scrofula.****) Wrong, it's apparently a real malady. And a fairly debilitating one at that.

**** - And yes, I was wrong about those, they are real too. Just called something different today. Obviously my pre-med college curriculum, such as it was, didn't take.

Finally, to channel Phineas and answer the question you're almost certainly thinking... why yes, yes I am too old for this sort of thing.

- Aw2pp, a Middle Blocker for Chicago Coast North, leading his team with a .289 hitting percentage on the year.

Hylands (and other Houston friends)... (fixed)

2010-05-21T14:37:00.007-05:00

... you MUST take 3 minutes out of your life and watch this. It is...

The World Cup is starting this month. As you know, I'm a sucker for excellence... you've heard me say that I'd watch the world's best Tiddlywinks players* compete if it were televised. But regardless of how you feel about soccer (er, football), it's highly likely we can agree that soccer is inherently more interesting than Tiddlywinks.

* - What would these people call themselves? I wanted to call them Tiddlywinkers, but wasn't sure if that would have resonated. Besides, "Tiddlywinkers" sounds faintly NSFW, even if it is perfectly harmless.

Anyhow, even though we Americans are ranked something like 16th in the world, you can bet I'll be watching. This fires me up. Furthermore, now you know why I subjected you to growing grass the other day. I had to prepare your for this. Anything more exciting in the previous post, and we'd risk being overcome by the vapors.

- Aw2pp, who used to harbor a vague and completely misplaced notion that he had some soccer (er, football) skills. Then he spent a few months in Brazil. Nothing like extended time in Brazil to disabuse one of such fantasies.

Back it down now

2010-05-19T20:32:00.000-05:00

It's been a little too exciting around lately. I thought I might ease the pace a little. Here is a video of grass growing.

If you think that's exciting, wait until next time, when I start talking about my work.

- Aw2pp, who just can't help himself sometimes

Le Onde - Behind the Tapestry (way too long)

2010-05-14T13:41:00.005-05:00

The old adage holds in many ways. Focus on the finished product, because you may be better off not knowing about the bits and pieces and effort that went into it. "Don't see how sausage is made" says Life's Little Instruction Book. By the same token, stay out of the kitchen of your favorite restaurant. Don't turn the tapestry over and look at the chaos on the backside. The work that goes into publishing a book, creating commercial software, a dance recital, building a house... all very messy, and all very tedious. And, when done well, all completely transparent, hidden by the excellence of the finished product.

Those of you who think my Le Onde recording is wonderful and seamless (hi family!) should probably skip the rest of this post. Fact is, I spent a cool 5 months working on this piece. Hard work. Even now, when I play it, my mind is completely atwitter with specific thoughts relevant to where I'm at. The rest of this post will attempt to capture most of those.

First, a comment on the specific recital recording itself. In the end, I had the choice of two imperfect recordings. Recording A was recorded a week or so ago, at a time I wasn't even really intending to make a recording. And it had some awful, obvious errors on both the front and back halves. I kept it, though, because when I listened to it afterward, I was very impressed with how well the subtle things were done. More on those shortly. For now, consider recording A to be the figure skater who fell on her triple axle, and two-footed a landing late in her performance, but scored well on what those judges call "artistic impression".

Recording B was flawed in less obvious, less subtle ways. There was a pause here and a flub there, but it was overall cleaner than Recording B. And it was recorded later, just after a lesson. In listening to it, it was less polished, but had nothing major going against it... nothing that I couldn't live without. This is the figure skater who landed all her jumps, but scored lower for reasons known only to the Illuminati who judge the sport.

Of course you know I went with Recording B, even if I have a slight preference for the more imperfect, but subtly superior version. Both of them are good, though, and represent quality takes of which I'm proud.

Here is what goes through my head when I play this. I hope, by capturing this stuff here and ~~sharing it with~~ foisting it upon y'all, it might begin to clear my mind of all this clutter, so I can just play music come Live! In Person! recital time. Let me know if this sort of thing happens to you. That might help.

First 12 seconds - Keep the tempo even here. Build from soft to medium loud with each measure. (This "build" command repeats itself through the music for every LH pass. It's my attempt to create the wavelike feel.)
"We're not at the beach yet, but we can hear it off in the distance."
Measure 5, Starting at 12 seconds - RH melody kicks in. It must overcome the LH, and yet, decay, medium to soft, with every measure. In addition, the melody (the higher notes) must be accented over the secondary notes. This is crucial. Finally, the last dotted half of the passage (the first of which occurs at the 18 second mark) needs to be lightly accented, and MUST occur exactly the moment the corresponding LH note hits. (This is what makes the note sing, as Denis was asking.)
Measure 15 (30 seconds) - Start building volume. The increase from piano to mezzoforte in 4 measures is more sudden than you think. Don't be afraid to be too loud there, you'll quiet down quickly thereafter.
Measure 20 (38 seconds) - And the reverse is true here. I had more trouble with the gradual diminuendo than the gradual crescendo, for some reason.
"We're at the beach, and the tide is coming in, albeit very gradually."
Measure 25 (45 seconds) - Starting a new theme here. Still piano. Resist the powerful temptation to rush this section.
Measure 28 (51 seconds) - Crescendo, but then immediately dip back to piano. I never quite pull this off.
Measure 31 (55 seconds) - Since you were back to piano, crescendo again. The music calls for a slight allargando (something of a reduction in tempo), but Einaudi himself doesn't seem to do this here in any of the recordings I have. Either way, I usually forget this, because, as you see, there is a bunch of other stuff going on in my head by this point.
Measure 33 (59 seconds) - Repeating the second theme. Supposedly, we're beginning mezzopiano this time (as opposed to piano the first time around), but that didn't leave me enough room to crescendo in the upcoming measures. So in practice, I typically begin this second theme softly, and build. Speaking of which...
Measure 35 (1:03) - Start building the volume, so that you're blasting away by the time you get to measure 39.
"The waves are building. The tide is reaching its peak."
Measure 39 (1:09) - Loud here. Accent that first note, and the first one in measure 40, then quickly soften to piano, to increase the contrast with the next section. Big slowdown, too, for exactly the same reason.
Measure 41 (1:12) - Play this relaxed, but as loud as you can without making errors. Save the ferocity for later. Don't rush.
Measure 44 (1:18) - That LH D needs to be crushed to get the proper accent. The RH D needs to be subtle, because it's contrast with everything else that is going on is enough to bring proper attention to it.
Measure 47 (1:22) - Quick reduction in volume and tempo, followed by an equally quick rebuild.
Measure 55 (1:35) - Start quieting down. In a few measures, you'll have a quick build, then back to almost nothing.
"The tide, having reached its max, begins to recede here."
Measure 59 (1:41) - It's ok to be very quiet here. We need the contrast with what's coming up. Don't crescendo, stay quiet. (Note, I usually always crescendo here anyway.)
Measure 63 (1:45) - Loud. Accent the LH firmly at the beginning of each measure here. The RH is a tie; as much as you want to hit that D again, DON'T!
"The tide has gone out. The beach is very quiet."
Measure 64 (1:49) - Key measure. Einaudi calls for una corda, but wait until you hit that first note, then push the pedal. Regain the tempo and don't let it drag. Be smooth. Though we're supposed to be piano here, the LH tends to drown out the RH if you let it. Don't.
Measure 73 (2:05) - Slow down, then pause. Create the impression that the piece might end here. That would be confusing, because we've not resolved anything.
Measure 74 (2:08) - Hanging just briefly on the pause, start anew. There should be a sense of relief here.

Ok, we're halfway through. And let me answer your question: "Yes, absolutely, every single one of these thoughts, and likely more, pour through my head every time I play this." It's a mess, and I'm thisclose to thinking something is wrong with me. But hey, maybe everybody goes through this? Or maybe the secret to playing this well is emptying your mind of these distractions? How do you get to that place?

At any rate, the second half of Le Onde is very similar to the first, and as such, most of the same thoughts run through my head. I'll be briefer now, detailing only the changes for the second half. There aren't many, but they are important.

Measure 90 (2:36) - Constantly coming back to B on the LH creates significant tension here. Don't let that affect you. The tension is for those who are hearing the music, not you.
"The tide is coming back in. But it's different this time. Are those storm clouds?"
Measure 101 (2:54) - Finally, the LH moves off that B onto a D, releasing the tension. Everything feels familiar now, with the exception of those disconcerting pauses (measure 108, 117).
"Yes, it is a storm."
Measure 126 (3:36) - Blast away. When you went through this section the first time, you were loud, but relaxed. No need for that now. The music calls for ferocity here, even if my recording doesn't sufficiently convey that. So be it. Einaudi's recordings don't, either.
Measures 147 - 149 (4:08) - The entire piece builds to these measures. Hammer the accents. This time, that RH is NOT a tie, so hit that D again in 148 with everything you've got. As before, hit the first note in 149 before deploying the una corda.
Measures 153 to the end - I had quite a bit of trouble with this page. My saving grace is that Einaudi plays these measures slowly and carefully, so I did, too.
"The storm is passed, the tide is going out, the beach is quiet again."

Anyway, thanks for reading this far. Live recital is in three weeks.

- Aw2pp, who feels like going out and running a 5k about now, even though he hates running.

Le Onde - Final Take

2010-05-12T20:49:00.003-05:00

(Two posts in one day? Blogger overload. I may have to take a day off tomorrow.)

As I said earlier, today is / was piano lesson day. I stumbled my way through Night Song in Alfred's... that is MUCH harder than I thought it would be, and it will need another week before we move on to Hava Nagila. Then I launched into Le Onde. It was pretty good... not perfect, but good. I told her I was trying to put together a good recording for the ABF Recital (a concept that still mystifies her, by the way... online recitals?) And that it would be nice if I could put together perfect recording, but also that I'd come around to the idea that "good" is good enough.

She said something she'd said before: "It's good enough. Don't try to improve it. You may improve it, but not by trying. Strive for excellence, which is much more attainable and worthwhile than perfection."

I got home, pushed the record button, and five minutes later, ended up with this. Hope you like it. It's good enough. Imperfect, yes, but good enough. More thoughts on it later this week (as you've come to expect from me).

Box.net link to a recording of Le Onde I'll be submitting as my recital piece

- Aw2pp, goat rodeo clown.

Aw2pp overcome by Red Dot Fever

2010-05-12T15:01:00.003-05:00

I have a piano lesson in 29 minutes. Was just playing my recital piece, and played the first half, even three-fourths so well that... it made me nervous. I was thinking, "Wow, this is really something here..." And of course, that took my mind off what I was doing, and I made a fatal error. Recording over.

But I'm telling you, for the first 3 or 4 minutes, it was some seriously good music.

Back to it. Thought I'd share that with you on this slow afternoon.

- Aw2pp, who will now get back on that horse and try again.

ABF Recital Submission update

2010-05-11T14:53:00.002-05:00

I have a recording I could live with. In some respects, I am pleasantly surprised by it. But it has four fairly egregious errors, and since I still have a few days left, I'm trying to see if I can improve on it.

- Aw2pp, who understands that the answer to the question "Is it Opposite Day?" is always, always, "No."

Still open for biz

2010-05-07T20:56:00.000-05:00

We're still here. Lots going on these days, so please accept my apologies for relative blogger silence. Upcoming posts:

Bessie lives
ABF Recital Submission
Jason loves baseball and other kid stuff

- Aw2pp, who understands that Dung Beetles never had a choice in the matter.

I'm years ahead of this guy

2010-04-22T13:09:00.003-05:00

After all, he picked up piano at age 48, I started when I was 39.

Cincinnati Bengals Line Coach takes up piano

What's interesting about this is that he took up the instrument to get inside the mind of a performer. Money quote:

Because, over the course of a night, if (a concert pianist) plays 20,000 notes, and he misses a couple, he's had a bad night. And that's kind of the business I'm in - teaching people how to perform, particularly under pressure.

Never quite thought about it that way, although, with public recital #2 coming up in about 5 weeks, I should. I knew piano would teach me about music and preparation It has re-affirmed a lot of what I already knew, mainly having to do with HOW we learn things. But it never occurred to me to think of approaching piano from the perspective of a performer.

I'm going to have to think about this a little while more, but wanted to share it with you anyway.

- Aw2pp, recalcitrant perfectionist

Le Rough Drafte

2010-04-16T09:39:00.003-05:00

Here is a rough draft of where I am on Le Onde. It has about a half-dozen fatal errors, each of which would be egregious enough for me to toss the recording away if I were submitting this for an ABF recital (two weeks to go!). Fortunately, I am not.

Box.net link of a rough recording of Le Onde

First of, Denis, I am no help to you. Your question about making the dotted half notes sing... I am not sure that I do this, nor am I certain how I would go about doing it. I try to make a soft accent... something akin to the horizontal lines you see over notes in pieces like I Due Fiumi (see the very first note, for example). That subtle accent, combined with a very dull attack on the left hand, gets me closest to what I think you are describing. In this recording, the best example of this is about 36 seconds into the piece (measure 18).

There is an important caveat here: this sounds very different on PT's piano (a 4'6" Emerson grand, for those of you just joining us*). My hunch is that the singing quality you are looking to derive on those notes would be achieved differently on different pianos. I'll take your thoughts on that.

* - Where have you been, anyway?

Other observations.

Tempo - I am delighted that this checked in around 5 minutes in length. My template for this piece is Ludovico's studio recording on the Le Onde CD. It turns out that recording is just a few seconds shorter than mine, so, for the first time in my piano-playing life, I seem to be playing something at tempo. That despite a somewhat plodding and hesitant first page or so (not sure what is up with that, but it can be fixed).

Dynamics - They're getting there. A lot of work to go there, but it's an improvement over what I was doing just a week or two ago.

Errors - Obviously, these need to be ironed out. Some are more irksome than others. For instance, I have decided the climax of the piece begins in measure 147, and ends on the first note of measure 149. It's inexcusable not to have that part (and it's cousin in the first half) down pat.

The Wave - I am trying to invoke the wavelike sensation by building on LH arpeggios, getting softer on the RH arpeggios. Need lots of improvement here.

But mostly, I grabbed the recording to listen to the flow, and follow the music as I listen so that I know where I am missing dynamic and tempo markings. With two weeks left before ABF recital, and 6 weeks before we go Live! In Person!, I am pleased with where I am.

- Aw2pp, who always wanted to play Le Onde.

Cognitive Dissonance

2010-04-14T16:34:00.002-05:00

Webster's defines Cognitive Dissonance as:

anxiety that results from simultaneously holding contradictory or otherwise incompatible attitudes, beliefs, or the like, as when one likes a person but disapproves strongly of one of his or her habits.

I define it as Lady Gaga playing Ragtime. And playing it very, very well.

- Aw2pp, who will now go crawl in a hole somewhere.

Thank you, Captain Obvious

2010-04-07T23:07:00.000-05:00

This sign is in the parking lot where Rowan takes dance class. One of the moms told me, with a straight face, that it has drastically reduced the number of vehicle-pole collisions in said parking lot.

- Aw2pp, who will probably ignore warnings and hit the pole some day.

Le Update, Part Deux

2010-04-05T11:02:00.003-05:00

Pardon my French, of course.

If it were a normal recital, I'd be going for recordings now. And failing, mostly, because that is what I do with recital recordings. I record and record and record, right up to the deadline, throwing away 99% of my takes because they have Fatal Errors. Eventually, I come across one that has errors, but non-lethal ones, save that recording off the Ap-200, and courageously try to improve on that recording. But I don't, and near the deadline, I upload that recording to the ABF Recital Server.

That's usually how it goes. But this time is different. ABF Recital time is a month away still. And though I have yet to play Le Onde error free, I am playing it to my usual recital standards, such as they are. In theory*, this gives me three weeks to improve on my usual standards, and yet another month to clean it up before playing live before a studio audience.

* - Of course, as Homer Simpson once said, in theory, communism** works. In theory.

** - Did you know that the term "Communist Government" is an oxymoron? No, I am not making a joke here. I recently read that Communism is really a final stage in a process, by which the people own and manage everything the State previously ran, only, there is no State, no Government. Only "The People". An evolutionary step in the process is Socialism, where there actually is a government in charge of heading in this direction. In practice, it turns out even Comrades like power, so they tend not to give it up. Ever. So they remain in a Socialist (and usually totalitarian) condition. Which means there has never been, nor will there ever be, a Communist nation, at least insofar as Marx defined it. See what you get from coming here? I should post more often.

Headed down to Indianapolis to visit two prospective customers this week. I checked... the Fairfield Inn does not have a piano, so progress will have to hold a few days.

One other observation, totally unrelated to the price of tea in Liverpool or anything else... I recently discovered, much to my astonishment, that I am unable to play our piano unless the desk lamp is on. Even though all I have been playing for a couple weeks now is Le Onde, which, by now, I've memorized. But even in broad daylight, I absolutely cannot play unless the desk lamp is on.

- Aw2pp, who wonders if, after 15 years sitting in front of computers, it is finally time to visit the eye doctor.

Yeah, but she's a Black Belt in Cute

2010-03-26T08:20:00.004-05:00

I promise not to turn this into a Tae Kwon Do blog. But you'll like this. Rowan tested for her Yellow Belt this week.

"Wait, she's 3, right?" Good question, glad you asked. Our TKD Studio has a little intro program for pre-kindergartners, called, curiously, Little Ninjas. So, no, this isn't the full-fledged program. They don't do Poomse or memorize facts about the American Flag, for instance.

"Wait, Ninjas? Isn't that Japanese? I thought Tae Kwon Do was a Korean Martial Art." Another good question, but you are really taking me off the subject here. Quiet now.

Anyway, Ro passed. Photographic evidence follows.

But the best part is the board break. They say a picture is worth a 1,000 words. Well, then a movie must be worth a 1,000 pictures, so enjoy.

My favorite part? The jumping up and down at the end. I bet all those real Ninjas do that, too.

- Aw2pp, who just can't get over the idea of "Kung Fu Master" Jackie Chan starring The Karate Kid remake. Doesn't anyone think about these things first?

Le Update

2010-03-24T16:19:00.003-05:00

Just got back from this week's lesson. Focused entirely on Le Onde, and learned some new vocabulary in the process.

Me: What does this allarg. mean? I see that it is always followed by an a tempo, and recordings of the music sound like they slow down... is it just another way to write ritardando?
PT: No, it's more than that. Think broad and majestic as you slow down.
Me: Um, ok, what does that mean?
PT: Think of the glamorous stars walking down the red carpet on Oscar night. Play like they walk.

* - My wife, when she gets around to reading this, will be laughing at this point... she knows I consider The Oscars to be one of the most annoying things to watch on TV. That and Kendra.

Me: What about this poco tratt.?
PT: I have no idea.

We looked it up... it means to hold back, and is more common with string music. Whoddathunkit?

Where I am with Le Onde... I have the first half down and memorized. Once in awhile, I play it so well, I am pleased with it. And it is LOTS of fun, I almost don't want to play anything else these days. The problem is, I am so locked in on the pattern of the first half, the latter half is coming much more slowly, as the changes are subtle. But crucial. So I have some memorization to do on the back half.

Brilliant Reader Denis asks:

How did you solve the issue with 'singing' the main half notes on the right hand in bars 5,6,7 and in the rest of the song?

Great question. Measures 5 and 6 work like this for me: 524131
Measure 7 like this: 514131(2, the F# in the next measure)

It works well, but I bet you question is more of an artistic one than a technical one. That is, how do I play it "sweet and songlike, marking the melody*" (one presumes that would be the high notes). Still having trouble with this. What works for me is to accent the first note in the measure, then get progressively softer as I move down the scale. The first section, it's not coming out like I had hoped. The second section, however, beginning in measure 25, it comes out quite clearly, and I'm almost happy with it. Don't know what makes this section easier, but it is.

* - Pardon my Italian, but that is my guess on what the music is instructing. "Dolce e cantabile, marcando la melodia."

As to the third, beginning measure 41, I am just blasting away. He has some dynamic markings in 47 and 48 that temper things a bit, but, for now, I am playing this as loudly as my technique (such as it is) will allow. When I am ready for a recording, I will give a listen to what I am doing with this part, and probably make some changes.

I'm 2 months out at this point, but 5 weeks away from ABF Recital 18. I'm happy with where I am, enjoying the journey, and will hope to maintain progress for another month. My goal will be to have this down so completely that, come first Friday in June, all I have to worry about is getting a good haircut beforehand. We'll see.

- Aw2pp, inveterate tinkerer

I'm a Phineas Phan

2010-03-17T14:59:00.003-05:00

We watch a goodly number of "kid shows" at the Aw2pp household. More than I'm willing to admit. Certainly enough to make use claim informed expertise on the subject of "kid shows that don't annoy adults who have to sit there and parentally-monitor what is being watched". So take me seriously when I tell you that most kid shows are totally annoying to me.

But not all.

Phineas and Ferb is almost as funny as early Simpson's episode. High praise indeed.

Jillian takes my lesson this week. Le Onde is getting better, I have begun work on the second half. And Sue is sicker than she's ever been (Strep).

With that, you're up to date.

- Aw2pp, who dresses ironically.

Divertimento in D

2010-03-08T09:48:00.004-06:00

I mentioned not too long ago that it seemed the pieces I am working on in Alfred's are easier than the fun / supplemental pieces I was working on. This was certainly true of the Clementi Sonatina, and, to a lesser extent, true of the Einaudi pieces I was tinkering with. (Made some good progress on Le Onde yesterday, btw... you'd recognize it, by this point, as Le Onde.) As a consequence, I was spending a great deal of time on short, simple pieces of music, trying to squeeze that last iota of whatever-it-is-I-was-supposed-to-learn from them. And, as a result, I have now been in Alfred's Book 2 for, oh, a year now, and am not even halfway through.

Enough of that. PT pointed out something last lesson that Gramma MA has been saying for a long time now... these Alfred's pieces are easy, let's bust through them for a few months, and see if the book will catch up with where I am musically. The good news is that you'll see recordings coming more often. The bad news? They'll be imperfect, as I won't be spending the time it takes to make them less so. The goal: 1 or 2 Alfred's pieces a week (6 a month). That might have me starting Book 3 in September (more or less... we'll see).

Case in point number 1, the Divertimento in D. It's ok, not great. It should be faster. It should have greater differentiation between the forte and piano sections. It should be smoother.

It will be none of these. I'm already on the next page. Deal with it.*

* - That admonishment is more for myself than anyone else... you kind folks are much more forgiving of my play than I am. Keep up the good work.

Box.net link - Divertimento in D

- Aw2pp, who respects The Pouch.

Cat people need not apply

2010-03-06T09:24:00.001-06:00

I defy you to watch this without smiling, or even laughing quietly to yourself. Me, I didn't make it past 15 seconds. Tell me how you did.

- Aw2pp, who does not own a dog, but has a 16 year old cat.

A post sure to annoy my wife

2010-03-05T21:30:00.002-06:00

Not that I am in the market, mind you... but if I were...

Astin-Weight upright on Craigslist

Now, let me pause for a moment, and allow the Voice of Reason to guest-blog. Welcome, VoR!

Thank you, Aw2pp. It's a pleasure to be here. You don't allow me around much, so I will enjoy my pulpit while I can.

Better pianos will come along later. You will be in a better position, financially speaking, to purchase a better piano, later. These are unassailable facts. If you wait until later, you might even be in a position to score one of those Charles Walters you like so much, gently used. What will you do then, if you've already bent over backwards for this monster?

Besides, an $850 piano does not cost $850. There's the tech inspection, moving, follow-up tuning and technical work it is sure to need... the ad itself says some of the keys stick. Why would you...

And that's enough for today's contribution from our guest blogger, the Voice of Reason. But wow, unless they left the thing outside for the last three Winters, that seems like an awful lot of piano for $850.

- Aw2pp, who has no discipline.

Turning attention now to Le Onde

2010-03-04T10:23:00.003-06:00

I mentioned recently (or at least I thought I did) that, during my preparation for Recital 17, I figured out why it is taking me so long to get through Alfred's Book 2. It's the darn recitals, which co-opt my attention for a month or so at a time. Where I am in Book two (Brahm's Lullaby, thanks for asking) is not a particularly challenging section of the book. I should be polishing off pieces once a week. But that is hard to do when I am recording, recording, recording, re-learning, recording...

I think we have a solution. My ABF Recital 18 piece, as you know, will be Le Onde. On May 15, which is when I will most likely submit the piece, I will have been working on it for 5 months. That should be plenty of time to prepare in a measured way, while still giving token attention to Alfred's. I'm going to focus on clearing 6 Alfred's pieces a month, until further notice.

I like my chances.

- Aw2pp, Tae Kwo Do Yellow Belt. You heard me.

Our first ER visit, and other stuff

2010-02-28T21:09:00.006-06:00

Jillian is age 8, Jason 7, Rowan 3 1/2, and Joey 1 1/2. That's 20 kid-years, and we've managed to get by without so much as a single stitch. Personally, I thought Rowan, with her reckless nature and preternatural confidence in her gross motor skills, would be our first ER patient. Wrong. Say hello to Joey, fresh off challenging the glass door on a TV stand:

Under that band-aid is a nice, clean 1" gash, sutured with some sort of glue and a couple of butterfly bandages. He looks like a hockey player. But he'll be fine. No stitches, so we're still 0-fer on that metric.

I know February is a short month, but gee-whiz, where did it go? Tomorrow is March 1, which means Spring is only 6 to 8 weeks away here 41 miles west of Chicago. To my friends and family who are already basking in the new warmth, good on ya. We're not insulted that nobody visits us this time of year. Really, we're not.

Not a lot of piano news. Work? I'm still my own rep, which means, among other things, fewer bench hours for me. PT has been very gracious accommodating my capricious schedule. Currently, I am scheduled for lessons Wednesdays at 3:30, but that time has been hit-and-miss this month. Thankfully, we've been able to backfill lessons as other students drop their slots. But it also means my progress is slow... I had hoped to be able to play Le Onde all the way through by now, for instance, but no dice. That second page, it gives me fits...

In other news, the kids earned their Tae Kwon Do Yellow Belts yesterday. Photographic proof follows:

Jillian's proud. It's easy to tell with her. Here's hoping that will always be true.

Now the kids on the playground will be even less likely to mess with The World's Largest Seven Year Old. Not that this was a problem in the first place.

Rowan and Boomer, alas, did not test. But they still had fun. Her time will come. Boomer's, I'm less sure. He (I think it's a he) doesn't seem to be taking well to his Poomse.

Me? I missed it. I was off playing volleyball. My test is this week, though. The only problem I have had in practice is with board breaks. Let me testify: if your teacher tells you to hit the board with the side of your hand, you need to listen to them. From my experience, I can tell you that it is possible to break boards with your ulna (that is, the outside of your wrist or lower arm), but the board may not be the only casualty in the encounter.

(Yes, I broke it. The board that is. Not my ulna.)

- Aw2pp, who already misses Curling.

Beaker and Teh Interwebs

2010-02-18T10:35:00.000-06:00

What can I say, I am a fan.

(Previous Beaker post here.)

- Aw2pp, who obeys the Laws of Thermodynamics.

Recital Piece

2010-02-16T09:55:00.003-06:00

Now I remember why it's taking me so long to work through Alfred's Book 2. 4 times a year, I apply the brakes to everything else, and pound away at my recital piece. Seriously, for the last month, I played almost nothing else.

You may recall that for Recital 16, I played the first movement of a Clementi Sonatina. (If not, no worries, I'm here for you, give it a listen here.) This time, I recorded the final two movements of the piece, and submitted them as a single recording. No, I did not record these in a single take... in fact, the two pieces were recorded (consults a calendar, hold please...) 3 weeks apart. But through the magic that is Audacity , I joined the two recordings, and added 4 seconds of space between them. Just like the pros do.

Here is the result, for your listening pleasure: Box.net link

Some thoughts on this music... I would really, REALLY have loved to iron out the couple of pauses in the second movement. And I would really, Really, REALLY loved to had played the third movement faster. But such is life. To be completely honest (and frankly, you'd expect that out of me, no?) I am happy with these recordings, and happy to have tackled them. I found the third movement to be the easiest of the three, and both of these pieces easier than the first movement I submitted back in November. Who knows, maybe I have improved?

On that note, it's back to Alfred's. Picking up with the Divertimento, a piece written by one of the Alfred's Editors, but in the style of the Divertimento Master himself, W. A. Mozart. I would like to observe that Alfred's pieces are starting to seem easy to me, and that working on the fun pieces (recitals, Einaudi) are making me progress faster than the Alfred's music is progressing. I'd like to, but I can't, because even though the Alfred's pieces seem easy, I don't seem to be busting out recordings of them. Maybe the next six weeks will be productive in that regard.

On the other hand, the next stop on my introduction to classical music (Sonatina version) tour is the first Kuhlau Sonatina, Op. 20. I've looked at the music. It has lots and lots of black on it, and intimidates me greatly.

Spending the rest of this week in Toronto, doing work stuff. Y'all play nice now, eh?

- Aw2pp, father of four, master of none.

Earthquake Follow-up: The Damage

2010-02-10T21:11:00.004-06:00

These photos capture the magnitude of the devastation wrought upon the Aw2pp household by last night's tremor.

Actually, the room looks like this pretty much all the time. But those of you who know us (a shout out to the Poop Doula, hello!) already knew that.

- Aw2pp, on-the-spot-reporter

Earthquakes I have known

2010-02-10T10:40:00.004-06:00

Spring, 1979, Mexico City, middle of the night. My recollection of this event was that my hosts, when I asked them if that was an earthquake I'd just felt, replied nonchalantly that it was, and I should just go back to sleep. Next morning, a chess game that we'd left half played was all over the place, but there was not further damage in the immediate area.

New Years' Day, 1980, Thousand Oaks California, mid-afternoon. We were watching the Rose Bowl at my Grandmother's house, and once I felt and heard the earthquake, I dove under a table, like they taught us in school. Shortly thereafter, the announces at the game mentioned they had felt it too.

Some summer in Alabama, mid 1980's, late morning. My dad and I were out in a lake and heard distant thunder. Anne, my stepmom, hollered out the window that there had just been an earthquake.

April, 2008, Chicago. I didn't feel it, but Sue did. As did a lot of other people. Paper later said it was like a 5.1 or something, if I remember correctly.

Last night, 3:59 AM. I was awoken by Sue's gasp / scream.... a scrasp, if you will. I did also hear a loud boom, as if a meteor landed in the cornfield across the road. (Not that I know what that sounds like, but I can imagine.) But it was over very quickly, much more quickly than other earthquakes I've known. Which was very confusing for me, all the moreso given that it was 4:00 in the morning, and nothing makes sense at that time anyway.

Anyhow, all is fine, but it makes one wonder... consider the natural disasters that can befall us... earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanoes, hurricanes, blizzards, floods, droughts, tsunamis, and the long-suffering nature of being a Cub fan. And maybe others. It now seems that a large majority of these can strike us here 41 miles west of Chicago. We're obviously spared two (tsunamis and hurricanes), which are byproducts of living near coasts. Everyone understands that that is part of the price one pays for doing so. (Although we do have our own version of a tsunami, the Seiche.) As to volcanoes, the only one to maybe cause concern in these parts is about a 1,000 miles away, although if it blows, we've got bigger problems on our hands than "Gee, I wonder how much we can get for our house."

Still, it makes one wonder, why are we living here again?

Piano-related post coming some time this week, I promise. Maybe even a recital piece, who knows?

- Aw2pp, who maybe needs to ponder his navel a little more.

Strange days indeed

2010-02-01T23:28:00.000-06:00

Changes afoot at work.You may remember Jeff, the fellow we visited just prior to Christmas... he of the piano, he who wasn't sure if it was a grand or an upright, but it turned out to be a wonderful little Charles Walter 1500? Jeff had been a Sales Manager prior to joining my little Canadian Software company, and though he had lots of fun palling around the Midwest with me, he concluded it was time to move on, and go back to managing sales people. Today is my first day out on the territory by my lonesome self. (Anybody know any good software sales reps looking for a job?)

Which is good news and bad news. The good news is that Jeff left some high-quality bidness on the table, and if I can get some of that closed this month, hey, I get the compensation for it! Woo-hoo! What's more, doing so would demonstrate some serious value to my new employer, who seems to like me quite a bit as it is. Maybe I can land some fancy new stock options or something before someone like HP or IBM buys us out.

The bad news is that this changes my work patterns quite considerably. I was never in charge of boring things like calling potential customers, qualifying inbound marketing leads, or cold-calling. No, my work began after that point in the process, when a lead has been properly identified as something worth pursuing. It was then my job to impress the people such that they'd be willing to sit down and discuss more boring things, like contract terms and conditions. At which point, I'd eject from the picture and move on to the next opportunity. Now? I have to do the fun stuff and boring stuff, too. Heck, I even have to call conference and trade show people to talk about setting up booths. Yick.

But I guess that's why the people who do this sort of thing make lots of money.

Ironic, then, that this is happening now. It was a little more than a year ago when IBM decided they could do without me and about 16,000 of my colleagues... I guess when you are a 380,000 person company, a couple ten thousand here and there don't really make much difference. But now I am in the midst of new upheaval, of a different sort. And it's kinda exciting. And frightening. Simultaneously.

But it doesn't leave much room for bench time. Not sure if I am going to have that recital piece ready in two weeks or not.

- Aw2pp, who is progressing 31 qualified leads and opportunities.

I'm sorry to do this to you

2010-01-26T15:28:00.001-06:00

Submitted for your review without further comment.

- Aw2pp, who now understands why Al Gore invented the Internet.

Hodge Podge Picture Post

2010-01-21T13:50:00.007-06:00

Catching up on the last month...

Houston pics
As you'll recall, we drove last month to Houston and back. The weather was so nice we... went indoors and played one afternoon at Pump It Up. The gang was pretty excited, as you see. Even Joey was doing some high-stepping.

But yes, there was also plenty of outdoor playing. Mostly on the trampoline, which has an interesting effect on your hair, as Rowan will now demonstrate.

Before

After

Other outdoor pics...

The first ever Aw2pp family volleyball game. More to come, I am sure.

Really not sure what is going on here, but clearly the racket committed some sort of grievous offense.

Remember that Young Chang piano I mentioned a few weeks ago? Here I am playing it, with that silly "I'm playing the piano" look on my face.* That's a glass of Amarone, by the way. It was tasty.

* - Some day, I hope to be a good enough piano player to be able to think about things like, "Gosh, I wonder what I look like, I should try to look cool." Until then...

Returning to 41 miles west of Chicago
All good things must come to an end, and our fun in Houston was no exception. When we returned, we returned to Winter. In fact, for more days than I can count, we've experienced something called "Freezing Fog". It goes something like this... the temperature outside is, say, 19 degrees, humidity is 100%, and the little floating water droplets instantly freeze onto anything they contact. It is actually quite a site, especially at night, but unfortunately you are going to have to take my word on that, because I am not a good enough photographer to capture cool nighttime freezing fog. But during the day... still nice.

Up the street to the north

Some of our trees

More of our trees

If you look closely enough, you might could see Mr. Tumnus.

You'd think, based on all that snow on the ground, that what you see in the trees is snow. You'd be wrong if you thought that. Instead, this stuff is the frozen fog droplets, which, as Tom Skilling taught me this week, is called Hoarfrost. (Stop snickering, you in back. I'm serious: Hoarfrost. Look it up.)

Of course, there is snow on the ground, and our children like to go out playing it, right? Negative. Here they were when I came in from taking these pictures.

Later, Jason at least took it upon himself to build a pyramid out of Connect 4 chips.

Finally, we had a day or two of clear weather. Here's a sunset, with something called a Light Pillar.

Turning around, the sun was at an interesting angle to the house across the street. The picture is not nearly as awesomely cool as the actual scene was, unfortunately. Where's a tripod when you need one?

Tonight, lesson #2 on the year. I think I have progressed enough with Calypso Carnival to get a pass on it. Here's hoping.

- Aw2pp, who, for one, welcomes our new insect overlords, and would like to remind them that as a trusted piano blogger, I could be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves.

And we're 2! (Thereabouts)

2010-01-20T16:00:00.003-06:00

A lot going on with work right now, so this is merely a reminder that, January, 2008 is when Jillian and I started playing piano.

- Aw2pp, Tae Kwon Do White Belt (look out world!)

Rock A My Soul

2010-01-13T14:08:00.003-06:00

Rock a My Soul - Box.net link

We haven't had an Alfred's recording in awhile, which could cause you to question whether I am making any Alfred's progress at all. You'd be right to wonder about this, because I haven't. Over the last month, I have been focusing on the Clementi Sonatina, Christmas tunes, and, most recently, restarting Le Onde for the June recital. Given that I average maybe 4 hours a week of bench time, there isn't much room for Alfred's pieces there. Which is a bit of a shame, because I really want to finish these books, but I've been in Book 2 for a year now, and I'm not even halfway through. I had hoped to be DONE with Book 2 by now, and even that wasn't supposed to be an overly ambitious pace.

Anyhow, Rock A My Soul is a fun, unserious* little piece of music intended to introduce the Key of D-Major*** (two sharps). I have found that Alfred's pieces get easy when they introduce something new, which makes perfect sense. If true, I should fly through the next three or four pieces until it gets hard again.

* - What, that's not a word? It oughtabe**.
** - See what I did there?
*** - That was off the top of my head this time! My theory is coming along after all... apparently, all you have to do is remember which note the corresponding scale starts with. Of course, this would be easier if I did scales.

First lesson of the year is tomorrow night.

- Aw2pp, who will rock you.

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

2010-01-12T08:40:00.003-06:00

Christmas apparently arrives late when you live on the Plateau of Piano Mediocrity. Maybe they use another calendar here.

Box.net link - O Come, O Come Emmanuel

Actually, the real problem is that I had quite a bit of difficulty with this piece. Listening to it (you are listening, right? go on, it's short...), you'll wonder what the fuss is all about. Trust me, it's harder than it sounds, and I would certainly tell you otherwise.

It comes from Bastien's Book of Christmas Classics, Book 4. Almost every piece in this book was a real stretch for me, either because of tempo or, fancy keys with lots of flats or sharps, or because it required sort of technique I hadn't learned. The latter is the case here. This piece required that I play multiple notes with the same hand (not new) and sustain some while releasing and moving onto others (new and strange). It took quite a long time to get this presentable, to say nothing of getting it good. But it's coming up on mid-January, and it's time to move onto something else.

Enjoy.

- Aw2pp, who bows to his Sensei.

Observations on two pianos played over the holidays

2010-01-10T13:07:00.001-06:00

Shortly before Christmas, we went to the home of My Work Buddy Jeff*. He has three children, and we've been trying to get our families together since shortly after I (and, as it turns out, he) joined our Small Canadian Software Company last May. Having finally settled on a time and date, we bravely set out through lousy weather for his home in a northern Chicago suburb.

* - How Jeff and I know each other is not complicated, but it is hard to label. Simply put, Jeff is the sales rep I work with. He and I represent the entirety of our Small Canadian Software Company's existence in the Central US. Which means, even though he sometimes assigns me work, he's not my manager (I have one of those, he's in Boston). But he's not really my peer either. So Sue and I weren't sure what to call him when we were telling the kids where we were going. "My work friend?" In the end, we just settled on "Jeff".

Jeff is the person who makes lots of calls, identifies sales opportunities, and charms the potential customer into hearing what we have to say. He then hands the conversation over to me to do the impressive demos / proofs of concept / trial implementations. Upon successful completion of all that, I then I hand it back to him so he can talk about really boring things like contract terms and conditions. He's done this for a very long time, is very good at it, and I'm glad to be working with him. Jeff is a good guy, and I look up to him in some ways, but we're very different, as our roles might suggest. One thing that Jeff is NOT is a piano person. "Oh, that's my wife's thing. I let her handle all that. Getting the kids set up with lessons, recitals, that's her thing." He told me that she bought a piano a few year back, but had no idea what it was, or even whether it was an upright or a grand*.

* - Jeff is not a details person. Unless we're talking Squawk Box.

So imagine my surprise when, upon getting the tour of the large and lovely home in the northern Chicago suburbs, I see that the piano in Jeff's music room is a sharp-looking Charles Walter upright. Some of you may know that I have a soft spot for Charles Walter pianos. They are one of only three American piano manufacturers making pianos today. Their pianos are, according to those qualified to say such things, engineering marvels, as well as being musically responsive. As a result, their uprights play bigger than they are. And they give heavy discounts to churches, which I think is pretty cool. Their factory is a short drive away in Elkhart, Indiana. Some day, I'd like to think we'll pay them a visit. If Jeff and I can sell any* software, that is.

* - More correctly, if Jeff and I can sell lots and lots of software. We have quite a few other priorities to take care of first.

I tell you this so that you'll understand I am, admittedly, predisposed towards liking this piano. And understand that I didn't play much on it... just a little here and there while dishes were being done. So my impressions are brief and should probably be taken with more than a few grains of salt. Bad news first: it was horribly out of tune. And smaller than I thought, though it's arguable whether that is truly bad news. And that's about it. What a wonderful little piano! Deeper in the bass than the piano Jillian and I take our lessons on, which is saying something for a little upright. Wonderful, even touch. But what I like most was something I couldn't really identify until I observed an extreme lack of it in the next piano. And since I don't really know what to call it, I will call it clarity. The notes were very distinct, even during the fast (and pedaled) passages of I Due Fiumi. There are parts of that piece that have sounded muddy on every piano I have ever played them on, including my buddy's Steinway back in November. I figured I was doing something wrong. Turns out, this piano had exceptional clarity, and didn't sound muddy at all in those tricky passages.

This particular characteristic, as a result, has suddenly jumped to near the top of the list of things I am looking for in the event we ever go piano shopping.

In Houston, we visited a friend who has medium-sized Young Chang grand. Beautiful piano. Most powerful bass I have ever played... it really thundered. But the action was very, very heavy, and, again, it was way out of tune. Most of all, as I have already hinted from my comments above on Jeff's Charles Walter, this piano lacked any clarity at all. Notes really ran together in a muddled mess, and I confess I don't understand how or why. But they did, and to be honest, this piano was very difficult to play. I'm sure this can be regulated somehow, but again, I know nothing about these things.

Anyhow, this is a fun little hobby, trying out pianos. I'll let you know when I get to play others.

- Aw2pp causes confusion and delay.

"Getting Started" with Le Onde

2010-01-08T15:54:00.003-06:00

June 4, 2010. Mark your calendars. You'll feel a Disturbance in The Force that day, as Jillian and I attempt our second live recitals. This is no trick for Jillian, who seems to have been born without the gene that induces stage fright. Her mother and I are both carriers, though, so Lord only knows how Jillian escaped. Jillian began work on her recital piece back in November, and has asked that I not share with you kind folks what she is working on. So I shan't.

Me? Longtime friends may recall that I had an eye last year towards performing Le Onde. And after about 6 weeks, I had reached the point to where I could play (most of) the notes, but it simply didn't sound musical. (Professor K. has described Le Onde as her "Waterloo" because of similar difficulties.) One lesson, I brought the iPod in to let PT compare and contrast what I was doing with the recordings from Einaudi himself. The La Scala version is particularly expressive, and it was while listening to it that PT had an "ah-ha" moment.

"Listen carefully to what he is doing... he is creating a wavelike sensation by implementing crescendos on every upward arpeggio (like those in the first four messages) and decrescendos on every downward arpeggio." I listened. She was right. That's why she makes Big Piano Teacher Bucks.

So I went back home and tried to do this. It was much harder than it sounds. In fact, I spent a week on this concept, during which time my ability to play this piece simply fell apart like the deck of cards that it was. By this point, recital time was 8 weeks away, and I was basically on page 1. I told PT that we were going with I Due Fiumi instead, and she expressed some relief at my decision. (Good thing, too, because first recitals have plenty of anxieties of their own. No sense adding to them with questions about your ability to actually play the music.)

Now where are we? 8 months later, I have about another 150 hours of bench time behind me. I'm better. I'm actually working on the key of D-major* in Alfred's, so it seemed like a good time to dust off Le Onde and see where we're at. After two weeks, I can say with supreme confidence that... I am right where I was when I gave up on it last Spring.

* - Heck no, I didn't know that off the top of my head, but thanks for asking. I had to look it up. My theory needs work.

My plan is to focus the next month on the first three pages. I'm in the "Acquiring the Notes at about 1/2 tempo" phase of things, paying very little attention to the aforementioned unwritten crescendos and decrescendos, or even the written ones. I hope, by the end of January, that the pattern will be fairly automatic for me, and the musicality will come by focusing on the details. When I make some progress there, I will turn to page 4, and start work on the halftime interlude, which, from what I recall, is not too difficult from a technical perspective. And so on.

What's more, as with many of Einaudi's pieces, there is quite a bit of repetition. I'd guestimate 90% of the first three pages is repeated in the second half. This should leave quite a bit of time to work on pushing and pulling the tempo and dynamics, to create that wave sensation that those who play it well can simulate.

Like Pianoworld's Kawaigirl for instance: Box.net link - Le Onde by Kawaigirl1

Look for my Le Onde in ABF Recital 18, which should be in May some time. In the meantime, updates as necessary.

- Aw2pp, new to the ways of The Force.

Revisiting I Giorni

2010-01-06T22:03:00.000-06:00

LizziePug wrote in the comments to an earlier post that she had some trouble accessing my recordings of I Giorni. Here is the Box.net link:

http://www.box.net/shared/kaz69g4ulk

Let me know if you have any trouble accessing it.

That said, I have lately been listening to the recording, and have concluded that it would be best to listen to other interpretations of the piece. Mine is... unpolished. The Maestro himself, for example, has two recordings that I know of, one from his I Giorni release (natch) and another from the La Scala double CD concert.

In addition, periodic Aw2pp visitor and Pianoworld ABF Recital Maven Professor K has graciously allowed me to post a link to her recording of I Giorni.

www.uky.edu/~harris/giorni3.mp3

There are a couple reasons why her recording is preferable. First, obviously, she is a much better piano player than I am. Secondly, her piano is a wonderful Mason & Hamlin, and sounds fantastic. Most importantly, (and Monica, correct me if I am wrong here) this is her favorite piece from her favorite composer. Her heart is really in it. For me, it was a real strain to get this recording completed before the recital deadline, and I think it shows. Fact is, the piece was really beyond me at that time, and though I might could* improve on it now, I'm probably still a year away from doing it any real justice.

* - "Might could" is a down-south verb tense suggesting extreme conditionality. Y'all come back now, ya hear?

I have started work on Le Onde, which I intend to play in June at my piano teacher's annual recital. Afterwards, I may take a second look at I Giorni and see. Having recently revisted I Due Fiumi, I can confidently say I now see value in dusting off old pieces. IDF sounds much better today than it did last summer.

So take a gander at these, and let me know if they help. For a real treat, I will see if I can find a version from Kawaigirl. The only problem with her versions are that she makes them sound so easy, you end up asking yourself, "Now, why can't I play that?"

- Aw2pp, ~~three~~ two stomach flus away from his target weight.

And... we're back

2010-01-05T22:59:00.000-06:00

Believe it or not, all of the following statements are true about our trip to Texas:

Sue, our four children (ages 7, 6, 3, and 1) , and I drove both legs (Illinois-Texas and Texas-Illinois) without stopping. Going there, 18 hours. Coming back, 16.5 hours. Without stopping. It was exhausting.
Rowan (the 3 year-old) got sick on the way down and threw up.
Joey and I got sick while we were in Houston and, uh, yeah, we'll leave those details out. Not good times. We're still fighting it.
Jason's turn was on the way home. Twice.
We had a great time and wouldn't do anything differently. Saw lots of friends (hello, Moriartys, hello Hylands), got lots of good family time in, even played outside. In January. Can you believe it? (You see, the joke is that we live in Illinois, see, and it is 6 degrees outside right now, see, and in Houston... oh, never mind.)

So it's all good, we're recovering, and I'll have some pics for you this week. Maybe some recordings and observations on a couple of pianos I played over the holidays. I'm also looking into LizziePug's question about I Giorni.

- Aw2pp, whose road stamina would frighten you.

Gone fishin'...

2009-12-25T23:03:00.000-06:00

Aw2pp will go dark for a week or so, while we visit friends and relatives in Texas, and all parts in between. Yes, we're driving, and we're going to attempt it one fell swoop. 18 hours straight. 4 kids and 2 "adults". Wish us luck.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

- Aw2pp, and a partridge in a pear tree. (Wait, that's two gifts!)

Merry Ice-Mas

2009-12-25T00:22:00.004-06:00

We don't do much here that would qualify as breaking news. Frankly, I am not on-top-of-it-enough to do that. Most of my posts germinate for a few days or more before they end up fodder for you. But these pics were too interesting not to share.

Here is our driveway this morning. Ice was about an inch thick here. Children were warned to stay off, and, wouldn't you know it, they did.

The Birch in front of the house is not happy with this.

The kids' week-old snowman seemed a little down, too.

It's ironic, Dad was here over Thanksgiving. He's lived most of his life in Alabama, including the last 32 years. I remarked that they had some ice storms while I was at Vanderbilt (late 80's, early 90's) that were simply ferocious. I had the gall to add that that sort of thing doesn't really seem to happen here.

- Aw2pp, who stands corrected.

Yip Yip Aliens

2009-12-20T13:45:00.002-06:00

I don't have much to say today. The Fighting Amish are done for the year, ending my interest in fantasy football. Work is slowing down after a very, very busy few weeks. And after a couple piano-related posts this week, I'm spent on that topic. For now. Instead, put on your Rocky the Flying Squirrel voice, and say it with me: "And now for something you'll REALLY like..."

Rowan watches plenty of Sesame Street. It is therefore with informed regret that I report to you she has yet to meet the Yip Yip Aliens.

Words fail me. And them too, but that's part of the point. They communicate much more with significantly fewer words than does, say, Elmo. Ro's missing out.

- Aw2pp, who speaks whale.

Sakura (Cherry Blossoms)

2009-12-19T13:30:00.000-06:00

Here is another recording from the Plateau of Piano Mediocrity. PT tells me that this is traditional Japanese music played during tea time or something.

Sakura - Cherry Blossoms (Alfred's Book Two)

What I like about it: It took me two weeks to get this far, instead of three. Nice ending, too. Mordendo...

Why I consider it symptomatic of mediocrity: Rough in tempo and dynamics. This is an elegant, almost fragile piece of music. It sounds like I'm playing it with boxing gloves.

- Aw2pp, idol of idle youth.

Obligatory kid and family pics

2009-12-17T22:58:00.001-06:00

It's been awhile.

Joey's growing up quickly, especially the last month or so. That'll be a theme here today, and you'll notice that many of the pictures include him. Here's another, in fact.

Jason (70 months) and Joey (16 months) playing our newest Wii acquisition, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games™. (Yes, that is the full, official name of the game.) That's Jason on the left.

These two are looking more and more alike all the time. It's a credit to them both, really.

This was taken on a recent train ride through a Christmas village not too far from here. Free train, free hot chocolate, free popcorn... what's not to like? We'll have to add it to the list of things we should do every year. Joey was less enthusiastic later that evening...

"Don't worry Joey, your older siblings weren't so crazy about this either when they were your age."

Same night. Those aren't Mardi Gras beads. Just clarifying. He makes faces like this when he doesn't want you to take his picture. Posting it is an attempt on my part to say, "Nyah nyah nyah, we took it anyway, and now the whole world can see your goofiness." That'll learn him.

Good news! Joey is ambulatory (look it up, it may not mean what you think it means) and capable of getting himself into a whole new world of trouble. Here he is on the second shelf in our pantry. Getting in is easy... getting out, not so much. Speaking of which...

... this has yet to be explained to my satisfaction. Maybe I'm better off not knowing.

Tom Skilling says Meteorological Winter begins December 1. Phil Plait says Astronomical Winter starts December 21. They're both right, of course, but neither of them can tell you when Winter actually begins. I will tell you. Winter begins when I have to shovel the driveway, and the kids look like this after playing outside for 5 minutes.

No, we haven't signed Joey up for piano lessons yet, which probably explains this strange chord he's trying to play. He's at least six months away. He does, however, enjoy turning the piano off while I am playing it. For some reason, he does not do that to Jillian. Secretly, I'm insulted. But I won't tell him that, and I'm fairly certain he doesn't come by here, so the secret is probably safe for now.

- Aw2pp, sensitive to his critics.

Greetings from the Plateau of Piano Mediocrity!

2009-12-16T12:03:00.003-06:00

I made a recording for you to commemorate my arrival here. Here, give it a listen, and tell me what you think:

Box.net link - House of The Rising Sun from Alfred's Book 2

The Plateau of Piano Mediocrity is not such a bad place, really. Quite crowded though. And from the looks of things, lots of folks have been here a long time... some seem resigned to spending the rest of their lives here.

Looking back, I see that my trip began down in the Valley of Piano Discovery. The road rises quickly at first, but then gradually settles onto the Plateau. The subtle decrease in grade makes it hard to pinpoint exactly where the Valley ends and the Plateau begins. But after awhile, there is no mistaking that, though you’re making plenty of lateral progress, the terrain isn’t taking you any higher.

Way off in the distance, I see the Hills of Piano Excellence, and, past those, the Peaks of Piano Virtuosity. I would like to think I am headed in that direction, but the way is shrouded in a deep fog, and I am not entirely certain how to get there from here. Michael Stipe says it can't be done. I guess I'll keep on taking one uncertain step at a time. At least I can see that far.

Ok, so the metaphor only works to a certain point, I admit. But the truth is, it doesn’t feel to me that I am making a lot of progress these days. Plenty of reasons for this, of course… mostly having to do with schedules, travel*, work… you know, life. But it doesn’t change the self-perception that I am pretty much the same piano player I was a year ago… certainly the same one I was six months ago… At this rate, Chopin and Liszt are going to have to wait a long time for me to catch up with them.

* I’m doing my best to squelch a whiny post about traveling for work… truth is, I should be thankful that I have a job. But be warned, I may lose this argument with myself, and whine in an unseemly manner.

What makes me feel this way? A couple of things. First, it seems to me that it is taking a longer-than-expected period of time to pick up new pieces. Second, the added time I spent polishing pieces I think I've learned isn't really making them sound that much better.

Consider this recording I’ve attached. On the one hand, there is a lot to like about it. The phrasing is nice, and I added an 8va section (that's the higher part in the second half) that, to my ears, gives it a little bit of life that the original Alfred's version lacked. That's all good. Problem is, I worked for three weeks to get it to this point. One week to learn it, and two weeks trying to iron out wrinkles and eliminate pauses. Those two weeks produced no observable results. To me, it sounds hesitant and timid. It also sounds like another hour or two would fix that right up, but I'm telling you, it won't. This is as good as I can get it, and, until further notice, it ain't getting any better.

Likewise, it is taking a very long time to learn some of the Christmas pieces I’ve been assigned in Bastien Book 4, and also the Clementi Sonatina. It takes me a month or more to get those things down. In my mind, the music doesn’t seem that difficult, so it shouldn’t take so long. But the mechanics of making the fingers consistently go to the right places aren’t coming easily.

There is one more important point to be made here: I believe this is perfectly natural. Most learning involves an initial period of rapid acquisition, followed by a longer, perhaps even indefinite, period of perfecting some basic skills while slowly acquiring new ones. I get it. I am experiencing, I assume, the same feelings that everybody goes through when they pick up the piano later in life*. My hunch is that the vast majority succumb at this point, and accept that this is the musician they were meant to be. I’m going to continue to plug away, hoping to finish Alfred’s Book 2 some time mid-next year, and Book 3 another year after that.

* - Except for the select few who are naturally gifted… I'm looking at you, Tim Moriarty, hello!

Liszt and Chopin can wait for me. They've got time on their hands, to be sure. Good thing, because those Peaks are way far off in the distance.

- Aw2pp, who remembers something about slow and steady winning the race...

In which he plays his first Steinway (long-ish)

2009-12-10T12:30:00.004-06:00

About three weeks ago, I met some old college buddies in Nashville to watch Vanderbilt get destroyed by Kentucky* in football. Eh, it happens, one gets used to it. (Rice fans, testify! Can I get an "Amen!"?)

* - A truly unrelated observation: can somebody explain to me why Kentucky fans travel in such numbers to watch their team play football? Dudley Field, home of the Vanderbilt Commodores, seats roughly 40,000 people. Come game day, there were 30,000 Kentucky fans in attendance. Basketball, I get, but what interest do Kentucky fans have in football? Professor K, can you help me out here?

Nashville is a comfortable drive from 41 miles west of Chicago, but part of the weekend involves some Friday afternoon golf. Driving in time for tee-time would mean getting up and hitting the road around 4 AM, which is a lousy way to start a busy weekend that also includes late night card-playing and such. As luck has it, one of my buddies is a surgeon in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, and that represents a comfortable stopping point. So I rolled into Dr. C's driveway late Thursday evening, caught up on current events, debated the Public Option, and went to bed.

Next morning, I woke up to an empty house, save me and two Chihuahuas*. Dr. C was visiting some patients he'd worked on the day before, and his wife Penny was delivering the kids to school. I put on my running shoes, and went out for a run. On the way to the front door, I noticed something that had escaped my attention the evening before... a large grand piano. I took a closer look at it and saw that it was a Steinway, which I guessed to be about 6' or so.

* - What is it with our friends and Chihuahua pairs? Thankfully, all dogs survived this visit.

So I immediately scrapped all other plans, and went to town on the piano. At least, you'd think that, knowing me. Well, I didn't. Volleyball season is fast approaching, and I'd been getting away from that "get in shape" thing I have to do these days just to be able to play. And besides, something didn't feel right about sitting down at this beautiful piano without, you know, permission or something. So I headed out with my Blackberry and headphones, and went for a run around Dr. C's neighborhood.

That took around 45 minutes. During that time, I talked myself out of the very sensible decision to ask permission to play the piano, and used that as motivation to get back to the house quickly. I justified myself thusly: "Why inflict my poor playing upon my kind hosts? They should be spared that."

When I got back, I was unpleasantly surprised to learn that I had locked myself out. The only creatures inside the house were the two yappy, unhelpful, and very agitated Chihuahuas. For 30 minutes, I alternated periods off stretching and canvassing the outside of the house for the proverbial spare-key-under-the-rock / statue. (Admit it: you have one, don't you?) The whole time, trying (and probably failing) to look perfectly innocent. Finally, in response to a text I had sent him, Dr. C told me where I could find the key, and voila, I was back in the house.

The dogs looked at me like, "Oh, it's you. Never mind all that hollering we were just doing."

By this point, I was very much looking forward to playing the piano. But there was a problem: my hands were frozen stiff. They were useless. It was probably 40 degrees that morning, and I had been outside for over an hour by this point. I could not play the piano at all. I tried anyway, of course, but it was awful. And about this point, Penny, Dr. C's wife, returned. And heard, oh, about 45 seconds of the misery I was inflicting on the piano. And said, in that sincere way that Southern folks can when they say something nice that flies in the face of all available evidence, "You play beautifully."

We got to talking, and Penny told the story of how they acquired the piano. Dr. C has an aging rich Uncle with no heirs, and wanted to do something nice for his nephew. About two years ago, they met at the Steinway store in Louisville, played a couple of pianos, and chose this new mahogany O. It took about an hour.

Since then, the Steinway techs have been by a half-dozen times to service the piano, most recently two days before my arrival. Apparently the Steinway people are a little fussy about how you treat their product... they say things like, "Uh, Mrs. C, there is too much dust on the instrument, you folks need to pay a little closer attention to that." And "Dr. C, those Southeast-facing windows will allow morning sunlight to fall upon the instrument" (they like to call it that, I guess) "during the Winter months. You are going to have to move it to a new location, please." They take notes on these things, like a doctor maintaining medical records, and are unhappy when they find their advice / suggestions from the previous visit go unheeded. I guess this is all part of the Steinway experience.

Penny went on to tell me that the piano isn't played very much. Dr. C played as a child, but rarely today. Their children take lessons on it, but don't practice as much as they should. The older one would be really good if he practiced. And Penny doesn't play at all, which you might have already surmised by her review of my playing.

Dr. C got home shortly thereafter. We all had breakfast together, cleaned up, and still had some unscheduled time. I sat down once more (with permission this time), and took a go at I Due Fiumi and my most recent recital piece, the first movement of the Clementi Sonatina. I had to play from memory, since I didn't bring any music (that'll learn me). I played these things well enough the second time around to get a good feel for the piano.

Of course it was amazing. Neutral in all respects, which I believe most Steinway folks regard as a good thing. Bass? Plenty, but somehow not booming. Treble? Wonderful and clear, but without that bell-like ringing our church piano (a Kawai RX-2) has. The touch was heavier than either our Casio or PT's small Emerson grand.

The Verdict (keeping in mind, of course, that I am a true novice when it comes to any sort of "real" piano, much less fancy-pants models like a Steinway O... basically, I know nothing about what I am talking about):

A beautiful piano, one I'd take in a heartbeat from any willing rich, heir-lacking Uncles. Or Aunts, distant cousins, or strangers on the street. But to be perfectly honest, it sort of left me shrugging my shoulders. I guess I expected to be floored by playing a new Steinway. You know, the sort of experience that melts the hearts of hardened men. This was nothing like that. In fact, to my hands, the progression of key weights, from heavy bass to lighter treble, was not nearly as smooth as I expected. The sustain didn't hold as long as I'd like but this is probably a matter of taste, and could be adjusted.

For what it cost (for those of you scoring at home, that would be around $60k, and Steinway is infamous for their refusal to discount), I expected more. I guess I expected it would have made me a better player, but alas, it'll take more than a fancy piano for that to happen.

- Aw2pp, who is nowhere near as with-it-and-hip as he makes himself out to be… Case in point: his use of “with-it-and-hip” in this tag.

Aw2pp is still in business...

2009-12-07T11:24:00.002-06:00

... although you wouldn't know it by my posting frequency. A thousand pardons for the radio silence here. Since we've last talked, I have been knee-deep in many projects at work, most of them (so far) fruitless. I like our chances of closing some nice things before the end of the year, though.

This week, if I can get to it, I will put up a couple of recordings, give you my thoughts on playing a Steinway, and maybe find some Internet drivel for our collective mental and emotional health.

- Aw2pp, man-child.

Spongebob

2009-11-20T11:59:00.006-06:00

I probably owe you some thoughts on last week's ABF Recital, but fact o' business is, I haven't listed to any of it yet. This week has been incredibly busy. I hope to soon, because recital discussion at Pianoworld tends to trail off quickly after a week or two, but with next week being Thanksgiving, I am not sure when I'll get to squeeze any listening time in before then.

In addition, I played my first Steinway last week. I owe you some thoughts on that, too. (Teaser: I was surprised.)

But since I've nothing truly useful to say today, I'll do what I usually do in these circumstances, and that is to bring in totally unrelated content. Take a look at these scribbles Jillian put down the other day.

Do you think maybe, perhaps, the kids watch a little too much Spongebob? Consider:

The room off of our kitchen, which, ostensibly, is supposed to be "Papa's Office*". In practice, I call it The Spongebob Room. Mind you, I'm the only one who calls it this, but I think it fits, because watching Spongebob us the main purpose for which this room is used.
She went two for three in drawing some pretty recognizable characters. Patrick may need a little bit of work, but check out Squidward's face! And dollar signs in place of Mr. Crabs' (Krabs?) pupils! This sort of detail isn't easily acquired. It takes hours and hours to take it in, and reproduce it off the top of your head. She could do illustration work for them now.
My children have apparently seen every episode of the show. I don't know whether to feel pride or shame. Perhaps a mixture of the two... I'm sure the Germans have a word for it, but I don't.

* Yes, we built this house last year with the intent that Sue's parents would be joining us in it. And though they do so periodically (weekends, mostly, and when I travel during the week), they still haven't sold their house, and remain in it. Thanks for asking.

- Aw2pp, who lives in a pineapple under the sea.

My Fourth (really?) ABF Recital Piece

2009-11-12T10:08:00.000-06:00

Here you go. Since the ABF Recital won't even be published or processed until this weekend*, consider this an advanced screening.

* - Yeah, what's up with that? I hear you. I am always one of the last entries, trying (and often failing) to get a clean recording even up to the 11th hour. Not really that different this time. I am headed to Nashville tomorrow to catch a football game and hang out with old college buddies. So for me, this is the 11th hour.

http://www.box.net/shared/rka0qcn5hd

My recital piece this time around is the Clementi Sonatina Op.36 No.1 (the first part only). Previous recital entries have all been Einaudi pieces... Ombre, I Due Fiumi, and, most recently, I Giorni. Setting aside that I apparently only play music composed by Italian composers, you might say this entry represents a bit of a departure for me.

In some ways, yes, it's very different. This is my first classical piece. It's short. It's bouncy. The LH and RH are pretty much independent of each other, meaning I couldn't count on learning a few repeating patterns, and putting one hand (or both) on auto-pilot.

But still, in important ways, this is also like the other pieces. To whit: it's a stretch piece. Something that I probably shouldn't have tackled for another 6 months or so. Something that I didn't quite "get", and would probably play better with more technique under my belt. But, as with all good stretch goals, I learned a lot, and progressed.

You may recall a couple months ago that I asked PT for an introductory classical piece. She assigned me this, and, to follow, the second and third parts of the sonatina. I since learned that everybody seems to play this at an early part in their classical piano training. I got lots of feedback and suggestions on how to handle it. Truth be told, I needed the help. I did not find this easy at all, even though it is apparently as easy as anything else in the classical repertoire. As my family can attest, I spent a lot of time learning, eventually memorizing, and finally trying to grab a good recording of this piece. No lie, I must have recorded 60 takes. I can't play it at anywhere near tempo... this is about 75% the speed I had aimed for, and about 50% of the speed I hear in professional recordings*. And I've yet to play it error-free, at ANY tempo, although I submit this recording in the hopes that the most egregious errors are subtle enough to escape your notice. But the biggest problem I had, and I don't believe I am alone here, is maintaining a consistent tempo. It's uneven, you'll hear that... but it's better than it was.

* - Still plenty fast for me, boy howdy.

All in all, I am happy with this, happy to submit it, and ready for the 2nd and 3rd pieces of the Sonatina. Depending on how they go, one or both could be my recital entry next time.

Of course, I am also gearing up to attempt Le Onde at June's recital (Live! In Person!). So I've got that going for me. Which is nice.

- Aw2pp, spiritoso!

Jillian's ABF Quarterly Recital Piece

2009-11-11T11:54:00.005-06:00

Jillian recently recorded the following, and asked me to submit it to the Pianoworld Adult Beginner's Forum Quarterly Recital. It's called "Morning Prelude", and it is found on page 36 of Jillian's Bastien Piano Basics (Level 1) Book.

http://www.box.net/shared/7t0vgvihip

I am not entirely certain how to get this submitted, since Pianoworld doesn't allow 7 year-olds to register. But I'm sure we'll get that worked out in due time. Meanwhile, here are her comments on the piece:

I chose my song "Morning Prelude" because it was my first song I got to use the pedal on. I have thought it sounded really pretty, and I hope you do too.

She could give me lessons on being succinct.

- Aw2pp, quick learner.

Extraneous Accents

2009-11-03T12:16:00.005-06:00

(Not a music related post. If that's what you came here for today, go ahead and move along. Nothing to see here.)

I speak Spanish and Portuguese. And, arguably, English, but that doesn't help me make my point. Which is, I think I know a thing or two about accents. Written accents, on words.

In Spanish, "Feliz" ("happy") has no accent, because standard pronunciation guidelines tell the speaker to accent the last syllable on (most) words that end with a consonant. And Spanish normally abides by its own rules, whereas Portuguese is less internally consistent. (Neither are nearly as poorly behaved as English, of course.) Some exceptions do apply, and written accents are there to account for these. Therefore, "Lápiz" needs an accent to let everyone know they need to hit that first syllable hard, rather than accent the second syllable like a normal, everyday, consonant-ending-word should.

(See what good stuff you get from me? You're probably telling yourself, "I should visit here more often.")

Portuguese basically plays the same game, but they add additional diacritical marks to account for their numerous eccentricities. For example, in order to tell avô (grandfather) from avó (grandmother), you use a circumflex accent for the former (which produces a closed "oh" sound, rhyming with "low"), versus an acute accent on the latter (which produces an open sound, like the sound you make when the doctor asks you to open up and say "ah"). And there are other fun things, but we'll set those aside for now.

Why all this? Because my minor annoyance of the day is Pokémon. You heard me: Pokémon.

Check out that accent: second syllable. Don't believe me? Visit (if you dare) The Official Pokémon Website.

Say it out loud: "POHK kee Mawn", with a hard accent on the first syllable, and a secondary accent on the last. The least accented syllable is the middle one. You know... the one with an actual accent mark on it. That's perplexing and annoying. If I had to guess why it would be there, I'd say some marketing meeting was held. And someone had the temerity to suggest that "Pokemon" wasn't a sufficiently foreign-sounding (or looking) word. And some intern sitting in the back of the room... somebody who obviously knows NOTHING about accents... suggested they put an accent somewhere in the middle of the word, and that would impress the world's six- and seven-year olds*.

* - And then, so my theory goes, the room fell silent. Until the Bigwig Marketing Exec said, "Here is what I propose: we add an accent to the second syllable. Then everyone will know this is some sort of fancy, foreign thing." Then the rest of the room erupted in agreement**.

** - Of course, this is not my idea. FedEx had a great commercial on this theme years ago. Here, in case you missed it. It's funny because it's true.

Of course, here we are 15 years later, and Pokémon aren't losing any momentum... heck, Jason was a Pokeball (or Pokéball?) for Halloween (pics coming). So who am I to tell these people what to do?

- Aw2pp, linguistic purist

Aw2pp's Wii Baseball Tips

2009-10-30T09:47:00.002-05:00

I apologize for this post. You can't expect me always to maintain my usual level of brilliance. This post goes out to my children, especially Jason, who, for the life of him, can't figure out how to beat me in Wii baseball. My Wii baseball rating is something like 2200, which won't impress the local junior high crowd*, but qualifies as big-time stuff at the Moose Lodge down the road.

* - According to my marketing department, we aren't really reaching that demographic anyway. I guess piano blogging just doesn't capture the next generation's attention like it should.

Here, for the benefit of all (or at least Jason), are my tips. I'll post them in the context of competing against the computer itself, but they work just as well when going against a live human being.

Moneyball
In some respects, Wii baseball success is brought about by doing things successful baseball players and teams do at the MLB level. One of these is to take a lot of pitches. Except in certain circumstances (hold that thought), I don't swing unless there are two strikes on the batter. The goal is to quickly elevate the other pitcher's pitch count, so that they get tired and start making mistakes. The #1 thing I wish I could do better is to hit foul balls on purpose. If you can, good on ya. I can't, so I take as many pitches as I can.

The difficulty here is that it's hard to be successful with this strategy if the other pitcher is pounding the strike zone. If they are throwing a lot of strikes, you're likely to see some quick scoreless innings. Thankfully, this is pretty rare. Don't stress if you aren't scoring much, if you get elevate the pitch count, you'll score plenty when the other pitcher tires out.

A best-case scenario is that the pitcher will walk a few batters, and maybe you'll pair a few walks and hits to score a few runs. But for the first (and to a lesser extent, second) inning, the most important thing is to get the pitcher to throw lots of pitches, hopefully at least 25 per inning. You'll know they reach that point when they start sweating. After they throw 50 pitches, they'll begin sweating profusely, and... well, I get ahead of myself.

Don't throw strikes
Meanwhile, while you are on the mound, stay out of the strike zone. Again, much like real baseball, the goal is to get the batter to swing at your pitch. Wii batters tend not to take many pitches; if you can get them to swing at something out the strike zone, it's almost always a good thing for you.

As a warning, I'll add that if you have a big lead, especially a big early lead, the Wii computer will override your pitch location selections, and you'll end up throwing strikes whether you want to or not. Natch, the other team will then smack the ball around the yard like it's the All Star Home Run Derby. Just accept it. Sometimes, the machine just has to have its way.

When I get two strikes on a Wii batter, I almost always throw split finger pitches until they strike out, dribble a grounder to an infielder, or walk. Which leads me to...

Recognize the split finger pitch
There are a couple things you need to know about the split finger pitch. First and foremost, it is never a strike, unless you choose to swing at it. Second, you can't hit it. The computer can, if it is in the mood, and may sometimes (very rarely) get a hit, but you can't. Which means you should never, never swing at it.

Once caveat: if the computer is in a grouchy mood, it will make you "miss" a split finger pitch, and you'll end up lobbing a slow meatball right down the middle of the plate. On which the batter will tee off. Dance with the devil...

Mix Up Your Pitches
Pretty simple, and again, much like real baseball. Alternate the speed and location of your pitches. Fast in, slow away, vice versa. Get two strikes, then throw your split.

The Exclamation Mark
Here is where you close the deal. Assuming you have made the other pitcher throw a lot of pitches, somewhere near the middle to end of the second inning, they'll get really tired, sweating a storm. When they get to this point, you'll notice them making "mistakes", which you'll recognize by the appearance of an exclamation mark (!, just to be clear) above their head when they deliver a pitch. When you see an exclamation mark pitch, go ahead and hammer it. This is my exception to the "Swing only with two strikes" rule... if it's the third inning, and the pitcher is throwing one exclamation point after another, I'll go ahead and swing with the wild abandon of a Dominican rookie.

The tireder (hey, that's a word?) they get, the more mistakes they'll make. When you get to this point, it is not uncommon to plate 10 or more runs in an inning.

- Aw2pp, filmed live before a studio audience

45-10

2009-10-27T09:16:00.004-05:00

I did not win my football pool this week. I'd like to blame my loss on the Bears, as I optimistically predicted they'd beat Cincinnati, even assigning a 9 point weight to the pick. Truth is, most of the pool participants are myopic Bear fans*, and they too put heavy points on a Bear win. So when the Bengals dominated the Bears 45-10 Sunday, the result had an insignificant effect on our confidence pool.

* - My choice was less a vote of confidence in the Bears, and more of an aspersion cast against the Bengals. I doubted they could continue to post miraculous last-second wins. As it turns out, I was right about this, but not in the way I expected. As for the Bears, I have no delusions that an NFL team trotting out 4 Vanderbilt graduates in their opening day starting lineup could possibly be any good.

We've not once talked football here, and we're not going to anytime soon in the near future. So why now? Well, as an excuse to post cute pictures of Rowan, naturally. (You didn't see that coming, did you? Keeping you on your toes, I try.) The Bears have not had cheerleaders since retiring the Honeybears after the 1985 Super Bowl. Ironically, they won that game by virtually the same score as Sunday's loss, 46-10... and haven't won a Super Bowl since. Is there a Honeybear curse?

I think the Bears should revive the "Dancing Girls", as Old Man Halas called them. Inspired by this level of cuteness, Super Bowl wins should follow soon thereafter. Even if 20% of the starting lineup comes from Vanderbilt.

- Aw2pp,who agrees that the senseless waste of pitting these two mighty forces of nature against each other, like matter vs. anti-matter, will be a tragedy, not only for the teams involved, but for our planet. All nations must band together, to ensure that such a conflagration never takes place.

Quick update on my recital piece

2009-10-26T10:49:00.003-05:00

Just a quick hitter to say that, over the weekend, I got about 4 hours of bench time, and made significant progress on my Clementi Sonatina Recital piece. Which says more about where it was than where it is, but still, I now like my chances of having something in the hopper by November 12.

(Heading to Nashville that weekend, so I can't wait until the 11th hour like I usually do.)

- Aw2pp, a member in good standing of the Rock n Roll Justice League of Illinois

Imeem, I am done with you

2009-10-24T08:33:00.001-05:00

The whole point of embedding an Imeem player for recordings was that you didn't have to go anywhere else to hear the music. Then they started embedding ads in their embedded player, which I did my best to remove before posting. They seem to have figured that bit of trickery out, and now only allow you (me, anyone) to embed the first 30 seconds of a given sound clip.

Imeem, I am done with you. All further recordings will be posted using Box.net links only.

- Aw2pp, who originally posted this without adding anything here.

"The Berlin Reunion"

2009-10-23T08:09:00.000-05:00

Ok, bear with me here. I'm not sure I can explain this in a sufficiently compelling way... you're probably better off just clicking this link, and bypassing my commentary entirely.

The Berlin Reunion - as shown by The Big Picture

For those of you who are still here (why are you still here?), here is what the others are seeing, as described by The Big Picture:

Earlier this week, 1.5 million people filled the streets of Berlin, Germany to watch a several-day performance by France's Royal de Luxe street theatre company titled "The Berlin Reunion". Part of the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Reunion show featured two massive marionettes, the Big Giant, a deep-sea diver, and his niece, the Little Giantess. The storyline of the performance has the two separated by a wall, thrown up by "land and sea monsters". The Big Giant has just returned from a long and difficult - but successful - expedition to destroy the wall, and now the two are walking the streets of Berlin, seeking each other after many years apart.

The photos (including the one below) tell the rest of the story.

I know it sounds implausibly silly, but the pictures are very moving, and do a reasonable job of conveying the story and emotions that surround it. And 1.5 million people showed up to see this? Around here, you need an air show, or maybe Oprah, to draw that kind of crowd.

Anyway, take about five minutes to see what they did. I'll file this under Internet Drivel, but it isn't your typical Internet Drivel.

- Aw2pp, who is doing his best to make up for a slow posting month

"I'll take SWORDS for $200, Trebek"

2009-10-22T08:51:00.001-05:00

I can't express to you how much I enjoyed this. My soul is fed. I may as well call it a day right now.

- Aw2pp, two-time Osage Chief.

Streets of Laredo

2009-10-21T12:47:00.002-05:00

Continuing with a relatively heavy posting schedule this week, I now offer for your approval my version of the next Alfred's Book 2 assignment. I actually had this one completed before Introduction and Dance (a pox on it), but the purist in me wouldn't allow the blogger in me to post it (Laredo) without having completed the earlier piece (Intro) first.

Box.net link - My recording

Streets of Laredo - Aw2pp

My favorite version, of the ~~hundreds~~ ~~scores~~ ~~dozens~~ one or two recordings I've heard comes from Nashville musician and self-proclaimed Last of the Full Grown Men: Webb Wilder*.

* - Not his real name, I'm sure.

By this point, my 30 second version of the song is surely done (you listened, right?), so why not hear a professional's take.

Box.net link - Webb's version

Streets Of Laredo (The Cowboys Lament) - Webb Wilder

It's simultaneously an interesting, sad, and perplexing song. Apparently all the following is true:

A cowboy is a drunken gambler lowlife. Said gambler is also a cheat, and got caught. So somebody shot him. At which point, while dead ("dressed in white linen and cold as the clay"), he wanders the Streets of Laredo, and comes across the, uh, narrator. Whom he doesn't know ("I see by your outfit* that you are a cowboy..."). So he (the now dead cowboy cheating gambler) spends the rest of the song describing what happened to him, finishing up with very specific funeral arrangements. Which the narrator (again, a stranger, mind you) dutifully follows, even arranging for a sextet of prostitutes to sing a song in his memory. And why? Because, shucks, that kid, that's just the way he rolled, and they all loved him like that.

* I can just imagine this conversation between two rough characters.

"Nice outfit!"
"Oh this? Just something I threw together this morning."
"No, really, it's simply dashing** the way it conveys your cowboy-ness."
"Uh, thanks. Say, your outfit is... unusual. Looks like some bedsheets. And come to think of it, you also look kinda pale. Is that a new base you're working with? Or is there a toga party I am missing somewhere?"
"Oh, that. Well, funny you should mention it..."

** Yes, they actually use the word "dashing" in this song.

That's quite a bit of inconsistency to try to digest. And yet? It's still vastly superior to "Those Were The Days". (I know, it's time to move on.)

The Streets of Laredo (The Cowboy's Lament)

As i walked out in the streets of Laredo
As i walked out in Laredo one day
I saw a young cowboy dressed in white linen
Dressed in white linen and as cold as the clay

"I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy"
These words he did say as I boldly stepped by
"come sit down beside me, hear my sad story
Shot in the breast and i know i must die

Play the drum slowly, play the fife lowly
Sound the dead march as you bear me along
Take me to the green valley, lay the sod o'er me
I'm a young cowboy and i know i've done wrong.

It was once in the saddle i used to go dashin'
Once in the saddle i used to go gay
Off to the dram house, off to the card house
Shot in the breast and i'm dying today

Beat the drum slowly, play the fife lowly
Sound the dead march as you bear me along
Take me to the green valley, lay the sod o'er me
I'm a young cowboy and i know i've done wrong.

Get six strong cowboys to carry my coffin
Six pretty whoregals to sing me a song
Place bunches of roses on top of my coffin
So they can't smell me as they bear me along"

We played the drum slowly, played the fife lowly
Played the dead march as we bore him along
Took him to the green valley and laid the sod o'er him
We all loved our comrade even though he'd done wrong

As i walked out in the streets of Laredo
As i walked out in Laredo one day

- Aw2pp, who tends not to let his freak flag fly.

Introduction and Dance

2009-10-20T12:01:00.001-05:00

Sorry to have put you through this. But given the time that I spent on this miserable, accursed piece of music (more here, in case you missed it), the very least I could do is let you hear my recording of the final time I will ever play it. Yes, once this was recorded, I turned the page on this piece, literally speaking, forever. Enjoy.

Box.net link

Introduction and Dance - Aw2pp

- Aw2pp, who actively detests wistful songs about long-passed days ofyore

The View from My Window

2009-10-19T09:31:00.005-05:00

For some reason, I have this notion that you (and Andrew Sullivan) would be interested in seeing what the view out my window is. Thanks for asking.

It's hard to explain, but my office is in my (our) closet. Thing is, out closet is about a kajillion times bigger than what Sue and I need. So we partitioned the thing, giving me a little 50 square foot cubicle. When I stand up, I look west out that window, and see what you see here.

- Aw2pp, hempen homespun.

I'm stuck

2009-10-14T12:31:00.003-05:00

I do have a recording for you, but not today. Instead, I will whine about the piece I was supposed to have finished weeks ago. In Alfred's, it goes by the unassuming title Introduction and Dance, a Folk* song.

* - This Folk fellow... quite a prolific composer. Lots of Alfred's Book 2 pieces are attributed to him.

When I got started, it seemed simple enough. Sure, it's a minor key, and sure I tend to struggle with those for some reason. Two pages, with a repeat. I didn't recognize most of the first page, until the last three notes. Then I knew what I was playing. It was foisted upon us the year I was born, and remained on the airwaves for so long, I actually have childhood memories of hearing it on the radio. Naturally, I had the good sense even at a young age to develop a healthy hatred for this song, a whiny, defeated longing for times gone by. Here, in case you don't know what I am talking about, enjoy this clip, for all its putrescence. Please join me in despising this music with the fiery passion of a thousand burning suns.

Yick. I don't blame you if you never come back here again. I am sure it's pieces like this that convinced Anthony B to learn piano using his all-Einaudi repertoire. Heavens, even my piano teacher dislikes it... I stumbled through it for her last week. When I finished, I started to point to a measure I have trouble with, but she stopped me, saying simply, "I think we've heard enough of this one."

So you'd think I'd just move on, wouldn't you? Thing is, it is my very hatred of this music that keeps me from letting it go without perfecting it. Sounds strange, I know. But there is a voice in my head (don't laugh, you have them too) that says, "You can't let THIS beat you, can you?"

No, I can't. So Alfred's progress (and, to a lesser extent, progress on my Clementi Sonatina) stalls while I grit my teeth and try to pound out a recording.

- Aw2pp, with a tip o' the bowler to Aleister Crowley.

As I was saying...

2009-10-06T12:04:00.004-05:00

Once in awhile, when PBS is trying to raise money or something, they'll put interesting programming on.* One of their staples during these times** is a series of documentaries about TV in the early days. I try to watch these each time they come on, even if I have seen the particular installment before. I enjoy trying to imagine what it must have been like. Today, we have several hundred channels to choose from... back in the day, folks would gather the family at the giant TV and gaze at a test pattern, marveling that the annoying tone and concentric circles were being broadcast all the way from downtown.

* - I kid, of course. I'm a fan. The Ken Burns National Parks Series last week was phenomenal.

** - "Pledge Drives", they call them. But I know you pretty well by now, and I suspect I didn't need to tell you that.

One of the things that I learned from watching these documentaries is that, in the early days, late night TV had some real geniuses. One of them, Jack Paar, got himself into an argument with his network TV hosts, and as such, left the airways for a spell. I don't recall any of the specifics, and, natch, I am too lazy to look them up. But I do recall that there was some doubt as to whether he would be coming back. And during the interim, since this was before The Daily Show, Nightline, or QVC, folks, either watched their local test pattern, or, heaven forbid, turned the TV off at night and turned in early. Or something.

Anyway, returning to what I DO recall from this story, Jack DID return. His studio audience applauded him wildly as the show opened, for some time, several minutes even. The applause died down, and then Jack paused. There was some tension in the studio. Would he acknowledge the "recent unpleasantness"? Would he take a moment to say bad things about NBC (I think it was NBC, but don't hold me to it)? Or would he go on as if nothing had happened, thereby creating the possibility that the tension would forever be unresolved?

He did none of those things. Or all of them, depending on your point of view. The first words out of his mouth were... "As I was saying..."

Laughter ensued, tension was broken, brief hiatus was simultaneously recognized and dismissed, and the world returned to normal.

What relevance does this have? Pretty much none. I am nowhere near as interesting as Jack Paar, I have not gone on hiatus because of some feud with Google, and, by all accounts, you've probably not noticed that it has been a couple weeks since my last post. And besides, even if all that were true, I totally forgot what we were talking about. Instead of "As I was saying," "Where were we?" is probably the more appropriate question.

Work has been very busy. I've spent various parts of the last two weeks in beautiful Appleton, Wisconsin and Holland, Michigan. There is talk of paying a visit to St. Louis next week. Remember, now, I am in software sales. And remember also (or perhaps you didn't know, since you weren't with us then, I'm looking at you, Moriarty) that July and August were disconcertingly slow. I had a lot to say then, and lots of bench / piano time. Today, not so much. But regard this as a good thing... salespeople like it when they are in the weeds.*

* Waiter term. Look it up. And it doesn't mean what you think. Shame on you.

The bad news, at least for our purposes, is that this pace results in a lighter posting schedule. I'll work on it, but no promises. Briefly, if I had been posting, I would be saying any or all of the following:

- Jillian continues to progress well in her lessons. And practice pretty much without being asked, although I think she over-reports her practice times to her teacher.
- I have missed two weeks in a row of lessons. Not to worry, Jillian has taken my time slots instead, and seems to be getting quite a lot out of the extra 30 minutes.
- Nevertheless, 10 minutes here, 30 there, I try to make progress on my own. I am almost ready to record a couple of Alfred's pieces for you. But I am growing concerned about my lack of progress on the Clementi Sonatina. That needs to be recital-ready in a month.
- I am finding myself reading a lot of "I just got my new piano" threads on PianoWorld. Which I really shouldn't be doing.

And, as you've come to expect, you'd see some kid pics. Sorry, not today.

I have to get back to work. I have to create a presentation explaining a prospective customer's pain points. You know, to show that I understand their problems, and how my company's software will help. Gripping stuff.

- Aw2pp, who knows how to improve the quality and outcome of business stakeholder reviews. No really, he does.

"You are under my control"...

2009-09-28T14:39:00.002-05:00

We've been watching "Meet The Robinsons" lately. One of Rowan's favorite parts are when the villain (aka "Bowler Hat Guy") hypnotizes various creatures*. To ensure they have reached the proper level of suggestibility, he tells them, dreamily, "You are under my control..." To which, the hypnotized animal replies, dutifully, "I am under your control..."

* - Mainly, the Singing Frog, but also a dinosaur... yes, this all makes sense if you see the movie.

Now that you have that image in mind, add our little three year old, walking around the house with a yo-yo, waving it back and forth slowly, and saying, in a forced monotone, "You are under my control..." If only she knew how much we, her parents are under her control. Hmm, come to think of it, maybe she does know. Let's table this topic for another day.

All this leads up to today's Useless Internet Drivel link. Those of you who are subject to motion sickness... move along now, you must leave. Likewise, any of you who are subject to visually-induced migraines or seizures. Away with you. But the rest... click on this link, and follow the instructions. IT'S AWESOME! (And a little unexpected, I must say, but that's just me.)

Visual Trick that messes with you

- Aw2pp, who took about a minute to fully recover from this. Just to warn you.

Nerds only, please

2009-09-25T13:18:00.004-05:00

If you don't place yourself in some sort of nerd-relatedcategory, please go about your business. Nothing to see here. Have a good weekend.

The rest of you* (er, us) will appreciate the amazing awesomeness of this mix. I'm speechless in its presence.

* - And, given that this is a piano-related blog, that probably still constitutes a not-insignificant number. It's not like we're discussing something trendy, like Project Runway, Las Vegas, or Dan Brown's latest release.**

** - Although feel free to discuss these things amongst yourselves, natch.

And just to lay claim to some serious nerd credentials here, it's in my DNA: my Aunt and Uncle were part of the production crew for the original Cosmos series. In fact, that set for "Spaceship of the Mind" was the brainchild and creation of my Uncle John, who also reviews cars for a living. He has an Emmy at his home in San Pedro to prove it, and he'll let you hold it if I bring a nice Central Coast Cab with you. Personal experience suggests Justin Isosceles will do the trick nicely.

But I digress. Enjoy every moment of this. I know you will.

- Aw2pp, who will wear glasses (not contacts!) if'n he ever needs them.

Festive Dance

2009-09-16T21:48:00.003-05:00

I had a lot of fun learning this little piece. I had a maddening time trying to get a perfect recording (you know me). Instead, I leave you with this perfectly acceptable, yet subtly flawed version of this faintly Slavic thing-a-ma-bob.

Box.net link

Festive Dance - Aw2pp

Technically, I was done with this last week, but wanted to grab a recording before moving on. My Alfred's pieces are (at the risk of incurring the wrath of the angry piano gods) easy these days. I am able to pick them up in maybe 2 or 3 hours (which, these days, still translates to a full week... not getting much bench time with our new busy Fall schedule). I know Hava Nagila looms shortly in the distance, and that is certain to take me a week or three. But for now, I am putting one lesson after another in my rear view mirror.

To make up for this, PT has assigned me some of her standard stuff. So I am working on a Clementi Sonatina. Without going into too much detail at this point, it's a real pain. In the Alfred's stuff, the LH mainly plays chords or simple repetitive patterns. In the Einaudi pieces I have learned, where the LH is often playing a repeating bass line, allowing one hand (sometimes both) to go on auto-pilot. Not so this classical stuff, where I have to pay very close attention to what both hands are doing. And, uh, well, I can't. At all. So this could take awhile.

- Aw2pp, keeping it between the ditches.

Even if you don't like tennis...

2009-09-14T15:33:00.001-05:00

... ya gotta watch this.

- Aw2pp, who has nothing else for you today, but even if he did, Roger Federer would have something better.

Lessons resume tonight

2009-09-10T14:06:00.004-05:00

I've been away from lessons for a couple-three* weeks. During this time, I:

- Went from "yick, that sounds awful" to "hey, I recognize that!" on Stella del Mattino. Might fall back on this as my recital piece in November.
- Completed Festive Dance (oh, I owe you a recording) and did enough on Alfred's Scherzo to be annoyed by it.
- Worked some on the Clementi Sonatina I asked for last time.

* - "Two or three." This phrase works much better verbally, it seems.

So it should be a full lesson this evening, which is a bit of a problem. PT likes to talk. A lot. Each 30 minute lesson usually contains about 10 to 15 minutes of talking and catching up. Not sure there is enough room for that today, but we'll see.

In the meantime, since I have nothing much else to say, here are the annual first day of school pics, including Ro's First First Day of School. Enjoy.

- Aw2pp, new "Mad Men" fan.

Anthony B's Senator (well, one of them, anyway)

2009-09-07T11:31:00.003-05:00

Setting aside whatever you might think about his politics, you'd have to admit, this is pretty impressive.

- Aw2pp, who did not play the accompanying piano music for this clip.

Checking in with Jason

2009-09-01T09:02:00.006-05:00

I went to the Cubs game the other day with The World's Largest ~~Kindergartner~~ First-Grader. It was Jason's first Cubs experience. Here, I have the pictures to prove it.

Among other things, it was an afternoon of mental gymnastics. Jason has begun the Ask Random Questions About Everything phase, as I think I did when I was his age. If my recollection of my childhood is correct, and if he follows the same path I did, he'll remain in this phase for another 6 or 8 years. At least.

As best as I can recall them, here are some of the questions Jason asked. In no particular order, since it's not like they came up in a logical progression anyway.

How do the airplanes know where to line up? (On the way to the game, we drove on the Kennedy Expressway, which roughly parallels incoming flight traffic to O'Hare.)
Is fencing dangerous?
How do they make the lines in the grass?
How do the leaves grow on the wall? (The famous Wrigley Ivy.)
Who is the tallest person in the world? How did he get so tall? Do you think I will be that tall? (This started a whole other conversation about Pituitary Glands, then the endocrine system in general, and quickly exhausted my subject matter expertise. I was not sufficiently informative. My guess is that we'll come back to this some time soon.)
Why are there so many dragonflies here (at Wrigley field)? What do dragonflies eat? Do they think there is food here for them?
How many birds are here (again, at Wrigley)? What kind are they? Are there hawks here? Do you think our hawk friend will be here?
Do you think the organ player is our piano teacher? Do you think she could play this song on the organ? How much practice do you think it takes to be an organ player?
Why are Kane County Cougar games so special?
What is that guy doing? (Answer: lying down, stretching.) Why does he have to lie down to stretch? I don't have to lie down to stretch. Here, watch...
Why does wind blow in different directions?
Do you think Brown Bears who go up to the North Bole become Polar Bears? Is a Brown Bear bigger than a Polar Bear? I bet it bites harder, don't you?
What is the difference between an asteroid and a meteor?

That's about half of them, I'd guess.

- Aw2pp, who'd better get studying up on some of this stuff.

Arrrr...

2009-08-31T10:57:00.004-05:00

Next piece in Alfred's is the Tarantella. For those of you who haven't had enough pirate music in your day so far.

Box.net link

Tarantella - Aw2pp

- Aw2pp, who thinks this would make a really annoying ringtone.

In today's epdisode, I drive an ice cream truck

2009-08-25T09:37:00.003-05:00

"The ice cream truck in my neighborhood plays 'Helter Skelter'."

- Steven Wright

I can play the Mexican Hat Dance. Listen for yourself, and see what I mean. The problem is, I can't quite play it Allegro, whatever that is supposed to mean. I can play it at a brisk Andante, but when I ratchet it up to 140 beats per minute or so, all sorts of wacky things happen, and frankly, it's best I keep those to myself.

But because I can play it, I tried, over and over, to play it at the tempo I thought it needed to be played. Over and over. And over again. And several times, I made it halfway, most of the way through, only to have some sort of fatal error near the end. Thankfully, the family was spared this, because I am sure it was annoying. But after awhile, it occurred to me that this endless repetition of an otherwise perfectly harmless song sounded very much like an ice cream truck. And I wondered to myself, "How do those guys" (they're usually guys, in my experience) "do it? Do they have a playlist of 4 or 5 songs that they rotate when they can't stand it anymore? Does the music in their truck ring through their ears when they go to bed at night? If one of their children had piano or violin lessons, and came to the ice cream truck music, would the ice cream truck man / dad say, "Um, go ahead and skip that one please?" I had to deal with this for only about 40 minutes until I gave up and uploaded this. I think those guys are wired differently from me, because at this point, I am not sure I want to play (or hear) this song ever again. Of course, I have to play it this afternoon for PT, but I think I can convince her it's time to move on.

All that said, enjoy my version of the Mexican Hat Dance, recorded for your listening pleasure at about 80% tempo.

Box.net link

Mexican Hat Dance - Always Wanted to Play Piano

- Aw2pp, whose kids can't hear me when I ask them to clean their rooms, but they can hear the ice cream truck from a county away.

Checking in with Joey

2009-08-20T21:15:00.000-05:00

Say hello to Joe The Wrangler (formerly Joe the Baby).

- Aw2pp, who wonders if it is too early to sign him up for riding lessons.

New houseguest

2009-08-20T10:58:00.003-05:00

We've seen this creature before, around the neighborhood. We think he (she?) lives up the street, and likes the cornfields across the road. But for a few days recently, she (he? bird-o-philes, help me out here) decided to stick around a little.

And the local gentry* is NOT happy it.

* - By that, I mean the birds who were living here already. Other critters were unavailable for comment.

- Aw2pp, who is keeping a close eye on the family cat, making sure she stays indoors.

I Giorni - My Recital #15 Entry

2009-08-18T15:28:00.004-05:00

Last Friday, with about 7 hours to spare, I submitted this file to the Pianoworld Adult Beginner's Forum Online Recital server. The recording is 6 minutes, 50 seconds long, so go ahead and grab it now, if you are curious, then read on.

Box.net link

I Giorni - Always Wanted to Play Piano

I have a lot of thoughts on this, and they are all over the place. So rather than try to build them together in a coherent narrative, I have instead decided to interview myself. Which is a sloppy way of connecting disconnected thoughts, but hey, maybe it will work out. We'll see.

Q: Hi, Aw2pp, thanks for taking time out with us today. So, to get started, why I Giorni?
A: Glad to be here. After playing I Due Fiumi for the June recital, I took some time with my Alfred's pieces, trying to make up some lost ground there. And for about 6 weeks, I did make progress, completing about one piece per week. But before long, the idea of having to put together an acceptable recital piece began to loom large, and none of the Alfred's pieces seemed suitable. So I started looking around, and I Giorni seemed like the most logical next step in the Einaudi catalog.

Q: So it's only Einaudi pieces for you, in terms of recital entries?
A: Not at all. I envy folks who submit Bach minuets and inventions, ragtime pieces, Chopin preludes, and obscure jazz selections. I just can't play any of that. Until then, these Einaudi pieces represent, to me, the best mix of interesting / approachable music out there. Some day soon, I will submit something else, but this wasn't the time.

Q: I see that yours is the longest entry in this quarter's recital. How does that make you feel?
A: It's not supposed to be that long. It's more a matter of me not being able to play it quite up to the correct tempo. So if anything, I guess I am a little embarrassed.

Q: How was it learning I Giorni?
A: Not bad. It didn't take more than a week or so to get it recognizable, then another week to be able to play it the whole week through. There were a couple of sections I had to play over and over, and never quite got there... and I'm short a few BPM on the tempo. But this is my first experience with extended runs of simultaneous 8th notes on both hands, my first 16th notes, and first time playing 8th notes with two fingers on the same hand at the same time. If that makes any sense.

Q: Not really, but we'll move on. Anything you wish you had done differently?
A: Well, sure. I think this particular recording has a very weak finish, with a number of hesitations and missed notes in the last 90 seconds or so. I'd like to have those back, but since the first 5 minutes are fairly clean, I'm good with the result, all things considered.

Q: What's next?
A: Well, back to Alfred's for awhile. I know that, at this point, there is no way I can finish Alfred's Book 2 this year. But if I make some good progress this Fall, I might be done with it some time in the Spring. And of course, the next ABF Recital is right before Thanksgiving, so I will have to have something polished by then. Maybe Nefeli, maybe a Bach piece, I don't know. But whatever I decide on, I will use it as a carrot for making progress in Alfred's.

Q: Huh?
A: That is, I am going to try to keep focus on making technical progress, doing my lessons, and improving my skills. If I get through, say, 5 or 6 Alfred's pieces, maybe I'll start picking through the stack of fun things then. I figure as I progress technically, I should be able to pick up new fun pieces more quickly, and perhaps broaden the range of things I am able to play. Nothing against Einaudi, but there is a world of music out there, and most of it is beyond my ability at this point.

Q: Ok, then. Don't you have a real job or something? You should probably get back to that.
A: You're right. Later.

- Aw2pp, native Hawaiian.

This is funny

2009-08-14T08:34:00.005-05:00

I try to stay out of politics here. Yes, I know, there simply isn't enough political discussion on the web.* But if we engaged in political discussions here, it wouldn't tip the balance. And besides, none of us would agree on anything anyway.

* - That was sarcasm, in case it didn't come across that way.

All that said, today's Doonesbury is funny (especially in light of my most recent signoff).

- Aw2pp, who realizes he has about 12 hours to produce and upload an acceptable recital recording.

Crunch time

2009-08-12T09:40:00.004-05:00

I'd say it's 50-50 whether I will get an acceptable recording of I Giorni before Friday's deadline. Sue says I am being too hard on myself. I know I won't have a perfect recording, but I'll need to do better than I have so far if I am going to turn something in.

That said, I have two mystifying problems recording. First, Red Dot Forever installs fine on my ThinkPad, but for some reason, doesn't seem to be able to record anything. No idea why this would be. It works fine with Sue's, although, come to think of it, we just shipped her machine off to The Shop* to be fixed. Hmm. This could be a problem.

* - That would be her brother, Marty, who is good at this sort of thing.

Second problem is that the ginormous piano soundfont I have been using (the 939 megabyte "maestro_concert_grand_v2.gig") produces only static when using the New! Improved! version of Synthfont. Reverting to the previous version (1.124) solves this.

- Aw2pp, reluctant Cub fan.

Happy 3rd birthday, Ro

2009-08-10T22:43:00.005-05:00

Sue doesn't have many pictures from her baby years. The few that we have of her toddler years suggest that we don't need baby pictures for Sue... I am convinced that we have basically a carbon copy in Rowan, our third child, who turns 3 today. Cute and funny and feisty and spontaneous and unpredictable and smart and loving, just like her mother.

Since we're sending her to pre-school in about a month, I guess she is no longer a "toddler", but rather, a pre-schooler. Rowan, that is. Sue passed that milestone a long time ago.

- Aw2pp, who should be immune to the cuteness, given that he gets a daily dose of it. You would think. But no.

That can't be good

2009-08-09T09:17:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, I grabbed my first recording of I Giorni. It was 7 minutes and 56 seconds long.

Einaudi's studio version is 5:58.

Yeah, I think I may have to up the tempo a little, yes? Ya think so?

- Aw2pp, quick as a hiccup.

One week to go for a recital entry...

2009-08-07T22:30:00.003-05:00

... and I vacillate (SAT word) between two extremes on my progress on I Giorni.

One moment, I am thinking, "Wow, I should have recorded that. No worries, if I can play it that well, I can play it even better with the Red Dot* blinking at me."

Next moment, I am thinking, "Oh mercy, I am never going to have this section at an acceptable level of polish."

* - The Red Dot, for those of you outside the know, is that little light that shines (or in the case of my Ap200, blinks) when recording. It has a powerful, sometimes paralyzing effect on the performer. I like to think of the Red Dot as a heckler, who turns up the volume and intensity of his attacks as the performance (recording) proceeds towards success. Near the end, I sometimes imagine it saying, "Ha, this is going pretty well, isn't it?" At which point, I usually relax, let my concentration lapse, and make an error in a section I know really well. Totally annoying.

MJ clearly had no troubles with the Red Dot. Then again, he never played I Giorni. Insofar as I know.

What is holding me back at the moment is the final section, which is supposed to be played at the same tempo as the rest of the piece. Which is, to my ear, just shy of 120 beats per minute. I can play most of I Giorni just fine at about 108, which will just have to do. But at the end, I slow down to, oh, I dunno, 90 or so. At this point, I may just keep it as is, and attribute the diminuendo to artistic license. "Yes, I meant to do that. Sure I did. Stop snickering."

One week to go. You'll hear a recording before then, I promise.

- Aw2pp, who wants you to know that no trees were killed in the composition and posting of this message. However, a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.

Back to lessons

2009-08-05T22:14:00.000-05:00

Had my first piano lesson since May yesterday. We spent about 10 minutes talking about Jason, 10 minutes talking about her (PT's) children and their musical development as they grew up, 5 minutes reviewing what I had been doing this summer (Alfred's pieces), then about 5 minutes plodding through I Giorni.

As far as Jason goes, she doesn't regard this summer's lessons as a failure, or wasted time. In her world, 6 is very early to begin lessons, and the fact that he demonstrated interest and some aptitude speaks well of his long-term future as a piano player (or as a musician playing some other instrument). The fact that he chose not to practice in the off-hours is not entirely unexpected. But PT's guess as to what happens next with Jason is this: he'll continue to tinker on the piano here and there, and perhaps even play some of his assigned pieces on his own. He may ask for (or need) help with these, and I am fully capable of providing this. Over time, he will see me continue to do my piano thing, and, at some point in the next year or two, his desire to "want to be like dad" will cause him to return to the piano more formally.

"So, if you keep playing the piano, and progressing, he'll take it up, too." No pressure of course. In that same vein, she told me that two adults have approached her this summer about taking lessons, citing my recital performance as the thing that pushed them over the edge. Basically, the conversation went something like this: "I have always wanted to play the piano..." (hmm, where have I heard that before?...) "... but figured it was too late for me. But I guess not. Do have you have any openings?" I told her I knew who she was talking about because a someone came up to me after the June recital and said basically the same thing.

"Really? Who?"

"Well, the guy whose sons preceded me. George something..."

"Oh, George is a wonderful guy. But no, not him. These were other folks." Well, then.

As to how I did... her old piano takes some getting used to. In our 30 minute lesson, mind you, I only played maybe 5 minutes. I played I Giorni in its entirety, struggled through most of it, even though I played some parts much more smoothly than I ever had before. (Gremlins, again.) But overall, I left there with serious doubts as to whether I could produce an acceptable performance for the ABF Quarterly Recital.

Then I came home and played it pretty well, so who knows.

- Aw2pp, whose lack of mastery of I Giorni is starting to make coffee nervous.

I want to be this guy when (if?) I grow up

2009-08-04T21:18:00.000-05:00

Meet Scott Bradlee, professional musician. He is available to play birthday parties, Bar / Bat Mitzvahs, and, one assumes, weddings. He will play anything on the piano. To prove the point, he took 10 songs from my high school years, ran them through some sort of ragtime processing filter he has in his brain, connected them together, and produced the resulting 6 minutes of genius.

(Which songs can you identify?)

Bonus points for the tie and vest. Those, and more, are subtracted, however, when he reveals himself to be a wink-shooter at the end. Boo! Boo!

- Aw2pp, who wants to remind you that it is Shark Week! on The Discovery Channel.

Happy Birthday, Joey

2009-08-02T08:49:00.003-05:00

"Joey, today is your birthday! Any comments on that?"

"Yo de yo de yo de yo de yo."

To be fair, that is his response to just about anything.

- Aw2pp, who can't believe it either.

Reasons why we never go anywhere

2009-07-21T12:06:00.007-05:00

A two-part tale.

Part One

About six weeks ago, Dan, an former colleague, emailed a dinner invitation to Rhett (another former co-worker) me. I confirmed with Sue that we were available*, and told them both that "we" would be there. Rhett and his wife have three children, I recalled, and I was sure they'd play nicely with ours. I picked out a couple wines, loaded the family up, and off we went.

* - Why anyone ever asks me if I am (we are) available on a given date is beyond me. Sue knows these things, not me. Between birthdays, sports, practices, and various other get-togethers, I am hopeless when it comes to keeping up with our schedule.

Rhett and his wife arrived before us. Sans children. I later learned that our hosts were, um, surprised that we brought ours. I'm clueless, of course, and didn't pick up on any of this. In fact, I was so out of it, that when Sue told me on the way home that the children were not expected, I didn't believe her. But then I went back to the original email. "Dinner... wives... might take some time to arrange sitters..." Well then. Yes, we brought our four children to a formal dinner party. Whoops.

Our gracious friends handled it well, to their credit. They read to our children; they grilled hot dogs for them; they sat on the living room floor and ate off the coffee table while the Aw2pp crew commandeered the kitchen table. Our children, to their credit, were also very good, with no known episodes of crying / whining / potty accidents / breaking things*.

* - Unless you count the page Rowan ripped out of some 100 year-old dictionary**. FWIW, the page was blank.

** - No, I don't know how Ro got her hands on a 100 year-old dictionary.

So I did send a hat-in-hand note to Dan, apologizing for inadvertently doubling the size of the guest list. I thanked them for being the wonderful, gracious people that they are. Dan's response to me began: "Aw2pp, you ignorant slut!"

I believe that means they are still coming to Joey's first birthday party this weekend.* But wow, we're clearly rookies at this dinner party thing.

* - I think. Remember, Sue owns our schedule.

Part Two

Sue has some old friends from back in college, a couple who recently moved to Des Moines. That's a reasonable car trip from here, so we packed up the family and spent a recent weekend with them. Good times. They had a daughter (and her 2 year old) in town, and it was lots of fun to see Rowan play with a peer for once.

"Thank you, drive through please!" Ro has some experience with McDonald's drive-thru's. I love how the yellow shirt she had on goes so well with the rest of the ensemble. And no, this is not the same playset that topped the list of Cracked.com's "9 Toys that prepare children for a life of menial labor".

Our weekend hosts drink lots of fancy California Cabs, and we made a small dent in the collection. We also watched a lot of golf, and marveled at Tom Watson's British Open almost-win.* And though it was too cold for much swimming**, the kids handled it well, and busied themselves with other activities, including an afternoon visit to a Living History Farm.

* - It hurt to see that wind up the way it did... and I say that as a fan of the eventual winner, Stuart Cink.

** - Which didn't stop us, mind you, we still went swimming at their country club. Had the place to ourselves, we did. Ro and Joey were pleased.

Among things you learn at a Living History museum:

You learn where milk really comes from. (Jason was enthusiastic, getting right in there.)

(Jillian, keeping a respectful distance, not so much.)

You develop an appreciation for modern conveniences, like indoor plumbing.

You learn that children 100 years ago couldn't play the piano if they couldn't reach the pedals. (Sorry, Ro, maybe next year.)

When we weren't doing fun things like milking cows, one of the kids' pastimes was playing with our hosts' ancient Chihuahuas, Chica and Carlos. Jillian, Jason, and Rowan liked chasing them around the house, and taking them for walks. Carlos was feisty, and would holler at you periodically for no apparent reason. Chica was the skittish sort, who trembled all the time, and didn't like to make eye contact. Neither of them particularly enjoys company, so it was with some surprise when, on Friday night, Carlos seemed to soften his disposition, particularly towards Jason, who had been tormenting him most of the day. Carlos actually sort of cuddled up on Jason's lap at one point during the evening, which seemed to make them both very happy. Our hosts, pleasantly surprised, remarked, "Wow, Carlos never does that." It was just about that time that Jason noticed that Carlos' nose was not wet. We all made some other observations, too, that maybe Carlos was not himself.

"That cough doesn't sound good."
"Yeah, he's been fighting something lately. Vet said not to worry about it."

"Does he always shake so much? I thought Chica was the one who shakes all the time?"
"Well, it is chilly out here."

During the night, there was some howling coming from the laundry room, where the dogs slept, but apparently they howl at night on a regular basis. They're, after all, Chihuahuas. Jason was the first one up Saturday morning. He heard Chica barking from upstairs, and wanted to go on the morning walk with the dogs. But they couldn't find Carlos. (Hopefully you have some sense as to where this is going... if not, you are in for a shocker.)

Evntually, David, our weekend host, found him in his bed. Yes, like his more famous cousin Gidget, Carlos had breathed his last, and joined the Great Chalupa in the Sky.

The last picture taken of Carlos. That's him on the right, under Jason's control.

Our host family made the requisite arrangements (I'm surprised how much it costs to cremate a Chihuahua), shared the news with their other children, and did what they could to assure us that we did not hasten the poor animal's demise. Once that was all taken care of, they then turned their attention to their fancy sound system, which we had done something to. Thankfully, they were able to get that fixed, and life returned to normal.

Chica, last we heard, seems unaffected by the situation. She still trembles and looks frightened all the time.

Conclusion

Don't invite us over. We mean well, we really do, but perhaps it's best that we keep to ourselves for a few years.

- Aw2pp, amateur haiku critic

Two kid updates...

2009-07-15T23:32:00.001-05:00

To keep the schedule sustainable, and to make sure we don't go insane with activities, we try to limit the kids to no more than two activity enrollments at any given time. Not sure if we're even going to be able to maintain that pace during the school year, especially when Rowan and Joey start getting involved in things. But this summer, we have (well, Sue has) been able to shuttle Jillian and Jason back and forth between swim lessons* and piano lessons.

* - "Swim lessons, Aw2pp?" Ya, I know. "But weren't Jillian and Jason on swim team last year?" Yup, they were. "So, how..." It's a bit of a long story, and deserves its own post. Another time. For now, suffice it to say that they have been in swim lessons this summer, and it has been a worthwhile use of time and resources.

How's piano going?

Jason's piano practice has been laser-focused. Pretty much all he does is work on his performance of Jillian's Dance of the ~~Unicorns~~ ~~Dolphins~~ Generic Creatures. (Hear his performance of this piece from several months ago at this link: http://www.box.net/shared/iv161vyb6a). To his credit, he has even done a little improvisation on the theme, and I gotta admit, it's more interesting than before. Furthermore, when he is physically present at lessons, he is fully engaged, having fun, and, most importantly, learning.

But the good news ends there. His passion for Dance of... spills, annoyingly, into his lessons. He finds ways to play it in and amongst the other things he is asked to do at lessons. Poor PT, she is so tired of hearing that music. "Anything but that!" Once he gets home, he simply does not practice what he has been assigned. He dislikes practice, and he pushes back on Sue and me when we ask him to practice. We remind him that asked to take lessons. Therefore, he needs to follow through on the commitment he made to us and PT, and stick it out through the end of the summer lesson session. But once those are over, we told him that we'll pull him out of lessons until he demonstrates that he is committed to giving piano practice the attention it deserves.

This is sort of a template for us. If our children show an interest in something, especially beneficial activities and interests like piano, reading, or sports, we'll honor their interest to the extent that our schedules and finances allow. A corollary to this is that we aren't going to sign them up for something in which they have (or express) no interest. But once they tell us "I want to do (insert activity)," we make sure that they realize what they are committing to, and we hold them to that commitment through the duration of the season / session. Which means, for the rest of this month, anyway, we are still going to make sure Jason practices, and he is still going to his final couple of lessons. But when the next round starts, I will resume my lessons, taking Jason's place.

Jason is, after all, 6. There is plenty of time for him to rediscover a more abiding interest in the piano. Or maybe he'll follow in my path, and wait 30+ years before formally taking up the instrument. Or maybe he never will. But for now, he has had his introduction, and it'll suffice until we hear otherwise. When school starts, we'll get him signed up for... soccer and basketball, I think? Or maybe horse riding lessons... I think both kids expressed an interest in those. But man, riding horses is pricey.

Jillian is just as fired up about piano as ever. She is genuinely pleased with her progress, looks forward to lessons, and, for the most part, practices without being asked. As piano pieces spin up periodically on the iPod, she often asks me to estimate how long it will take before she can play the music. Most of the time, my answer is something along the lines of "Not long."

Oh, and she has a new found interest in the music of Led Zeppelin. That's almost enough to balance out the fact that she somehow knows who Lady Ga Ga is.

Almost, that is.

- Aw2pp, who pities Mr. T.

A rookie's lessons learned - I Due Fiumi

2009-07-12T20:48:00.003-05:00

A day or two after I posted my recital clip on Youtube, I received an email asking me for tips on playing it. A week later, I got another email asking about a particular section. Last week, I received a third request for tips on I Due Fiumi (henceforth, IDF). It's quite likely that the only three people in the entire Interwebs who are interested on my take on IDF have now expressed their interest to me. But hey, if there are three of you, maybe there are more (perhaps 5 even?), so I figure it's a good post topic.

From general to specific, here are my thoughts on IDF. I would appreciate it if Anthony B, Monica K, and any other frequent / regular / sporadic visitor to these parts could chime in with their observations. My perspective is relatively unique, in that I am a new piano player, with a fool for a teacher* (most of the time). More advanced / technically accomplished pianists probably would have a different point of view.

* - "He who teaches himself has a fool for a teacher." - German Proverb. All sorts of bloggy goodness here, no?

- IDF, it turns out, is much easier than it sounds. In fact, of Einaudi's pieces that I have learned so far (IDF, Limbo, Ombre, and at the moment, I Giorni), it is by far the easiest. There are some passages that took me some time to play (and significantly more time to play well), but hold that thought. I would, as Monica K. has, recommend IDF as a first Einaudi piece for anybody who is relatively new to piano. mom3gram, I know you tend to downplay yourself, but I am completely certain that you could have this piece up and running in time for next month's ABF Recital.

- I always (AlWAYS, I say) played the main body section better the second time around. I have no explanation for this.

- In the recordings, Einaudi himself starts at about 108 beats per minute, then at measure 17, speeds it to about 120 (or thereabouts). Then returns the slower tempo at the coda. When I listen to my recording, I wish I had done this, because my own recordings sound slow and tentative in comparison to the real thing. Also, Einaudi pushes and pulls on the tempo quite a bit, and pauses at the end of almost every phrase. If the sheet music reflected his performance, there would be fermatas every four measures or so. Adhering (somewhat) to those imaginary markings made my performance sound more like his.

- A slight majority of the piece is played with the Una Corda (soft) pedal. In practice, this meant that my recital recording was too quiet. Folks with better control of the pianissimo side of the dynamic spectrum could do better than I, but I found I had to move everything up a little towards the forte side of things. You'll notice nothing in the sheet music calls for more than mezzoforte... I didn't adhere to that, but would have if I had better control of quiet notes.

- For the sake of simplicity, I played the left hand arpeggios mostly 531313, 531313, etc. I wasn't able to keep this up for the pattern in measure 6, which I played 541414 everywhere it appeared. My teacher did not like this, but it was too ingrained in me to change by the time I played it for her. Other important exceptions were measures 12 and 80. I simply could not play the following measure smoothly until I changed the pattern to 543434 (then then 321212 in the following measure). That helped A LOT! And there was one more exception to this, which deserves its own bullet.

- On the LH, there is a pattern that comes up a lot at the end of almost every phrase. The first instance of it starts in measure 7. Two observations here... first, Einaudi seems to slow down near the end of the second measure when he plays this, so I did too. Second, I played the LH 5312135, then started the next measure with the fourth (ring) finger. My teacher hated this, and my wife thought it looked very unnatural. But it worked for me.

- I neglected the coda section in my early practice, and should not have. Later, trying to get a good recording was frustrating. In about a half dozen takes, I played the whole thing well, only to make a fatal error on the coda. I believe Anthony B experienced something similar.

- To me, the piece revolves around the part where the RH moves up the register... starting in measure 33. Meanwhile, the LH is doing a countermelody that actually requires it to move around a little. This was my first exposure to this LH pattern, which, it turns out is a common one in Einaudi's music. I had to play these measures a lot, slowly, repetitively, over and over and over again, to acquire the pattern. For folks like me, without much piano experience, this is the painful, dues-paying portion of learning a piece like this. It was annoying and tedious, and (Ral is not going to like hearing this) I did not like it. After about maybe 10 hours of going through it in this manner, I slowly began to build up speed, and then one day it all came together magically. (Gremlins, again.) To this day, it remains my favorite passage of music to play on the piano (measures 33 through 52).

- One of my teacher's tips that simplified it for me was to start the RH (on measure 34) with my ring finger (would that be 4?). It's not natural for me, because that High C gets a lot of play in this part, and I'm using the weakest finger to play them. But it makes everything else much simpler.

- And once I had the RH down, I found I could, as Anthony B suggested, let my RH go on autopilot while I made sure the LH hit its assignments correctly. You'll know you are getting close when you can do this. (Of course, folks like Euan and Kawaigirl probably sight-read the music with that mindset.)

- There is an octave-plus chromatic scale part starting in measures 45 and 49. At first, I tried to do this with only a two crossovers (5154321543212), but that was, as we used to say in Texas, ignant. Impossible for me to do smoothly. After awhile, I sort of lost count of how many crossovers it took me, but it was at least three. What I probably do now is 5154321432132, but I'm no longer tied to a particular pattern on those anymore. I think that is because once in awhile, I would miss on the way down, and adjust on the fly, and play it successfully.

- Last thing, and it's subtle. Einaudi pauses briefly on the first 8th note in measures 60 and 64 (another imaginary fermata). When I got it in my mind that this represented the end of one phrase, and the second 8th note the beginning of the next, this made the passage much smoother for me.

Whew. All I got. As I said earlier, I would be happy if anybody had their own tips and pointers to throw in. One last comment: many of the things I learned and described here have made I Giorni easier to learn. I hope I continue to see these kinds of progressions as I move to more complicated pieces. After all, I have less than 11 months to learn Le Onde for the next recital.

- Aw2pp, who goes on and on like Internet words are free or something. Sheesh.