I'm years ahead of this guy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What can I say, I am a fan.



(Previous Beaker post here.)

- Aw2pp, who obeys the Laws of Thermodynamics.

Recital Piece

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

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

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

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

Submitted for your review without further comment.



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

Hodge Podge Picture Post

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)

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

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

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

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

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.