Traveling is over. It's good to be back home, and it'll be nice to back on a regular schedule.
Mar 8: on Grandma's piano. A beautiful Steinway that plays and sounds great. It was the best way to close out this section of the blog that I could think of, and I'm really happy I got the chance.
Yesterday was one of those days that should just be forgotten. So let's forget it.
Here's today. I've decided that I'm done with this variation, partially based on Grandma's advice that it's fast enough as-is. I can play the first half of the first half (Note to self: just say the first quarter??) quickly, like as quickly as I could want to. But there's no way I'm going to invest the time it would take to get the rest of the way there. Gotta stick to the schedule! We're calling this final, and tomorrow it's on to the Canon on the 2nd! Can't wait!
Saturday, March 10, 2018
Wednesday, March 7, 2018
Mar 3 - 7 (Var 5)
I'm traveling! It's Spring Break! I'm not practicing very hard, but I am making sure to sit down at a piano every day. Haven't missed one! Here are the recordings:
The first recording comes after a loooong day of traveling. I met my grandma at her apartment to borrow her car, and on the way out I sat down at the piano in her lobby. It's a pretty nice piano, a Cable-Nelson, made by Yamaha. The action is light and the tone is very pure. I have always enjoyed playing on it.
The second recording is on Mike Sidwell's piano, in his new house, while a party happens in the other room. I did not spend long locked up by myself, but it was important to me to get that recording done. I didn't have my music, so this one is from memory alone.
On the third day I was back at Grandma's. Had a very nice morning and afternoon with her; the afternoon found me practicing (for real this time) while she did the crossword. The lobby was quite busy, and folks stopped to talk. I was very conscious of volume, and didn't have a very good time.
If you listen to just one recording, it should probably be this one. This was on Samick, the piano Rosie grew up with. Samick is wildly out of tune, and lives in the valley of the clocks, which you'll hear on the recording. I tried to ignore them...
This morning I spent some time on the Ohio State campus, visiting old friends and working at the MBI. Before I left, I stopped in the practice rooms (Hughes Hall, 4th floor). There I found a very serviceable Baldwin upright and had my first legitimate practice session all week. Across the hall a student was playing pieces vastly more difficult and vastly more competently -- just a reminder (as if I needed one) that I'm a mere hobbyist. In the room next door was a harpsichord, and oh how I wanted to record some Bach on that thing! To my dismay it was locked, and I did not have the spunk to try to find someone to let me in. But! Now I have the goal of trying out a variation or two on a harpsichord, just to see what it's like.
Tomorrow I'll be on one of my favorite pianos in the whole world, so I'm reserving a whole post just for that. It would be nice if I could finish this 5th variation and start something fresh when I get home on Friday.
The first recording comes after a loooong day of traveling. I met my grandma at her apartment to borrow her car, and on the way out I sat down at the piano in her lobby. It's a pretty nice piano, a Cable-Nelson, made by Yamaha. The action is light and the tone is very pure. I have always enjoyed playing on it.
The second recording is on Mike Sidwell's piano, in his new house, while a party happens in the other room. I did not spend long locked up by myself, but it was important to me to get that recording done. I didn't have my music, so this one is from memory alone.
On the third day I was back at Grandma's. Had a very nice morning and afternoon with her; the afternoon found me practicing (for real this time) while she did the crossword. The lobby was quite busy, and folks stopped to talk. I was very conscious of volume, and didn't have a very good time.
If you listen to just one recording, it should probably be this one. This was on Samick, the piano Rosie grew up with. Samick is wildly out of tune, and lives in the valley of the clocks, which you'll hear on the recording. I tried to ignore them...
This morning I spent some time on the Ohio State campus, visiting old friends and working at the MBI. Before I left, I stopped in the practice rooms (Hughes Hall, 4th floor). There I found a very serviceable Baldwin upright and had my first legitimate practice session all week. Across the hall a student was playing pieces vastly more difficult and vastly more competently -- just a reminder (as if I needed one) that I'm a mere hobbyist. In the room next door was a harpsichord, and oh how I wanted to record some Bach on that thing! To my dismay it was locked, and I did not have the spunk to try to find someone to let me in. But! Now I have the goal of trying out a variation or two on a harpsichord, just to see what it's like.
Tomorrow I'll be on one of my favorite pianos in the whole world, so I'm reserving a whole post just for that. It would be nice if I could finish this 5th variation and start something fresh when I get home on Friday.
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