Lee - an adult beginner

lzp11 wrote: I know it is a long time since I've posted an update - although I have SM in my thoughts A LOT!

Life is very hectic and very tiring at the moment. I think I'm close to a wall of overload as I've returned to work (3 days a week - but they are long days) and just working out how to juggle all of the activities that are important to me and my little ones.

I'm still playing piano as much as I can but I don't really have enough for me the make the kind of progress that I'd like. I guess I play maybe 3 times a week for 20-30 mins.

I'd love to play every day but there are some days when I get in from a 12 hour day at work and after having sorted out dinner and everything else that I'm too tired to even see the screen never mind concentrate on playing.

At this point the only thing I can cope with is junk TV! If I am aiming for 10,000 hours to achieve excellence then at this rate it will only take me around 96 years to finally get there!!!!!

I'm still playing Sonatina 1 - Clementi. I am making slow but steady progress and played P6 328/333 today (time was 133 - as a comparison I can play left and right hands with few mistakes in a time of between 83 and 90.

I find it easier with the timing to play on 6 presentations as it is clearer to see where the rests are with the left hand. But this does mean I cannot compare my time against the perfect computer score. So, I plan to measure against a set tempo using a metronome as I did with March (not there yet!). I am now starting to memorize the piece in stages.

With sight reading, I have nearly finished Favourite classics 1. I am torn with sight reading, since if I play it all slowly on 6 presentation then I can score quite accurately but I struggle with speeding it up, it is often a timing issue as much as anything. So with some pieces I do play repeatedly to try to improve - I realise this is an element of memorization but it seems to be the only way to get over certain mistakes.

I hope this is OK. So I will follow Hellene's suggestion for moving through the sight reading pieces - after favourite classics 1 I think it is time to move onto Boogie 2.

lzp11 wrote: I certainly really enjoy the playing, and hopefully I'll start finding it easier to learn pieces, so maybe it won't take quite so long.

Anyway, I am feeling very proud of myself today. I sat down and recorded ALL the pieces that I needed to for the May recital
I had thought it would take a long time as I was using the video setting on my camera and it was taking ages to set up and upload the recordings. Then I had a brainwave about using our webcam - wow it was so easy I cannot believe I didn't use it before. And I managed to record all of the exercises and pieces in one sitting - wooohooo !

They are none of them 100% as smooth as I would like (being a perfectionist!) but I hope they are OK.

I have now memorized Sonatina No. 1 by Clementi and can play at around 100bpm or a little faster without the metronome. I think I've got almost as far as I can with this piece for now. I really enjoyed learning this. It was a challenge but not so hard that I felt I could not do it. And not quite as long as "March" so a little easier to memorize.

Hellene - please could i have your help. I've recorded Sonatina 1 as one of my own extra pieces for the recital. When you take a look, please tell me if I need to polish any more.

Also, I need to choose another piece, probably about a similar level of difficulty. I like the Clementi pieces and will go back to Sonatina 2 and 3 but as they are quite similar to #1, I'd like to do something different next, and then go back to Clementi for the following piece. Do you have any suggestions?

Andrea - I do find the finger exercises really useful. I often play them as a warm up for my fingers. Plus just playing! I have had a couple of really challenging pieces that have taken me ages to learn, but there is a huge sense of achievement after you learn them, looking back when I could hardly play with one hand, it is amazing to have memorized and be able to play with two hands together!

DD (aged 3) is still not interested in playing herself, either gentle piano or games. But she is very exposed to music. She plays her toy piano, the xylophone, sings, and we watch little musician from Brillkids, plus the powerpoint slides, so hopefully she is still gaining a musical education that will really help once she's ready to start playing.

DS (9 months) is such a different character to his big sis. He likes sitting and exploring things with his hands - I think he will have great fine motor skills. He LOVES the piano. I sit with him at the computer and given half a chance he'll twist around and reach out for the piano keys. We watch Do to Do presentation daily plus little musician. He is really interested in the different notes and seems quite purposeful in which ones he goes for on the keyboard. Or maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part?! But we certainly do sit and 'play' piano together most days. He plays a note or two and I will sing it in solfege and / or echo it in a different octave. He seems to really enjoy this game and will often try to do the same himself. He had a fascination with Sol a few days about and today was interested in Fa sharp . Maybe he's going to be my little pianist