I’m 65 years old, but the first week of September still excites me. It always has. For me, it marks a time of new beginnings and new possibilities. For a while now, there really haven’t been any. I feel like I’ve sort have been drifting through life. This year, it truly marks the beginning of a new endeavor.
After a two-week hiatus where I didn’t touch the piano (and missed it dreadfully), I am continuing my journey. Hopefully, I’ll be doing this for the rest of my life but, for the present, I’m calling it “The Year of the Piano” where I will focus, intensely, on my music and playing the piano. I have no idea where I’ll be at the end of this year. Hopefully, I will have taken at least a few steps back to where I used to be.
I’m starting to work from two new books:
- Classics for the Developing Pianist – Book 1 by Ingrid Jacobson Clarfield and Phyllis Alpert Lehrer
- Exploring Piano Classics – Repertoire Level 2 by Nancy Bachus
Both of these books contain pieces at the Late Beginner to Early Intermediate Level. I expect that it will take me about three months to complete both of them. As with the first book of Exploring Piano Classics, I aim to get these pieces to a reasonable performing standard, but I won’t be memorizing them and I won’t be spending too much time polishing them.
In addition, I’m going to continue working on my “challenge piece” — Chopin’s Waltz in A minor Op 34 No 2. I expect that it will take many months to get it to performing standard. It’s a little frustrating for me because this piece is exactly the level I was at when I stopped playing the piano in my thirties. Then, one or two months (OK, probably more like two) would have been enough to bring it to a decent level, with another month for polishing. So, I would have worked on it for perhaps three months. At this point, I’m quite certain that three months won’t be enough. I’m hoping that six months will get me close to the mark. I can already hear the music in my head, but my fingers aren’t able to make it happen yet.
My contract with myself for the coming year — I will continue to make regular posts and updates to my blog, as follows:
- Weekly practice diary posts
- Monthly “Looking back on the month of…” posts
- A quarterly “Looking back…” post? — not sure about this one
- Assuming I make it through the entire year — a “Looking Back on My First Year” post
- Study Notes — for each piece I study. They take a bit of effort to set up, but I find that it helps me to focus and pick up on aspects of the piece which I wouldn’t have paid attention to, otherwise. They’re a really valuable tool for me.
In addition, I will continue recording and posting videos of my finished pieces on YouTube. I am also considering making some “practice” and/or “interim” compilations. We’ll see…
At the end of the year, I would like to be able to look back and see a concrete record of what I have done and what I have accomplished.
Last Updated on August 28, 2022
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