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I've been a bit "meh" lately between one thing and another. The other day I was feeling very unmotivated about the pieces I'm working on, so I pulled out some other music and ... my reading has got way better!

I was able to have fun and make some amount of musical sense from the easiest Chopin pieces, easier Einuadi, and some other music at around that level. Lots of mistakes and stops (I'm a long way from the ABRSM exam principle of prioritising the pulse above all else!), but so much better than I could have managed a year ago,
and enjoyable too. Some specific things that have got much better are reading ledger lines, having an instinct for what's coming (though I can't tell how much of this is glancing ahead and how much is musical anticipation)and finding the right keys without needing to look.

I used to have a very strong tendency to look at my hands while I played. I'd read while initially figuring out a piece, but wouldn't really gain any fluency until I was looking at my hands. Over the last year and a half or 2 years I've made a really strong effort to break this habit and made a lot of progress, but this has been a real reminder of that and of the wider benefits it opens up for me.

That sounds great Barbara. I really love hearing about progress and it sounds like you have made decent concrete progress.

I need to join you in the reducing looking at my hands tendency.

Well done.

I've been wondering what my achievements are lately.
Last week, at the end of my lesson my teacher said that for my Chopin Waltz there was not much specific that he could tell me to work on at that point. He said "you know what to do and how to do it"... but then he added "spend this week getting more comfortable with the piece, so that it can flow better - no stress, just get more comfortable".

So I played it, studied it, practiced it --- with a light heart and no stress. Fixed a couple of little things I noticed I had slipped up on and Lo and behold..... It sounds like a real piece of music. Ok, sure... I know I still have a long way to go before it sounds like a real piece of CHOPIN music.... but this was a leap forward psychologically.

Another thing that is worth reporting is that during an online party I had a major train wreck. Could not play my piece. Could not get past the 8th bar. Could not re-connect my brain with the music and my hands. This hasn't been a problem for a few months, but for whatever reason, that day it was.
I made a minor recovery by playing (poorly) a piece I know better, but I was really not happy with myself.
A few days later I was playing for a friend (again online) and got to a part that threw me off. I tried 3 times to get started again without success. Then I gave myself a quick lecture "buck up and focus woman!".... and I started again ....super super slow, reading every single note and within 3 bars I was back on track and at tempo again. Not the most elegant solution, but it got me out of trouble. So that's probably my most significant achievement, getting back on track.

On a different note, my young nephews, on the other side of the world from me, asked me to give them piano lessons. They are 6 and 7.
We had our first one this week and I taught them the musical alphabet (a-g and restart on a! they thought that was funny.---then we learned where middle C was. We hunted for all the Cs alld the Gs, all the As and so on .... and we learned how to hold our hands, and we even manged a little song (hot cross buns).

It was exhausting, but fun - and the best thing was that when I said that's it for today they said "the lesson is over already?" --- so I think they liked it too.
I look forward to launching them on a musical journey!

Thats great, Barbaram. I remember posts where you resolved to work on keeping your eyes on the music. It must feel good to see the actual results of that work.

One thing I found is that where you look while playing gets ingrained in muscle memory just like fingering choices do. And like fingering, where your eyes are focused can be difficult to change once you've allowed yourself to practice one way or the other. For me, there seems to be a crucial stage in the early part of learning a piece where partial involuntary memorization allows me to be lazy and begin looking away from the score. I need to fight this or it morphs into being unable to play without looking down at points where it isn't really necessitated by the music (like for a big leap).

I have two AOTWs this week:

My piano tuner is coming this morning..... YAY! I love my piano even more when freshly tuned.

The last page of Bach's Aria from Goldberg Variations came together very quickly and I can now play the whole piece. Lots of room to polish and interpret, but my guess is my teacher will want to move on to one of the variations, probably #7 which she says is one of the easier ones..... I'm unconvinced, it looks and sounds hard to me. But I thought that about Aria too, so off I go, down the Bach rabbit hole.

Jim

@casinitaly Your Chopin Waltz wouldn't happen to be the A minor one would it? I got a recording this weekend I think is a good as I'm going to get at my current skill level. Making it flow so it feels like it could be a dance, I feel like I've achieved something there.

I know how hard it is, deceptively so if it is, so well done.

And wow, teaching young children and keeping their enthusiasm going. That is a huge achievement.

One day in the distant future I'll give the Goldberg variations a go. The idea that a page can come together quickly, does not yet compute for me. That is impressive.

Wow! Lots of achievements!

barbaram, I know how it feels to realize your sight reading has improved organically while you are not noticing! Congratulations.

casinitaly - I think that is so exciting that you are teaching your nephews. Sharing the love of music is really special. It sounds like both you and KevinM have had major breakthroughs with the Chopin A Minor Waltz.

JimF - I am in awe of the Goldberg variations! I would love to hear your Aria.

I had my 2nd lessons with my new teacher, and I am sold. We worked on my Brahms Intermezzo, and made really good progress. I have been stuck on it for a while. It just did not have the sonority I wanted. After that lesson, it is getting a lot closer. It is proof once again, that you cannot fix what you don't know how to fix. It is hard to describe, but small changes can really make a difference in the sound. So, I am energized. I also started Debussy Reverie. I love that piece!

@Kevin the waltz I am working on is Op. 69 N 1 in A flat Major. I suspect the one you’re talking about is the A minor posthumous. That was my very first "dream piece that I longed to play (having first heard it here in the ABF recitals). It was the first Chopin I ever worked on and I agree with you - it just delights me every time I play it.
The new one is challenging in different ways - and in some ways it is easier (those big jumps just aren't an issue) and in other ways it is harder - it has several sections which (so far) don't really seem to fit together! However, it is fun , and progress is being made.

@Giacomo --- congrats on the Aria - that's one of my all-time favourites - would love to hear you play it!

@SwissMs - I am so glad you are happy with your teacher. "You can't fix what you don't know how to fix" You hit the nail on the head. I would add that at times there are things you don't even realize are off until the teacher points it out (well, maybe that doesn't happen to you, but it does to me!)

Teaching my nephews is going to be interesting. I hope that they get hooked - I'm already thinking that I could manage 2 sessions a week if they are up to it - over the summer anyway. We shall see!

Like so many others, I am still adjusting to the stay at home. Whilst it is great having family..it’s a lot more of everything. And I transferred my running energy to baking...proud sourdough student. Piano practice has become rushed and whilst still taking lessons, I am trying to structure life a little more towards more piano. What I realized is that the setback is not as great...my teacher just moved me to Bach’s 3 voice inventions! And I am adapting better than I thought...although No4 is a great one to start with. I noticed I am reading The piece better, processed further than I would have done a year ago! Maybe, home made sourdough bread is making me smarter! Happy that I haven’t slipped as much as I thought.

Cheryl - So, so cool that you will be teaching your nephews... I'll wager you learn as much from the experience as they do. What fun! Also, I just listened to Rubinsteins version of Chopin 69-1. Sounds like lots of challenges in that one.

Confirmed at yesterday's lesson, starting on Goldberg Variation #7 this morning. And my piano is newly tuned, yay!

Giacomo--- yes, I think I will learn too. My teacher thinks it is great - and he feels that the fact that I too am a teacher will help.
The 69-1 is really challenging, but also is starting to make me feel like a real pianist!
Congrats on Goldberg Variation N. 7! and on your piano being tuned.
My poor piano sits in the room that heats up the most in our flat, and I really have no where else I can put it - it is already sounding a bit wonky to me. I wish I could have it tuned every month!

I should ask my tuner if he would offer me a discount if I did it more often...hmmmmm

@Pianoperformance --- 3 part inventions! good for you ! Sourdough... I think that's possibly even better! Yum!

I found out that I like singing while playing the piano.

I’ve put so much effort into learning that I forgot about actually having fun. So I decided to devote some time to playing something that I like. I use Piano Marvel so I have a whole library at my disposal that I’ve never used.

So I’ve been working on a fairly simple version of 'You are so Beautiful' for a couple of days and got it to a level where I was thinking 'What else can I add to this?'. And then it dawned on me that the words are there. I should sing them.

I confess that I cannot sing to save my life but I really enjoyed it

Watch out, Elton John, there’s a new guy in town.

Hey, with a name like TreeFrog no one will expect you to sing well— they will just expect you to enjoy singing 🐸🐸🐸

Today I scored 481 on the Piano Marvel SASR! A new record high for me. Seeing a SASR level 5 piece for the first time was a huge accomplishment. I love knowing that the level 5 pieces in SASR will some day be a piece of cake just as I used to barely get through level 1-2 pieces in SASR and now those are piece of cake. It's always nice to pause and reflect on far we come and not focus so much on the day to day. I recently started working on 'super sight reading secrets' and 'Sight Reading and Harmony'. It's great to see the hard work paying off. I'm working through these books so slow and really making sure I have the concepts down before moving on to next lesson. I recently made Sight Reading a new focus in my daily routine and I'm learning so much more than expected.

Congrats! Sight reading is something that I've also been working really hard on. I've found that not only my sight reading has improved by my playing and learning of a piece in general has improved twice fold!

It was the one skill I avoided as a player for years, now I'm so so glad I'm working on it.

I know your feeling of achievement! Good stuff :0

Thanks! I had no idea that sight reading is it's own area of study. I was always assuming if you're learning piano that sight reading automatically follows but it only does to a very small extent. I love having dedicated sight reading as a daily study and the books I'm using I'm really drilling it and not moving on until I'm 100% ready. What books or programs do you use for your sight reading?

I also, niavley presumed that I would just learn sight reading from playing piano and reading scores. But, nothing can beat just sitting down and sight reading something you've never seen before. I can actually see improvement from being disciplined in this area and I'm learning pieces at a much higher pace.

I use Paul Harris's set of books. I started on the lowest level until I could read it efficiently, then I started it with a metronome. I kept increasing the tempo each day until I was nailing it every time. Then on to book two (Hands together) did the exact same process with that one. Now, I'm on book three and It's taking me even further Try them out!

Good to hear. That's a great way to progress. Remember to work on some pieces in detail as well.

Thank you Jethro, yes, I'm currently working on Debussy's Clair De Lune and for the first time in my life I'm (so far) finding it A LOT easier than the first time I tried. Forgetting the chords is a thing of the past as I read it ten times quicker than before.

Update re my Ravel. July went by smoothly with lots of calm slow play-throughs, followed up with some focus on hiccups. August is a month off - Sweet relief.
So I'm trying More popular stuff and hoping to get onto some different types of music. I have such a hard time with swing and blues and it can't all be so difficult, or could it? I'll find out no doubt....