Been a long time. A very long time.

But I've been practicing just about every day. The only days I've missed have been days I've been out of town. However, I have become pregnant sometime in April or May and since then I've been practicing less than I was at the beginning of the year. Some days I'm satisfied with playing through a piece once or twice because of exhaustion, nausea, or what have you.

But I've been working toward an e-recital that happens this week, and just submitted my piece. Want to hear it? Have a listen here. It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. I've made several mistakes in it, and my recording device just doesn't pick up the dynamics the way I would have liked it to. But, I've always been nervous performing in front of an audience (even if that audience is my digital camera set on "microphone") and this was the best recording I could get with the restrictions I've had on time and location. I wasn't able to record at home because my piano is so horribly out of tune that the song would have sounded much, much worse. I recorded this on a grand piano at my church, and was amazed at not only how much better it sounded, but how much better I sounded on that piano. It was much easier to play my piece on that piano, compared even with the fairly new (less than 10 years old) and well-maintained uprights that I had been playing on earlier.

So, I hope you enjoy the fruits of my labor, while I prepare for the fruits of a different kind of labor, coming up in January or February. We're anxiously awaiting the arrival of our first boy, and we couldn't be more thrilled! The girls are very excited to get a brother to play with (and dress up, and otherwise annoy as much as possible I'm sure) and I'm excited to have a little boy to add a little diversity to our estrogen-filled home!

Back in the Saddle Again

A whole week of not getting a full 60 in per day... bah! Well, I'm much better now, and in a few more days R will be feeling better too, I'm sure. She has a croupy cough that sounds pretty bad, but it's nothing serious. Just annoying, mostly (to others more than it is to her!). She also has a runny nose and a bad habit of wiping her snot on anything or anyone! You can tell a 2 year old to use a tissue, but they won't remember for more than .0000001 seconds.

Tonight's practicing was satisfactory. I went through my Nocturne and recorded it! I took just over 7 minutes and I think it sounds pretty darned good, especially considering I wasn't planning on having all the pages learned until the end of April! I've made good progress on this piece. I'd like to have it perfected to the note by the end of May so I can start working on recording it this summer. I'm not sure where I'm going to record it, but it sure won't be at my house! Maybe I'll convince my friend who has recording equipment and a really wonderful piano to borrow theirs for a while, but I don't think we're good enough friends for that ;) It could take all day. Maybe I'll wait for my parents to tune their Steinway and record it at their house.

I also worked on my Schubert Impromptu. Boy, that needs a LOT of fine tuning.

I also improved for about 10 minutes. That is one area that I really need to improve. I'd like to eventually become a singer/writer and it would be really fun to have a couple songs written by this summer. I'm not betting on it though! Maybe a goal for next year.

With no further ado, here is my Nocturne recording: It almost sounds good. Almost.

And 40 minutes of practice time later...

I ended up practicing for an additional 40 minutes tonight! I ended up making some recordings of some of the songs I am working on. They are works in progress, so you'll be able to hear how I progress as the year goes on. I recorded three pieces. First is Clair de Lune, which has a lot of mistakes in it, but considering I haven't perfected it and I get a little microphone shy, it's not so bad.

Second is The Nocturne. You'll notice a huge jump from the beginning to the key change, and that is because I can't play the whole thing through yet. Still many mistakes, but I have until October so I think I'm safe.

Third is the prelude and fugue by Bach (WTC book 1, #21). Again, my fingers aren't as nimble as they used to be, also I was practically sight reading more than half of the fugue. I really need to work on my nimbleness! What I REALLY need is lessons! Oh, this blasted economy-- I would get the lessons if I could, but the construction industry is pretty terrible right now. Many home builders are getting in to hubby's field (asbestos abatement) and it's tough to get a good job right now, so things like lessons go by the wayside. I'm just hoping we can put L in violin lessons next year like we promised!

Today I practiced in spurts during the day. This is unusual for me, as I usually practice at night after the kiddos are in bed. My main focus today was on two different Chopin works. I practiced both for approximately 30 minutes.

The first piece I focused on was a waltz, opus 69 no. 2 (posthumous). It is a beautiful piece. Just take a listen to this beautiful waltz on YouTube performed by Arthur Rubinstein. My method is working one line at a time, figuring out the fingering first and practicing each section over and over until I can continue to the next. I overlap the sections so there is continuity when I put them together.

Later, I started working on my big piece, the piece that will probably take up most of my attention during this year. This is a Chopin Nocturne, opus 62 no. 1. Here's what it's supposed to sound like, as performed by Rubinstein. So far, I have the first 9-10 measures basically down (though you wouldn't be able to tell by my recording), and the last two pages, starting with the key change (at about 4'25" in the YouTube recording). I'm terribly slow with all the ornamentals, but I'll get there, darn it. I have until October, and it's coming together much faster than I anticipated! My goal was to have the 4th page down, at least as far as the notes are concerned by 1/31, but I already have it down and am starting on the 3rd page (last line). And here's my pathetic attempt at this beautiful nocturne, minus the middle. Normally, I would keep this to myself, but since I'm blogging my progress this year, this will make for a great comparison when this song is recital-ready!

I didn't get in any theory study or music history study today.