How long til'...?

The age old question. I've been asking it for two years. Well, I recently found a video of a small child playing Maykapar's Toccatina at full speed and relatively well. Then I checked later videos from the uploader, and he records this same kid presenting a very well-executed rendition of Chopin's Nocturne in C Minor two years later. Now, if he was playing Toccatina at the very edge of his ability (not likely), as I am, then it might take me a full two years of serious practice to get the supple carpals and metacarpals necessary for playing well pieces around the level of that Chopin. (Speaking of supple wrists, watch his as he plays Liszt's Six Consolations, No. 2 another two years after that! The kid's a genius.)

Two years seems long, alas, though I know it isn't and that once it has passed, it's past: I will never have to be less good again! But, in the words of Menudo: "It's the waiting that's driving me out of my mind!"

It is nevertheless heartening to know that such improvement is possible. Yesterday I acquired (way too early) copies of the RCM Level 8 Etudes and the score for Rachmaninoff's Etude-Tableau in G Minor. The music store here was having a moving sale, so I decided to get these things now before the store moves too far away for me to frequent it anymore. These will be material for my future technical development, as I am not now ready for them.

So... I've known this, but it really came home to me recently how important it is to practise pieces well within your range as well as the ones that stretch your technical abilities. I have now returned to the John Thompson Fourth Grade Book, as I said I would. I've been replaying The Juggler and (just today) I started Bach's Little Prelude in F Major. These no longer tax my abilities, so now I get to focus on really—I mean really—making the pieces sing. I would like to make an art out of my hands' motions, make them dance. (When I work my hands, the loosening of the wrists and the muscles in the palm and forearm actually feels therapeutic, almost like a massage.) I think exploring and experimenting within the limits of your current ability must be they way to work out the aesthetic of the discipline. Maybe that's how a musician acquires depth? I hope so, and that I'm doing it right. I sort of feels right.