The Hump

I've had setbacks and discouraging days in the 17 that have passed since my last post. But I've also been good at reminding myself that such days will come and I'm usually wrong about how bad I think I sound. For example, about a week ago my notes sounded harsh again. I've been playing L'Adieu, and after having it sound better than I expected one day, the next day I couldn't get it to sound euphonious. Cantabile. I didn't even give myself the credit of playing without pedal (though pedal is indicated for the most part). So I am obviously too hard on myself.

I got better at the F Major scale today. And I finally began using my laminated, wall-hung schedule: started a regimen last Monday, January 16, 2017. I've slowed pace a bit with the second RCM etude--the Kabalevsky one in D minor. It looks simple in the picture (see previous post), but it is quite a bit harder than Agitato. It's so difficult, in fact, that even though the schedule has me practising three (maybe four) times per week, I'm going to have to increase that to daily. It's just that hard, and the progress I make each time isn't all that noticeable. I keep having false starts with sections I thought I'd got solid the previous day, and the transitions between sections even within phrases is difficult, because the hand playing arpeggios and the one doing the closer passage work often exchange their foci. The switch is usually so jarring to my brain that the tenuous hold I have on the simultaneous coordination of two very different types of techniques comes to a crashing halt. I feel like I'm always having to regroup. But I continue with the "hump," because I know that once I've got this etude down I'll have become a stronger pianist. 

I think I am getting noticeably better with arpeggios, but they are still very challenging. Yesterday my right hand kept messing up the C minor arpeggio! The old third finger kept missing that E-flat on the way back down. smh. It's hard when you're doing a technique you think you already know and even that's not working out. Makes you feel like you've regressed. However, in keeping with the concept of improvement, I did have some good results with the B-flat major arpeggio yesterday, too--although, the fingering turned out to interfere with that of the G-minor arpeggio I thought I'd mastered in the same difficult etude I've been working on: Etude in Dm!! That's also another difficulty with piano. A wrong note in one song (or technical exercise) is a right note for another one. So your next practice piece might actually derail the achievements of your previous practice! And it does no good to argue that this means there's no such thing as a wrong note. Context counts! But being able to switch easily between each context is what I'm ultimately after--so in the end the rigmarole (wringer!) makes me a stronger player. That knowledge is somewhat comforting. Sigh. So, I repeat to myself O'Brien's adage:

Carry on...