WTF-Beta

I had shingles - not fun - plan to the shot later this month.

For all of us wishing to be humbled - here is 7 year old Olivia Li - who is the youngest person ever accepted to the Curtis Institute of Music (Yuja Wang's alma mater) playing the Chopin etude in thirds...

@Daniel said:

I love beautiful rooms, beautiful pianos, Louis Armstrong, and cute animals a lot.

I love the fact that spaces (literal and metaphorical) exist that can be filled with art by artists.

I can't enter a home without first thinking "where would the piano go?" A couple of nights ago, I dreamt that somehow I had bought a house - and I was looking at the living room - which was a bit on the small side and wondering which wall I'd put the piano - not the couch, tv or anything else.

As for pretty rooms, our rooms have no space is not covered with art. And though I already had 5 art nouveau lamps in the living room - I found a small space to accommodate another. Mrs. Kluurs hasn't discovered it yet...

@ShiroKuro said:

@AndyD said:
the discipline to play each through daily

For whatever reason, daily practice and consistency (like returning to daily practice if I miss a day) is the one thing I’m really, really good at.

If fitting real-time lessons into your schedule is challenging, perhaps you could start with something like that?

@kluurs are/were you a member of Tonebase?

I was listening to a podcast with one of the top personal trainers in the country. It was interesting that when he was asked where he focused with a first time client - and his answer was schedule. That is if a person can't keep a schedule for working out, it would fail. So, that's where he started and focused a lot of his energy. They spoke for almost 3 hours - and consistency came up time and again. At one point, the interviewer asked what was the best time of day to realize the most gains - and the trainer side stepped and said, "whatever time of the day the person can consistently focus their time."

For me, that's typically late in the day. I went a few years when I don't think I played 10 hours on the piano in the entire year - as work and ancillary activities of life took up all my time.

Now that I'm retired I can be a bit more consistent. I still have no talent for music - can't sight read, memorize or count effectively, fumble over notes, and terrified of public performance - but I'm still hacking away at the poor piano and enjoying every moment more than ever.

I joked with Mik a long while back, that if I dedicated myself to playing several hours a day and with proper instruction, I might rise from a bad player to mediocre - but such a lofty goal is unlikely. Doesn't matter - hopefully, in my next life, I jump in line for musical talent as soon as the doors open.

Yes, I'm a member of Tonebase. I joined when they first started it. They have some wonderful performers in their group. I loved the programs from Seymour Bernstein. I wish he'd done more. Sadly, he passed away recently.

After playing with this a bit, I played it that way (bottom 4 notes in LH) because that's how I learned it. After looking at it a bit more and playing it this afternoon, if I were learning it now, I might do what they recommend (C to RH) as that allows one to hold the important A-flat.

EDIT - watched Hugh Sung's episode 34 where he discusses this. He notes that it is personal preference which way to go. He noted that Jorge Bolet used the "cheat" way (C to the RH) which allows one's rolled chord to retain the low A-flat.

After answering I looked at what Bavouzet actually does - and he does it the same (4 bass notes in left hand) - see his video at around 16:34 - though he plays it a bit more straight forwardly than I do. Both Bavouzet and Debussy would probably hate that I introduce a ritard there - but then I'm not playing for a jury.

@ShiroKuro said:

@kluurs in measure 26, for the last rolled chord, are you moving that low C into the right hand, and then having the lowest note be the Gb?

If I understand you correctly, I play all 4 notes of the bass in the left hand - and the top 3 in the right.

You can definitely play it - I'll send you everything you need. DM your email and I'll send you a marked up score - with fingerings and other suggestions.

She lived it better than almost everyone.

The alleged piano roll recording labeled as being performed by Claude Debussy is not a piano roll recording of Debussy. There are a couple of versions out there pretending to be his performance but are just click bait.

Of all the concerts I've heard, i put my hearing Andre Segovia's as my favorite. I have his signature on some music of Bach. He was amazing. Our audience in Chicago has a bad reputation for being noisy. When Segovia played, there was no sound with the exception of his plucking of the strings. No one breathed, coughed, moved, blinked, etc. Hi playing imprinted on my soul.

Did some volunteer work with our library - thinking of exploring the culinary arts as I think both I and my spouse are becoming bored with my menus. I've been trying to procure an appointment with a cardiologist as my running has dramatically slowed and just had a friend pass from a cardiac event while running. My physician retired - and it's taken over a year to get a new pcp. I have an appointment in late September. I want to accelerate some of the deaccessioning of "stuff". No trips though we'll be on a mini-vacation next week where we visit some local things that we haven't done in a while.

@Daniel said:

80 is a good age to reach.

RIP

As is 90. 80 isn't so far in the distance for some of us to find comfort.

Just scroll down a bit

Some friends from college contacted me about getting together. I thought - sure, great. I'm assuming we'll get together at a nice restaurant. Nope...it's at a mediocre diner that my parents used to frequent - i.e. not quite as nice as Denny's. My first thought, "that's a restaurant for old people." Second thought..."you are old people."

Yup - similar to stuff with back and other injuries. Gentle, but specific movements can aid recovery. I've moved away from Ibuprofen and all other such drugs.

Happy Birthday to my fellow Canadian! Enjoy!

I've been running for decades. It's a remarkable equalizer. In a running group you'll have all kinds of people - but we see each other as "runners". There are people from all backgrounds - CEOs, lawyers, physicians, UPS drivers, accountants, students, etc.

Into my 60s, I felt like everyone was a peer - partly because I could keep up with pretty much everyone when we did a long run pace. Now, I can't do the group pace for as long - just seemed to slip in the past 3 years - a big decline over a relatively short time. I hope to see a doc about it in the fall - just to make sure it's just normal wear and tear - and not symptomatic of something else

Still, I see a lot of the 30 somethings I run with as younger - and I'm feeling like they're seeing me as parent's age - which is a bit disqualifying for feeling like a peer. Still, I hope to fight - what I know is a struggle I won't win in the long run.

As a child I remember my older sister who worked for the Veterans Administration speaking about how there were soldiers at the VA hospital who had been there since WWI. It seemed incredible to me that a person could remain in a hospital for nearly 50 years.