Well, here we are! Is the school year over already? 😅 With all the personal chaos this year- finding a place to live, moving, starting a new job, getting promoted, experiencing holiday hours in retail for the first time in my life 🤯, managing my senior puppy’s health issues… just to name a few- the year has flown by! This is a huge part of the reason I commit to participating in the recitals, with a new piece each June.
Life’s unexpected turns make it easy to let practice slip. This year I learned how truly valuable mental practice (practice away from the piano) can be! Although I didn’t achieve the mastery I had hoped for with this, I surely would never have made it this far along if I had turned my back on my goal. Even for a second. I stepped out of my comfort zone to challenge myself in a different way with this one. I haven’t played much Debussy in the past, and he specifically wrote this piece to be challenging.
It’s still a work in progress, for sure. But not every piece ends up as part of our performance repertoire, just as not every painting ends up in a gallery. Still, I wanted to share my work. It’s an important part of the learning process for us musicians! In fact, I owe a lot to my adult studio class for the progress I’ve made this year. Without their willingness to be tortured through my learning process of this strange and wonderful piece 😊 I would be much further behind, I’m sure. I’ve learned so much this year, and am excited to use these lessons to propel me forward into new musical adventures! 🎹🎶
If you listen to this, please listen with kind ears and an open mind. 💕