Friday Night Roundup
Jeez, I haven't written a word all week, since virtual Lulu's. Been sick, that's part of it. At the mo', I have an earache and can't hear much. An earache! Good grief.
This will add a special challenge to tomorrow's fun. I'm playing in what my music school calls "Musical Achievement Week," which means instead of our lessons, Maud and I play in a recital. She's playing Bach and will play perfectly, I'm sure. All the piano faculty are there, like a panel, and they say only positive, reaffirming things, and after the recitalists play we get candy.
So last year, my kind and affirming comments from the piano faculty were: "Oh, we hadn't heard that piece before" (quite likely), and "Nice recoveries!" (argh!). Then I got a tootsie pop.
This year I'm playing a Chopin mazurka in A flat minor, the opus 59 #2. A few tricky spots, but I'm keen and I've practiced the hell out of this piece. In order to deal with the shaky-hands nervousness that overcomes me at these things (audience! panel of teachers! ack!), I have broken the piece down into small sections. At each section, I have a specific thing to remember--a tricky chord, a place to remain 'free and relaxed,' a big jump to nail, a little accent note. Hopefully all these little things will distract me from the big picture freakout and counting how many times I mess up.
Whee!
In other news, I made lovely, colorful soup tonight. Eight beans, veggies, onion, whole cloves of garlic, chorizo cooked up in olive oil, broth, and I splashed in some red wine. A separate pot sans sausage for the vegetarian in the family. That with bread and red wine, and we're all set for dinner, nrrrrm.
So local Iowa Citians, are we on for real Lulu's this weekend?
This will add a special challenge to tomorrow's fun. I'm playing in what my music school calls "Musical Achievement Week," which means instead of our lessons, Maud and I play in a recital. She's playing Bach and will play perfectly, I'm sure. All the piano faculty are there, like a panel, and they say only positive, reaffirming things, and after the recitalists play we get candy.
So last year, my kind and affirming comments from the piano faculty were: "Oh, we hadn't heard that piece before" (quite likely), and "Nice recoveries!" (argh!). Then I got a tootsie pop.
This year I'm playing a Chopin mazurka in A flat minor, the opus 59 #2. A few tricky spots, but I'm keen and I've practiced the hell out of this piece. In order to deal with the shaky-hands nervousness that overcomes me at these things (audience! panel of teachers! ack!), I have broken the piece down into small sections. At each section, I have a specific thing to remember--a tricky chord, a place to remain 'free and relaxed,' a big jump to nail, a little accent note. Hopefully all these little things will distract me from the big picture freakout and counting how many times I mess up.
Whee!
In other news, I made lovely, colorful soup tonight. Eight beans, veggies, onion, whole cloves of garlic, chorizo cooked up in olive oil, broth, and I splashed in some red wine. A separate pot sans sausage for the vegetarian in the family. That with bread and red wine, and we're all set for dinner, nrrrrm.
So local Iowa Citians, are we on for real Lulu's this weekend?