I’ve spent the last two months practicing on the piano. I mentioned it a few times in the journal. At first, I spent about two hours practicing daily. I’ve since tapered off to an hour, hour and a half at most.
I’m just about finished learning the first movement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, and I’m slowly but surely working my way through “Invention No. 13” from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Inventions and Sinfonias.
I’ve just about committed to memory three pieces from Michael Nyman’s The Piano: “Big My Secret”, “Mood That Passes Through You” and “The Heart Seeks Pleasure First”.
I’ve also gone sheet music crazy, buying up books of piano pieces by Wolfgang Mozart, Claude Debussy and Dominico Scarlatti. I’ve even taken to practicing Hanon’s Sixty Progressive Studies with a metronome!
I started piano lessons in late 7th grade, but by the time I reached high school, they had turned into composition lessons. I never really had a very good head for rehearsal.
Now I think I actually want to build a repertoire. I may not be playing these pieces “correctly”, but at the very least, I want to learn them for myself. If other people happen to hear my perform them, so be it.
Right now, my rehearsal regimen — which is actually pretty loose — consists of:
- Finger exercises (if I can spare the time)
- Reviewing The Piano
- Learning Moonlight and “Invention No. 13”
When I’ve reached a comfortable spot with the Beethoven and Bach, I’ll throw in a new piece to learn, and perhaps an old piece to relearn. I would like one day to perform Aram Khachaturian’s Tocatta without mishap.