Arrr matey... P is for Pirates not Pianos

We shall make a slight detour today in defense of pirates. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End has been taking a bit of beating from the film critics, so I would like to ask them what does one look for in a pirate movie? Let's make a list:

• pirates
• swashbuckling
• desert islands
• treasure chests
• lots of piratey dialogue
• cheesy jokes
• skull & crossbones
• great piratey music
• ships
• cannons
• epic sea battles
• sword fights
• a parrot
• great big pirate hats & other paraphernalia
• rum
• convoluted plots
• Johnny Depp (oh wait, that's any movie...) (Ty Burr of the Boston Globe starts his review with "There are too many Johnny Depps in "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End "" Very strange criticism indeed...)

It has all of the above and then some, so, I fail to see the problem! I would argue that they just don't like the genre.

For those of you dying to know about piano practice, I suppose I can comment on that also. I do not understand the mind-body connection. You can play the same piece day in and day out and struggle with a certain passage every single time then leave it for one day and BANG, you've got it! Success! I even played it successfully more than once (which is the true test, must make sure it isn't a fluke). We will see if the success manifests itself at my lesson tomorrow. Anything can happen there; darn Kawai pianos.

Italian lessons anyone?

I don't have a problem with many of the words for dynamics (piano, fortissimo, cresc., dim., etc.) but I must admit that I have forgotton a lot of musical terms! Peter defines them for me at my lessons but trying to remember them during practice is a bit trickier than expected. Here are some terms from one of the Chopin nocturnes: smorz., legatiss., poco rallent. In two bars of music he gives: senza tempo, cresc., dim., rall. and smorz.! Fortunately I discovered on my bookcase "The concise Oxford dictionary of music."

smorzando: gradually dying away
legatissimo: really legato (which I should have figured out, duh!)
rallentando: gradually slow down (hold back, gradually)
senza tempo: without tempo (which I figured out once I could see that the words went together, there was quite a bit of space between them on the page)

My understanding is that with rallentando you slow down but with smorzando you slow down and get softer at the same time. The dictionary has just suggested that rallentando is the same as ritardando (a term I am familiar with) but different from ritenuto which means to immediately hold back. The problem is that rit. can be the abbreviation for ritardando and for ritenuto, so you need to figure out which one the composer is going for! Chopin put poco rit. in one bar but poco rallent. a couple of bars later, so I will assume that the "rit." in this case is for ritenuto.

They say that both music lessons and language lessons are good for the brain and ward off dementia, so I should be in good shape for old age!

When to practice, when to practice...

When I was 15, I didn't worry too much about when to practice. I practiced just enough to avoid a lecture at my lesson and then got on with all my other stuff. I didn't avoid practice because I didn't like to play, I think I avoided it because: (1) I don't like to practice around other people; (2) I don't like to practice scales, arpeggios, broken chords, etc. etc. (so boring!); and (3) I was a teenager... Also, Joan tended to pick some pieces that I didn't like. I was a teenager, wanting to wallow in angst-ridden music or music with FEELING. I didn't want to play happy sonatas! "But you're such a cheerful person" she would say. Sigh.
Now the problem is fitting in practice around a full-time job and other things in a busy life! Now I care if I haven't had a good practice week, not because Peter will lecture me but because I feel I will have wasted his time and mine (yes, I know he is being paid regardless of whether I practice). I started out by getting up early and practicing in the morning. This worked well until Christmas holidays. Then a combination of sleeping in over the holidays and lack of sunlight de-railed the early morning playing. Practicing right after work has its challenges because Brian is still sleeping. Practicing in the evening can be challenging because the day that I skip the morning in order to practice in the evening is the day Brian decides to stay up after work to get things done and then sleep in the evening! Then there is the problem of how long should I practice for? Too short and I can't accomplish anything but too long results in sore hands and mental fatigue. I have settled on an hour, which is sometimes divided up between morning and evening and around other tasks. For example, I may practice one piece while supper is cooking and then next after we're finished eating. I might put on some laundry and then come back to piece number three. I wonder if concert pianists have people making supper for them...

Getting started

I'm a bit leary of blogging because I'm not sure if I will post once the novelty wears off. However, I thought it would be a good means of reflecting on my renewed venture into piano playing and a fun way to share my triumphs and frustrations. I started lessons in September after a 17 year absence and this is what I have played so far (I will not say learned because some of them are at different stages of development) (those of you familiar with libraries will note the cataloguing punctuation of title / author!):

• Linus & Lucy / Vince Guaraldi
• Just one of those things / Cole Porter
• Sonata in C# minor / Beethoven (3rd movement has been temporarily abandoned because it is way too insanely fast)
• Dawn / Dario Marianelli (from Pride & Prejudice soundtrack)
• Theme from Schindler's list / John Williams (acc. for violin; Sally, have you learned the violin part yet?)
• Maple leaf rag ; Pineapple rag; The entertainer / Scott Joplin
• Nocturne in B flat minor (op 9, nr 1); Nocturne in E flat major (op 9, nr 2) / Chopin
• Sonata in C (hob xvi:50) / Haydn
• Song without words (op 30, nr 7) / Mendelsson
• various attempts with a fake book, but need to review my chords!

Helen has just given me some piano acc. for her sax music. I played through Londonderry Air but will have to take a closer look at the Pink Panther due to rhythms and accidentals! John will note that no Mozart is listed yet... but at one lesson Peter commented that I was trying to turn Chopin into Mozart, is that close enough?