Catching up

I've decided that the trouble with blogging is I don't compose at the computer. I blog in my head while drying my hair, brushing my teeth, walking to work... times when you can't even jot down your blog for later posting. Oh well, will try to remember what I was thinking about while washing my hair.
Although I find myself somewhat rhythmically challenged at the piano, I finally have Pink Panther success (minus a few wrong notes from time to time). I should have played a stage band instrument in high school. We'll see what happens when I put my part together with Helen's saxophone part. I like accompanying, but I haven't done it in a very long time!
Rhythm is one of the things that I am working on this year. Frederick Harris Music has published a set of graded piano books called "Connections for piano." They are composed by Christopher Norton and although they have all of the technical requirements of the classical pieces, they are written as swing, bossa nova, blues, etc. You can also buy an activity book which points out interesting things about each piece and a recording so that you can play along with a band. Last week I learned "Fantasy Bossa" and this week it is "Nefertiti Blues."
Sally has purchased some more violin/piano music and I've started on Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring (I'm noticing that sometimes I put titles in quotes and sometimes not. Hmmmm). It isn't very difficult but the arrangement is different than the one in my Christmas book so I have to pay attention. She also bought some Vivaldi but that may be beyond both of us at the moment!
The other thing that I want to work on this year is speed. I never really played fast pieces when I was younger, just slow and moderate. I don't know if this was intentional on Joan's part or just happened by chance. Anyway, if I ever want to be able to play the Beethoven sonata, I must increase my ability to play quickly! I'm learning an Impromptu by Schubert and we'll see how it goes.
An update on memorization: I have finally memorized my Nocturne and can play it quite comfortably. Now I have to work on making it sound like a Nocturne rather than a waltz. I think I'm concentrating too much on those left hand chords so that I play them correctly and losing myself in that oom-pa-pa rhythm.
Finally, I've discovered that the key to piano lesson success is making sure that you have at least 15 minutes to unwind between work and piano lessons. Leaving work at 3:45 to drive across town on a Friday to a 4:00 lesson is very bad for concentration!