Lessons and Concerts

Posted on 01/26/2024 by chick
  • Last year my music composition lessons hadn’t been going well, and I was thinking of quitting, but then my teacher gave me an unusual lesson. He played a Schubert piece for me, talking about the various chord changes and other musical manipulations that Schubert had used. To be perfectly honest, much of that analysis went over my head, but it was a beautiful piece, and hearing it played on a real piano, right there in front of me, was in a strange way exactly what I needed. My piano is currently inaccessible, and I haven’t been able to play it properly in months. I’ve been composing on my keyboard and computer, which is making everything harder, and for some reason hearing a real piano played really well on a really beautiful piece sort of melted some metaphorical ice. My lessons, though still not everything I could wish for, have improved significantly since.
  • My music teacher gave a concert at the church for which he is the music director. My husband and I took the kids to it. The performance didn’t go perfectly. My teacher told me afterward that he’d been surprisingly nervous and that it was probably the least accurately he’d ever played, but that he felt it had gone over well anyway. As someone who plays piano and had some familiarity with the pieces, I knew he’d made some mistakes, especially in the first piece, but he got better as he went along, and by the time he hit the Chopin, he’d hit his stride. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I thought it was a great concert. Marshall said he enjoyed the whole thing. My husband was particularly wowed by the Chopin, and he said, “Why don’t you play that one?” He was only kidding. He knew the reason I don’t play it. The piece is too difficult for me. Once upon a time that would have made me sad, but I’ve accepted that I’m never going to be able to play at that level. I focus on playing easier pieces well and on composing pieces that suit my abilities exactly.
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