Sophomore Year Recap: Look Twice, Paint Once
June 8 2022
From getting distracted working with my mom, working a new job, and loitering around my house, I think it is fine time I sit down and write what lessons I have gleaned from this past school year before my summer brain assumes total control.
I’ve been dwelling on what to say and it is hard to summarize concisely. I think my finest and favorite lessons came from Monday mornings in my applied piano class (a fancy term for a long individual piano training session with my professor). Directly following an hour of chamber music with my pals in the music building, I would promptly run upstairs so that I would not be late because of course, the Beethoven Piano Trio in Bb could not possibly be overly discussed (to which I agree). Upon arrival, out of breath of course as music majors generally do not like stairs (or is that just me?), I would knock on the door for my 11 AM lesson. Walking in, my professor often began with the usual greeting, “Hope you had a great weekend.” I always enjoyed our small talk before the lesson began! In a timely fashion however, the more pressing matter always arrived. An un-unique matter to any music student - performing what I ought to have practiced all week. A moment of reckoning, where all of the good or bad practice dispersed throughout the week would suddenly reveal itself through my stumbling fingers (forgive my dramatization of the modern day piano lesson). My teacher would subsequently impart invaluable lessons commencing with the humorous question, “Do you just like to hear me repeat myself? It’s week 27!” to which I often nodded with a smile.
I’ll take one piece that we worked on extensively as an illustration: the Chopin Ballade no. 2 in F Major
Regarding piano, I learned:
Your muscles are like children, and children are like sponges. Children spit out what you expose them to. Make sure you expose them to the highest quality. In the same way, train your fingers from the beginning correctly, and they will prove faithful. Reminds me a little of Proverbs 22:6.
When you drill, each one should be varied until successful. Take into account where things fell apart. Reflect on each drill. “Don’t do it mindlessly!”
One cannot simply play without an appropriate visualization. Clarity in playing comes from clarity in mind.
Consistent gesture produces evenness of sound. *Side: For good measure, I’ll include this: 4 levels of articulation = 1: Staccato - 4: Legato
Regarding “off the bench,” I learned:
It’s possible to dig a hole with a spoon, but it’s certainly not efficient.
Always be an astute observer and a keen listener.
Sweat Equity: Sweating the details. Dont leave “dumpsterfires” littered behind you. (Discussed repitively when reviewing the Mozart sonatas from which we hardly got passed the first two pages for a solid three weeks).
It’s not bad when you make a mistake, everybody does that. It’s bad when you knowingly ignore it and play the wrong chord out of laziness.
How you perform is a raw portrait of who you are alone and what you choose to do with that time.
Dramatizing things makes em stick a little more. Balladee.
Reflecting on these lessons while painting some pretty pictures, I stumbled on a quote that said “Look twice, paint once.” Not sure if this is something everyone has heard, but I haven’t heard it. I think this quote sums up this year. Playing the piano is a lot like painting a pretty picture for your ears. But similar to painting, you can’t paint without a plan. This plan is often centered around focusing more in-depth on things that we often overlook. One cannot simply draw a cute hamster without looking at tons of cute hamsters on Pinterest (Side note - Never get a hamster, lesson learned from my “12-Year-Old Recap”). Likewise, I think this year has taught me to be more intentional with my piano studies and how I live day to day. Not sure if any of this made sense, but maybe it will make more sense in the future “Junior Year Recap,” God willing.
Also, one other thing, one will always be running late to their accounting class after attending a lesson with my piano professor. Schedule accordingly.
To God be the glory,
Alyson
