Not too familiar with Chopin, but I get the feeling you could use a bir more rubato to emphasis certain parts.

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback.

Yeah, definitely, definitely need more rubato and emphasis on my phrasing in general. I'm still in note learning mode though, and I tend to try to have things down without any kind of change in tempo at all before applying any. Dunno if this is a bad habit or not, but I like to think it makes me learn the notes better and not cheat on the more difficult parts that have rubato.

Either way, I obviously still have a ton of work on do on everything, but I still have six months before I'll be competeing with the piece so I have time. I've been practicing four hours a day for the last few days (haven't done that since like, 7th grade) so hopefully it starts getting really good over the next few weeks.

Definitely good to learn to play it right on point first. Need to learn to walk before you can run.

wrote this the other day for my friend to walk down the isle to. She wants me to 'fix' the middle section which is fair since it walks into a bit more 'dissonance' which isn't really appropriate for the vibe. Anyway, thought you guys might like it. You can also check out some jazz standards i recorded with a buddy on drums the other day on that bandcamp.

http://martinbradstreet.bandcamp.com/track/for-katrina

Hi, TimeLady;

Not a pianist, but I am a guitarist. I can sort of bs my way through a piano piece, and that is about it.

Okay:

I know you must love this piece, and you want to become a great pianist over night, but the problem is simply that this piece is far beyond your abilities right now.

I won't suggest leaving the piece for later, as that isn't always productive, but I do suggest setting playing it much less. Even though the basics, such as scales and boring songs are... well... boring, you really have to set aside some daily time to do those things. Why? In the words of Josef Hoffman: "Never leave behind Bach." And I'm pretty sure he added that you should never leave behind Bach no matter how good you think you are. I just looked it up, and Hoffman says that Bach is good for the soul and good for the body.

I think that the issue is that certain things appear far more simplistic than they really are, but no, that's not the case. The interesting part of playing "easy" pieces is that once you start to really dive in, you begin to see there is far more complexity than meets the eye, and many times, these pieces were written not so much for the crowd, who really can't relate to the "easy" piece, but as a well-kept secret between the player and the composer. Yeah, there is dynamics in simplicity that can never be discovered until you really force yourself to look deep into it, and it's not until you really understand the difficulty of simplicity and master the technique that you'll understand the underlying messages of complexity, where the deep communication between writer and performer are finally discovered, understood, and brought to life.

I can't say if you are any good or not, at the risk of discouraging you from continuing or encouraging you to advance before you are ready. I simply suggest getting back to basics. Yes, play this piece for a few minutes a day, but not before you spend time learning the scales, Bach, or Mozart. Hell, even play the Hannon Excercises if you have to! Do it this way, so that at the end of the session, you will have that reminder of ~why~ you are doing the boring things, and this piece will serve as a reward for your efforts in training.