Two year anniversary coming up!

[sinspawnammes]

The anniversary of the beginning of my pianistic life is close by, and it's been nice to reflect all that I've been through.  I pretty much had no musical background, outside of knowing how to play Ode to Joy's melody with one finger.  A little timeline to bring the nostalgia back

10/14/04 - Purchased a keyboard using birthday money, a shoddy little Yamaha that I still have, but that I will give away in exchange for something better.  It's the beginning of my Junior year

A few weeks later, I started memorizing my first piece, which was the theme from Final Fantasy X  called "To Zanarkand".  It was horribly butchered and played with terrible fingering.

I start visiting different websites to learn more about proper playing.  Along the way, I discover pianosociety.com, which offers free recordings, and the first thing I download is Koji's BWV 914, the Bach Toccata in E minor (thx Koji, really inspired me XD).  I find some sheet music for it online, and try to play it.  Total annihilation

A few months later, around February, I find out that Solo & Ensemble competitions are coming up.  The required piece for piano is Invention #14 by J.S. Bach.  I don't learn it in time to enter the competition (I would have lost anyway), but I still finish the piece, and it officially becomes the first thing I learn.

While browsing the internet, I come upon this website "https://www2.nau.edu/~tas3/introaof.html".  Fascinated, I start working on Fugue 2 from the WTC Book 1.  Again, I butcher the piece, but it's a good start on my technique.

Being a stupid amateur, I volunteer to help accompany some of the beginner band students for their required solo and ensemble pieces (remember, I can barely read music, it's been four months, and I can't sightread for my life).  I flop barely, and the band director pulls me out of the accompanist list in humiliating fashion.

After the competition is over, I talk with some of my pianist friends.  I tell them I'll win the competition in a year.  They give me wierd looks and assume me to be crazy.  It was a bold statement.

I enroll in music theory for the fall semester, and while taking the class, I start learning Haydn's Sonata in G Hob. 40, I think.  Butchered it badly, it was my first exposure to runs.

When attending my cousin's middle school graduation, I hear a pianist playing Rach's 23/5.  He's a prick who thinks he's better than everyone else.  I vow to destroy him.

As a result of a dare, I start learning the Heroic Polonaise.  I get through a page of it, taking out extraneous notes in the octaves to make it easier, before giving up.  To comfort me, a pianist friend suggest I start looking at partita.  Since he was playing the Third Partita in Aminor at a competition, I decided to tag along and learn it also.  I start with Fantasia, the first movement, then dabble in the rest.

Over the summer, I take a look at different recordings on pianosociety.  I decide to learn Rach's Moment Musicaux in E minor (remember, this is about 8 months after I started!).  I also learn Mov. 2 of Pathetique.  Probably the only piece I pulled off well so far, even though I bum rushed through the middle section.

Senior year starts, and with it, college applications.  I decide, to beef up my applications, to make a recording of all the pieces I knew.  The very same recordings I sent in are available in the Audition Room, it's in one of the back pages with no replies XD.  I record Partita #3 Mov 1, Pathetique Mov 2, and the Moment Musicaux.  They all suck because I played on a terrible piano that was too hard.

December rolls around, and college applications are sent in.  I start dabbling in different pieces, having little incentive to learn anything in particular.  I take a look at the Rach's 23/5, but it's too difficult, so I give up.  The same friend that recommended the partita tells me of a Waltz he played at a concert recently.  It is Chopin's Op. 42.  I find the music and get to work.

Solo and Ensemble rolls around again.  I enter the Op. 42 Waltz and receive a 1.  I also accompany some students playing Mozart's Clarinet Concerto Mov. 1 (K. 242, IIRC?), and they get 1s.  I collect my accompanist fee and cheer.

Since I advanced to state, I have the choice of preparing a new piece or sticking to the Waltz.  I decide that, since I've already started on Pathetique by learning the Second Movement, I might as well learn the first.  So, I get to work, and when the competition comes around in Austin, I receive a 2.  Remember the girl who gave me a dirty look when I said I would win in a year?  She got a 2 as well.  Karma XD

Summer starts (the summer we are in right now), and I decide to beef up my repertoire to get ready for Princeton, which I will be attending in a month and a half, I can't wait.  I finish Chopin's Op. 31 Scherzo and the Pathetique's last movement, giving me my first complete Sonata (I had only played one movement of the Haydn).  Gnomenreigen, Rach's 32/12, Schubert's 90/2, and Beethoven's 27/1 are in the works.

So, it's been 21 months since I began, and I've come a long way, especially without a teacher.  This post isn't meant to be self-glorifying, since I am nowhere near good, and I still have lots of technique and interpretation to acquire before becoming a decent pianist, but thinking back at all the improvements I've made helps me to start focused and keep working.  My friend and I (the Op. 42 and Partita guy) have made a promise to each other.  Van Cliburn 2009!

[krenske]

Thats amazing mate... i wasted years and years doing what you did in 2 years. Van Cliburn is guaranteed!!!

[rob47]

Krenske visits this site like once a year and it's always hilarious.

[rejoyce]

What a cool story! I guess there is hope for me yet.  Sounds like you've got quite a gift to be treasured. Good luck in your future adventures.