This was one with my teacher - he moved me on several weeks ago but I want to keep this one (it’s why I got the book - Faber 4 BigTime Rock n’ Roll). It’s almost there (80-90%?!?!) now I’m working on playing the whole thing (and just keep going if I flub up … which I do here 🤣) and sound good.

Simple Version from Faber Adult Popular Book 1. Always loved this song when it was popular (I think I was in high school). I am pretty much sight reading this, practiced for 5-10 minutes.

I always thought a pianist should know how to play Happy Birthday! I used a Lead Sheet in the key of G to learn this and made a sort of little classical arrangement. I memorized the melody and the chords - I-V7-V7-I etc. so that I can be able to transpose it and play in any key. It was a good fundamental exercise for some things I would like to do in the future. Happy Birthday - Key of G Major

Thomas Frederick Dunhill (1 February 1877 – 13 March 1946) was a prolific English composer in many genres, though he is best known today for his light music and educational piano works. His studies and pieces are never lacking in musical interest, and they still prove to be popular and useful among teachers today. "A Song of Erin" is a lyrical, expressive piano piece by English composer Thomas Dunhill, featured as No. 8 in his First Year Pieces collection. It is a popular, g

I started learning this one years ago, but it was a bit beyond my level at the time. I've revisited it each year to play on May 4th and this year I was finally able to record an entire performance! I still didn't leave enough time to practice it this year, should've started earlier so that the ending was smoother. May the Force Be With You - Star Wars

The English composer Marjorie Helyer wrote many suites for young pianists between the 1950’s and the 1980’s. This piece is taken from ‘The Greenwood Tree’ in which she followed the example of Schumann in composing short pieces that conjure up musical pictures for young people to learn and enjoy. Although this piece is a Grade 1 ABRSM its a little tricky with the hands so close together! For this one I focused on phrasing and lifting between the phrases, no pedal with finger

Piano Adventures 3A - Sakura Focus: Clean pedaling Dynamic Contrast Phrasing

I worked on this piece for quite a long time, about 5-6 months as a technical exercise. I liked the piece and wanted to be able to play it, but was unable to just piece it all together. From Sep-Oct I had a plan to work on it with "stepping stones" and a final goal of a slow tempo, and not completely polished, but able to play musically and with ease. I met the goal! I did work on it diligently for 2 months, working on it every practice session and ironing out all the iss

One goal for 2025 ... only did one pattern in the left hand (goal was play from a lead sheet and arrange left hand with patterns) BUT I...

This was a really interesting exercise, I was able to speed it up quite quickly by listening to the original and singing along. FInal...

Fitting title for a pianist ... we are often by ourselves when we play the piano. I really enjoyed this piece for Grade 4 and plan to...

This was an interesting project, learned some new practice skills along the way. Finally played with a backing track. Met the deadline...

I used this piece as a project piece in Grade 2 and now its part of the syllabus for Grade 4 class! Used this first week to get...

Grade 3 piece I prepared for group meeting and performance. Worked on dynamics and memorizing. Performance went well. I have learned...

First piece on final week (4 weeks) - got it sped up almost to tempo. I'm happy with it anyway! There is A LOT to do in this Grade 4...

I've been working on building a repertoire of pieces. I used this piece in a recent memorization course, it is memorized now. Still...

I've been working on Late Elementary pieces as pieces to build a repertoire - working on musicality and dynamics as well as memorizing. I...

Love this piece! It has a lovely legato A section with a contrasting staccato B section. Worked on the wrist motion with lifting on the...

Performance is never perfect ... but you have to keep going. After a little hiccup in the first section of the piece (where I was...