u/awyscarver178

I had a lesson a couple hours ago on Movement 3 of Beethoven Op. 110. There’s a lot that went well with it, including my memorization for the fugues, but damn I am finally understanding why this sonata is perceived to be as difficult as it is. There’s no insane runs, massive jumps or difficult arpeggios, but it felt IMPOSSIBLE to match my teacher’s expectations for the introduction and coda today. She’s extremely supportive of me and a very positive influence, but I just left the lesson today feeling so inadequate.

While I’m entering only year 4 of piano, I’ve been a classical musician for about a decade, and I couldn’t find myself being able to follow the way she decides the phrasing, how long a line continues or the way it moves, my voicing of the melody and over reliance on the pedal causing problems, I felt so overloaded and incapable for someone who’s spent several months on the sonata at this point, even if I’m only now getting into the meat of it with her.

Every now and then I have a lesson that just humbles me and sits me on my ass, and today felt like that. I’m supposed to perform it in masterclass next Thursday and now I’m distraught that it’s going to be very under-standards musically (and even technically in some places) and the faculty will be disappointed in my attempts.

The whole process of learning a piece is so exhausting sometimes, and I feel like I get stuck no matter how much I practice or the way I practice. I sometimes spend upwards of 8 hours a day playing during the summer and I’m not improving how I think I should be. I know it’s a long game, but damn it’s eating me alive.

I’m grateful for and so lucky having music as a hobby I’m so passionate about instead of a career I’m stressing over (I’m pursuing my nursing degree along with music), but I can’t bear slowing down. I have my Junior recital in December. My Senior recital in December 2027, and I want to share masterful works of art with my family and friends, my fraternity, my teachers etc, it consumes me. Some days it’s just hard to think I’ll ever meet my goals or have healthy expectations for myself. Thanks for listening to the rant, I’m just struggling right now.

I want to buy a super cheap laptop for school, mostly just typing stuff down quickly during meetings, and if I need to do anything inaccessible on an iPad. I was planning on running a Linux distro instead of windows to save some computing power.

Suggestions? I’ve also never worked with Linux before but I’m very comfortable with learning about different aspects of tech, and I hear it’s more accessible now.

I’ve started becoming more enamored with Ravel lately, especially the toccata. What’s the best recording you guys have heard musically (not virtuosically)?

There has been a lot on my mind lately regarding piano and my goals/aspirations. I want to talk about it and get some advice on how to best help myself. I will include as much context as I can.

I’m in my third year of playing piano. I started University as a classical trombone player of 7 years, took the required Piano I class, and absolutely fell in love. 8 months ago I switched my primary instrument. I am also double majoring in nursing, graduating in Fall of 2027.

There has been mountains of music I have fallen in love with that I want to play on my two university recitals, one planned this December, and one the following December. However, I am still building my technical prowess and practice routines as piano is obviously a major switch up from trombone.

Context for my current repertoire with my teacher (will most likely be on this December’s recital)
- Beethoven Op. 110 (Played I and II for my jury, got an A)
- Chopin’s 2nd Scherzo
- Debussy’s Estampes (Already studied Jardins, won a division competition with it this spring)

For my senior recital next year, I would absolutely love to include at least these, even if I need to play fairly less intense repertoire alongside it:

- A Chopin Ballade, especially 1 or 4
- Either Beethoven’s 21st (Waldstein), or No. 32

Believe me when I say I recognize how challenging these works are. I am DEFINITELY not ready right now to tackle those, but I have spent the past two years practicing 4-6 hours almost daily and do not see any changes in that.

My big questions for you all:

While I have a teacher at university right now, breaks such as summer and winter are somewhat lost for instruction time. I am taking a couple lessons with her this summer but she is on tour in Taiwan during much of June/July, so I won’t have as much time 1-1 as I would like. What solutions/workarounds would you all encourage for additional instruction from potentially other teachers? What are the best self-study methods I can utilize?

What books would you recommend for developing technique with the runs in Waldstein, building stamina and working on reducing tension while playing fast? Will learning the 2nd scherzo be “enough” (it’s never truly enough) of a preparation to start tackling a ballade, regardless of the undoubted new skills I will have to work on?

For the long practice days, how do you recommend I structure my time? How often to take breaks, how long I should spend on each piece, when to work on repertoire vs technical exercises? How MANY technical exercises to work on? Though I know there’s no simple answer to these.

There’s a lot into this post that I’m asking about, but it is because of how much I’ve done in a short amount of time, there are many gaps to be filled, and my teacher is a very busy woman with a lot of students who tend to be more beginner/intermediate ordered, so while I feel very satisfied with the level of her instruction, I wish I got more time to work with her, if that makes sense.

Feel free to slap me back to my senses and ground me, I have just been discovering a path of music I think I always wanted to pursue but never had the chance to with trombone. Thank you all.