Wednesday
In the garden ...
After a stressful early morning with intermittent internet access, more off than on, my first piano lesson went ahead yesterday as planned and .... I loved it! There were no problems at all with the software she uses (so I was fretting unnecessarily about that), the internet played nicely so I didn't lose the signal, and I felt completely at ease. C is used to teaching adult learners, though I am currently her only learner who can already read music, and the whole lesson was very relaxed. After an initial chat I played through the three pieces I'd been practicing and surprised myself by playing with no mistakes, which only goes to show that there's a first time for everything as I hadn't managed to do that during practice! We chatted about what I want to achieve in the long term and I mentioned a couple of pieces I'd like to be able to play properly as my first target - the Harry Potter theme and Pachelbel's Canon in D major - both simplified versions and which I've sort of played before but there is much room for improvement! She's quite happy with that and suggested a list of pieces for me to choose from for next week, so my practice is two short pieces, one longer piece and an exercise based on broken chords. I'll be able to work out the notes easily enough and the rhythm isn't an issue, so my focus is to be on improving the dynamic range (within the limitations of my digital piano) and the articulation.
I met with H yesterday afternoon and passed a pleasant couple of hours sitting in her garden, drinking homemade elderflower juice and enjoying a delicious afternoon tea complete with lemon drizzle cake ... I have a suspicion that I won't lose any weight this week but life has to be lived and enjoyed doesn't it. 😊
Today, it's the nutrition class this morning and the style class this afternoon so I think it'll be a stay at home day. It's supposed to rain this afternoon so I'm hoping to get out for a walk around the marina in the gap between breakfast and the start of the nutrition class. I have a few admin type tasks to fit in during the day - place more adverts, forward some free downloaded sheet music to C, and there's a couple of bits of mail to process but once that's done and the classes are finished I have a quiet rest of the day to look forward to.
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- 1st = 2 stained storage boxes (to be recycled)
- 2nd = a band fleece (only worn once so returning it to the band as I will never wear it again)
- 3rd = 3 sci-fi books (gifting to L)
- 4th = digital photo frame (never used, sold to H)
- 5th = a measuring jug (to be donated as I never use it)
- 6th = a band tie (returning to the band)
- 7th = unused greetings cards (I'm unlikely to use them so they will be donated)
- 8th = a pair of shoes (one of the heels is wobbly, so only fit for the bin)
Well done - the lesson sounds great fun and very satisfying and I am sure the teacher found it as enjoyable as you.
ReplyDelete(and who could turn down lemon drizzle cake, eh?)
xx
She sent me an email after the lesson to say how much she enjoyed it. After my last music teacher who was a dragon of a woman, it was so pleasant to have a laughter filled lesson.
DeleteI can never resist lemon drizzle cake but that's okay because Eileen (see next comment) has assured me that there are no calories in it!
And Eileen Knows Best!! ;-)
DeleteI'm glad she enjoyed it as much as you did.
xx
😊😊
DeleteI'm glad your piano lesson went well and was enjoyable. Your afternoon meet up sounds delightful as does the elderflower cordial and lemon drizzle cake. Absolutely, life is for living and you have to treat yourself occasionally, no calories in lemon drizzle cake anyway :)
ReplyDeleteThe afternoon tea with Helena was a complete surprise. She'd taken up baking during one of the lockdowns so everything was homemade and delicious. I wish I'd known about the lack of calories in lemon drizzle cake beforehand. Thanks for letting me know for next time! 😂
Delete"but life has to be lived and enjoyed doesn't it?"... is the best quote I've heard this week & oh so true. You are a wise woman. Glad to hear that your piano lesson went well; I wanted to walk down the aisle to Pachelbel's Canon in D major but the organist at the church didn't know it :( oh well maybe in the renewal(lol).
ReplyDeleteI've decided that treats of all kinds need to feature more in my life, whether that's the occasional slice or two of cake, or having a massage, or tickets for a concert ... if I want to do it and it's not harming anyone, then I will.
DeleteI love Pachelbel's Canon. The version I'll be working on in the first instance is a simplified arrangement but C was saying that I'll be able to revisit it as I progress as there are arrangement for each level getting progressively more difficult. Did you actually want it played on the day rather than having a recording?
At the time the church did not allow "brought in music" as the organist was paid per piece played ... & on the day of my wedding, a Sunday school chum was getting married first & we shared in flowers & music costs as our colour schemes were similar (she was pink & grey, I was pink & green) & music choices similar. It was such a short aisle walk anyway (lol).
DeleteThat explains it!
DeleteHi Eileen,
ReplyDeleteThe flowers in your garden are wonderful. Very beautiful!
The name of the purple flower in the third photo in Sintra is Bougainvillea.
Hugs,
Ailime
Thanks Ailime. The bougainvillea in your photo is an amazing colour.
DeleteYou always take such beautiful photos of the flowers you show. Arilx
ReplyDeleteThanks Aril x
DeleteYay! So happy to know that the first piano lesson went well and C was happy with how you played and enjoyed teaching you. :) Now, don't forget to give yourself a sticker! :D
ReplyDeleteBeautiful flowers and photographed beautifully, too! (Unlike some of us who just point and shoot with our cell phone which then refuses to send the picture to the laptop! I have to text the photo to my daughter who then emails them to me in order to download to my laptop so I can post on the blog!) :D
Glad you enjoyed afternoon tea with your friend and good to know that lemon drizzle cake is calorie free! :D
Oh, there was no mention of stickers ... I'll have to have a word with her! 😂 I loved the lesson. It was very relaxed and more to give her an idea of what I can and can't to. My weakness, which I knew and the reason for lessons, is all the technical side of it so how to produce accented notes on the piano, how to make slurs sound right, etc, so we decided that the quickest route will be to go back to where these techniques are introduced in the tutor books and work through progressively on each technique from there. That's why there is quite a lot of pieces to practice ... they are simple in terms of notes and hand together but the focus for me is on whatever dynamic and/or articulation is required. I've been playing on and off all morning (it's 11 am) so am in my happy zone!
DeleteI don't want to upset you but these photos were taken with my phone! Can't you email the photos to yourself? That's what I do sometimes to get my phone photos on my laptop.
I thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon tea with H. Her (calorie free 😂) cakes and pastries are superb but I paid for that sugar fix the next day (yesterday)!
My phone is on its last legs! I can no longer email from it! My daughter says I need a new phone, but, she needs to go to the phone store to get me a new one because I want to keep the same phone number and currently, going in person to the store is a bit scary! (Over 2,000 new cases in our county, yesterday, and 49 deaths).
DeleteAh, that explains it. I've been following the updates on California and the numbers are scary. Things are bad in the country but nothing near what you are experiencing.
DeleteWhen I changed to a new phone I kept my number and arranged that over the phone but maybe that's only possible with this particular service provider.