Last Wednesday and Thursday during piano practice things just clicked. It seemed like time had slowed slightly so that for every note my fingers were just waiting there to play and I could concentrate on how I was playing rather than getting the notes right, even at full tempo. The music was "under my fingers" and I was looking forward to the lesson on Friday. Then, for reasons I won't go into, I didn't get a lot of sleep on Thursday night. Friday morning was fine but by the afternoon I was beginning to flag . . .

. . . and then I went to my piano lesson. Oh dear. It felt like a disaster. Nothing went right, not scales, not arpeggios, not the pieces, nothing. However, my teacher was quite happy: Under the pressure of being tired the cracks in my technique had become much more obvious, making her job much easier As a performance, it was a disaster but as a lesson it was nothing of the sort.

It just goes to show, nothing is completely useless - it can always be used as a bad example!

Thanks - that is very encouraging. I am feeling my progress has slowed to very little - mainly because I am trying to improve speed and general dexterity - maybe it will click at some point.

Such is life! I was looking for a smilie there to suit but I actually wasn't sure whether to put ina happy one or a sad one! It's all in the mind, really. If a pupil arrives bursting with enthusiasm it's hard for the teacher not to respond accordingly. But if a pupil arrives feeling very down it's equally hard for the teacher to be up-beat and positive. Therein lies the 'good teacher'!

I've heard (cannot remember precisely where...on this forum?) that if something suddenly clicks in the week, then
it won't go well in the lesson. :sigh:

conversely, if things are going badly...do they go well in the lesson? heck, no :sigh:

I've long since abandoned telling my teacher that things were going well.... I'll just say, well, we'll see how it goes....
it's amazing how a little tip can suddenly rectify a whole passage though.

each piece is it's own mountain to be climbed


If all else fails, we improvise on the black keys............