yes, it's the third of january already. it's taken me a week to be back to feeling myself, and even then i'm not totally over my cold. i relish the small bubbles of energy shimmying from my toes to my head. i was focused today at work. just now i played piano for three-quarters of an hour (this always leaves my hands feeling electric). and, like the eighty-year-old that lives deep, down inside of me, i'm going to brush my teeth and hop into bed with a book during the eight o'clock hour. getting sick seems to have flipped my internal clock; i got into work at 7:15 this morning. time will tell if this becomes a pattern.
i picked up aja gabel's the ensemble when i was at the portland book festival in november and i started reading it new year's eve day while i was still sick. the novel may be about a string quartet, but i'll nonetheless cite that as one of many reasons i trimmed my nails so i could let my fingers wander on the black and white keys of my childhood upright piano. i've decided to learn the downton abbey suite, which is certainly much more difficult than i thought it would be. the piano transcription highlights the weakness in my fourth (ring) finger on my left hand (time for hanon exercises?!). although the notes themselves are easy to read, i spent a healthy amount of time counting out loud, slapping the rhythms out on my thighs, and playing the first page, hands separate, at less than half of the prescribed tempo. being out of practice is tedious, but as i'm on the cusp of another birthday, i'm pleased to know that i can still dust off the years of piano lessons i keep in my back pocket and resume playing.
would you look at that? it's almost my bedtime. 2019, you old so-and-so. let's do this.
I saw the Phoenix Symphony perform the Downton Abbey Suite last weekend. It was even more gorgeous live. It followed the Masterpiece Theater theme (no Viking Cruises commercial necessary).
ReplyDeleteoh wow, that would've made me swoon! as it is my sister and i clutched each others arms with a sharp inhaled breath when we saw a preview for the Downton Abbey film come on the screen when we went to see Mary Poppins Returns.
Deletemy progress at the piano is slow. i played tonight for the first time since i posted and it was mostly Bach (who i've come to realize i may love more than Chopin--i blame Glenn Gould).
rereading my comment and seeing typos, which i cannot seem to edit. bah! (each other's)
ReplyDelete