VIDEO: Bumble Boogie Woogie Piano Fun Show Performance

Playing the fun Bumble Boogie on stage in Armstrong Auditorium.  Thanks to my brother for sending the video from the Edmond Fun Show of my performance.  It was a lot of fun to play and I was thankful for the opportunity.  The neatest thing for me about this was that I didn't know that Mr. GRF was in the audience until he told me at work on Monday; and he said he really liked my performance.  That meant soooo much coming from him though I was glad I didn't know he was there or I would have been super nervous!  :-)

A Treat in Piano Lessons Today

Today in piano lessons my teacher bought me a Chai latte (with coconut milk lest I pass out from cows milk) just because.  I brought it home with me as I couldn't really drink it during my lesson.  Her kind husband was bringing her a drink and a snack from Starbucks and she texted him to get something for me since he was already coming to her studio.  That was so thoughtful of them both.  It's just a drink, but I felt bad they wouldn't let me even pay for it.  Thank you!  I usually don't like non performance pics with me in them, but I tried this pic with just the Starbucks cup and it was pretty lame, not that it is cool with me in it, but you know, it's more interesting.  Sometimes there are random perks other than learning at piano lessons.  :-)

LESSON LEARNED TODAY:  Today in lessons my teacher showed me a complete system that I was playing wrong notes.....what...how did that happen.  In my own defense there were a few double flats thrown in this part.......AKA two flats written before one note meaning not only do you take the note down a half step like a regular flat, you have to take it down another half step as well......

dou·ble flat

/ˈdəbəl flat/

noun

1. a sign placed before a musical note to indicate that it is to be lowered two semitones.

   • a musical note marked by a double flat or lowered two semitones.

I don't understand the purpose of double flats yet.....I'm thinking why not just notate on the sheet music the note you want played....why torture the musicians brain.....that's mind blowing sometimes for me.  I somehow was off a note the entire system.  Brain malfunction.  LOL  There was another part where I had the rhythm wrong so my teacher corrected me on that.  The correct rhythm is crazy difficult...no wonder she got me a "drink"....just joking....it was just tea and she got that for me already earlier on in the lesson.  

A SMALL AUDIO TASTE OF LEARNING FROM MISTAKES:  My teacher recorded some of the parts I need to work on this week that I was weak in playing in reference to what I mentioned above.  The first link leads you to a clip of her fixing the rhythm problem that I had...in the first clip it is played really slowly so that I got it right, and it sounds like it is finished as their is a brief pause before round two when I join in to play it right.  At the end you hear me play a neat rhythm that I thought was right, but wrong ding dong...my teacher corrected it in the next audio clip link....

LINK ONE(copy and paste into browser)

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1FqX7M4WWyEPEAO-OiU8cmtD9c8_SU6yZ

...and then the monster rhythm at least for me to catch on to is played correctly in the link below.  You can hear the difference.  Anyway, a small taste of lessons....you have to go through what can seem like boring tedious moments of playing things super slow to play it excitedly in the proper tempo during the actual performance.

LINK TWO(copy and paste into browser)

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1oLTETfl94ADN5raFiow9oMc4x-wlxP1r

The Marathon Analogy

A co-worker of mine told me today that practicing Rhapsody in Blue is like getting ready for a marathon; only it is a piano marathon.  Good comparison.  (It is super difficult, technical, and super loooong....AKA if you don't practice right and enough you won't be able to make it to the end in one piece...pun intended!  :-))

The Fun Show Performance

Despite the fact that my audition was right before the super amazing Mark J.'s I still made the cut to be in the show.  :-). This shot was taken by my brother at the actual performance of yours truly playing the Bumble Boogie on Saturday evening, February11, 2019.  I received super positive feedback from the audience.  I thought I could have done better, but I guess that is how you always feel when you perform.