Tuesday-June 17, 2003

Same 'ol story. I actually haven't practiced piano in weeks. I've been pretty busy but there really is no legitimate excuse for this. I sound like a hypocrite when I urge my students to practice when I don't do it regularly.

The Liszt sonata is still stuck on page 11. At least I listen to the piece every now and then on my way to work. It makes it easier to learn. In the slower sections, I can actually "learn" it just by listening to the cd and memorizing the pitches and rhythm. Weird. I wonder if I have perfect pitch? I've never heard of this term until a friend mentioned that her piano teacher had such a thing. I just assumed that everyone can tell apart notes. Well, I can distinguish notes and chords on the keyboard and imagine what a tune should look like on a page (helps with composing, i guess). although if it's a very texturally complex section with a zillion notes, i can't decipher what the hell the exact notes should be and in what order. Maybe that has more to do with processing data ability. I don't know if this perfect pitch crap is genetic or acquired. Don't all people with perfect pitch have to "memorize" what the notes ought to sound like first? Even with perfect pitch, i'm not able to learn a piece totally by ear. I still need the score in front of me. How was Liszt able to do this?