It's been three and a half years since I've posted here. Where did the time go? Let's see what's happened since then...I took a side job, which became my second full-time job for about year and a half, and just didn't take piano seriously. Then Prof N took a sabbatical to take care of some personal stuff. (I stopped taking piano classes shortly after that). Prepared GMAT and apps for b-school. It hasn't been a complete waste as I learned some pieces by Bach (Prelude and Fugue in Cmajor), Brahms (Rhapsody in G minor), for a recital in May 2006. But didn't really play much between May 2006 to now, which is nearly 3 years! Last year around this time, I was starting to learn the Mendelssohn Piano Concerto #1, but that failed to launch. So negligent of me.

Lately, I've attended some piano performances and these have rekindled my interest in playing the piano again. I'm not sure how much time I can devote to piano, given that i'm a full-time MBA student and working at the same time....studies take up maybe 60+ hours a week....work maybe another 15-20 hours a week...so maybe 5-10 hours is the max that I can devote. I packed my digital piano in the trunk when I shipped my car here, but have probably touched the piano less than 5 times since I've moved here. Nonetheless, I'm pretty excited about resurrecting my piano studies and have chosen to focus on the Chopin Etudes Op. 25. So far, I've learned 6 of the 12 etudes of Op. 25 and I think learning the rest by the end of the year is doable.

My focus will be on Etude No.11 ("Winter Wind"). I had started learning this etude some years ago, but wasn't disciplined enough to get past the first couple pages. Didn't take my instructor's advice (very, very, slow practice and attention to details) as I tried to learn it as quickly as possible. Now I've realized learning the etudes is not a sports achievement, but is a very musical learning process...and I need to pay more attention to the score, the phrasing, fingering, etc. From listening/watching Martha Argerich last month, I could imagine her playing this piece without any tension in the right hand and relying more on finger legato than on the pedal. So I will start off with very, very slow practice and without pedal.