Music I'm Playing

Clocks by Coldplay. I've barely touched this one. It's easy to play.

The Raindrop Prelude by Chopin. I can play about two-thirds of this before it becomes obvious that Chopin had bigger hands than I've got. I think this is the piece that set off the carpal tunnel last fall. It's leaving me feeling well-exercised but otherwise fine.

Waltz in C# Minor, also by Chopin. I've been working on this since Thanksgiving, and I'm finally getting to the point where it sounds like I want it to sound most of the time. The third page is almost memorized, too.

Samson by Regina Spektor. Completely, totally different from anything else on this list. I love it.

Après Moi by Regina Spektor. Very easy to play. I'm working on being able to sing while playing this. It's a lot harder than it sounds to play and sing at the same time. I don't know if I'll ever get that UUUG sound she does, though.

20 Years of Snow by Regina Spektor. I'm starting to get the hang of this song. It feels less like sight reading and more like using the music to show me what part to play next. But it's nowhere near as smooth as I want it, and this song has to be perfectly smooth to work at all.

Chant Sans Paroles by Mendelssohn. I love this piece of music. It's a hymn to peace set on the banks of a gentle stream. I can get a feel of playing church music without the baggage. It's also deceptively difficult. I can mostly play two pages out of five, but not at speed.

And last but not least, I dipped into this. Elizabeth would be more impressed if I could play along with the game. It requires some jazz chording - sliding off black note chords onto chromatic white note chords, a technique I haven't ever used officially. I can't even remember where I learned it.

I haven't touched a fake book all week, but I'll need to get back to that eventually. At the moment, I'm having a lot of fun with this.