Dancing with Chopin

I mentioned to my piano teacher today that one of the beauties of taking lessons as an adult is I feel I can put a piece aside and move on when I am tired of it.  And that’s just what I have done with the Beethoven sonata I have been laboring over for months now.

It was far from perfect, but I was getting frustrated with my incremental improvement from week to week.

Listening to a CD of Ingrid Fliter playing Chopin waltzes determined my new direction.  I immediately went out and bought the Henle edition of Chopin’s waltzes. 

And at least for now piano practice has become the equivalent of dessert.  I look forward to the hour or so when I can just sit and play.

These pieces have to be some of the most beautiful ever written.  They are lushly romantic and each is quite unique.  The melodies are such that you find yourself humming them hours later.  Even my husband is humming and he isn’t such a big fan of most classical music.

Today my teacher suggested that I start to memorize the two waltzes I’m working on.  Just the thought of playing anything from memory makes me nervous.  But she is so right that being freed up from the written music will allow the music to dance as Chopin intended it to.