I am Becoming Quasi-Competent

This piano thing gets weirder by the day.

I am determined to stop looking at the damn keys, because I want to keep my eyes free to stare holes in the sheet music until I am able to sight-read. Tonight, while working on the prelude to Albeniz's "Espana," I decided to get hardcore.

I have one of those sleep masks they wear in old cartoons. It came from a package of goodies I got on an airline flight (yes, they used to give away goodies). I put it on and started practicing. Amazingly, it went about as well as it had when I was looking at the keys. I say "amazingly," because this piece has jumps of about three octaves, and it runs up and down most of the keyboard in big steps.

It's hard to believe that you can reliably put your hand out, blind, and hit the very key you want, out of 88, but you can.

I think it's a great exercise, because not only am I free to look away from the keys; I can hear the music better. When you stare at the keys, part of your attention is directed to what you're looking at, so you don't concentrate as much on what you hear.

There's really no reason to ever look at a piano keyboard. Art Tatum was blind as a bat, and his technique was so sure and agile, it used to amaze Vladimir Horowitz. If a person who can barely see the piano can be a virtuoso, no one should have to look at the keys.

Chopin is really falling into line. My teacher gave me a lot of suggestions yesterday, and I thought they'd be hard to implement, but they're already becoming routine. In particular, he said that someday I'd want to try to emphasize only the highest notes in a series of chords. Apparently, that's supposed to be pretty tough. But I'm already doing it, so I am oozing smugness.

I also managed to play the opening passage of the Albeniz prelude with both hands, at normal tempo. I couldn't do that at all yesterday. WHOO HOO. I even did the trills! He showed me how at my lesson, so I started using them when I practiced later on.

Man, this is great. I can nearly play something.

Hey, here's something funny. That package of airline goodies included a pair of nail clippers. Times have changed, huh?