Piano lid up fully for the first time! Bachianinha No. 1, by Paulinho Nogueira

The grand piano has been in my home for 35 days but I hadn’t put up the lid fully until a few days ago, and I wanted to record playing it! This is a beautiful piece for classical guitar called Bachianinha No.1 written by Brazilian composer Paulinho Nogueira. This piano version came about when a cellist friend Catherine cut and paste some string parts together so that I could accompany her. Later I rewrote it into a suitable range for piano. I would love to play more compositions by this composer and if anyone can suggest pieces, please do! The sound filled my home! I still can’t quite believe I’ve done this. I’m quite overwhelmed. X

Chopin Nocturne in G minor

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Bojan, our drummer in Roaring Lions, is learning this. He asked me to help him with the left hand. He has a lot of the right hand down already. We do the lesson over Zoom. It’s good to learn ❤️

Arabesque No.1 for Abi

A while back my student Abi wanted to learn Arabesque No.1 by Debussy. Inwardly I groaned at the thought of the work, but once I started I just loved it.

I’ve been waiting to play it well enough to video. Hey, I’m not a perfectionist – if I waited until it was perfect, this would never happen. I’m about taking the opportunity to do happy things.

I’m playing this at about 80% the speed it’s supposed to be played. It’s still beautiful, and definitely makes me happy.

What’s next? I think it will be anime music. Students are learning ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’, and ‘Bluebird’ (Naruto Shippuden) so I’m learning both. ‘Bluebird’ is easier, both are great songs. Elsewhere a couple of kids are learning ‘Megalovania’ which is a crazy piece! My students keep me on my toes for sure. 😊