150713

 Piano fitness is meditation.  Meditation activates awareness. Awareness includes everything occurring in the present moment.   Musical meditation connects the mind and the body with sound.
 Piano fitness is sound practice I.E.learning to listen!

150702

 Piano fitness is key connection.  Learning to listen to your body includes feeling the connection of the finger to the key through the map of the whole arm.   Since May, the awareness grows each day,  as the arms and chest learn to adjust to new positions  to improve key connection. Rhythmic counting aloud is essential to establish this connection.

150612

Piano fitness is self discovery.   Learning activated awareness includes everything, opens the door to twelfth discovery of the pianist's musical world.  Practice becomes rehearsal of watching the fingers move!

15/06/04

piano fitness Renaissance. With continued rehearsals,mapping becomes clearer and breakthroughs can be significant at times. Rebirth!
 May was just that kind of month.  Including awareness of the up-and-down arm map made a significant change in awareness, and ease in playing. The balanced zone of the three movements  improves fine motor skill awareness.

150529

 Piano fitness includes tenacity. "When you feel like giving up, remember why you held on for so long in the first place." – Author unknown

 Training:
Blocked 3rds
Pf1

 Practiced:
 Mendelssohn Opus 14.
 McDowell Opus 51.

150122

piano fitness is persistence. persistence in training, even if it's minimal during disappointing times.  Persistence in rxpecting things will continue to improve.  Persistent persistence!

Awareness in the hands arms shoulder blades changes daily. Accepting  the changes is part of the challenge.  It truly feels and sounds better.

150115

Piano fitness is life changing. The first post of 2015! It's taken two weeks of the new year to slowly come out of 2014's last quarter slump.  The mindset of the lifetime single person is certainly a minority in the 21st century.  Birthdays and holidays have taken on a different flavor over the decades. after almost 2 years I'm still adjusting to irregularity in my life's schedule. With significant changes every few weeks and months it's quite a contrast to the 12 years I spent commuting to orange county teaching piano and working for 24 hour fitness 16 years teaching yoga, with a routine schedule.  I still agree with M scott peck- "life is difficult".  After setting my goal of Chopin's barcarole Opus 60 from my 60th year, I now recognize a large part of the end of 2014 funk was the expectation I would meet this goal by my 61st birthday- relearning Buddha's truth "no expectations no disappointments".  Piano fitness is my unique lifetime single person mindset.  truly it changes every day. Remaining open to changing lifelong habits is as exciting as it is challenging,  with inclusion of feeling AND sound. With renewed intentions, Heres to 2015 life-changing piano fitness.