Glenn Gould

I couldn’t sleep this morning – I was wide awake at 4:00 and couldn’t get back.  I tried the usual plane crash daydreams but to no avail… so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to start my new regime.

I’d been planning to make some changes this week anyway and was falling behind, so really, this was perfect.

For one, I want to really get back into piano so I’m getting to know the keys again – I plan on spending each week being intimate with a different key, starting with C of course and going around the circle in the usual fashion.  I hope to get through Hanon (sans the nasty thumb-under excercises

Glenn Gould

which my brilliant piano teacher advises cause carpel-tunnel and of which I was painstakingly reminded after trying them this weekend) once a week in one key, then I’m picking two (or more in the case of C) interesting but not terribly difficult pieces in each key for each week.  Part of being intimate with the songs and keys is going to be listening to different well-done versions of the songs each week as well.

This week (week of C) I’ve been playing Bach’s “Prelude #1 from The Well Tempered Clavier” and have been listening to M Ward’s version (everything Ward touches is golden) as well as Glenn Gould’s (my former teacher studied under the same master teacher that Glenn Gould did!) – he had Bach down:

Glenn Gould was so hot.

And my other piece for this week is Debussy’s “Dr. Gradus ad Parnassum” from “Children’s Corner,” what a dreamy tune – I just get lost… Alfred Cortot playing here:

My other regime involves health – I’m starting by having no more than 1200 calories a day and taking a variety of vitamins. I’m also slowly moving towards becoming fish vegetarian but I’ve got some work there… though I very rarely eat beef so that’s a good start.

I would like to include some sort of exercise, but it just won’t fit in right now because I want to spend as much time with my daughter as possible and I’m already getting up early to do most of my piano playing before she wakes up and putting my internet publishing business on hold (just hiring out some work right now).

I was even more excited to find that my previous teacher, Claire Jones, was still teaching and could fit me in!!  She’s just the most wonderful teacher I’ve ever had – she’s got all of the experience being a Julliard graduate and has been a student of a master teacher who taught Glenn Gould – but she also weaves wonderful stories into our lessons, has a natural teaching method, and brings in a great repertoire.

Tomorrow night is my first lesson back – I can’t wait! 

I’ll leave you with Glenn Gould playing Bach: