Author Archives: Ryan Libel
Changes
Last night was our first night in a new condo – a fabulous space we just closed on in a historic downtown building. We spent the night on an airbed that we’ll soon retire for guests; we don’t have much else here except the makings for coffee, as the movers are scheduled to do their […]
What’s a Canon, Again?
I continue to practice Pachelbel’s Canon in D daily – it’s really fun for me to play. Though I’ve always found the piece to be beautiful, I’ve never worn it out for myself (I think others have, but they are not in my living room!). I need plenty of practice with the whole thing, but […]
Sinfonietta de los Muertos
Teacher subs in with the Chicago Sinfonietta on occasion, last night being one of them. She offered free tickets to the Halloween concert, so I went with a friend down to Symphony Center for my first experience with this orchestra. The group was founded in 1987 to promote diversity in the arts – as anyone […]
Faster
As I approached this Seitz concerto I was a little bit stunned. Listening to Preucil play the piece on the CD prior to starting in on it the thing seemed a bit impossible. While the Suzuki recording star always records the tunes faster than I’m able to play them at first, the speed and complexity […]
Canon Go-Round
About eighteen months ago I bought and downloaded some sheet music for Pachelbel’s ubiquitous Canon in D. I remember writing a post about my early exploration of the piece when first I downloaded it, so I looked it up just now. The post was optimistic – I thought I would be able to work up […]
Rocky Horror Light
Campy musicals are more or less defined by The Rocky Horror Picture Show – I first saw the classic supported by all its pomp and circumstance at an old theatre in Wichita, KS more than 20 years ago. It’s a Halloween favorite, though I don’t think the season had much to do with my and […]
Run Puppy
My lesson yesterday was fun – we played through my new Wohlfahrt etude, number four, which Teacher tells me can be thought of rhythmically as run puppy. It’s all repeating pattern of eighth then sixteenth notes. Run puppy run puppy run puppy run puppy. Having a mnemonic for the pattern helps quite a bit. Though […]
Milestones and Legends
Well I’m late to my own birthday party. I launched Musical Me three years ago Friday, on October 14, 2013. As this chronicle – now approaching 500 posts – attests, my musical journey has been fulfilling in all the ways I hoped it might, though it’s true that my posts over the past year have […]
Interludes
In yesterday’s lesson we made it through the rest of the Seitz movement – challenges abound, and I’ll be working on it for a good while – there’s a section of double stops that’s my longest yet by far, and some chords at the end that are exceedingly tough to nail, including one that I’m […]
Make Something; Make Music
I’ve realized that music is paving my way into being a middle aged human. Don’t worry – I’m not jumping the gun – at barely forty I’d like to think I’m not there quite yet! But I’ve touched on this journey before – the music of my youth was the music of my God. I […]
Ryan Libel 