30 by 30: Goal 1

Well, last week I posted 30 goals that I wished to accomplish by age 30, and this week, I actually got started on one of them! Namely...

"...5. Learn and memorize an hour's worth of piano classical music"

 Yikes! An hour? It's a tall order! But, I've done it once before. My senior recital to complete my Piano Performance degree was 50 minutes of memorized music. (Between entering and exciting stage, applause, seat adjustments, and variations in tempo, this is a typical time limit for "hour" long recitals... After all, no one just sits down and plays their music through without pausing!) This week I have tasked myself with picking out the repertoire for my "recital". After listening to countless YouTube renditions of pieces and pouring through the books I already own (I didn't really want to buy more), I have chosen the music! Here's the result! It looks like a lot of music (that's because it is!) and I am nervous about trying to conquer all of it, but I am super excited! 

In case any of you music-types (or non-music-types, I'm not gonna discriminate!) are interested in looking up the pieces or just want to know what I'm working on, here is my recital program:

Hanon, The Virtuoso Pianist (this is not a concert piece, but I am going to learn the entire book for technique purposes, and that's a pretty big undertaking, so I thought I would go ahead and include it.)

Haydn, Sonata No. 58 in C Major, Hob. XVI:48
      I. Andante con Espressione
      II. Rondo: Presto
Beethoven, Sonata No. 23 in F Major "Appassionata"
      I. Allegro assai
Liszt, 12 Etudes d'executiones transcendente, S. 139
      VII. Eroica
Debussy, Preludes for Piano, Book 1, L117
      X. La Cathedrale Engloutie (The Sunken Cathedral)
Mussourgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition
     I. La Promenade
     II. Gnomus
Poulenc, Trois Pieces pour Piano
      I. Pastorale
      II. Hymne
      III. Toccata
Scriabin, Etude in E Major, Op. 8, No. 5

Yeah, if it looks intense, that's because it is. Honestly, this program scares me to death! But it's really going to stretch me and challenge me, and I am super excited about it at the same time. If you are interested in listening to the music, I've put a Spotify playlist together with everything: Piano Recital Playlist  You should be able to open this and log in with a Facebook account or email and not have to download the program.

Let me know what you think! Do you like the music? How long do you think it will take me to complete it? Any tips from other musicians out there? I look forward to your comments!

Here comes the next post and the last post of the month of May!!!! We're coming to summer :-)

I have to say: I have a love/hate relationship with Summer. We're great buddies when it comes to getting out of school and being able to relax a little bit. I'm down with the whole full-time job too. Summer and I start fighting when two online classes get through in, practicing for an upcoming 25 minute solo piano recital, being actively involved in my church college program, social life, pursuing a significant friendship, and the many other things that I try to get done while there isn't a school semester to fight.

So here's the question: How can I stay balanced with so many things that I want to do? More importantly, how in the world can I stay actively focused on God and growing in my relationship with Him?

I am so easily distracted. I bounce from one thing to the next almost instantly. I did this as a child. I'd start playing with barbies, and ten minutes later want to color. Then after fifteen more minutes, I'd hunt down my brothers to play with their legos. And so on. The same is true of me today only on a longer time-span. I start something and then get bored with it and want to switch to something else. Yeah, I do have a lot of things that I'm interested in and I am seldom bored for long periods of time, but I never get anything done. It's a wonder that I have stuck with piano as long as I have. Honestly, if I evaluated my life, you would definitely think that piano is more important to me than my relationship with God.

Let's be serious. It is. I can say in my mind or to other people as much as I want that God is way more valuable to me than piano is. But look at the facts! I live my life as if piano is the most important thing to me. At school, that's almost necessary. At least, it is a different situation than the summer. But now it is summer and I have to find a way to pursue a love-struck relationship with God while still practicing piano.

Tomorrow is my first day of work and the first day of one of my classes. The struggle will begin. I have a lot on my plate for one day. Work, quiz, piano, musical (I'll try and talk about that another time), Bible Study, work-out, making dinner, etc. It's just hard to fit all of that in to one 16 hour day. And no, I can't stay up late. I'm one of those people that absolutely has to have 8 hours of sleep.

Tomorrow is also the first day of my new Bible Study. I'm going to use the Inductive Bible Study Method to work through the book of John. I'm also going to resurrect my prayer journal. I need to do a lot of praying.

So that's my plan of attack. Get up early and get into God's Word first thing so that I can think about it all day long. Pray for me as I struggle against myself. My Victory is in Christ and I have faith that He will win for me. He has already won for me!

Now, if you will excuse me, it's past ten, and I still have some crunches and push-ups to do before I get to read "The Case for the Real Jesus" by Lee Strobel and then hit the hay. Have a wonderful week and Happy Memorial Day! May God bless and protect the men and women fighting for our country!