Providence and Practice
You often don't know where inspiration will come from
Practicing a musical instrument is an effort you’re either up for or not. Once you reach a certain level of sight-reading competence, breaking things down to the most difficult measures becomes a challenge. The temptation for me is to just play through pieces without perfecting them.
Can I be patient and diligent in my practice? Can I develop an efficient regimen that makes the best use of my time? Can I know when to stop?
I prefer getting up at 4:30 AM for two to three hours of practice before anyone else is awake—a habit I developed when my children were young. Now that they’re off to college, I’ve kept the early morning ritual.
Six years ago I hit a wall, musically. I’d played guitar since I was sixteen and needed a change of scenery. I was working as an engineer and musician-producer at Acoustic Ranch, a local recording studio. One Saturday morning, a client working on a Christmas album for solo piano said, “I need to go home and practice the Hanon.” This wasn’t the first time I’d heard about The Virtuoso Pianist by Hanon. Two days earlier, Rick Beato said if you want to get good at piano, work on the Virtuoso Pianist. Call it kismet or divine providence.
Maybe I should take up piano. Way back in my conservatory days, I took a semester of class piano. What the heck, why not?
The following Wednesday I drove to Boomer Music, one of our local music stores specializing in education. I’d taught there years ago. I asked the woman at the counter if she had a copy of Hanon—I only knew the composer, not the title of the studies. She knew exactly what I wanted and directed me to six different editions. A gentleman in the next aisle quipped that Hanon was a great choice and suggested an edition. We struck up a conversation. Turns out he’s the piano professor at Colorado State University, here in Fort Collins. Third time was the charm. I bought it.
Hanon was a devout Roman Catholic and a Third Order Franciscan. He and his brother taught at the Christian Brothers school—familiar to anyone who attended De La Salle schools.
Studying piano has improved my understanding of music and my guitar playing and sight reading. Today I’m sight-reading the Gran Sonata Eroica by Mauro Giuliani. Fun stuff.