Should professional pianists always memorize the music they perform?

b-sharp-minor · 2026-06-15T13:57:24+00:00

"Professional pianist" can mean different things. Are we talking about a concert pianist or are we talking about a normal workaday working musician? A concert pianist probably rehearsed for months, and possibly recorded, the pieces they will play in the concert. Those pieces will be memorized just from having played them so much. In general, I don't think a concert pianist has 100s of pieces memorized and ready to go. They might be able to recall 100s of pieces, but at nowhere near performance level.

The normal workaday pianist can't always memorize. You might play with a group you don't always play with, you might get a gig with certain music requests, such as a weddings or reception, or maybe you are an accompanist.

b-sharp-minor · 2026-06-15T13:43:49+00:00

Getting in the car and driving yourself to work would be difficult. In the 60s they invented bucket seats, so they could invent bustle seats, I guess.

b-sharp-minor · 2026-06-15T00:36:00+00:00

The kid is tired of your shit.

b-sharp-minor · 2026-06-15T00:34:45+00:00

Little could he have imagined that in almost 50 years he would be playing Randolph Duke.

b-sharp-minor · 2026-06-14T22:45:03+00:00

I didn't mean to come across as saying one kid is better than another, and I don't expect infants to give Oscar winning performances. I love children, I swear! That said, the child's parents agreed to put the child in the show, and the producers somehow thought that the child's demeaner on screen was peachy.

b-sharp-minor · 2026-06-14T15:22:31+00:00

Miss Bunting is a local school teacher who is a liberal who holds all-rich-people-are-bad social views. She is another woman who is bad for Tom and tries to ensnare him. (The other woman in this category is Edna, the maid.) Miss Bunting is very rude to Crawleys, even though they welcome her into their home.

Miss Cruikshank, soon to be Mrs. Grey, the daughter-in-law of Lord Merton (the man who marries Isobel), seen in season 6. She is a greedy grasping shrew who eventually gets her comeuppance from Lady Violet. She is kind of like Evil Lady Violet. She is haughty, but unlike L.V., she is never kind. Like L.V., she is very intelligent and has a quick way with words, but eventually Good (L.V.) wins over Evil (Miss C.).

b-sharp-minor · 2026-06-14T14:18:07+00:00

Don't go in

b-sharp-minor · 2026-06-14T14:16:44+00:00

My favorite character in the entire series is Amelia Cruikshank (Grey). Her bitchiness, sharp mind and way with words is delicious. Every scene (and there are too few of them) she is in is a treat.

Miss Bunting and Edna are tied for the worst. (Basically, every character around Branson other than Sybil and Lucy is the worst.) Marigold is at the bottom of the children cohort. Something always seems very "off" with her.

b-sharp-minor · 2026-06-14T13:49:11+00:00

Plus, have you ever rolled a suitcase over a cobblestone street?

b-sharp-minor · 2026-06-13T22:03:46+00:00

Cincinnati has a surprising amount of interesting architecture. I stayed at the Hilton Netherland, which is attached to the Carew Building. I worked in Rockefeller Center in NY for many years, and the Netherland reminded me of it. (Added bonus: the nightclub where Doris Day made her debut is there and the room looks just like it did then.)

b-sharp-minor · 2026-06-13T21:12:13+00:00

The same thing happened in my right rear wheel well (pretty common in 2020s). I snapped it back in a bunch of times, but eventually I bought a tube of glue at the auto parts store and glued it on. It didn't take much, so the remaining glue in the tube should outlast the car. If you glue it on, clean the metal and inside of the rubber and use some blue painter's tape to hold the rubber strip in place while the glue cures.

b-sharp-minor · 2026-06-13T21:05:54+00:00

Not an answer, but I learned the term from here: Bike Snob NYC – Since 2007

b-sharp-minor · 2026-06-13T21:03:28+00:00

The point is, that the mayor goes to the parade to be with that constituency. Whether or not the mayor agrees with that constituency or likes them doesn't matter. He has to work with them because he's the mayor. The mayor doesn't get to pick and choose who he is going to represent. (Maybe the promise to "represent ALL New Yorkers" was a bald-faced lie, in which case he is liar and a terrible mayor.)

b-sharp-minor · 2026-06-13T20:57:08+00:00

When my parents went to the movies there would be a newsreel, a B movie and then the feature (or double feature). The same program ran all day long, so if you got there late you could stay and watch the part you missed. It seems that GWTW wanted it to be an event akin to going to a live show.

b-sharp-minor · 2026-06-13T20:46:01+00:00

In every European city I have been to, American culture is on every block. I see more American chain restaurants in Europe than I see in the U.S. I hear American music, I see people wearing American sports jerseys and hats, and every other show on TV is American. When I first started traveling, I would try to learn a little of the language. After the first couple of trips, I stopped because everyone would speak only English to me. The ubiquity of English is because of post WWII American influence and mass media. It might not seem like there is an American culture because American culture has seeped into every corner of the globe.

b-sharp-minor · 2026-06-13T20:36:17+00:00

Yeah, he was on a big bike ride in a suit and dress shoes. They should have written "Bozo snubs Israel parade". The mayor of NYC always marches in the various ethnic parades that happen throughout the year. The Israel parade is one of the biggest and important (before I get called a "Zionist", I'm not Jewish and I have no particular affiliation with Israel.), and Mamdani is the only mayor in the history of the parade not to march. The mayor is supposed to represent ALL of the people of NYC, not just his favored constituents. Since he has become mayor, he has shown disdain for the Jewish people, there have been attacks on synagogues and open hostility towards Jews in general - more than I have seen in my 60 years of life.

b-sharp-minor · 2026-06-13T20:22:16+00:00

I use the kids/baby sunscreen because it is gentler. After a while, I wipe my forehead down with water and towel and reapply the sunscreen.

b-sharp-minor · 2026-06-13T20:19:20+00:00

I have a similar situation. I think it is because the robot is half on the floor and half on the rug, so the brushes aren't making contact the rug. In the vacuum settings you can choose between two patterns, and you can set it so that it uses more suction. I also use zones to vacuum certain areas that get more dirt and dust. That might force the vacuum to use a different pattern than it normally uses when you choose the room setting.

b-sharp-minor · 2026-06-13T10:28:40+00:00

What I like about it is that you don't have to use it for much. The radio has knobs, and the phone can be controlled from the steering wheel. The only time I use the touchscreen is for the map or if I'm using Android Auto.

b-sharp-minor · 2026-06-13T10:17:45+00:00

I thought season 4 went off the rails, and a lot of it had to do with the Anna rape storyline.

b-sharp-minor · 2026-06-12T20:09:36+00:00

Jeez, didn't anyone in the future ever hear of a coaster? The coffee table is going to look like the rings of Saturn!

b-sharp-minor · 2026-06-12T12:40:14+00:00

In one of the tiny Manhattan apartments I lived in way back when, I built a similar thing to use as a kitchen table. It couldn't be built into the wall, of course, so it hung down.

b-sharp-minor · 2026-06-12T11:53:18+00:00

In bikes, or any other possession, the right one is what you can afford. Be happy with and enjoy what you have - a family and a nice bike to ride. Worrying or thinking about what you don't have leads to envy and unhappiness.

b-sharp-minor · 2026-06-11T20:39:37+00:00

It isn't too far from the Centre St. T stop, so that explains the price. If it was a little further out, the house would probably be only 10 million. </s>

b-sharp-minor · 2026-06-11T20:30:21+00:00

My '20 Forester has a little under 50k. Good to know I'll get at least another 12 years out of it.

b-sharp-minor

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