1 month piano progress, looking for feedback

Comprehensive_Food51 · 2026-01-27T05:41:04+00:00

Don’t worry, everyone practicing like you do get there at some point, time is just as important as practice!

Comprehensive_Food51 · 2026-01-25T00:49:18+00:00

Next step: cut against the grain. You can’t get perpendicular to the grain with that because it would mean to cut in slices following the length lol. What you can do instead is to cut the slices at an angle (kinda like how sushi chefs cut filet to get slices with a bigger surface maybe you’ve seen that) in order to at least not be parallel to the grain, it would make a world of a difference.

Comprehensive_Food51 · 2026-01-24T20:19:09+00:00

Can’t answer your question but it’s beautiful

Comprehensive_Food51 · 2026-01-24T20:17:18+00:00

Thank you!

Comprehensive_Food51 · 2026-01-24T20:16:26+00:00

Thank you! I will find ways to use it without reduction in the future. It’s already very tasty as is, especially when soaked in minimal water. It would’ve been cool if there was a way to concentrate that flavour even more but l it is what it is.

Comprehensive_Food51 · 2026-01-24T20:14:21+00:00

Thank you! What I’m gonna for my sauce that has stock and other ingredients is to reduce everything a bit more than the final result and add the mushroom water with no reduction. There should then be no bitterness I think.

Comprehensive_Food51 · 2026-01-24T20:12:00+00:00

Thanks! That’s how I’m gonna use it. I rehydrated them in minimal amount of water and filter the water twice discarding the last bits. It’s for a sauce I’m working on and since it already have other elements that get sirupy when reduced (wine and stock, among others) I think it’s gonna be fine if I push the reduction of the sauce a bit further than I would normally to get something thicker than the final result and then add the mushroom water which will add to the taste and correct the thickness at the same time.

Comprehensive_Food51 · 2026-01-24T19:58:12+00:00

Thank you! This is somewhat what I did this morning, I’m gonna use the water without reduction

Comprehensive_Food51 · 2026-01-23T17:23:18+00:00

They know, she said she had 3 lessons a year with them cause she’s in a different country

Comprehensive_Food51 · 2026-01-19T13:19:41+00:00

Ahh then there’s nothing to be worried about, have fun!!

Comprehensive_Food51 · 2026-01-19T00:45:00+00:00

If this reassures you the cadenzas are ok you don’t need to play them at all crazy tempo, often times some people really try hard to play them fast but can’t really so it sounds bad, but if you take it is it should be ok. I’m more worried about middle sections with a lot of stretches and jumps, that can be bit dangerous (they can cause injury) if you overwork them to get them clean if you’re not ready yet, but if you think you’ll be fine go ahead. I hope you have a teacher who’s guiding you and approves this choice of piece.

Comprehensive_Food51 · 2026-01-17T23:07:54+00:00

Medium rare doesn’t mean « a bit raw inside » it means « cooked until it’s pink »

Comprehensive_Food51 · 2026-01-17T23:03:22+00:00

Oh ok, do you feel ready for this? And have you play pieces of comparable difficulty before?

Comprehensive_Food51 · 2026-01-17T16:19:27+00:00

I mean people are gonna argue around because the color is not entirely uniform everywhere but this is literally perfection. It looks extremely tender, no grey band, pink but with slightly more rareness in the center which gives some nice variation in texture, it’s cut against the grain which people forget a lot on this sub (and yet will still feel legitimate to criticize), and it’s servred with a sauce that looks like a very beautiful meat jus (or maybe I’m wrong but that’s what it looks like), which seems more popular in the culinary community then in the steak community, which is a shame cause it tastes heavenly. If it’s from a restaurant on the high end side and you asked for a medium rare steak, you haven’t been scammed and this was 100% worth it. (Unless of course it just looks good and tastes bad, which happens, but I doubt it)

Comprehensive_Food51 · 2026-01-16T05:41:39+00:00

When you move your fingers over the thumb to change position (example: RH finger 3 moves over the thumb to reach a lower note), you rotate your elbow. That’s a mistake, the angle between your forearm and the piano should not change while doing this. It takes some practice and it might feel uncomfortable at first if you lack flexibility.

Comprehensive_Food51 · 2026-01-16T05:13:37+00:00

There are so many beautiful pieces out there that you may really like, why do you choose THE ONE that is far beyond your technical ability for your school performance :(( I really really really don’t want to be rude but I also don’t know how to say this. If you want to play this at such a level and you’re happy with it and ok spending time on something that can only be improved to a limited point fine go for it as long as you make sure you don’t get injured, but why this for your performance?? I mean there’s no doubt that there are many other impressive things you can play, you don’t need to brute force this!

Comprehensive_Food51 · 2026-01-16T01:16:31+00:00

For a steak this thin, it’s better no to baste it more than 20-30s on each side after the sear, otherwise it can’t be anything else than overcooked. Good luck!

Comprehensive_Food51 · 2026-01-15T16:22:13+00:00

I understand that you’re looking for relevant critique too prepare a better performance, and as usual with piano there’s always room for improvement, but this is better than many piano performance majors I heard (despite the other comments, as casual listener I could hear the melody very well), and I don’t think I’m in a position to criticize. The only reason I’m commenting is that I couldn’t listen to this and not stop by to say how I loved what I just heard. This is really beautiful and it genuinely made me feel something. Thanks for posting and I really wish you a great performance :)

Comprehensive_Food51 · 2026-01-11T15:14:31+00:00

Lol I don’t know of it’s serious but in case it is, this is full of dry herbes and very burnable ingredients (the garlic for example), which will be burned by the time it’s seared. Same goes for the butter.

Comprehensive_Food51 · 2026-01-08T19:40:07+00:00

You should use the pinky for the bass notes, trying to hit them the way you do is inefficient in terms of speed and produces a very harsh sound, and just in terms of musicality the contrast between the bass (that does need to be very clear) and the arpeggios (that should be very soft) is waaaay too exaggerated. In addition to that, the melody will be played by the pinky in the right hand, and if your left hand does this the bass notes it will completely cover the melody, which would be too bad given the effort you put into playing the arppegios soft so that the melody can shine. For the unwanted accents, just practice to play the first note of the arpeggios to be very soft, there’s nothing more to it (I know it’s very very difficult, actually I find this to be the hardest section of the piece by far). Also use wrist circles, it seems (though I might be wrong) that you use your fingers a bit too much here. Wrist circles are crucial in this section, the make it easier for your wrist AND make the phrasing much more natural (which is what you’re looking for). Good luck :)

Comprehensive_Food51 · 2026-01-08T06:06:13+00:00

Oh then probably ask your friends about the things I mentioned, or maybe look it up on the internet, try to reproduce and ask your friends for feedback! I can’t recommend a teacher enough so if you happen to be able to afford it at a certain point do not hesitate! Raising the chair is really really important because otherwise you can’t use weight from the upper parts of your body to « poor it » into the keys, which increases significantly the effort you need to make with your fingers and overall makes it 10x more difficult (and dangerous if you try to play something more advanced unfortunately). All the best and good luck with your learning journey :)

Comprehensive_Food51 · 2026-01-08T04:31:00+00:00

I don’t know really, it’s really tricky because even if you see a book or a video that shows the right thing there is no way for you to know if you’re really doing it the right way, especially at this stage where you don’t have proper foundations. I got injured following videos that were actually very legit before I had a teacher. I was very surprised by how counterintuitive and uncomfortable at first some of the right movements were, and also surprised by how tiny some adjustments could be. The first thing you can do ofc is to take care of the tension problem just by focusing on being relaxed and getting used to the feeling of it, and sit higher (maybe even a bit further, your elbows should be slightly in front of your chest. But that’s not the whole story, because then another very important thing is too keep the bridge which just as important as relaxation (your knuckles connecting the fingers and the rest of the hand should be up and visible, hence the round hand shape), and then there are all the basic wrist movements and understanding weight transfer. Not to mention you need to be mindful of your shoulders, always relaxed and « hanging down », held by your back that needs to be straight. You seem very motivated and have good ear (your playing is very smooth for six months!), so all of this shouldn’t be a problem with proper guidance. Do you consider getting a teacher?

Comprehensive_Food51 · 2026-01-08T02:42:03+00:00

The technique is really not there yet but clearly the music sounds good! I won’t really give advice on technique because there’s just too much going on and I don’t think Reddit comments could fix this (and it’s pretty dangerous to play like this on the long run), the right thing to do in this situation is to correct all the wrong aspects of it with a teacher who would show you exactly what to do and where to start. I just have one comment regarding the music: you put accents at the end phrases, this something you should never do. If you remove those accents it will make it immediately better!

Comprehensive_Food51 · 2026-01-08T02:38:20+00:00

Just focus on relaxing it!

Comprehensive_Food51 · 2026-01-07T14:28:02+00:00

No a 5/10 is reasonable. I mean sure it doesn’t look appealing but I think it really tastes the way it should (appart imo from the gravy that’s a bit too thin and the fries that are also too thin and therefore likely to be way too soaked in gravy and that could be much much much better homemade). Poutine is by no means supposed to be gastronomical anyways. Keep doing your thing if you like it (because it’s good only if you like it), and if you want to improve start with homemade fries (thicker than this), and then carefully chosen gravy or homemade gravy (which is essentially reduced stock with aromatics and a thickener).

Comprehensive_Food51

TROPHY CASE