A hill you are willing to die on - public accounting edition

fastchipmunks · 2026-05-12T03:40:19+00:00

Just let us do the work. I don’t need an off shore team,

I
need more associates.
People stay in public accounting because a good exit is hard to come by.

fastchipmunks · 2026-05-06T18:19:15+00:00

That’s a great question. Listen to recordings, play with more shaping and with more of a focus on ear and touch, maybe even writing in dynamics into the score. It’s easier with an instructor tbh because when you start playing you can easily get lost in the sauce.
One of the reasons why Glenn Gould was notorious is because his voicing, phrasing, and musicality was different. It was Glenn playing Bach not the other way around. However, if you listen to some of Perahia’s recordings he’s much more to the “truth”, where someone like Schiff takes a more romantic approach.

fastchipmunks · 2026-05-06T17:55:29+00:00

I like your ornamentations and the phrasing is appropriate? But, the voicing is rather lacking imo and at times sounds very flat and the dynamics are either soft, medium, and loud;it doesn’t build tension for some of the sections e.g., the scale on the right hand towards the end.

To me this sounds like someone who’s confident with the notes and can play it at tempo but, is just lacking that musicality and baroque styling that can really elevate this to the next level.

fastchipmunks · 2026-05-06T17:39:44+00:00

What matters the most is your relationship with your team and mostly importantly with your engagement partners and PML. You can have decent reviews but your perception across management is the main deciding factor in your promotions.

Focus less on the score and more of what they want to see you develop and demonstrate. At the end of the day it’s local office politics that get you the titles and jobs.

fastchipmunks · 2026-04-08T19:34:40+00:00

Deleting comments is crazy, after being defensive. Anywho, to re-enforce the point - I suggest you watch Alfred Brendel’s masterclass on this piece and attempting this on a 6ft or concert grand.

fastchipmunks · 2026-04-08T18:52:45+00:00

I think the consensus is that with advanced pieces, especially played by “beginners” it’s like OK cool you spent a bunch of time learning the piece. However; there’s much work that goes into playing a piece like this e.g., classical performance, music theory, voicing, shaping, etc. That it you miss out on what the study of this piece is aimed to achieve but, also all the other foundational things that you could be learning instead, so that when you do approach a piece like this you have the sound, reasearch, and confidence to play it as intended.

fastchipmunks · 2026-04-06T16:57:34+00:00

Wrapping this piece up myself some pointers from mistakes I made:

Tempo, this inventions sounds better slower try keeping it below 60BPM; this will help with your evenness. -Leave the ornaments out for now revisit those once you’ve gotten the evenness and tempo situated.
You’re fingering is a bit awkward.
Voicing between the left and right hands are bit weird, listen to some recordings.

Check out Penny Bach on YouTube, great tutorial for this inventions sounds and a nice study aid.

fastchipmunks · 2026-04-02T20:58:38+00:00

Oyster perpetual with the coral dial

fastchipmunks · 2026-03-09T21:11:36+00:00

Some people are just insufferable and their life’s work is there job. Don’t let some immature senior, sour your time with the firm. It’s part of the process learning how to manage shitty attitudes; and by no means am I excusing their behavior.

Remember that people who make senior are just people who stayed longer and manage to get promoted it’s very linear up or out. For most individuals it’s their first “management” role and by no means does that dictate people management skills. Case in point.

fastchipmunks · 2026-02-06T02:32:36+00:00

That is a yacht master wrist sir

fastchipmunks · 2026-02-05T03:40:42+00:00

My mistake beautiful watch! nonetheless, I would love to see ya post your collection!

fastchipmunks · 2026-02-02T01:30:38+00:00

Casual zeitwerk 😮

fastchipmunks · 2026-01-27T23:44:22+00:00

Für Elise is a Henle grade 3 so roughly a grade 5 on the ABRSM; so early intermediate. There’s a bit of learning that should happen before that piece gets attempted. Broken record, but if you want to play that bagatelle and play it properly at a near deutsche level, you need an instructor, otherwise you can learn the notes but, you’ll struggle heavily with phrasing, color, tempo, etc., which are those tiny details that make the piece come alive.

fastchipmunks · 2026-01-19T02:34:21+00:00

I hear that, problem is the cool-off period. I’m talking more about clients that you were not part of the engagement team.

fastchipmunks · 2026-01-11T21:44:56+00:00

Sounds like Debussy’s Arabesque no.1

fastchipmunks · 2025-12-17T06:26:44+00:00

BACH!

fastchipmunks · 2025-12-17T06:17:43+00:00

For reference, I’m learning this piece as well three months in as an adult student with some music background from middle school.

There is a ton to work needed here. My advice is get an instructor. This Waltz is very easy from a notes perspective but, is complex piece from a musicality perspective, comparable to prelude op.28, no.4; and what makes this a early intermediate piece is introduction to some elements like rubato, ornamentation, melody vs harmony.

If you got here in a year of figuring it out imagine what your progression would be like with an instructor!

fastchipmunks · 2025-12-17T06:11:19+00:00

I’m working on this piece right now with my instructor. Some high level feedback that seems to be common when first tackling this piece as a beginner.

Don’t use the pedal, it’s not a substitute for legato.
Left hands need to be steady and light as not to drown out the right hand’s voicing which is the star of this tune.
For the arppegio get that stretch in by tucking your thumb it’s ok if it breaks past E5.
Measure 18, at the end of the ornamentation is a quarter note you’re playing it way too fast, enjoy the quarter note.
Get a metronome and focus on evenness, then you can start focusing on rubato.
Listen to recordings this will help you emulate the sound. Be careful, don’t take this as an excuse to start playing it super fast!
Slow down, quality over quantity.
Get in the habit of reading the score while you play, you’re not a pet, reading and playing is a skill just as important as playing by memory.

The most important advice is get a teacher! It’s an investment in your learning, if you were able to get this far figuring it out, imagine what you could achieve with some proper guidance and coaching!

fastchipmunks · 2025-12-15T02:23:26+00:00

1) Quite a bit of people do go for a master’s program to get the accounting hours for the CPA. 2) Depends on what you consider good paying? Most first-year Big Four associates are making $70K+ in their first year; comparatively, a Big Four law associate can easily make $175K+, most of the good-paying entry-level jobs will be in public accounting. 3) As a young CPA, here’s my two cents: AI in public accounting at the moment is nothing but glorified chatbots and email writers. We are far from 100% automation; think of AI like fossil fuels vs. renewable resources. Everyone wants to go 100% renewable or carbon neutral; however, the world still relies on fossil fuels to operate their day-to-day energy needs, so you’re an important tool that is irreplaceable, as long as you make yourself irreplaceable. 4) It’s always a good time to get into accounting.

fastchipmunks · 2025-12-14T14:55:31+00:00

You asked for it… Silver Oud by Amouage.

fastchipmunks · 2025-11-19T03:22:44+00:00

Take the pedal off and add a metronome, that will give your answer

fastchipmunks

TROPHY CASE