Okay folks, so there are things that need to happen, there are other things that really need to happen, and then there are other things still, the ones that really really really fucking need to happen. And it’s been a while since writing on this blog has been on the very top of that last list, but I somehow managed to evade it. Well, looks like I’ve run out of tricks, so here we are again.

I could have started by telling you all about three albums and several EPs, piano sheet music books and collabs I have released in the meantime, spammed you with a ton of links and probably also extended this post with several paragraphs of lamentations on the subject of the nature of Instagram whose algorithms and increasingly disturbing ads made me look for a refuge in scarcely populated, but somehow lovely prairies of wild internets, which kind of remind me of Canada, which, in turn, kind of reminds me that I absolutely have to tell you everything about the countries I’ve been changing during this time, but—

I’m just going to shut up right now and share a little voice memo of a piano piece that I am rehearsing right now. And the other news, let’s talk about them in the next post.

P. S. Yes, this is going to be a blog now. And yes, you still have to harmonise ’till it hurts, because otherwise it’s just boring scales. Hope some odd readers I have not yet lost and a several dozen of bots are going to find this post interesting.

So yeah, it’s been a while since I’ve written anything on this blog, hasn’t it? Of course, it doesn’t mean I haven’t been practicing all this time. I have — profoundly, frenetically, exhaustingly, desperately, stubbornly, angrily, revealingly, understandingly, finally, productively…

I’ve been going through things, as you can see. Stages of that dumb process we all know under a benign name of “getting stuck”. I knew it was happening when I realised that I’m trying to extend my breakfast while involuntarily trying to postpone the beginning of the practice session — because I was facing the fear of not knowing what to begin with, also known as “hitting the wall” and — even more bitter-sounding “reaching plateau”.

I recognised that deserted, lifeless Martian valley the moment I arrived there. When I found myself sitting at the keyboard and playing the intricate left hand figure, repeating in all keys around the cycle of 4ths while trying to control the feeling of hopelessness the whole exercise was causing in me — I knew that was it. I got stuck. I hit the wall. I reached plateau. And today I am finally writing this post I’ve been planning for months while crawling across the desert, passing by the burned skeletons of the musicians who gave up, I was dragging my weak body like the main character of Jack London’s “Love of Life”, forcefully feeding myself with dissonant exotic scales and finger-twisting I. Philipp’s exercises that have zero music to them. I was advancing at the speed of one inch per hour towards the faraway hills behind which, I hoped, lay the ocean, and, feeble and exhausted, I finally got there. I emerged on the other end.

Luckily, during my desperate journey I kept a little diary, writing down things that helped me stay alive, and in the next series of posts I am going to share them with you. I cannot guarantee that they will save you from the Great Torpor when it arrives, but I’m hopeful they will help alleviate the pain and help you make your way through that desert plateau. I might probably also have used the trendy phrase “flatten the curve”, but it just doesn’t work in the context of plateau.

Expect some new material soon! And in the meantime — feel free to listen to my new album that I released about a month ago. It’s on my SoundCloud and like, everywhere. Now, practice! 👉🏻

Organising my left hand patterns and exercises. Got a nice table done.

	LH	RH	Example	Comments
Cycling broken tenths	1-5-10 — (5/IV) — 1-5-10	Shells	C-G-E-C’-F-C’-A’’-F’—
Cycling 10ths & 6ths (m)	1-5-b10-1’-b3’-5’-b6’	Shells	C-G-Eb-C’-Eb’-G’-Ab’	Cross fingers on 5’-6’
	1-5-10-1-5-6
Cycling 9ths, 6ths, 4ths & 10ths	1-5-9-10-1’-5’-6’-4	Shells	C-G-D-E-C’-G’-A’-F’	Move the whole hand back down to lower octave after figure is finished
Cycling 6ths & 10ths (m)	1-5-9-b10-1’-b3’-b6’-5’	Shells	C-G-D-Eb-C’-Eb’-Ab’-G’
Broken tenths over ii — V7 — I	1-5-10-(5)-1-5-10	ii — V — I – IV + iiø — V7b9		Move left hand octave below as soon as there’s an overlap
Inversions & arpeggios over ii — V7 — I	Block / 7th arpeggio / root + 1st inversion / doubled roots	ii — V — I – IV + iiø — V7b9
Cycling 5ths & 6ths (m / M)	1-5-3-6	Shells	C-G-E-A
Triad-based	1-5-1-3-5
	1-5-1’-3’-5’-7’-1’
4ths	1-4-5	1st or 2nd inversions	C-F-G-C
Connecting ii — V with passing tone	1-5-10ii — 5/V — 1-5-10V — 1I — chromatically down to parallel minor	ii — V — I – IV + iiø — V7b9	D-(A-F’)x3-D’-G-(D’-B’)x3-C-B — A-E-C—
Phrygian descent in 10ths	5-1-5-10-1’-3’-5’I — desc. arp.II	i — II — III7 — iv	C#-F#-A-F#’-A’-C#’-D’-B’-G-F#’-D-B-G
Combined 10ths and inverted 3rds	5-1-5-10-1’-3’-5’II — 3-5-3V — 1st invI — 3bbI	Shells	G-C-Eb-C’-Eb’-G’-Ab’-F’-Ab’-[Bbmaj]-Db
Blues scale accompaniment	Block — 1-3-48va — 7b-1-2-38vb	Minor blues scale
Combined 10ths and 6ths	1-5-10ii — (5/V) — 1-5-6V — 1-5-10I—	ii — V — I – IV + iiø — V7b9