Rikku’s Theme #1
This may not come as a surprise, but I haven’t really been playing anything of substance lately… I don’t know what it is, but I can’t seem to stick with one piece for more than a few days. I also just haven’t really been playing piano consistently in general… But, I woke up yesterday morning and for some reason this piece just popped into my head so I went to play it- surprisingly, it’s coming pretty easily to me so I’m hoping I can finish this properly. (If I had a dollar for every time I’ve said this…)
Theme of Love (FF Piano Opera Ver.)
LOL I really thought I had recovered back in November, huh. I think I’ve recovered from this slump for good this time, though- I’ve been slowly working on this piece since December and I even recorded a progress video but I ended up not uploading. And now it’s done! This is a piece that I’ve had on my list for a veryyyyy long time, so I’m really glad I was able to finish it. Finally. There was one specific part that made me chicken out time and time again (more on that later), but I overcame the challenge and made it to the end!! I’m not really happy with this take but given that I haven’t completed anything in "*checks watch* 8 years, I’ll take it. This is also the piece I had done a sightreading take for back in August or something, but dropped it at the time.
Vimara Village #1
WOOOOOOW I’m finally feeling a little more like myself in terms of playing piano which is amazing!!!! I’ve been working on the nighttime version of Vimara Village from “Genshin Impact”- this one is dedicated to my mom because while I was just flipping through a bunch of different pieces, she was like “hey that one piece you were practicing sounded nice, why don’t you keep working on it” and I was like ok. I first gave up on this arrangement early on because I was super discouraged by a specific section… but somehow I overcame it?? More below- and this one has two videos in one since I made so much progress in 24 hours I wanted to capture it.
Current State…
I do have a First Impressions video I planned to upload as well (as a triple drop this week), but after spending a little more time on the piece this week, I’m not sure I’m going to enjoy learning it right now, honestly. It’s something that’s been on my to-learn list forever so I do plan to eventually get to it, but lately I just don’t enjoy playing piano as much as I did before in general. It makes me really sad lol but I also don’t know how to solve it? I mentioned a slump in an earlier post but it has been going on for a few months now. I’ve tried taking breaks of different lengths and dabbling with different pieces, but I am really, really struggling to stay motivated to learn even stuff I thought would get me out of this slump.
Lovers’ Oath
WOWWW double post today!! Actually this is a super belated post, though- I got this take on July 31 and waffled for weeks since I wasn’t super happy with it. But, it’s not too bad now that I watch it a few weeks later, and I definitely no longer can play this piece as well as I did when I recorded this, so I’ll call it done and move on! This is another track from “Genshin Impact” featuring yet another very bittersweet melody (there’s definitely a pattern in the stuff I learn, whoops).
![Where Love Doesn’t Reach [END]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e8d4cdcd1b55c3b6d305756/1662009309413-TZI5SVJPG8B11T8464X3/Where+Love+Doesn%27t+Reach.png)
Where Love Doesn’t Reach [END]
It’s been a hot minute, but I finally have a piece that’s been finished!! I’m actually pretty happy with how this take came out, so I am extra pleased. And this was on my list forever for things I want to learn, so I can finally check this one off.
Where Love Doesn’t Reach #1
Woooo, I got this take on July 31 so it’s been a couple weeks, but wanted to post this before I finalize the piece (which is probably going to happen this month). This one was on my list for a longggg time, and I ended up caving and buying the book specifically for this arrangement!! (Though I have luckily found some other pieces in the book that I also want to learn lol.) I have not played FFIX, but ever since I first heard this arrangement, I have been VERY IN LOVE with it… more on that later.
Scala Ad Caelum (Field Theme)
Shorter project this time! A friend from work recommended this arrangement and it was a nice change of pace- this is definitely my fave new track from KH3 (granted the number of new tracks introduced wasn’t… that big BUT STILL), so it worked out nicely. I learned it in a couple of days last weekend, but didn’t get a chance to record until today. Also wanted to give myself some time for muscle memory since trying to record anything TOO fresh is always a nightmare lol.
Vanille’s Theme
FINALLY A POST, between the piano being twangy and my new job and just generally not having any motivation for piano, I had nothing to post for a while but I knocked the rust off of Vanille’s Theme and am finally able to post it. I do believe this is the very first time that I’m posting anything for this piece despite having recorded it tons of times over the past several years… today’s take isn’t perfect, either, but it’s good enough that I’ll post it and finally have it up! There’s a lot of meaning behind this piece for me but more on that later.
Dearly Beloved ~ Concert Paraphrase #3
Had a lot going on so didn’t get to post this any sooner, but this take is from two weeks ago… and I haven’t played since, so unfortunately I can’t really recall too many of the finer details. But I’ll see what I can do… I do vaguely remember that my max tempo was around 72 bpm but I likely played slower in the take and my metronome is all the way downstairs :~)