I’m showing my work

This video was recorded on August 17, 2022.

It is the opening solo from first movement of Mozart’s piano concerto in D minor, K466.

I’m showing this because:

1. Nobody ever shows works in progress online. It’s always the finished, finessed, polished version, and this does not help students at all. They need to see and hear that everybody starts off the same way—struggling, going slowly, and so on.
2. Teachers aren’t supposed to show their mistakes. Well, we can’t get here unless we make mistakes.I can’t just wing this piece or sight read it. I have to get in there and learn it and allow my muscles and tendons and neuropathways to develop and I have to let it happen, not make it happen, which takes time and patience and repetition. So when it all comes together, however haltingly, it is worth celebrating.
3. The excitement of learning something difficult never leaves us, but somehow we aren’t supposed to show that side of us when we achieve as we get older. I think that’s balderdash.

It is wonderful to push yourself a little bit beyond what you think you can achieve. In my case, every note is earned through the struggle of practice and I am here for all of it.