Patrick

I turned pages while my teacher played the Cesar Franck violin sonata last night in a faculty recital. I worked on that piece with him over two years ago and as he played I kept thinking, "Oh, so that's how that part goes!" Always learning, right?

Also, that second movement is a monster

Working on a 20th century piano piece and I keep noticing "oh this pattern repeats every nine eighth notes" or "this is in groupings of seventeen" and that's cool and all but like not that helpful. Good job brain??

Everybody wants a corner house until it snows. My back hurts

They are a helpful reference point though especially for picking a new piece for a new to me student.

Making my own graded reference guide for Hensel's works is on my to do list. As well is mapping similarities between Das Jahr and Songs without Words.

I appreciate your work though, thank you!

I think a list assigning more of her works to grade levels would be helpful. I think only three of her pieces are listed in the ABRSM piano repertoire syllabus. To be clear, those lists are far from perfect.

One of my classmates played the Liszt Spanish Rhapsody the other day in studio. I feel lucky to witness their process.

It's such a massive piece and after 12.5 min of bonkers piano technique the big release is just 1645 in D major 🙃 #ComeOnFranz

Google is going to start charging an extra $12/year for hosting my website because of "the significant added AI value" lmfao.

I'm too busy to transfer it right now but honestly I would pay them an extra $12 to *remove* the AI functions

YouTube video by Patrick Fink Samuel Coleridge-Taylor - Three Fours op 71

And a link to all of the #SamuelColeridgeTaylor

It's not a flawless performance (memorization is still a struggle) but I think there are many nice moments

youtu.be/BdPpeiYtAas?...

Here's a clip from my non-degree recital earlier this month. It's part of the second movement from Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Three Fours op. 71.

I think it's a super pretty melody and it's my favorite of the set.

The opening of Dmitri Shostakovich fugue in D major op 87

Was this a cellphone ringtone in the early 2000s? I might be super out to lunch on this but it sounds familiar.

#Shostakovich

Subbed for a community choir rehearsal last night and they are working on Amy Beach Canticle of the Sun and also Lili Boulanger Sous Bois. Cool pieces! #PlunkingPitches

From now on I'm going to make a point to compliment people on the non-music aspects in addition to the music.

For self produced projects it takes an astounding amount of emails and logistic work to get a concert, album, etc before an audience.

Playing piano for a combined choir concert today at the Episcopal Cathedral in Philly and they better have the heat bumping in there. It's probably not a good look to bring an electric blanket to the gig. #ColdPianist

I was trying to explain this to a non pianist and the best analogy I could think of was imagine someone got sick on the Sixers and they brought in LeBron James instead.

Health comes first and I wish her a speedy recovery. Martha Argerich as a sub though?? Wild. Imagine having a ticket for that concert.

A white Hyundai Sonata with a customized license plate that says "LVB8OVN"

Behind this person in traffic. Of course they are driving a Hyundai Sonata

All done! I think a lot of it went well and we had a bigger turnout than I expected for a Sunday morning recital. I should have some videos to share soon.

And it feels *so* good to move onto new repertoire. Sometimes we just need fresh sounds right??

Snow shoveling and piano playing do not mix well. My arms feel awful and these tiny and precise movements are just not happening at expected.

It's hard to imagine Frederic with a shovel and then playing all of this chromatic passage work. #PianoProblems

This is now rescheduled for Sunday February 1st at 11am. Stay safe with this weather everyone

Thanks to Wikipedia, I just learned that the 1990 Deee-Lite song "Groove is in the heart" heavily samples a 1966 #HerbieHancock song called "Bring Down the Birds" from the Blowup soundtrack. I had no idea!

Herbie is truly the goat 🐐🐐🐐

A screenshot of the YouTube comments for the Chopin cello sonata. Seven years ago someone commented "Good luck finding a pianist willing to run such a marathon :D"

Screenshot of a cello and piano recital program

Philadelphia people, I'm doing a recital Sunday January 25th at 3pm. You're welcome to join! It's free, there's some beautiful music, and I'm playing about a million notes on the last piece. #LiveMusic #Chopin #PhiladelphiaMusic #PianoMisic

Attended a candidate forum tonight for #PA3 (Dwight Evans is retiring). I try to vote on more than vibes but vibes were certainly collected. Lots of decent answers and even some meaningful policy discussion! I'm glad that I went.

Dreaming of a better future

Has anyone on here been to the Maurice #Ravel museum in Monfort-l'Amaury?

We're planning a trip to Paris soon and I'm trying to figure out if it's worth putting that place on our list. I appreciate any tips or suggestions

YouTube video by SW Chopin: Cello Sonata in G Minor Op. 65 (András Schiff, Miklós Perényi)

Sometimes it's worth checking out a few of the YouTube comments. This person flagged András Schiff using vibrato technique on some Chopin lol. 3rd movement around 21:15

youtu.be/0fL1CMkmGYY?...

The cover of David Dubal's book Evenings with Horowitz

A photo of a page from the book where Horowitz whines about the Chopin Etudes

A photo of a page where Horowitz says "Chopin was not so good in this transition; how can I convince the larger that it is all perfect? That there is no boring moment in the Chopin nocturne?"

Yikes lots of awful news lately!

A little distraction, I recently read the David Dubal #Horowitz book. Please enjoy these snippets about the boring parts in Chopin and Vladimir whining about the etudes lol

Getting the piano tuned today :)

The first page of the piano part for Frederic Chopin's Cello Sonata fourth movement.

I just realized that the LH in m13 and 15 last beat *stays* G# instead of changing with the RH. I've already sunk triple digit practice hours into this piece and have performed it twice so I'm feeling pretty embarrassed #ChopinProblems

New Year's Day always feels like a Sunday. Cheers to 2026 y'all

YouTube video by Release - Topic O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings to Zion

I'm in the process of switching from Spotify to Tidal. (I know, I should have done this ages ago.)

I regret to inform you that the Handel's Messiah A Soulful Celebration is not available.

youtu.be/3UHW1mvlGxU?...

The heat at my parents' church in Pittsburgh is broken 🥶

Shout-out to church musicians everywhere and their remarkable patience this week. I wish you warm hands and minimal last minute changes