In keeping with the vacation vibes of Memorial Day Weekend, it’s going to be a pretty short edition of Open Mic Adventures this week.  The good news is that very soon I’ll be back to showcasing footage from actual open mics, and not just me noodling on the piano in my school’s tiny music room.

That said, I hastily recorded a video of a very basic piano piece I wrote for one of my students, whose name is Chase.  It was a very quick sightreading exercise for him, and an opportunity for me to write some more student-focused material.

I suppose the “Dilemma” in the title refers to the presence of an F# accidental, as well as the necessity to move the right hand from C to D position and back again.  The left hand is a simple ascending line with that playful F# tossed in the mix.

Being just four measures, it’s very short:

Astute readers and viewers will note that I’m no longer sporting a beard (just a couple of succulent man boobs), but if you’re a fan of hairy TPP, I can get that beard back in two weeks.

Here’s the handwritten manuscript for “Chase’s Dilemma,” dating to the titular student’s lesson on 19 April 2023:

He’s actually way past this level of material at this point, but I always like to throw my more intermediate and advanced students some easy sightreading, because sometimes they’ve gotten so far beyond it, they actually have a hard time with it at first!  Fortunately, “Chase’s Dilemma” presented no dilemma for the real Chase, who played it easily.

Happy Listening!

—TPP

Other Editions of Open Mic Adventures:

• “Open Mic Adventures I: Oingo Boingo’s ‘Just Another Day’“
• “Open Mic Adventures II: Billy Joel’s ‘Piano Man’“
• “Open Mic Adventures III: Joanie Sommers’s ‘Johnny Get Angry’“
• “Open Mic Adventures IV: KISS’s ‘I Still Love You’“
• “Open Mic Adventures V: ‘There’s a Light (Over at the Frankenstein Place)’“
• “Open Mic Adventures VI: Journey’s ‘Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’“
• “Open Mic Adventures VII: ‘Suite: Judy Blue Eyes’“
• “Open Mic Adventures VIII: Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘The Sound of Silence’“
• “Open Mic Adventures IX: Journey’s ‘Faithfully’“
• “Open Mic Adventures X: ‘Time Warp’“
• “Open Mic Adventures XI: Spooktacular Supergroup Covers ‘Monster Mash’“
• “Open Mic Adventures XII: ‘Ghostly’“
• “Open Mic Adventures XIII: The Penguins’ ‘Earth Angel’“
• “Open Mic Adventures XIV: ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing’“
• “Open Mic Adventures XV: ‘O Holy Night’“
• “Open Mic Adventures XVI: ‘Please Come Home for Christmas’“
• “Open Mic Adventures XVII: ‘L’il Divertimento in C major’“
• “Open Mic Adventures XVIII: ‘Satiean Motion’“
• “Open Mic Adventures XIX: ‘Two-Day Minuet for Left Hand’“
• “Open Mic Adventures XX: ‘Sleepy Student’s Serenade’“
• “Open Mic Adventures XXI: Styx’s ‘Come Sail Away’“
• “Open Mic Adventures XXII: ‘Blessed Assurance’“
• “Open Mic Adventures XXIII: ‘Gabbi’s Gavotte’“
• “Open Mic Adventures XXIV: ‘Softly and Tenderly’“
• “Open Mic Adventures XXV: ‘Venite, exultemus Domino’“
• “Open Mic Adventures XXVI: ‘Sonatina’“
• “Open Mic Adventures XXVII: ‘Heavenly Sunlight’“
• “Open Mic Adventures XXVIII: ‘Song of the Bigfoot’”
• “Open Mic Adventures XXIX: ‘Lavender’s Blue’“
• “Open Mic Adventures XXX: ‘Chorale for a Sleepy Wednesday’“
• “Open Mic Adventures XXXI: ‘Carousel’“
• “Open Mic Adventures XXXII: Hymn Medley“
• “Open Mic Adventures XXXIII: ‘Spore Song (Mushroom Dance)’“