the “About” page<\/a> here, I played piano for many years and then stopped playing for many years, from the early 1990s until we bought our current piano in 2010. During the time I wasn’t playing, I was still listening to piano music, and, as tends to happens with pianists, I would occasionally hear something and wonder what it would be like to play it myself.<\/p>\nChopin’s\u00a0Barcarolle<\/em>\u00a0was one of those pieces that I fantasized about playing. A lot. I love the piece and thought that, in my prime, it would have been a good choice for my repertoire. The second half of my junior recital in 1980 was, in fact, devoted to Chopin, concluding with the Polonaise<\/em>\u00a0in f-sharp minor. The Barcarolle<\/em>\u00a0would have fit nicely in there, too: a beautiful piece with lots of variety and a big finish.<\/p>\nBut hearing it while driving in the car, the fantasy usually ended up with a sigh and a realization that such pieces were beyond my reach after so long away from the piano. I believed that I had lost my chops after years of not practicing, and that even were I to start playing again, the days when I could manage the likes of the Barcarolle<\/em>\u00a0were long gone.<\/p>\nBut my fingers have been getting back into shape over the last two years, and on my to do list for 2012 was to learn something technically challenging. The Barcarolle<\/em>\u00a0came to mind, and last month I started working on it. It has been a lot of work and a lot of fun and I’ve been ridiculously pleased with myself for being able to play it. Here’s a video I made this morning. All the usual disclaimers apply: poor sound quality from my camera, played much better in the run-through earlier, etc.<\/p>\n