Welcome to Episode 51 of Piano, Finally! This week, I talk about how my piano practice was affected by long work days, debating competitions, and the occasional musical side quest — like programming the Nord Stage 4 to sound like the iconic synth from Van Halen’s Jump. (You’ll hear my first attempt in the progress section.)

In the spirit of broadening musical horizons, this episode’s recommendation is the Early Music Sources channel, run by Elam Rotem. It’s a beautifully produced, deeply researched dive into the music of the 16th and 17th centuries — ideal if you're curious about how music evolved into what we hear today.
👉 Explore Early Music Sources
👉 Hear recordings by Elam Rotem

The essay this week is all about practice: how I’ve been organising mine, how it’s evolved, and why I’ve started playing each of my “ready” pieces just once a day. This one-take approach (also used for the progress recordings at the end of each episode) mirrors performance pressure — one shot, no do-overs. It makes for more mindful playing, even if the occasional mistake sneaks through. I break down how I categorise pieces (can’t play yet, sort of can, and performance-ready), and what my thirty-minute sessions tend to look like — or what gets skipped when time runs out.

The episode also includes a review of the Blue Mountains Musical Society’s production of Come From Away. The show is brilliantly cast, creatively staged, and a local production that holds its own against Broadway. And at $49 a ticket, it’s a bargain.
👉 Blue Mountains Musical Society – Book tickets

In the progress section: Mozart’s Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja, Wynn-Anne Rossi’s Wild Chase, and a first attempt at Van Halen’s Jump, patched together on the Nord Stage 4. The acoustic pieces were recorded using the Kawai NV10 with Pianoteq 8 on the M4 Pro Mac Mini, running the Anton Petrov Grand in Recording Mode 2.

Thanks again for listening. If you’re working on an instrument of your own, I’d love to hear how it’s going — send a note to [email protected] or visit the website at
👉 www.pianofinally.show

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All reviews of products, websites and services are unpaid, and no sponsorship has been received for any content on this podcast.