Episode 68 – It Takes Time

G’day, everyone—and welcome back to Piano, Finally, the podcast from an old bloke who’s learning the piano, finally. This week’s episode comes to you from Queensland, recorded on portable Rode gear via an iPhone and edited in Cubase on a MacBook Pro. It’s also a rehearsal for the upcoming Out West Piano Fest, where I’ll be recording on location.

🎧 YouTube Feature – 19th International Chopin Competition
The 19th International Chopin Competition
has begun, with every performance livestreamed and archived on YouTube. If you missed the opening concert, you can still watch it here
. The broadcast quality is excellent, with multiple cameras and pristine sound. Performers included Bruce Liu (Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 5), Yulianna Avdeeva and Garrick Ohlsson (Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos), and Dang Thai Son joining them for Bach’s Concerto for Four Harpsichords. Expect world-class playing and superb production.

📝 Essay – It Takes Time
Swimming, like practising piano, takes patience. Around lap six, it always feels impossible—but by the end, the distance is done. Piano practice is the same. Each new piece starts excitingly, then slows into frustration before progress reappears. Preparing my four recital pieces—Spindler’s Canon, Türk’s Bagatelle in F, and Craggs’ Afternoon Snooze and Blackout Blues—proved that persistence works. It took about ten months to get them performance-ready. Each time I reach “lap six,” I remind myself: I’ve finished before, I’ll finish again.

🎛 Review – Haptik (Apple Watch Metronome)
If you’ve ever seen the Soundbrenner Pulse
, you’ll understand the appeal of haptic metronomes. Haptik offers a similar experience for Apple Watch users—and at AU$14.99 lifetime or AU$7.99 a year, it’s far cheaper. Available via haptik.watch
, it syncs with iPhone tempo changes and even lets you record while you practise. Battery usage is minimal (around 2% per half-hour), and it’s easy to access from your watch face. Ideal for silent tempo guidance during practice sessions.

🎹 Progress
This week’s practice piece: Wynn-Anne Rossi’s A Wild Chase. Travelling and family life made practice tricky, but things are still moving forward—helped by the Roland FP-30X and Pianoteq 8 emulating the Shigeru Kawai SK-EX.

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