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The New Coffee Room

  1. TNCR
  2. General Discussion
  3. Welcome, Peter!

Welcome, Peter!

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General Discussion
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  • N Offline
    N Offline
    NobodySock
    wrote last edited by
    #4

    We are the Borg. You will be assimilated. Your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.

    1 Reply Last reply
    😬
    • MikM Offline
      MikM Offline
      Mik
      wrote last edited by
      #5

      He seems to have vanished.

      "The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like the condemned man who is proud of his large cell." Simone Weil

      W 1 Reply Last reply
      • jon-nycJ Online
        jon-nycJ Online
        jon-nyc
        wrote last edited by
        #6

        Peter, were you always so much better than your mom at the piano or only since you turned 10?

        Thank you for your attention to this matter.

        W 1 Reply Last reply
        🤣
        • W Offline
          W Offline
          Westkopf
          wrote last edited by
          #7

          Thanks Klaus, and thanks all for the warm welcome (what have I gotten myself into?!).

          1 Reply Last reply
          • MikM Mik

            He seems to have vanished.

            W Offline
            W Offline
            Westkopf
            wrote last edited by
            #8

            @Mik I just emerged from the deep woods of Maine, a rare week of disconnection!

            1 Reply Last reply
            • jon-nycJ jon-nyc

              Peter, were you always so much better than your mom at the piano or only since you turned 10?

              W Offline
              W Offline
              Westkopf
              wrote last edited by
              #9

              @jon-nyc I dream to one day be as good as my mom

              jon-nycJ 1 Reply Last reply
              • KlausK Offline
                KlausK Offline
                Klaus
                wrote last edited by
                #10

                There he is!

                1 Reply Last reply
                • W Westkopf

                  @jon-nyc I dream to one day be as good as my mom

                  jon-nycJ Online
                  jon-nycJ Online
                  jon-nyc
                  wrote last edited by
                  #11

                  @Westkopf said in Welcome, Peter!:

                  @jon-nyc I dream to one day be as good as my mom

                  She is a really good pianist. Every time I see her she has some huge piece she’s playing. Ondine, The F- ballade, Rach 16/4. The big Schumann piece she played here. (What was it?)

                  Thank you for your attention to this matter.

                  89th8 W 3 Replies Last reply
                  • jon-nycJ jon-nyc

                    @Westkopf said in Welcome, Peter!:

                    @jon-nyc I dream to one day be as good as my mom

                    She is a really good pianist. Every time I see her she has some huge piece she’s playing. Ondine, The F- ballade, Rach 16/4. The big Schumann piece she played here. (What was it?)

                    89th8 Offline
                    89th8 Offline
                    89th
                    wrote last edited by
                    #12

                    @jon-nyc said in Welcome, Peter!:

                    @Westkopf said in Welcome, Peter!:

                    @jon-nyc I dream to one day be as good as my mom

                    The F- ballade

                    Hey my wife knows that one too!

                    W 1 Reply Last reply
                    ♥
                    • 89th8 89th

                      @jon-nyc said in Welcome, Peter!:

                      @Westkopf said in Welcome, Peter!:

                      @jon-nyc I dream to one day be as good as my mom

                      The F- ballade

                      Hey my wife knows that one too!

                      W Offline
                      W Offline
                      Westkopf
                      wrote last edited by
                      #13

                      @89th I'm usually shooting for the A+ Ballade, but at best getting a D-

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      • jon-nycJ jon-nyc

                        @Westkopf said in Welcome, Peter!:

                        @jon-nyc I dream to one day be as good as my mom

                        She is a really good pianist. Every time I see her she has some huge piece she’s playing. Ondine, The F- ballade, Rach 16/4. The big Schumann piece she played here. (What was it?)

                        W Offline
                        W Offline
                        Westkopf
                        wrote last edited by
                        #14

                        @jon-nyc She is! We have different strengths. She learns pieces quickly and is an amazing sight reader. I slave over the same pieces for months and years in pursuit of (ever elusive) perfection, and so learn pieces slowly

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        • MikM Offline
                          MikM Offline
                          Mik
                          wrote last edited by
                          #15

                          I can relate to that, although I'm a pretty good, if slow, sight reader. I find the notes pretty easily. Finding the music can be a bit harder.

                          "The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like the condemned man who is proud of his large cell." Simone Weil

                          W 1 Reply Last reply
                          • MikM Mik

                            I can relate to that, although I'm a pretty good, if slow, sight reader. I find the notes pretty easily. Finding the music can be a bit harder.

                            W Offline
                            W Offline
                            Westkopf
                            wrote last edited by
                            #16

                            @Mik right! And there is so much to discover in good music, so many ways to play, bring out different voices, etc. With Rachmaninoff, for example, pieces never get old to me

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            • jon-nycJ jon-nyc

                              @Westkopf said in Welcome, Peter!:

                              @jon-nyc I dream to one day be as good as my mom

                              She is a really good pianist. Every time I see her she has some huge piece she’s playing. Ondine, The F- ballade, Rach 16/4. The big Schumann piece she played here. (What was it?)

                              W Offline
                              W Offline
                              Westkopf
                              wrote last edited by
                              #17

                              @jon-nyc Arabesque C major, Op 18

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              • jon-nycJ Online
                                jon-nycJ Online
                                jon-nyc
                                wrote last edited by
                                #18

                                Right. Great piece.

                                Thank you for your attention to this matter.

                                KlausK 1 Reply Last reply
                                • jon-nycJ jon-nyc

                                  Right. Great piece.

                                  KlausK Offline
                                  KlausK Offline
                                  Klaus
                                  wrote last edited by
                                  #19

                                  @jon-nyc said in Welcome, Peter!:

                                  Right. Great piece.

                                  Right. As if you would ever play a piece in C Major.

                                  jon-nycJ 1 Reply Last reply
                                  • KlausK Offline
                                    KlausK Offline
                                    Klaus
                                    wrote last edited by
                                    #20

                                    @Westkopf can you tell us a little about yourself? So far I know you do cancer research for a living and have a beautiful wife and kids. Any life goals, apart from playing the 4th Ballade even more perfectly? What piano do you play? What's your purity score?

                                    W 1 Reply Last reply
                                    • KlausK Klaus

                                      @jon-nyc said in Welcome, Peter!:

                                      Right. Great piece.

                                      Right. As if you would ever play a piece in C Major.

                                      jon-nycJ Online
                                      jon-nycJ Online
                                      jon-nyc
                                      wrote last edited by
                                      #21

                                      @Klaus said in Welcome, Peter!:

                                      @jon-nyc said in Welcome, Peter!:

                                      Right. Great piece.

                                      Right. As if you would ever play a piece in C Major.

                                      I played Rachmaninoff's C major Etude Tableau. Though its mostly in minor keys.

                                      Thank you for your attention to this matter.

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      🤔
                                      • KlausK Klaus

                                        @Westkopf can you tell us a little about yourself? So far I know you do cancer research for a living and have a beautiful wife and kids. Any life goals, apart from playing the 4th Ballade even more perfectly? What piano do you play? What's your purity score?

                                        W Offline
                                        W Offline
                                        Westkopf
                                        wrote last edited by
                                        #22

                                        @Klaus Sure! I was born in the Boston area, grew up in Lewiston-Auburn Maine (LA of the East coast, bub) most of my life, went to college in upstate New York, struggled early with directions in life (still do), strongly considered going into music for a career but had enough self-awareness to see the limitations of my mediocrity, and chose science. Did my PhD at University of California SF and postdoc at MIT, and recently started my independent research group at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and will soon likely close my lab and become a parlor pianist thanks to the defunding of science in America.

                                        My major research focus is trying to understand how cancer evolves and the role of the immune system and environmental insults in this process. We presently focus on colon cancer (now the first leading cause of cancer deaths in men and second in women under 50!!) and critical transitions in cancer that we need better strategies to intercept, like transition from benign polyps to malignancy and metastasis to the liver (the main reason this disease is so deadly).

                                        I took a gap year between college and grad school to teach English and study Chinese in Taiwan, where I met my wife. I had overwhelmingly positive culture shock--one of the very best years of my life. My wife has made me, and continues to make me, a much better person.

                                        My major life goal is to make a meaningful difference in this world that outlasts me, and to indoctrinate my kids with a similar outlook . . . okay, fine, and to also play the F- ballade not just more perfectly, but PERFECTLY.

                                        I play a 2001 Petrof III with Renner action (thanks to my mom, actually, almost bought a Young Chang from a dealer but she found this Petrof on Craigslist). My wife heretofore sounds like a gem but she hired a random tuner one afternoon I was away to please me and he sprayed WD-40 on some sticky tuning pins . . . $900 later, we have new tuning pins and strings in the treble register where I really channel my finest Chopin (I hope to again, once the strings hold tune).

                                        Oof, purity score . . . the warnings above are sounding off! I do not want to be cancelled, but I will say I did not break the lower quartile. Should I be proud??

                                        KlausK 2 Replies Last reply
                                        • jon-nycJ Online
                                          jon-nycJ Online
                                          jon-nyc
                                          wrote last edited by
                                          #23

                                          I don’t know you could possibly write a two paragraph biography without mentioning the fact that you once played a Chopin Scherzo on my Bosie when you were in high school.

                                          Thank you for your attention to this matter.

                                          W 1 Reply Last reply
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