Welcome, Peter!
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Peter, were you always so much better than your mom at the piano or only since you turned 10?
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@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.
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@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?)
@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!
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@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!
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@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?)
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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.
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@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?)
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@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?
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@jon-nyc said in Welcome, Peter!:
Right. Great piece.
Right. As if you would ever play a piece in C Major.
@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.
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@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?
@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??
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@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??
@Westkopf said in Welcome, Peter!:
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).
Oh, can I ask a question about this? I understand you do research and are not a MD, but maybe you still have something to say about this. I did a colonoscopy about half a year ago, where two polyps were removed. One of these polyps was big enough that it could not be removed in one piece. The doctor suggested that this would justify another colonoscopy after 6 months, instead of after 5-10 years - to make sure that the removal was complete. Now I try to weigh the considerable discomfort of another colonoscopy against a presumably very low probability that there's something left and that something could be dangerous. Any thoughts on this?
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@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??
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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.
