G'day, everyone! Welcome to show number ninety-seven. In this week's show, I discuss getting back to learning scales, the changing way society approaches learning music, and last week's pretty special Sydney Symphony Orchestra concert.

Progress Update I had my piano and voice lessons on Monday. Finding time to practice the piano has been a bit of a challenge lately, so progress is slow, but the singing is coming along nicely! I can now reach some notes that were previously out of my range. Our choir is more than halfway through the repertoire, and we are now doing full run-throughs of some numbers as we are only two months away from the performances.

Review - Scales I have two excellent reference books that list all the piano scales: https://amzn.to/4whjbsm https://amzn.to/48Ms6ln Instead of reviewing them, I wanted to share the approach Devi, has suggested for my practice. Playing scales straight up and down is pretty boring, so adding variety makes the repetition much more bearable. I'm focusing on C major and G major across two octaves. Aside from getting the fingering right, the main focus is on keeping a strictly even tempo and getting exactly the same loudness for each note. I'm also practising them staccato in both hands, using contrary motion, and—quite trickily—playing staccato in one hand and legato in the other.

Essay - Tradition There is a long tradition of learning and playing music, stretching back thousands of years—from the songlines of Indigenous Australians to the singing bards in Homer's Odyssey. But times and traditions are changing. I used to buy a new CD every week and chat with the staff at the local classical music shop. Today, for less than the cost of one CD, I have access to almost everything ever recorded via Apple's classical catalogue. I am curious to see what new traditions will emerge around modern music listening.

SSO Concert: The Planets Last weekend, I attended the Sydney Symphony Orchestra concert at the Opera House with Nigel Westlake's percussion concerto, When the clock strikes me, performed brilliantly by Rebecca Lagos. We also heard Charles Ives' Unanswered Question, followed by Holst's The Planets. The Holst piece was particularly interesting because it was a "Symphonic Cinema" performance. You can find out more here: https://www.sydneysymphony.com/events/symphonic-cinema-the-planets

Closing We have an extra rehearsal for a charity event next Saturday, where we will be singing A Million Dreams from The Greatest Showman. I'm also hoping to check out a second-hand music score shop I found in Sydney. Contact me at [email protected] or visit www.pianofinally.show.

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