Christmas break is gradually coming to an end. I will be heading back up to school this Saturday. Yesterday I had the opportunity to play in sacrament meeting. My friend - a violin major also at USU - drove down and played with me. We played an arrangement of O Come, O Come Emmanuel. It is a beautiful piece and I believe is also performed by the Piano Guys. It is now one of my favorite pieces because the Spirit is so strong when I play it. I am so grateful for the chance I had to share it with so many people.

Hello friends and family,

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season. I am now home for the break and it has been so nice! As of right now I am taking a break from piano. Over the last few months I have been dealing with some hand pain. I went to the doctor and everything is fine with my bones and ligaments but the pain still persists. We think it is tendinitis so I am taking a break from piano and wearing a brace to see if the inflammation goes down. I am hoping the pain goes away over the break and I can jump back in to full gear at the start of the semester.

Other than that things are going really well. I have been attending many concerts over the last few weeks. They always have concerts going on up at Utah State and I have also been able to attend some Christmas concerts with my family here in Utah County. Music really does bring people together, especially at this special time of year. I am so grateful for music in my life!!

Thank you so much for all your love and support! I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Love, Brady

I have much exciting news! So I competed last week in the finals for the Utah State Symphony Concerto Competition. I played the very best I could and I got honorable mention! There were 18 people who competed and they chose 6 people to perform and 2 honorable mention. I am so excited I was able get honorable mention. I have been working on my Hungarian Fantasy by Liszt for only about 5 months. I also got honor roll in my juries. Juries are where we play for all of the piano professors and they give us a score on our performance. It is basically a competition against yourself. It has definitely been a great and rewarding semester. I already can't wait for next semester to work even harder.

Thank you so much for all of your support and I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season!

The semester is coming to an end! It is crazy how fast it has flown by. This last Monday I had the preliminaries for my concerto competition. I played 9 minutes of my concerto. I felt like it was the best I have ever played although I did have a memory slip. I passed and so now I get to play in the finals this coming Saturday. I am very excited! If I win I get to play with the Utah State Symphony in February. I will keep everyone posted on what happens!

I am now officially a volunteer at Logan Regional Hospital. So far I have played the piano there twice and it has been a rewarding experience. I have had so many people come up to me and tell me that the music really calms the spirit and soul. I know that is true. Music is the universal language. No matter what language you speak, music can be understood by everyone. I am so grateful for this opportunity to volunteer. Not only does it bless those in the hospital, but it blesses me. I feel relaxed and happy when I play. I even have a cool name badge with my picture on it so I am totally official! It is an amazing experience.

Today I got almost 6 hours of practicing done. I feel good but also exhausted. I had a great lesson with one of my teachers and we were able to talk about taking my piece to the next level and getting it really ready and solid for the competition. The competition is three weeks away and my concerto is sounding pretty good. It has really come a long way since the beginning of the semester. I am starting to learn that playing the piano is not an event....it is a process that takes a lifetime to master. My teacher is still learning and I will continue to learn for as long as I am playing.

The semester continues to get busier and busier as time goes on! A lot has happened over the last month. I am still plugging away at getting my practice hours in each week. The piece I am working on is Hungarian Fantasy by Liszt and I am preparing it for the University's Symphony audition. It is definitely coming along and I can't wait to put it with the accompaniment! The audition will be on Dec. 7th. I am so excited for it!

Last Friday, we had our Youth Conservatory Halloween Carnival. All those who teach in the Youth Conservatory (I will be teaching next semester) have their students perform in Halloween recitals throughout the night. Then there is a carnival put on by the piano majors for all the kids and their families. My job was working in the donut eating contest booth. It was a blast - although I am pretty sure we went through at least 15 boxes of donuts. It was crazy, but so fun seeing all the kids in their Halloween costumes and having a good time!

I am super close to being able to volunteer at the hospital by playing the piano. I have had to get lots of shots, watch modules, and have several meetings with the volunteer department. I had no idea it was such a long process to be able to volunteer at the hospital! But it will definitely be worth it. I can't wait until I can start playing in the lobby. The piano is a gorgeous baby grand and in a perfect place in the hospital. I will let you know how it goes when I start playing there

Today was a great day! I was able to get over 4 hours of practicing. It felt really good to get so much done. Piano and school are going great so far! I had my first test in my piano pedagogy class and it went really well. It was on editions of different music books for different composers. I have had two tests in keyboard harmony and have done really well on those also. Both of the tests were for scales, chords, and the Bach Inventions we are learning.

Yesterday, we had our first UMTA meeting. I am the secretary for the Northern UMTA chapter. We had a guest speaker come and she spoke on teaching piano. She talked about how our main goal during a lesson is to teach our students how to practice. A few quotes she gave are:

"In the practice room, the student is the teacher."
"What I hear I forget, what I see I remember, what I do I understand." - Confucius
"Practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent."

I learned a lot of new ways to teach my students how to learn pieces quickly and effectively. I can't wait until I get to apply what I learn and start teaching!

Thank you so much for purchasing CDs. I am so excited to share my music with so many friends and family. These are my favorite CDs I have recorded so far. Thanks again for all of your support!

This last week was a wonderful week. I got 18 hours of practicing done and I have never felt so accomplished. I can already tell a difference in my playing since I have been here at Utah State. I have amazing and inspiring Professors who are helping me in so many ways. I am so grateful that I get to be here. I also had an audition this week so I can play at the Logan Regional Hospital as a service opportunity. I am so excited to be able to share my music with those at the hospital. Music has such a powerful influence on our lives - I know it can lead to healing. I can't wait to serve! Just remember to always have music in your life....it can bring us closer to each other and to our Savior.

Hello family and friends!

Welcome to my new blog! I plan to post as often as I can about what is going on in my piano world. Just over two weeks ago I moved up to Utah State University. I am in the Piano Performance program on music and academic scholarships and I am loving every minute of it! I am learning so many new things and I can't wait to continue my education. Before I moved up to USU I recorded two new CDs. One is called Sacred and the other is Favorites II. I have decided to sell them as a fundraiser to be able to continue my education. I also have two other CDs that I recorded a few years ago that are available for purchase. My goal is to sell 200 CDs! Each CD costs $8.50. If you would like to order any you are more than welcome to order from my blog. Thank you so much for your support!

-Brady