To the Lute

You know those days when you're feeling really sad, or really stressed and worried, or really angry, or really anything that doesn't feel good? Then this song is probably for you. It might also be for you if you play a stringed instrument, because that's what a lute is. But I'm playing it on the piano because that's the only instrument I'm proficient at playing right now.

As I was saying, this song might be great for you if you've been having a bad day. It seems like a "relaxing" song (probably because of the pedal and the runs in the left hand). I think that this is a song that would brighten your day. I guess lutes are pretty good instruments, huh?


I learned a song in grade 8 piano, called In the Evening, that was similar to this one and in fact written by the same composer, Heinrich Hoffman. The song I'm posting today appeared in the syllabus the next year, so I chose to learn it because you know, if you like a song by a certain composer, you're going to look for similar songs and learn them too, right?

In fact, an article I read on Learn Jazz Standards - I know this isn't jazz, but it still applies - said something like this:

"If you want to get efficient and productive practice sessions, you have to stay focused. You can't be exploring musicians from every style at the same time. Pick one or two musicians and a few of their songs and focus on them. If you're bouncing everywhere, you're not going to learn as much in the same period of time."

For those of you who play an instrument and aren't seeing results, keep this in mind and make sure you have specific goals for your practice time. If you just say, "Oh yeah, I'll learn a song this month," then nothing will happen.

Unfortunately, I never recorded that song called In the Evening, so I won't be posting it here. But you can still listen to this one, right? I hope you're going to listen to it. I didn't have much to say about this song in comparison to other posts, but I do know that it's a song you should listen to.