Malevolent Genes and a Bit of Chopin

Miss Priss suffered her first migraine headache this past Saturday. Despite our hopes that that particular gene would pass over our children, we were fairly certain one or both would suffer. Himself and I both do; his mother does, and both my parents do. Our gene pool is full of it. This is how I picture the hateful things swimming around:

 Photo from Ugly Animals.

Nice, huh?

Himself only gets a very few per year, but they are the BIG CLASSIC variety when they hit. I suffer from cluster headaches mostly, with only a few horrid episodes per year and no vomiting. Poor Miss Priss was struck with a classic. Bless her sweet heart.

Regarding the Chopin: This afternoon, I plunked down in front of the piano and opened My First Book of Chopin: 23 Favorite Pieces in Easy Piano Arrangements, which I ordered from Dover Publications.

I've picked through a few of these, and today my piece of choice was "First Ballade," a kid-friendly theme from "Ballade No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 23," transposed to C major. I was pleased I was able to stumble through it.

My interest piqued, I hopped on YouTube to see what this piece really sounds like.



Well. What can one say after that, besides Brava!

If you're interested you can download a FREE score here. But I assure you it is very different from the arrangement I played today. If your skill level is along the lines of mine, here's an option for you. Yes, there's a drawing of a young girl playing the piano on the cover. I don't let that bother me.

I just play for the joy of it.