April 27. First Hanon etude. I really like this playing up and down of the pattern. How the hand is puzzled by what I ask of it and clumsily gets involved. How at the same time hidden things are awakened in the hand, of which it had no idea. How I have to drop the thumb into an empty space, nothing but trusting that there will be a key, and the right one. It still seems incredible to me how you can put a student through that, and in some way be certain that it will get them where they need to be, or even want to be.

On these spring evenings, more and more often you see groups of men or women taking pictures of each other that are obviously intended for use on dating sites. They are not casual pictures, nor are they the kind that lovers take of each other. Although they are reminiscent of that. It’s like the scene in Gattaca when the young women bend over their suitors’ gene printouts, whispering, and enviously congratulate each other when one has hit a jackpot.