Over the past week I haven't had much time for individual practice with the exception of the night before my second lesson. With this practice alone, I was able to teach myself the two small pieces from the book that gave me some trouble during the first lesson with little difficulty along with practicing the first major piece I want to play, Lean On ME by Bill Withers. Everything is gradually coming along but I still need to instate a nightly practice schedule in order to stay constant so I can achieve the final goal without it being rushed and last minute.
During the lesson, I learned better technique on how to play Lean On ME and began to better remember where the notes and keys were although treble clef still stumped me on several occasions. Knowledge of the treble clef will come with time and a lot of practice which I need to bear down on. Overall, I'm happy with the progress I'm making as compared to last years genius hour project. I do need to practice more to make sure I am more successful this time around.
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After a small amount of practice on Sunday night and my first lesson on Monday, I can see myself progressing exponentially faster than I did with my last genius hour project when I tried to teach myself guitar. During the lesson, my instructor and I went over basic technique and some music theory that I am very familiar with due my position in the Davie Wind Ensemble.
We first discussed the C scale followed by several others and elaborated on how to play each scale and the amount of sharps and flats. This was a very familiar exercise but it was fun to play on an instrument I had hardly ever touched before, especially considered how easy it was to get started. After the scales, we began in a brand new practice book which seemed to be designed for people that had no prior experience with reading music on page one. It was one pattern with three middle Cs followed by one rest three times in a row. This offered no challenge and neither did the next forty-five to fifty pages. Once I had my bearings on what notes were on what key and I had my hand positioning right, I was able to play a few simple songs including Ode To Joy on my first piano lesson. My only difficulties were reading the treble clef as if it were the bass clef because I have read exclusively bass clef for more than half of a decade, remembering where each note was, and remembering that my thumb is finger number one in the practice book, not my index which resulted in a few minor mistakes. During the past few days, I have compiled a YouTube playlist of songs I will attempt later on during the project along with a few instructional videos. I will add in the coming weeks a few of my own videos from my first lesson and any other landmarks along the way. I have videos of me playing a very simplified version of Ode To Joy and another piece that I can not remember the name of that introduces chords. I have yet to make any headway in the project and I am still trying to plan out a steady schedule to keep me practicing so I can ensure the project will be a success. I have ensured that I have all of the resources needed and everything is ready to start. A definite lesson schedule is still indefinite but I will begin practicing as soon as possible. The lesson schedule will likely change throughout the project due to extracurricular activities but as for now I hope to have a lesson at least every Monday.
I hope to play three pieces throughout the project and maybe vocalize them depending on what pieces are chosen. One in particular that I'm interested in is Vienna by Billy Joel. I hope to be able to play that and two other recognizable pieces just on piano. I've considered more complicated pieces for later like the Lazy Town theme song and many simpler ones that I'm sure I will learn as a part of practicing like Ode To Joy by Beethoven and Seven Nation Army. Along with these pieces I wish to play and share, I will also provide some guidance for others and how they may start playing the piano based upon my experiences similar to my genius hour project last year. I suspect the hardest part of learning Piano will be learning and memorizing all of the keys and getting used to reading the Treble clef as opposed to the bass clef that I have used almost exclusively for more than five years. I hope that this time around with the genius hour project I will be more successful and constant with my efforts to learn a new instrument. I believe lessons will help exponentially improve my ability to grasp a new instrument. |
Why This?I hope to expand my knowledge of music by learning to play a much more complicates instrument than the Trombone. |