past few weeks

So I am so sorry that I have been completely slacking on this blog :-(.... I have been working hard every week though. I have my two pieces picked out for the recital, "Kumbyah" and "Why am I Blue". I feel very comfertable with these two pieces. I was going to add another piece but it was causing some stress. I notice that my chord transitions on my left hand tend to trip me up sometimes, but I am working really hard and improving a lot which I am really happy about. Another thing that I think is a formed bad habit is my fingers being too high when I am playing. They stay far from the keyboard which makes me play a little slower. Other than that I am really enjoying this class and I am sad that it is coming to an end next week. But I am excited to show my progress throughout the semester :-)
P.S. Thanks Laura!

Lovin it!

I love reading all your posts. You guys are making so much progress, and I'm glad you recognize that!

PS, I'll see you on Thursday!
Laura

Day 4 9/29

Day 4, I went back over the song "What can I share". After playing that a few times, I started to look at a song called "Why am I blue?". This piece was a little more difficult because it required me to use the black keys (B flat and F sharp). I like the feel of this piece. I will have to work on it more, but I think that I might use it for the recital.

Day 3 9/22

Day 3 of practice went well. I am doing better playing with both hands at the same time. I worked on the song "What Can I Share". I thought that this was a really pretty piece. I felt that if i were teaching an elementary class I would teach this to my students. I wanted to play it for the recital, but I think it may be too short. Overall, I left this practice feeling very positive.

Day 4: September 29

I was extremely impressed with myself this week at piano. I started to look at "My Immortal" last week and it scared me because of how difficult the piece looked. This week, I attempted to sit and try to decode it to the best of my ability and surprisingly, I have the entire opening done. It was difficult for me to work on two hands with two different rhythms but I managed to get the hang of it. Also, there are three sharps in the treble cleft and 2 flats in the bass cleft so it took me a while to figure out what note gets raised and lowered and to carry it through the staff. I think from now on, I will work on that piece and here and there I might refer back to the beginner book to refresh some of my skills. :)

Day 3: September 22

Sorry this post is a little late, but last week's practice was pretty successful. I continued to work on "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" and I was working on trying to remember how to read flats and sharps on a staff. That was my only difficult part. My biggest struggle I think right now is just to strengthen my sight reading skills so I do not rely on my ear to hear the right notes or not. I want to start working on "My Immortal" for the concert at the end of the year, but it looks a little daunting because I am not so familiar with reading the notes. I am hoping I can work on both the song for the concert while also working on easier songs and melodies to try to help with reading the music better.

Day 2: September 15

My second day of practice was actually a lot better. This class, I was able to bring in my sheet music from home. I saved the music books that I was working on in 2005 and I figured I would refresh myself and work on some of the pieces I worked on "Music Box Dancer" and "Can You Feel the Love Tonight." I like working on popular songs because its easier to tell whether or not you are right or wrong because the tune is familiar. I am starting to work harder on my left hand and the base clef because that is where I am weak. Next week, I think I might work on a new song in the book that I havent looked at yet. I also have an Evanescence song that I want to work on for the concert at the end of the semester so I might look at that as well. Overall, I am glad I am starting to read music again and strengthen my sight reading abilities.

Day 2 9/15

Today, I felt a little bit better when I played with both hands at the same time. I went back over Jingle Bells a few times and moved on from there. I went through a few more pages, learning to play chords on one hand and a melody on the other which was a lot of fun. I played when the saints go marching in for most of the time. It was kind of hard at first but I had a lot of fun with it.

First Day: Sept 15

Our first day of class was this week. Today I mostly worked on reminding myself of the note letters and trying to remember how to sight read. I worked on Jingle Bells as well and I tried to step it up and work on When the Saints Go Marching In. I want to work on using both my hands as well as learn how to sight read faster. I had my mom send me some piano sheet music I had at home to work on as well in class.

First Day

Today, I learned Jingle Bells. It went pretty well, I had a little trouble using both hand while playing chords at the same time.