Pit Stop

Been pit stopped with throat-ache..... Looking around, also exploring the possibility of utilizing a teacher...

Supplemental Material

Sore throat will probably prevent practice from happening today. However, I picked up some supplemental stuff:

1) Afred's Basic Adult Piano Course - Greatest Hits, Level 1 : Looks really good as a companion to the first Method Book.

2) Mikrokosmos - by Bela Bartok: Talked about in The Piano Lessons Book by Neil Miller, and it looks pretty cool.

3) Junior Hanon for Piano - It seems like there may be varied opinions about the utility of Hanon, but I'll make up my own mind.

4) Clementi Sonatinas, Volume 40; Op. 36, 37, 38. Recommended by a friend who is a great piano player. This stuff looks like its beyond my ability, but I'm hoping to eventually get to it.

Day 16

Going out all day to visit my parents, but managed to be up to page 61 of the Method Book.
Enjoying it, feeling like I'm learning puzzle pieces. Anticipating some difficulty when the pieces all come together in a song. Getting supplemental book(s) soon.

Day 15

Merry Christmas!

Up to page 60 in the Method Book.

Day 14

Christmas Eve!

Up to page 57 of the Method Book. Playing guitar at Mass tonight.

Day 13

Christmas Eve's Eve

Up to page 54 of the Method Book. It says after this page I can begin work on the Greatest Hits book. Yea!

Day 12

Up to page 52 in the Method Book.

Went to my son's Christmas concert last night. He plays clarinet. The music was just spectacular.... Some great instrumental stuff, a choir that was magnificent, and a flute group. Beautiful Christmas stuff. I'm not sure if my son will stay with the clarinet; somehow he doesn't see the clarinet blending nicely with his interest in AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, and the Beatles (gee, I wonder where he got his interest in the Beatles?) I'm not sure if there is a clarinet in the song he really likes: Revolution 9. Yep, Revolution 9!!!

Piano Rant

I stink at this. This will take forever. I should be spending time with my family instead. Minimal talent. At 46 years old John Lennon was already dead 6 years, so what am I trying to prove to myself? Why don't I just stick to the guitar? Minimal Talent. Yea, I'll learn that bass cleff by the time I'm 80. I don't enjoy this journey, I want to play! Why am I doing this? Well, its in my blood, as my cousin (tons more talented than me) has said. I'll hang in there.

Day 11

Went to the local music store and browsed. Saw some piano sheet music too which I resisted purchasing. Patience, grasshopper... Looked at a different method book, but I decided to just stay using the one I've been using.

Up to page 50 in the Method Book. Page 50 has us moving into the G position, and it looks like it will take a little "getting used to."

Christmas is right around the corner...I wonder where I will be in this "Piano Experiment" next Christmas. I'd be cool to be playing some of "A Charlie Brown Christmas."

Addendum: Had some extra practice time in, so I'm working on that "A Friend Like You" song on page 51....

Day 10

Up to page 47 of the Method Book. In a previous post, I mentioned reading a book about sight reading. I decided I hate that book. Maybe soon I'll get some supplemental stuff. Off Topic: Found out today that an old friend died. Sad stuff.

Day 9

Went to the kids' Christmas show at school, and some kids played some solo piano.
Came home, and practiced for just a bit. Up to page 45 in the Method Book.

Day 8

OK. Up to page 43 in the Method Book. Looked up some DVD study courses, but none tempted me enough to buy right now. I really am enjoying the Method Book stuff. Going a couple pages at a time or even less seems to be going well. Not overwhelming. Time for family and time for the piano. Learning to implement G7 and C and that pest called the bass cleff.

Day 7

Things going a little more quickly today. I'm on page 37 of the Method Book, and learning the "B" notes on each hand from the C position, and the G7 chords on both hands.

Day 6

Up to page 34 of the method book. Intervals, and C chord stuff...

Day 5

Worked on page 31 in the Method Book. I'm up to the "Dueling Harmonics" piece at the bottom. Its takes practice, and not giving up. Bass cleff and I don't get along as well as the treble cleff and I, but we're working on it. Learning some harmonic intervals. Pick a note on the staff, and including that note, count up or down until you reach the next note, and that says what interval you are at. On the keyboard, count how many white notes are between two notes, add the number 2, and that's how many intervals you are using. Playing the book with the CD keeps me honest by playing the pieces at a good speed, and in time. I haven't done any Sudnow in a while. I'm feeling more drawn to written music at this time. I listened to the last couple pieces in this method book: "The Entertainer" and "Amazing Grace," and they sound nice!

Day 4

Up to page 31. A bit of a rough ride, trying to incorporate into my brain the idea of 4ths and 5ths, and how they are presented on the staff. My middle child joined me though, as we are about the at the same place, reading music-wise. She brought me her book, and we played her stuff together, each on different octaves. I hope neither of us give up! Got out "Sightreading Secrets" from the local library.

Day 3

Up to page 28 of the Method Book. Getting there! A little bit of trouble noted with hearing the 4ths and 5ths. Using about 1/2 hour of practice seems to be a great idea. Not too much, not too little.

Day 2

OK. I'm up to page 25 of the Method Book. Cool.

Here's a past Christmas song I recorded:

"The Cristmas Song"
http://www.box.net/shared/pkplj2gkej

Day 1

Ok, I'm up to page 19 in the Method Book. Working on the Bass Cleff.
Meanwhile, I decided to post a song I recorded some time ago:

"Here Comes the Sun"
http://www.box.net/shared/t7zbqrozog

Overture & Prelude.....

Lights are out.....the crowd is in a frenzy.......the commencement of the experiment!

Starting tomorrow, I will practice for at least a half hour a day, not including Fridays (rest day), Tuesdays (workdays), and sick days.

I'll either practice from the method book (Alfred's All-in-One Course Level 1 [with CD]) , Sudnow, or some combination thereof.....

A Compromise

Just got done talking to a good musical friend. I talked to him about these issues. He suggested what seems to be a great compromise. I'm gonna try it.

One-half of my time on piano will be spent doing just what I'm doing with the Sudnow method. This way, I can be continuing to learn songs and cool voicings. After all, I'd like to play songs!

The other half of my piano time will be focused on learning from a method book. This way, I can learn better piano technique, learn how to get around the keyboard better, and also perhaps learn how to play some classical.

Sounds like a plan.

Frustration, etc.

Man, I'm all over the place. Yesterday, I played some New Age stuff on my piano and was actually a little tempted to go in that direction. Maybe sign up for a New Age piano course? My 11 year son even liked how I sounded doing that. I played a bit of a New Age type piano CD today, and I just couldn't listen to it. Didn't grab me.

Today I listened to some piano and I got the urge to try to read music again. You know, toss in the towel with what I'm doing, bite the bullet, and go for the ole method book. Then I thought of doing the "by ear" stuff again.

I listen to my recordings, and well, you know.

I ain't giving up.

Sudnow

I think I need to stick with one course. Didn't have much luck today trying a different method. Suffice it to say, although there may be many roads that lead to Rome, all the roads to me seem to require effort, concentration, and most of all perseverance. I haven't found a road yet that does not require perseverance. In sum, the piano is difficult to me, and for me, yet again, instead of wasting time trying to find an easier road, time is better spent practicing!

So I am back with the Sudnow method (sudnow.com). I voiced the song "Solitude," and I'll put it on line here after its polished.

I'd like to be able to play "on the fly" from a fakebook.
I'd like to play by ear, taking requests.

So its a tension I have between these two goals. Eventually, the Sudnow method is suppossed to help an individual play be ear. The sounds attained by this method are also wonderful. So perhaps I'll get to attaing both goals sticking with the Sudnow method. The fake book chords really might be better, also, than the ones I'd come up utilizing play by ear methods.

I think that I need to stick to one course and let it go at that. Perhaps I get caught up too much in finding the best (or easiest) piano method that I lose the sight of playing the piano!

So I'll stick with Sudnow. But if I get tempted to try to find an easier technique, I'll see that more as a sign that I need to practice more, and less as a correct hunch that I need to go technique shopping!

Thanks Mike!

Thanks to a good Western friend (Mike) for offering me a Piano Course! I will pass at this point, but thanks go to Mike for trying to help out. As others have suggested, I think its best to stick to one course at a time.

Piano By Ear

With all the frustration, I have moved yet again....
It looks like I just might be moving again towards Piano by Ear methods. I hate to be technique shopping, but it seems like the way to go...

I listened and made notes to a number of the first lessons, and it seems like it will be work learning all those inversions, and trying to make them as easy as playing the original C chord...

It seems to me that the way to go with learning the piano and having fun with it, is to practice, practice, practice, and then practice some more.

Frustration

Yep, good ole frustration....

Past Songs Worked On

"Tenderly"
http://www.box.net/shared/dsc22ptgba

"Who Can I Turn To"
http://www.box.net/shared/b6v9crrmtc

Frustation

So easy to be frustrated.... Comparing myself to others, judging what I sound like.....The stuff I've been reading emphasizes the inportance of shutting off the critical/judgemental mind while learning, and just focusing on the doing. I've been working with the on-line encouragement of a fellow Sudnow student, and that has helped with the frustration stuff.

STRIDE

I've been learning a Sudnow technique that is called "stride," and I must admit being intrigued by it. Basically, instead of figuring out voicings, it involves memorization of certain fingerings for the types of chords. I'll keep you posted.

"Somewhere" (From West Side Story)

http://www.box.net/shared/kozsdjxz5y

OK! It worked! This is a sample of how I sound. I recorded it today (Thanksgiving, Nov.27, 2008).

I know it sounds sooo slow, and it certainly has mistakes (especially at the end).

All Around the Place

Yep, I've been all around the place as I try to learn the piano. I took lessons as a kid for a bit from my uncle. Fast forward to the college years where I took them again for a couple months. Fast forward to a couple years ago when I took them again for four months or so. Then I tried Sudnow.com. Then I tried Piano Magic. But lets cut the history and suffice it to say that I am currently utilizing the Sudnow Course.

I'd like to play songs, and this is what the Sudnow Course teaches. But I'd also like to play be ear, just sitting down and playing, without written on music. Oh yea, it'd be nice to play a little classical!

Anyway, as I continue to learn about this blogging stuff, I'll post what I sound like these days....