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....