Day 133

Man, this sightreading fakebook stuff is difficult....

Played the first line to a Beatles song today using sightreading....

Also continued to practice "What a Wonderful World."

Day 132

NEW ADDITION TO PLAN

Will practice some sightreading fakebook stuff daily....even if for only five minutes.

Today I played Tenderly, Over the Rainbow, some of What a Wonderful World, and some sightreading stuff.

Day 131

Played through Tenderly and Over the Rainbow.
Practiced a bit of p. 138-139 in the Method Book.

Frustrated.
There's gotta be something I can do better to remember those chord shapes or note degrees of scales, or something, to do better with the voicing on the fly stuff. Will be closely reading some e-mails my piano buddy sent me yesterday for some ideas.
Also, my Sudnow songs sound pained...

Day 130

(Should have posted this yesterday).
Not a lot of practice time. Played through "Tenderly" once. Sounded horrible.

Day 129

Started and completed voicing "What a Wonderful World," adding the Bb and C7 closed voicings to my arsenal of closed voicings.

Day 128

Here's how "Tenderly" sounded during this try:
http://www.box.net/shared/62et31ga6a

Worked mostly on p. 138-139 of the Method Book.

Day 127

On p.138 of the Method Book. Continue to work on Tenderly and Over the Rainbow.

Day 126

On p.136 -7 of the Method Book, and working on "Tenderly" and "Over the Rainbow."

Day 125

Working on Tenderly and Over the Rainbow. Will voice "What a Wonderful World" next.

Taking the Sudnow stuff nice and slowly, and having a great time taking my time. I think in my past attempts with the Sudnow Method, I tried to go too fast. I'm at the point in the Method where it takes me relatively quickly to voice a song (voicing means writing out the tones I'll use in a song). However, I need more practice getting my hands to play the right stuff. So I'm taking my time actually playing the stuff, training my hands to get more used to playing the songs.

Worked also on pages 136 and 137 of the Method Book.

Just want to shout out a giant hello to my dear piano buddy, Swingin' Barb! Hi Barb! Barb has been my long distance Piano Buddy who is the proud recepient of the "2009 McFly Award" for putting up with all of my "McFly-type"piano questions! Thanks Barb, for all your encouragement and piano support!

Day 124

A good piano day.

Worked on "Over the Rainbow," and its coming along OK.

"Tenderly" was interesting today. The way I've been playing it just ached for an added closed voicing, so when I added the Ab7 closed voicing, it is actually swinging somewhat!

So far, the closed voicings I'm working on are: Gmin7, Fmin7, Eb, and Ab7.

Addendum: I stand corrected....it was a GREAT piano day...... I went to the piano, and a slow version of "Tenderly" came out, and it was one of those great piano moments.....!

Day 123

Working on page 136 and 137 of the Method Book, and "Tenderly," and "Over the Rainbow." A frustrating piano day... What seemed to come more easily or more smoothly yesterday (in "Tenderly," and "Over the Rainbow," for example), is difficult and/or forgotten today...

Day 122

Finished voicing "Tenderly," and worked on playing that and "Over the Rainbow." Worked on p.136 and 137 in the Method Book.

Day 121

Working mostly on voicing "Tenderly." Very interesting, utilizing closed "stride" voicings for Eb, Gmin7, and Fmin7 chords. I'll add a little new closed voicings to each tune I voice. Just playing those closed voicings (even outside the context of a song) for those three chords sounds nice.

Played piano at Mass tonight, with other Church Musicians.

Day 120

Very little practice time again today. Played guitar in a little band tonight.

Practiced "Over the Rainbow" a bit, and also did a little scale stuff. Listening to Sudnow's Piano Side Chats...

Day 119

Very little practice time today. Did a little of "Over the Rainbow." Will also voice "Tenderly," the right way. Still lstening to Sudnow Members Club stuff.

Day 118

Practicing "Over the Rainbow," and worked up to p.136 of the Method Book. Thinking of the next song to voice Sudnow style. By the way, here's my repertoire:

Over the Rainbow

My goal now is to voice a new song at least every two weeks, while working on the Method Book. So that means I have to have a new song voiced and played through OK by April 29th.

Day 117

Here's "Over the Rainbow" (A work in progress):
http://www.box.net/shared/q7apkhjabz

Day 116

Working on "Over the Rainbow."

Day 115

Played organ (and guitar) at two Easter Masses today.

At home, practiced scales as well as "Over the Rainbow."

Day 114

Working on voicing "Over the Rainbow," and that should be completed today. Made a decision: I'm going to start the Repertoire over again, with "Over the Rainbow" as the first song. Why am I getting rid of the other songs? I'm doing so because I want to do things correctly this time around. In my stuff with the other songs, I take a bunch of shortcuts with their voicings, and I don't want to practice the songs using the shortcuts. I don't want to reinforce incorrect voicings, and practicing those songs might do just that. Rather, I think I'l take it slowly and correctly, because I figure the more I practice correct voicings, the better the chance that they will be ingrained.

I'm learning a lot with "Over the Rainbow":
1) Correct Voicings
2) Some stride, or closed voicings to some chords
3) Even a little improv (!) using the 5th note of a chord as the scale from which to improvise

I'm going to have to adjust my practice schedule to include the fact that some days I have more time than others. Here we go:

1) I'm still going to use Sudnow and the Method Book. When its time to voice a new song, though, I'll put the Method Book on hold until a new song is voiced completely and correctly.

2) After a new song is voiced, I'll practice playing that until it sounds acceptable to me, and then move on to another. When voicing, I'll try to add some closed voicings.

3) Practice the major scales.

There's a lot of flexibility there, depending on what I fell like doing on a particular day.

Addendum:

After voicing "Over the Rainbow," I started practicing it. Its going slow, but those Sudnow sounds got me hooked. It seems difficult for me to practice only for short periods of time when I am doing the Sudnow method! Its wayyyyy too easy for me to spend a lot of time at the piano when I am playing acoording to his method.

What I'm doing that is also helpful is sometimes recording my playing as I learn the song. The recordings help me to hear exactly what I need to do more of, or what I need to do differently .

Examples: Recording today helped me to realize that the 4th in a Gm actually does sound good in the left hand, though while I was playing it I wasn't sure.

Also, recording today helped me to realize that in playing a certain closed voicing (or stride) chord, it sounded better when I used it as an appegio rather than playing the notes simultaneously.

A cool piano day.

Day 113

(Should have posted this yesterday).
Voicing "Over the Rainbow."

Day 112

Couldn't get a lot of practice time, but managed to practice scales and a tiny bit of Over the Rainbow.

Day 111

Ran through some songs on my list (they sure need work). Practiced scales. Also began voicing "Over the Rainbow."

Not a lot of practice time today; had to practice to play at the Easter Mass. I usually play guitar, but this Easter I'll be playing an organ type of sound to the Spiritual "Wade in the Water." Practiced tonight with our Church group.

Day 110

On p.135 of Method Book; Practiced Scales; Practiced Repertoire, and added a tune to it, so that the Repertoire is now:

Solitude
Tenderly
She's Leaving Home
Christmas Time is Here

I'll be listening to more of Sudnow Member's Club today, too.

Day 109

On p.135 of the Method Book. Did some scale stuff, and just about finished with "Tenderly" and "Solitude." Although these two songs need polish work, I'm ready to voice one. Or......should I try to get a previously learned one in my fingers again? We'll see.... I'm also practicing "She's Leaving Home." Listening to David Sudnow Members Club stuff too. So far, what i'd like to do with the piano and bass duo:
She's Leaving Home
Tenderly
Solitude

A cool day at the piano!

Day 108

A New Commitment:

One hour a day at the piano on Sudnow Stuff. Maybe, a little Method Book stuff too, but its no longer the emphasis. I want to see where I am with Sudnow stuff on April 5, 2010.

On page 134 of the Method Book (finally). Making headway also on "Tenderly" and "Solitude."

Day 107

(Should have posted this yesterday). Working on "Tenderly" and "Solitude."

Day 106

Joined Sudnow's "Member's Club!" Waiting for the material to come through the computer. Have been practicing those major scales in my brain.

Day 105

(Should have posted this yesterday).
Practiced Scales. Also, was the lead instrument playing piano in our parish's Station of the Cross program. I liked the gospel type of flavor that I gave the last song.

Day 104

Worked a bit on major scales.

Day 103

A difficult day at the piano. It just didn't flow easily.
On p. 133 of the Method Book and working on "Tenderly." It'd be cool to throw the piano out the window.