Thursday Night

• Practicing with the band tonight for tomorrow night's gig. Playing tomorrow with the early jazz band as well as with the rock and roll band.

• Rode the exercise bike for 1/2 hour.

• Practice with the rock and roll band went well and was fun tonight.

• Doubting if piano is for me. Went over some inversions anyway...

LOUIS ARMSTRONG:

Tuesday Night

• Did not practice until later in the evening, and fatigue was a factor. Nevertheless, I was able to get a little practice in with scale stuff and major chord inversions.

The April 2016 Challenge is On!

• Off day from diet and exercise. No biggie. Will be back on track tomorrow.

• Was a decision day for me today regarding if I will use the Sudnow Method or what I'm calling the Harrison Method (actually using mostly THE POP PIANO BOOK by Mark Harrison) to learn piano. Played around with both methods today, and the Harrison Method won out.

• Started today with learning some first inversion major chords from the Harrison book. I like his method of teaching them. 

So here is what I'll call "The April 2016 Challenge":

Focus on the Harrison book and possibly related supplemental material from today until April 28, 2016. Completely turn off any unhelpful assessments of progress until April 28, 2016. The only requirement is to do my best to just practice at least a solid 1/2 hour a day. Only on April 28, 2016 can I reasses how I'm doing. Between now and then just focus on learning and not unhelpful self-criticism. That's it. 

• From a guitar standpoint, although not a formal part of the April 2016 Challenge, I'd like to continue improvising using the Mark Silver book: "CONTEMPORARY GUITAR IMPROVISATION." It was fun.  

• Considering seeing Paul McCartney in concert.

Sudnow Method vs Chord Inversion Leaarning

That is the question.

THE POP PIANO BOOK by Mark Harrison

• I'm going to work out of this Harrison book and its accompanying CDs. I think it will be a lot of work, but when it comes to memorization, what is learned can be applicable to playing songs sooner (in the long run). I tried memorizing songs, and it either does not work for me, or I did not give it long enough. However, I think if I put more time into chord inversions and yes, even some scale stuff, I can apply this stuff better (but after the groundwork is provided). 

• Going to try to work on making a syllabus to work through the parts of the book that I want to focus on.

ANNOUNCEMENT COMING UP

• Rode exercise bike for 1/2 hour. Lost 44.4 pounds since January 5!

• Big announcement coming up regarding me and my piano learning.

As Time Goes By

• Rode exercise bike for an hour. 

• Man, that internal doubter doesn't take a breather, and he never loses a chance to be a dope. Starting Sudnow's arrangement of "AS TIME GOES BY," struggling, and the doubter rears his head. Got tempted to focus on guitar again and skip the piano. But was able to  hang in there and continue to work on "AS TIME GOES BY," and I dare say I congratulate myself for hanging in there. 

• Also continue to work on "MISTY."

Started "AS TIME GOES BY"

• Rode the exercise bike for an hour this morning. Felt good. What helped was that I set up a little speaker system to play music so it sounds louder than when I used to ride the bike and just listen to music out of my iPhone speaker during exercise.

• Here I sit waiting for my car to be inspected. Always a worry how much money that will end up being. To pass the time, I brought the book "AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' (The Story of Fats Waller), by Ed Kirkeby. Conclusion of inspection that cost wasn't too much at all, thankfully.

• Continued to work on MISTY and it needs work. Unfortunately I didn't follow Sudnow's practice recommendations in learning it; I guess I should have. Tried to record it; did not get a decent "take." Reinforced, therefore, that Sudnow's practice recommendations be followed.

• Did a little melody hunting and pecking and yes the major scale is interestingly involved.

• Started working on Sudnow's arrangement of "AS TIME GOES BY." Interesting starting a song in that at first it seems daunting and the internal critic peeks in, but it turns out ok.

"FRANKENSTEIN" (A STILL FOR PUBLICITY) 1931

Gig Night

• Burned 375 calories on exercise bike for 1/2 hour.  Lost 43.2 pounds since January 5th.

• Good gig tonight. It was really long, though, with many performers. I do not enjoy transporting equipment. Played a little of MISTY on pianos in a local music store.

SUDNOW'S MISTY COMPLETED: TOOK 15 DAYS

• Rode exercise bike for 1/2 hour and diet went well today.

• Thinking of working on The Sudnow Method for piano as a priority, but using Robert Conti's "Ticket to Improv" for guitar also. Might be stretching myself too thin, though, trying to do both.

• Continue to work on Sudnow's MISTY and some scale stuff. With regards to scales, it would be great if I felt equally confident with all of the major scales. Played around alittle playing "MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB" by ear using the idea of the scale. UPDATE: Actually finished learning MISTY though of course it needs polishing. 

• Will be playing a number of songs tomorrow for our Church music event.  I'm on guitar and lead vocals on PINK CADILLAC, UNDER THE BOARDWALK, and I SAW HER STANDING THERE. I'm playing guitar and adding background vocals on I WANT YOU BACK. I'll be just playing guitar on LA BAMBA and THE NEARNESS OF YOU. 

• Continued to read "Just Being at the Piano" by Mildred Portney Chase, and added material to a previous post about her book.

The Beat Goes On

• Burned 367 calories on exercise bike for 1/2 hour this morning. Diet suffering but I'm hanging in there with the fight.

• Listening to my Sudnow stuff; excellent.

• Still working on MISTY and some scale stuff.

1976

Piano and Rocky III

• Not the best day for either diet or exercise! I'll leave it at that. Gotta snap back into it! I'm not that far behind! It's Rocky 3 time...won the title (lost about 40 pounds), but now Mr. T wants to take away my successes as well as future weight loss! Eye of the tiger!

• Had a good band rehearsal tonight for the six songs we'll be playing on Friday.

• Not a lot of piano practice, but some, tonight, taking my time with MISTY.

JUST BEING WITH MISTY

• Ok so diet didn't go so great last night. Burned 358 calories on exercise bike for 1/2 hour this morning. Did some weight lifting, too.

• So my exercise routine seems to be going ok, but I need to get more strict with my diet. Had too much candy today. I AM losing weight despite my dietary lapses.

• Only have a couple of more pages until Sudnow's MISTY is completed. David Sudnow presents such a gorgeous arrangement of this song. Been listening to his course, too. Didn't practice too long today, but it is great to practice when the internal doubter and evaluator doesn't show up too much and the music comes to the forefront. Decided to put the Kast book on hold for now.

• Added more quotes to the post devoted to Mildred Portney Chase's book: "JUST BEING AT THE PIANO."

Internal Doubter

• Burned about 711 calories on exercise bike for 1 hour.

• Here's a picture of my oldest daughter, taken by my youngest daughter:

• Difficult to not listen to the internal doubter. However despite its presence, I was able to continue some work on Sudnow's MISTY. Did some stuff in the Stride book, but thinking of focusing 100% on Sudnow stuff.

"JUST BEING AT THE PIANO" by Mildred Portney Chase

Somewhere in this blog I may have mentioned Mildred Portney Chase's book, "JUST BEING AT THE PIANO."

Well I started reading it again, and it has such good things to say. I plan on coming back and editing this post with some of her quotes in this gem of a book.

From p. 5:

"The joy of the moment can be experienced at any stage of learning. We need only to recognize when we are guided away from ourselves by standards of performance based on comparison with others, or by the need of approval and recognition for accomplishment."

On p.10 she discusses a student:

"Fear of not playing well enough got in the way of his love for the music and the instrument." 

Again, on p. 10:

"Children are quickly acculturated to measuring their worth by their performance. Too many adults remain this kind of child all their lives."

On p. 23:

"The sculpture is already in the stone and you need only to remove the excess rock to reveal it....by removing concerns with the outcome of your playing, removing any interfering tension, you will be able to release the music that is within you."

Again, on p. 23:

"When you think you have gotten the best sound the instrument can bring forth, think a little magic into it, and you may discover a still better sound."

From p. 31:

"I like to ... visualize the fingers directly linked to the center of my innermost being; that place in my torso from which I draw breath, from which the emotions are expressed. The torso not only physically supports our movements at the piano; it is also the supplier of our spiritual energy."

From p. 33 into p. 34:

"Silence! The mother of sound! ... The phrases may frame the silence or the silence may frame the phrase. You must know."

From p. 35:

"Many composers and performers of the 17th and 18th centuries discuss the importance of expressiveness in performance...The player is instructed to take a strong sense of responsibility 'for reflecting every shade of feeling . . . so as to touch the heart . . . And carry the auditor from one passion to another.' Some writers even suggest that each measure be of a different mood!"

"STRIDE PIANO TRICKS" by Ari Kast meets THE SUDNOW METHOD

• Liking the music of Sufjan Stevens.

• Rode the exercise bike for an hour. Can't tell you how many calories were burned because the dopey batteries ran out of energy, or something.

• Cut the lawn today (more exercise); took a nice nap afterwards.

• Started to have me guitar vs piano debate again as to what I should focus on, and again piano won out.

• Continued to work on MISTY, starting the second section.

• In addition to THE SUDNOW METHOD, I think I will also give this book a try: STRIDE PIANO TRICKS by Ari Kast. I've had it for awhile, and it always seemed intriguing. It's about time that I face my dopey fear of piano chord inversions. Restarted the book today.

PIANO

• Burned 361 calories on exercise bike for 1/2 hour.

• Listened to some of my recorded guitar stuff and it wasn't bad! Wondered for a bit about skipping piano and going back to guitar, but ultimately decided to stay with piano.

• Listed to some of my original Sudnow stuff. Appreciate his individualistic (revolutionary?) teaching philosophy that goes against traditional approaches. 

• Continue to work on MISTY.

Song List

Thinking of songs to put on my repertoire of learned piano tunes, Sudnow style. I'll revisit this post and update the list by either adding to it, subtracting from it, or noting when a song is learned:

MISTY

AS TIME GOES BY

DANNY BOY

OVER THE RAINBOW

SOMEWHERE

SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME

WHAT CHILD IS THIS

I'VE GOT A CRUSH ON YOU

SEND IN THE CLOWNS

YESTERDAY

WICHITA LINEMAN

I LOVES YOU PORGY 

WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD

THE CHRISTMAS SONG

THE NEARNESS OF YOU 

JUST THE WAY YOU ARE 

WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR 

Sudnow

• Burned 359 calories on exercise bike for 1/2 hour.

• Continued to work on Sudnow's arrangement of "Misty."

• Listened to Keith Jarrett's CD "The Melody at Night, With You." I give it 3.5 stars out of a possible 5. I'm a sucker for melody, and this CD has it. Still, it seems to be missing something, and his vocal grunting can be annoying.

Regroup

• No exercise done today. With the diet slipping and no exercise today it's time to recognize that sliding down the "slippery slope" of being less healthy is going on and to do something positive with that awareness. It's a slope I know all too well.

• Ended up exercising today after all! Burned 386 calories on the exercise bike tonight. Diet went pretty well today too! Evenings are my difficult time when food becomes especially appealing!

• Short piano practice session of Misty tonight. Getting there. Interesting how some of those cluster movements in this song weren't played for years, but yet my brain seems to have waken up to their dormancy.

• Band practice tomorrow night.

MISTY

• Burned 371 calories on the exercise bike for 1/2 hour.

• Didn't really follow diet today....got to get more strict....

• Worked a little on major scales; they need work.

• Did a lot of work on "Misty" today. Those wonderful sounds...

Louis Armstrong and Joe Oliver

Sudnow

• Burned 364 calories on the exercise bike today. Almost didn't exercise today, but did it! Now to get back to the diet.

• DIET UPDATE: It's 12:36 PM; so far, so good with diet.

• Gradually getting back into the piano. Organized my piano area with my CDs of piano players and instructional material. Forgot I have some cool piano CDs!

• Continued to work on "Misty," and consistent with what is expected, I'll begin work on "As Time Goes By" soon. Went over some major scale stuff.

Sudnow

• Played no musical instruments today. However, went with the family to my aunt's 90th birthday party today. Was a really nice time seeing family. A little bittersweet ... Since I did not drive, I had a chance to start some of my old readings of Sudnow's course. What stands out the most is: turn off assessment of progress!!!! Just practice. Carefully. Thoughtfully. 

• Moved my exercise bike to a place where hopefully it won't wake up my family tomorrow. Back to the diet and exercise tomorrow.

• I'm thinking of the importance of attitude and perseverance in this journey of learning the piano. Regarding this perhaps a little arrogance is in order ("I have something to say musically and ain't nothing going to get in my way. And no more focusing on criticizing my play or assessing progress.")

Piano vs. Guitar

• Here's me playing "Over the Rainbow" this morning after a change of guitar strings:

https://soundcloud.com/guitarjazz/over-the-rainbow-acoustic

• My continued struggle of 'what instrument should I focus on and I don't have time for both' is going on.

• Our Church band played great tonight. I was early and alone for Mass rehearsal and I recorded this:

https://soundcloud.com/guitarjazz/april-come-she-will-cover

• Meanwhile........back at the guitar vs piano debate....  This business of choosing an instrument is not new to me in that I remember being in high school wondering if I should pursue trumpet vs. clarinet. Even younger than that, I took organ lessons from my uncle for a bit. I think I reached a conclusion. 

I spent some of this evening listening to old recordings of me on piano. I think those sounds are closer to what my spirit and soul want to express. And that's what music to me is about. The chord melody stuff played on guitar is nice, but I feel somewhat like I am "settlleing" for second place by doing that. Likewise, learning to improvise better on guitar would be ok, but again, the guitar sound to me is not the sound I'm looking for. I can always play guitar in the Rock and Roll band. I enjoy that a lot. Will not give it up. But I think my days in the Jazz band are numbered.

• So here is the conclusion. It was a close battle, but the piano has won out. The sounds from piano ballads touch my soul more than most guitar stuff. The battle is over.  Piano has won, but a truce was made with the guitar. I will focus on the Sudnow Method again. The sounds that arise from that method are very close to what music means to me. The sound of my soul.

Sudnow

• Rejoined the Sudnow website. 

• Continue to work a bit on "Misty."

• Rehearsed with the Jazz band tonight and it was fun. Sang a fun version of the Beatles' "Honey Pie" and actually got to scat Louis Armstrong style during a song.

• Fought with changing the strings on my acoustic guitar.

• Bad diet day! No exercise today; still waiting to see what to do with the (loud/broken) exercise bike issue.

Sudnow

• Still no working exercise bike :(

• Started working on "Misty" (Sudnow style) using a stride chord in there.

• Good band rehearsal tonight. Practiced for a show in which we'll play six songs: PINK CADILLAC, I SAW HER STANDING THERE, UNDER THE BOARDWALK, THE NEARNESS OF YOU, LA BAMBA, and I WANT YOU BACK. Sounding really good!!!!

• Tomorrow will be our rehearsal with the jazz band. Thinking of bowing out of that group after our next gig.

Hi Swingin' Barb!

A shout out of hello to the best musical encourager and music/piano buddy out there!!!

Sudnow

Started reviewing my old Sudnow stuff, and liking it. Ready to restart "Misty."

To Keep in Mind Regarding Piano Learning & Me

SUDNOW METHOD (for piano)

• Burned 385 calories on my exercise bike for 1/2 hour. I ride the bike very early in the morning and it makes too much noise. My son texted me while I was riding it that he was losing sleep hearing that bike. I asked a handy man friend to come over and take a look to see if he can fix it.

• Tempted yet again to go into The Sudnow Method (for piano). I remember it being fun.... the downside for me was memorization....really really thinking about going for it again. But maybe taking a humbler approach this time. By "humbler" I mean doing it the Sudnow way and not trying to find shortcuts. But funny, my mind went to a shortcut already.

Charlie Christian

• Rode exercise bike for about 1/2 hour. The bike wasn't sounding good; sounded like something is going wrong inside it somewhere.

• Worked a bit on a cover version that some band (I forget their name) does of the Jackson 5 song "I Want You Back" for a music program we'll be doing at our Church soon. I'll be involved with others playing four songs: "I Want You Back," "The Nearness of You," and two more songs not yet known for sure.

• I think I'm going to try my Joe Dochtermann book called "The Charlie Christian Method for Jazz Guitar."

Stuck

• Rode exercise bike for 50 minutes. Fell off eating well for a bit; time to get back into business.

• Stuck with regards to the next step in improvising. Leaning towards going back to the Herb Ellis book(s).

Happy Easter, 2015 !

• Burned 742 calories on exercise bike for an hour this morning.

• Played music for two Masses today. Wouldn't you know it that early on in the first Mass that I broke a guitar string ?!?

• Second Mass went better than the first: had all six strings, and I used the digital delay to good effect. I was the lead singer in "Oh Mary Don't You Weep" (Springsteen style), and it went well. 

• Recuperating from a lot of equipment transporting / manual labor!

• Reexamining the potential for using a book that I already have in my possession: 

"Guitarist's Guide to Scales Over Chords: The Foundation of Melodic Soloing"

by Chad Johnson

• Got to get back to my Conti flashcards!

• Maybe I'll just go back to the Mickey Baker book.....

Relaxing Saturday

• Didn't really eat well yesterday, but burned more than 722 calories on exercise bike today.

• Set up where we will be playing tomorrow for two Easter Masses.

• Ended up not doing much guitar stuff, but I did watch some of the Rolling Stones' movie "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Rolling Stones." What can you say about them that hasn't been said before? The Beatles are absolutely the best. But when it comes to specifics, the Rolling Stones are most definitely the Best Rock & Roll band in the world. 

Like others may,I differentiate "Rock and Roll" from "Rock." Rock and Roll to me adds the word "Roll." So Rock and Roll has a cool element of funk and blues, and soul influences that is sometimes obvious and sometimes subtle. The best "Rock" band to me is Led Zeppelin. Contrast how they play the blues and you will notice the difference!

41.8 / 41.8 / 41.8 ! ! !

• Rode exercise bike for 1/2 hour.

• Lost 41.8 pounds since January 5!

• Our Diva Dog:

• I decided to go back to the Aebersold book. I looked through it, and it seems to push me perhaps in the direction I need to go. I can still use some of the Silver pattern ideas.

• With regard to the Aebersold book, I  worked a bit on the major and the minor Dorian scale today. Goal for this weekend is to get through the Major, Minor scales, start the Dominant scales and get back to work on the flashcards I made to help with the Conti "Assembly Line" material.

• Got my Epiphone ES-339 Pro back from its surgery at the music store today. They had a really nice looking Epiphone Dot in the natural color.

• Setting up equipment tomorrow to get ready to play for our Easter Masses on Sunday.

Easter Rehearsal

• Burned 380 calories on exercise bike for 1/2 hour.

• Rehearsed tonight with the Church folks for Easter Mass. Somewhat chaotic. A friend let me play with his guitar effects pedal. Fun!!!!

• Tomorrow will be a significant day with regards to efforts to loose weight. A friend and I have been monitoring our weights from January 5, and tomorrow is the last "weigh in." I'm hoping to weigh in with a 40 pound weight loss. As of today, I lost 39.8 pounds, but due to daily fluctuations, nothing is guaranteed with regards to what I'll weigh tomorrow.  But even if I don't make it, I'll be very close, and I am quite pleased with my efforts to improve my health. 

Music, Goals, Fun, and In the Cards

Why does learning music have to not be fun? At what point does the drudgery become too much and the learner switches to MAKING MUSIC? There's a tension there between having fun and learning new things. Maybe they don't have to be mutually exclusive. 

I had fun with the Silver book. So I'm going back to it to play improvisations. I think that by really, no, REALLY working on internalizing the patterns and perhaps making up riffs within them would be good. Maybe being an expert improviser isn't in the cards for me. However, that does not have to preclude me from improvising at all.

I also can't help but still be drawn to playing songs in the chord melody style. What frustrated me was memorizing songs. Would love to be able to play on the fly from a fakebook in the chord melody style. But maybe that's not in the cards for me; or at least not yet. At this point I'm going to continue with the flashcards of Conti material. I think that by doing this, I'll better internalize the chords so that though I may not be able to play on the fly from a fakebook (yet!), I might be able to perform songs that aren't memorized, but worked on prior so that I can perform them with the lead sheet in front of me.

CYNTHIA LENNON

Rest in peace Cynthia :(

Silver Book

• Burned 365 calories on exercise bike for 1/2 hour.

• Practiced some scale stuff. May go back to the Silver ideas.

• Lost 38.8 pounds since January 5!