The Nursing Home Question??

The question is will I play there before I end up there? I have been talking about playing at the Senior Home near my house for at least eight months. I even made flyer. I just have to go and do it!

It is a tribute to Johnny Mercer and Jimmy Van Huesen. It so happens that most of the songs I have learned are by these two. Why not make it a tribute then?

Gone With Wind: One More TIme!

I want to impress my teacher tommorow at my lesson and play this song flawlessly! This involves playing it with the metronome for an hour straight!

And this brings up an obvious point: I am finally realizing how important it is to practice with the metronome. As a beginner it is very difficult, but to develop really good rythymn, this has to be done. Luckily I can use the drum patterns to avoid the click monotony. So now I have decided to make playing with drums the rule rather than the exception. I know this is obvious, but most things in life seem obvious once you realize them!

Two Songs Never Completed or Completed for Now?

OK. I can play the two songs, but I only play them at my level. When my teacher plays them there is 20 years of experience that make such a subtle difference. He plays less notes and it sounds better and cleaner. His rhythm and dynamics are better! I accept that.

I have set a goal to be more methodical in my practicing. I need to practice chords and voices so that I can expand my piano "tool kit".

I had my acoustic piano's keys "aerated" and I couldn't believe the difference! This is the process of basically poking a small pin into the ends of the hammer's felt so it isn't so hard. This decreased the "tinny" sound of the piano. I was so amazed at the difference that now I am playing my acoustic again.

Two Songs

I have been working on two songs for the last month. I want to sit down at my piano lesson and really play them. I am not sure why, but I have been very focused to prove that I can play these songs for my teacher. The first is "Loving You is the Right Thing": a very old Carly Simon song that I think revives some nostalgia from my youth. The second is "My Cherie Amour": I am playing this because my teacher turned me on to some great chords in the song!

I play them over and over again, but I will be ready to play them both at my next lesson!

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

I have a new teacher. It has been about a month, so I wanted to make sure I would continue with my new teacher.

After all the time I spent with my first teacher Isabella Catania, it is strange to go to someone new. My new teacher is Bobby Cressey. Nothing against Isabella my older teacher, but it was time to try something new.

Bobby is more of a jazz player and has a totally different perspective on piano. I played a song for him and he said: "Well, that is one way to play it. It was very vanilla." He is helping me explore more jazz extensions.

25 Songs

I set a goal to learn 25 songs so that I could play at a party I was hosting on November 24th. I ended up only playing four songs, but it was a good goal. I have most of them memorized, but I feel safer with the music. All things considered, I have made definite progress, but it sure takes a long time.

Here is the song llist:
· My Romance
· Autumn Leaves
· Killing Me Softly
· The Song Is You
· Polkadots And Moonbeams
· Here's That Rainy Day
· The Midnight Sun
· Misty*
· Someday My Prince Will Come
· The Way You Look Tonight
· My Shining Hour
· The Hill Street Blues Theme
· I'll Take Romance
· The Midnight Sun Will Never Set
· Like Someone In Love
· Tenderly
· This Masquerade
· But Beautiful
· Where Is Love?
· Long Ago And Far Away
· Stairway to Heaven
· I Should Care
· I'm Old Fashioned
· The Party Is Over
· Imagination
· Moonlight In Vermont
· Every Breath You Take

Show Business - Learn 50 Songs!!

I have a list of 50 songs that I want to play. I keep reviewing them over and over again, but it never seems practical to be playing more than 10 songs at a time before I forget the others. Maybe it comes with your level of musicianship?

I think "I Should Care" is my best achievement so far. I feel relaxed when I play it and I have incorporated a number of new techniques in playing it.

Learning 50 songs is one thing, but actually being able to play any one of them in a night is more difficult. Maybe I should keep practicing?

One Year of Lessons Later

I practice almost every day and I only missed one or two lessons since last year. I am revisiting the practice of enjoying the level I am at. I have to keep reminding myself this because I am frustrated it still takes so long to learn a song. After you "learn" a song, you then realize that you have only learned it with your present skill set. Then you have to "re-learn" then song as you progress.

With all that said, I still do not have my goal of 40 songs finished. The most obvoius thing to keep in mind is that when you play you are in "show business". You have to make it seem easy and fun, but the reality is that you have practiced that song over and over again. My point is that I learn a song and try to go back to it a week later, but I can't play without making a mistake.

So the lesson learned in my Piano Journey is that I will have to pick 10 songs and play them over and over again. Playing 10 songs may take more than 45 minutes! Once I can play 10, then I can increase that to 15 and so on........

A Year Later

It has been over a year since I wrote anything. I started this blog based on an assignment in a college Social Media Class. I didn't think I would find it valueable or continue blogging after the class, but now I want to continue.

Lesson 2/24/09 - The Second Beat

There is something different about the second beat that I haven't quite internalized. It is important to make the melody sing and the bass notes guide the song on the first beat. Then there is the second beat. It can be the filler notes and color that lead to the next chord or fill out the present chord. I was taught a measure where the second beat is a single 7th note in the left hand. I need to apply this more.

The first beat isn't always the most important beat. The second beat is needed to support the team effort.

Practice - What Do you Want to Do in LIfe?

I practiced only one hour today. Is that a lot or a little? There is only some much time in the day and you have to decide how much you really want to become a piano player. There is work, family, sports, working out and everything else that competes for your attention. I know I have to practice more and even more important, I have to prioritize the piano in my life. Do I really want to play out? I guess I haven't made that decision yet because I haven't prioritized piano. This is the point of Piano Journey.

Lesson 2/10: Bass and the Melody

We reviewed some music theory which can be endless. It is important to understand relative minors in relationship to the key. We talked about the scales that can be played in each key. Harmonic minor, major minor and relative minor. It will sink in eventually.

Revelations are quite obvious after you have them. Isabella says that people notice how she can make the melody sing out. Part of this is always playing the Bass and Melody a little stronger and then using the chord notes in between as more coloring, but never taking away from the melody. There is a purpose to the melody and the audience wants to really hear it.

Lesson 2/3/09 - Breathing

I took a yoga class followed by my piano lesson. Breathing in yoga and piano is important. The audience wants to hold their breath in anticipation of music resolution.

Think about the audience breathing and grabbing their attention with the music so well that they stop everything, including breathing. Then feel them exhale as you bring resolution to the song.

Sometimes I rush through a song and forget to slow down and look for those parts where I can affect my audience's breathing. Just slow down and let the chords ring sometimes.

Lesson 1/27/09 - 13th Chords

I never paid attention to this chord. I was taught this chord in ending the song "Misty" and I can't believe I never paid attention. I am going to learn the chord in every key because it has so much character. I like to play a single note in the bass and then use the right hand to fill in the color.

Lesson 1/20/09 - Touch the Obvious

Ok every piano player has to go through the Hanon excercises. I have been reluctantly playing the first two excercises and all of my scales. Nobody ever told me to play them as soft as I could. I am playing as soft as I can, but still trying to have the pianisimo sound be even and clear.

Isabella told me that she thinks I am developing a touch for the piano. Gee, that only took a little over a year. The obvious stuff is sometimes so obvious that we miss it.

A Starting Point

I found a piano teacher on Craig's List and I started weekly lesson back in November 2008. I have gone almost every week and I still am amazed about how much I still learn every week.