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.