Saturday, July 12, 2014
A Summary of Events SO FAR
Wow, this spring was a humdinger, characterized by a broken engagement, severe situational depression, and several moves. I totally got off-track with my thousand-hour goal, and stopped logging piano hours altogether for several months. That's OK though! I'm happier and healthier than I've perhaps ever been -- now that the infection has been cut out, the bad limb severed, the baggage cut loose ;) I've learned a ton about myself over this incredibly trying year -- about both my limits and attributes -- and I've come out better for it. I have a clearer idea of what to steer clear from now, and what it is I really want.
I'm not plagued by unnecessary about "the future" anymore. I had a conversation with other artistic 20-somethings last night that led to futuristic, career-talk and caused me to realize how happily free I am of career-related angst these days. ;) I'm more concerned with everyday habits and goals. I've been eating right, exercising, taking joy in the outdoors, and in general feeling in-control, self-assured, and more "grown-up" than ever. :D
In general I've been doing a lot more creative things lately, including writing and drawing. The biggest plus though, is that I've formed a band that plays my music (!).
We've played 2 shows since forming in March, and have another coming up on August 1st. We've also begun recording a demo album. I get such a high from playing and recording -- it really lifts my spirits like nothing else can, and my band-mates are incredibly talented, amiable, and driven folks. This whole year I've been surrounded by incredible dysfunctionality (as an English major I reserve the right to make up words when necessary) and it's a relief to be around basically contented people whose lives hum along without too much drama and discord. :)
I've no idea how many hours of piano I've played this spring and summer -- I'll log some of those, but I won't be able to count most of them towards my 1000 - hour goal :( That's okay! I'll know (if I reach my three-year goal) that I played more hours in reality - BONUS!
I'm feeling good; my musical wheels are spinning -- my life is my own again.
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The Nitty-Gritty
Right now I'm working on expanding my knowledge of the scales -- I say the numbers of flats/sharps when I play them -- I have been looking for relationships between keys, etc.
Wednesday, Friday, and today I played an hour; I played two hours on Thursday.
I'm looking for a cool log widget online so I can have a nice visual 'X' for each day played, but instead I might take a weekly picture of the "analog" log I have going to chart my progress -- I looove seeing x's of progress :)
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Hour 2
Yesterday I spent the hour improvising on the Blues in G and A, starting out on some of my favorite songs, like "House of the Rising Sun," "Summertime," and "Feelin' Good." I really need to branch out on Blues scales -- I have "learned" more scales but I don't have them down well enough to improvise on them. It's time to take the songs I've learned by heart and transpose them in all the keys. (Goal!)
Today I picked a piece by Bach I've been eying for some time, the second movement of Beethoven's Sonata No. 8 in C minor (Pathetique) to start working on. The second movement seems firmly within my skill level, and I want to use the piece to focus on my technique.
(Listen to someone really good play the second movement.)
After practicing the first few stanzas I practiced sight reading with some good 'ol Lutheran hymns.
Tomorrow I'm going to sign up for more lessons from a teacher I studied with last summer. He's fairly light on technique but really great when it comes to teaching accompaniment to jazz, blues, and rock. Woot!
Today I picked a piece by Bach I've been eying for some time, the second movement of Beethoven's Sonata No. 8 in C minor (Pathetique) to start working on. The second movement seems firmly within my skill level, and I want to use the piece to focus on my technique.
(Listen to someone really good play the second movement.)
After practicing the first few stanzas I practiced sight reading with some good 'ol Lutheran hymns.
Tomorrow I'm going to sign up for more lessons from a teacher I studied with last summer. He's fairly light on technique but really great when it comes to teaching accompaniment to jazz, blues, and rock. Woot!
Saturday, February 15, 2014
One Thousand Days of Keys
The other day a radio program about confidence. To build real confidence, the interviewed expert said, a person has to accomplish a task -- the more challenging the better. Compliments from others or white lies don't help build true confidence. Putting your mind to something and succeeding does.
I also remember hearing about Paleo, aka David Strackany, a musician who wrote a song a day for a year. Strackany at one point stated that before starting the project he was in a low, depressed, place, while after he completed it, he was "on a cloud."
I also recently went through a pretty hard times, partly due to lack of confidence in myself and my talents, and lack of dedication. I know I am talented, that I have potential as an artist -- I like my ideas, in writing, art, and music, and I am proud of them. My greatest desire is to express the ideas that move me, that are wonderful to me -- to cogently and beautifully present them to the world in a way I can be proud of. I also know, however, that lack of confidence and the inability to finish projects is a crippling disability (for me, and any artist), and it threatens to kill my art.
Part of my lack of confidence comes from a real lack of skill. When I write music I find myself limited by how fast and rhythmically my fingers can travel across the keys, by how many mistakes I make while painfully getting the ideas from my head to consistently travel through to my hands. It's a frustrating and demoralizing lack of skill.
When the getting-of-the-ideas in my head out into the real world is hampered by that lack of skill, I get discouraged, and then I'm more likely to put my music aside for some other project, or for some other person. (And that's never a great step towards for artistic goals OR towards maintaining healthy relationships).
Another thing is, art has little room for those who lack confidence. One of the first times I got on stage (playing cover songs on my guitar) I was terrified and didn't hide it too well. The bartender and owner told me later that I was "good" but that I didn't seem very confident. When I responded with a chagrined, "yeah, I know I lack confidence" he then asked me why I would get in front of people if I didn't think I was great.
(You can hear one of the songs I cover here.)
It struck me then that if you get on stage without confidence, you run the risk of alienating the audience. They might think you're insincere, that this is false modesty that you're displaying to win them over. Or they may think you're no good -- and if you clearly don't believe you have something worth sharing, why the hell would you waste their time? Either of those things will put people off.
The next time I ever play a single note for an audience, I want it to be with enough confidence and preparation that I can quit even thinking about myself, and just think about playing fantastic music and entertaining others. I want to help people enjoy themselves without worrying about me.
That's why I'm starting a new project. I've already been taking a hiatus from performing, but like I said, I don't ever want to get on stage again unless I am truly confident I have something great to share and am fully capable of sharing it exactly in the way I want to.
For the next three years, until February 15th, 2017 I will play piano for one hour every day, until I have played 1,000 hours. There are no other parameters to my goal -- I can spend the time playing Bach, Thelonius Monk, or my own stuff -- I can improvise, practice scales, or study theory -- but I must to play at least one hour.
I can take breaks. There are 1096 days from today until February 15th three years from now, and the extra 96 days represent days that I can rest on (approximately every 11th day could be a "rest" day). If I play more than one hour in a day that's okay, too, and those hours can be counted towards the final "one thousand." Since I'm not a professional musician, allowing breaks will allow me to keep, you know, making money for the beans, crackers, bread, cookies, noodles, tacos, curry, egg rolls, and other foods I have a compelling desire to consume everyday. Still, basic needs and other pesky distractions aside, in three years I should be a little bit better and a little more confident playing the piano.
I'll talk about how I'm coming along on this blog, link to new music I'm working on, and talk about whatever else catches my fancy and is remotely related to music. My mind can wonder, but I'll try to stay on task here -- sharing my project will help me be more successful.
For off-task ramblings, you can view my other blog, Serpentine Road, where you may find rants, movie reviews, poetry, and other miscellany.
One hour down, nine hundred and ninety-nine to go!
I also remember hearing about Paleo, aka David Strackany, a musician who wrote a song a day for a year. Strackany at one point stated that before starting the project he was in a low, depressed, place, while after he completed it, he was "on a cloud."
I also recently went through a pretty hard times, partly due to lack of confidence in myself and my talents, and lack of dedication. I know I am talented, that I have potential as an artist -- I like my ideas, in writing, art, and music, and I am proud of them. My greatest desire is to express the ideas that move me, that are wonderful to me -- to cogently and beautifully present them to the world in a way I can be proud of. I also know, however, that lack of confidence and the inability to finish projects is a crippling disability (for me, and any artist), and it threatens to kill my art.
Part of my lack of confidence comes from a real lack of skill. When I write music I find myself limited by how fast and rhythmically my fingers can travel across the keys, by how many mistakes I make while painfully getting the ideas from my head to consistently travel through to my hands. It's a frustrating and demoralizing lack of skill.
When the getting-of-the-ideas in my head out into the real world is hampered by that lack of skill, I get discouraged, and then I'm more likely to put my music aside for some other project, or for some other person. (And that's never a great step towards for artistic goals OR towards maintaining healthy relationships).
Another thing is, art has little room for those who lack confidence. One of the first times I got on stage (playing cover songs on my guitar) I was terrified and didn't hide it too well. The bartender and owner told me later that I was "good" but that I didn't seem very confident. When I responded with a chagrined, "yeah, I know I lack confidence" he then asked me why I would get in front of people if I didn't think I was great.
(You can hear one of the songs I cover here.)
It struck me then that if you get on stage without confidence, you run the risk of alienating the audience. They might think you're insincere, that this is false modesty that you're displaying to win them over. Or they may think you're no good -- and if you clearly don't believe you have something worth sharing, why the hell would you waste their time? Either of those things will put people off.
The next time I ever play a single note for an audience, I want it to be with enough confidence and preparation that I can quit even thinking about myself, and just think about playing fantastic music and entertaining others. I want to help people enjoy themselves without worrying about me.
That's why I'm starting a new project. I've already been taking a hiatus from performing, but like I said, I don't ever want to get on stage again unless I am truly confident I have something great to share and am fully capable of sharing it exactly in the way I want to.
For the next three years, until February 15th, 2017 I will play piano for one hour every day, until I have played 1,000 hours. There are no other parameters to my goal -- I can spend the time playing Bach, Thelonius Monk, or my own stuff -- I can improvise, practice scales, or study theory -- but I must to play at least one hour.
I can take breaks. There are 1096 days from today until February 15th three years from now, and the extra 96 days represent days that I can rest on (approximately every 11th day could be a "rest" day). If I play more than one hour in a day that's okay, too, and those hours can be counted towards the final "one thousand." Since I'm not a professional musician, allowing breaks will allow me to keep, you know, making money for the beans, crackers, bread, cookies, noodles, tacos, curry, egg rolls, and other foods I have a compelling desire to consume everyday. Still, basic needs and other pesky distractions aside, in three years I should be a little bit better and a little more confident playing the piano.
I'll talk about how I'm coming along on this blog, link to new music I'm working on, and talk about whatever else catches my fancy and is remotely related to music. My mind can wonder, but I'll try to stay on task here -- sharing my project will help me be more successful.
For off-task ramblings, you can view my other blog, Serpentine Road, where you may find rants, movie reviews, poetry, and other miscellany.
One hour down, nine hundred and ninety-nine to go!
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