Distractions

I'm a little disappointed in myself for not sticking to the practice goal of one hour a day. I've still been hitting my mark with the scales and Hanon exercises though.

I feel a little fuzzy and distracted. The last couple of days have been interesting in non-musical ways. I'm hoping it's a permanent distraction, but I guess only time will tell.

I think it's curious how success, with me, breeds distraction. I realized how easier it is to learn scales by grouping them according to their fingering. Playing D major was a piece of cake because I've already practiced C and G. I should have moved on to another topic, but instead I just started doing something else.

Oh well, there's always tomorrow.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Homes

Minor Frustrations

Yesterday I attempted to blog about Hanon Exercises 1 and 2, the scales I practiced, and most importantly the rhythm exercises I started doing. It wasn't until 11:55 last night that I realized that my blog didn't post.

I spent a whole paragraph talking about how I much I liked working on rhythms, and what I was doing to improve my gross motor skills. I practiced with octaves in each hand, C in the left and E in the right. I was blissful, even in the moment of writing it. I got up out of bed just to read what I wrote again only to find that it didn't post. (I might as well enjoy my own writing, since I have no subscribers.)

I think it was my iPhone, or more correctly, BlogPress, which is the app I use to post. I've typed this blog the "old-fashioned" way just to be safe.

Today I plan to practice the scales I mentioned in a previous post, more rhythms, and to continue working on Hanon Exercises 1 and 2 so that I can move on to 3 by the end of the week.

It all begins tomorrow

Tomorrow begins my challenge for 2010. I started thinking yesterday about where this all will lead. Experience over the past couple of years has shown me that I'm pretty good at goal setting and achieving. It has also shown me that as soon as I reach one goal, I set another one, and begin working towards it with as much doubt and confusion as all of the other ones.

Whether I choose to be optimistic or pessimistic, I have decided that being systematic will help me the
most. I'm going to start with scales and chords, then move to progressions in C, Bb, and Eb. I also want to make sure that I can play out of a fake book with ease by the end of the year.

I will use the next three weeks to learn the fingerings of all the major scales and arpeggios in both hands over two octaves. The book I have breaks them into three groups based on the postion of the fourth finger. Next weeks scales will be C, G, D, A, and E. They all use the fourth finger on the 7th degree of the scale (in the right hand).

Tomorrow I will post the actual breakdown of my practice routine by minutes. I'm going to only do an hour a day at the piano for now, and do additional reading to refresh my memory on theory and harmony.

Tomorrow, Tomorrow. . .


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Home