Listening

After I have finished playing "Linus and Lucy", I will be working on "The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin. This piece, and my progress on it can be found here

This link is my practice of Habanera from Carmen.

This page contains some research on styles of learning and playing piano.

This is my progress on the Led Zeppelin song Black Dog

Strawberry Fields Forever

Swan Lake media type="scribd" key="49391929" ARG0="key-1envamova2mtwi2xohu0" height="600" width="800" I am going to be working on a song in this book called "Linus and Lucy" because it presents a challenge, and is fairly advanced, but not so much so that it will be impossible for me to learn. It have heard this song before, so I will be able to tell if I am making any mistakes with my reading, which should be helpful in the learning process. I plan on practicing the left and right hand parts individually, until I am comfortable enough with both to combine them. I will work on this song until I can play it at the speed at which it is meant to be played, and without any mistakes.

My goal is being able to play this piece exactly like this: media type="youtube" key="JgoPl35n_AY?fs=1" height="390" width="480"

Feb 23- //This is my first attempt at playing the left hand part of "Linus and Lucy". I was fairly pleased that I got it so quickly.// media type="file" key="lucy left hand.mp3" width="240" height="20"

//This is my first attempt at playing the right hand part of "Linus and Lucy". This was slightly more difficult than the left hand part, as it involves some awkward shifts in hand position which I think will become easier with practice.// media type="file" key="lucy righthand1.mp3" width="240" height="20"

//This is me practicing the right hand part of "Linus and Lucy". It is very chunky and I hope to make it smoother by practicing.// media type="file" key="lucy righthand2.mp3" width="240" height="20"

//Here is more practice of the left hand part. My theory is that if I play the part over and over, it will begin to become automatic. This is good, because I am not able to play both the right and left hand parts when thinking about each one individually, rather, I must focus on one part and let my hand automatically play the other. This, I think, can be easily achieved with "Linus and Lucy", as the left hand part is fairly repetitive and simple.// media type="file" key="lucy left.mp3" width="240" height="20"

//This is me practicing the right hand part some more, you can hear after about a minute I begin to become more comfortable with the part. I am encouraged by how fast I am picking up this piece, I thought it would take a couple of days before I was able to play the right hand part at any speed. I am still very far from my final goal, however.// media type="file" key="lucy right.mp3" width="240" height="20"

Feb 24- //This is my first attempt today at the left hand part// media type="file" key="left hand warmup1.mp3" width="240" height="20"

//This is my first attempt today at the right hand part// media type="file" key="righ1.mp3" width="240" height="20"

//After messing up a lot on my first try, I played the right hand part slower// media type="file" key="right2.mp3" width="240" height="20"

//This is my attempt at playing the right hand fill// media type="file" key="rightpart4.mp3" width="240" height="20"

Feb 28- //This is my first attempt at playing the beginning of the piece with the left and right hand parts separated// media type="file" key="1.mp3" width="240" height="20"

//This is me practicing the right hand fill// media type="file" key="2.mp3" width="240" height="20"

//This is me practicing the right hand part (as far as I've gotten so far)// media type="file" key="3.mp3" width="240" height="20"

//Now I speed up the initial right hand part to try and get my muscles to remember it better// media type="file" key="4.mp3" width="240" height="20"

Mar 1- //Left hand first attempt// media type="file" key="lefthand.mp3" width="240" height="20"

//Right hand first attempt// media type="file" key="righthand.mp3" width="240" height="20"

//This is the first time I've tried adding the key change in the left hand// media type="file" key="left.mp3" width="240" height="20"

//Right hand practicing// media type="file" key="right.mp3" width="240" height="20"

//Here I am just practicing the transition from the first to the second hand position for the right hand part// media type="file" key="transition.mp3" width="240" height="20"

Mar 2- //Left hand first attempt// media type="file" key="left.mp3" width="240" height="20"

//Right hand first attempt (it's hard to play this piece with band-aids on my fingers, they keep slipping)// media type="file" key="right.mp3" width="240" height="20"

//Left hand both parts// media type="file" key="left2.mp3" width="240" height="20"

//Right hand slower// media type="file" key="right2.mp3" width="240" height="20"

//Right hand practice// media type="file" key="right3.mp3" width="240" height="20"

Mar 4- //Right hand first try// media type="file" key="righthand.mp3" width="240" height="20" //Left hand first try// media type="file" key="lefthand.mp3" width="240" height="20" //This is the first time I tried combining the left and right hand parts. I was not thrilled with the result.// media type="file" key="both.mp3" width="240" height="20" //Right hand part, octave higher// media type="file" key="righthandhigh.mp3" width="240" height="20"

Mar 8- //Both hands first try (I practiced a lot over the weekend)// media type="file" key="linuslucy.mp3" width="240" height="20" //Practicing// media type="file" key="linuslucy2.mp3" width="240" height="20" //Playing the fill with both hands for the first time// media type="file" key="linuslucyfill.mp3" width="240" height="20" //Practicing the entire piece with both hands for the first time// media type="file" key="linuslucy3.mp3" width="240" height="20" //More Practice// media type="file" key="linuslucy4.mp3" width="240" height="20"

Mar 9- //Practice// media type="file" key="linuslucy.mp3" width="240" height="20" //Practicing faster// media type="file" key="linuslucyfaster.mp3" width="240" height="20" //More faster practice// media type="file" key="linuslucyfaster2.mp3" width="240" height="20" //Practicing slower// media type="file" key="linuslucy2.mp3" width="240" height="20" //More slower practice// media type="file" key="linuslucy3.mp3" width="240" height="20"

Mar 10- //Practice// media type="file" key="l.mp3" width="240" height="20" //More practice// media type="file" key="li.mp3" width="240" height="20" //Even more practice// media type="file" key="lin.mp3" width="240" height="20" //Even even more practice// media type="file" key="linu.mp3" width="240" height="20"

Mar 14- //Practice// media type="file" key="linuslucy.mp3" width="240" height="20" //More practice// media type="file" key="linuslucy2.mp3" width="240" height="20" //Practicing a bit slower// media type="file" key="linuslucy3.mp3" width="240" height="20" //Some more practice// media type="file" key="linuslucy4.mp3" width="240" height="20"