Been way too long since I had an update here so here's what's been going on with me:
Jan: Probably practiced the same 2-3 songs I picked up from Flowkey every other day. Was partway through
Music Theory for Dummies. Was doing a popular Udemy course to learn piano.
Feb: Baaaaaaasically finished
Music Theory for Dummies, very insightful book up until it started getting into what I consider reference material (or at least, material much too advanced for me to worry about memorizing right now.) Got 29% of the way through my Udemy course before putting it on pause.
Mar: Too busy, unfocused and depressed to even keep up practicing the couples songs I had finally learned. Near total degradation of muscle memory, though a lot of the concepts in the Music Theory book have surprisingly stuck around in my head. Joined TakeLessons Live intending to cancel after the trial period, but I've kept it up even though I rarely attend the group classes. Just having them available at different skill levels and at different times is a cognitive load off.
TakeLessons Live is the scheduled-livestream group class offering, but the original use of TakeLessons was finding online or local language/music teachers. After literally weeks of research, weighing options including in-person vs. online factoring in cost and convenience, and a bunch of last-minute bookmark checking, I chose a 1-on-1 private piano teacher and paid for ten 45-minute lessons, to be attended online every Thursday. In addition, he agreed that the last 15 minutes of each lesson can instead be focused on vocal and singing training, as he offers lessons for that too. What can I say, I want to kill karaoke.
Apr: Lesson #1, my first real piano (and vocal) session, was April 4th.
I was nervous but in the end I fucking love my teacher, he's so chill, he had to give me extra time since we spent 10 minutes geeking out about Linux and The Matrix.
...
I attended Lesson #2 on the 11th, but didn't really have much to practice although we did make some good progress. Unfortunately, due to events I may post in the Struggle Thread, I had to cancel the next three weeks of classes.
I didn't practice either.
May: I knew I was in danger of losing this passion if not forever, then at least for a long time, and that scared me more than the anxiety of facing my teacher after three weeks of no practice and in fact full regression of our first two lessons. So I sucked it up and signed on for Lesson #3, we recapped and got back up to speed much quicker than I expected, and I was honest with him about my possible need for concrete "homework" to practice on. All good stuff and after this first lesson "back" I bought the book he was teaching from:
Adult Piano Adventures (Volume 1.)From my perspective, I was playing some pretty complex songs in December/January, especially compared to the early material my teacher and I are working through now, but I'm honestly happy to be going through the basics a bit more deliberately and with a guide to boot. In addition, I feel like I've gotten a good grasp at some of the various methods of teaching piano playing, or possibly music in general, after: having a real teach, taking an impersonal online video course, attending group livestream classes, watching YouTube videos, using the Synthesia-like app's guided "courses," and reading
Music Theory for Dummies. For instance, only one of those "sources" introduces black keys immediately, which I find interesting.
I didn't practice in the week leading up to Lesson #3, but I vowed to rectify that. And I have -- between Lessons #3 and 4 I practiced almost every day for more than 20 minutes, though there was a day I only did 3 mins.
Lesson #4 was where I felt like we finally moved past the really babby stuff and now we're onto like, kindergarten concepts like ottavas, thirds/skips, and sheet music comprehension.
I'm really excited about that last one (sheet music.) After Lesson #4 I skipped ahead in my book to the next song ("Camptown Races," doo-dah) after my current homework, and it was the first song since I started learning last December where the sheet music was guiding my hands more than just my raw muscle memory, and it wasn't half bad for a first-time stumble-through. My familiarity with the song may have helped too, but for the first time I'm really associating the notes on the staff with the keys on the keyboard.
Now I just need to get faster.
Aaaaand that's my update for now, Lesson #5 is in three days and I've moved ahead of my homework by another song, "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" by a little guy called Mozart. This one's pretty hard for my
stupid fingers, so I'm taking it slow and doing each hand at a time. I'm hoping I can learn it and surprise my teacher Thursday. I also plan to attend an online group lesson by my same teacher tomorrow.