December 18

I did my in-class presentation on Thursday and I think I did really well. I learned a lot from the Google Project. I learned how much I like the piano and how difficult it is to learn a new instrument. The hardest parts of this project for me were learning to read two lines at once, learning how to read bass clef, and playing a different rhythms on each hand at the same time. Even though it took me a while to learn how to do each of these things I finally did get it and it made me very proud of myself! I've gained a new respect for piano players as well. I really enjoyed doing this project and I plan on continuing with the piano. I like how I can play an entire song by myself and have it be a full song with the bass and the melody! I really enjoyed this project and I hope we continue the Google Project next semester as well!

December 8

I am still working up to a faster speed. The class presentations are next week on Tuesday and Thursday! I am really nervous! (but excited at the same time). Having the tape off does help me to play faster so I think that not relying on it is a good thing. I've started thinking about what music I can work on next semester as well, I think I should pick out only two though and just play whatever I feel like when I am not working on those two.

November 30

I took the tape off of the keys today and played through "Part of Your World" perfectly! I think it was even faster than it is with the tape on. I guess the tape just made me second guess myself. I am extremely proud that I can play the piano now with no help (even if it is only from tape!) And I am excited to show off what I have been working on to the class in two weeks!

November 27

I have started playing "Part of Your World" more, in order to prepare for class presentations. I can play the entire piece perfectly! Now I am working on getting it to go faster. Even though I cut nearly two pages from the song, it still takes 4-5 minutes to play it through. So now I'm just trying to play it faster (and still play it correctly)! I play other songs when I get tired of playing "Part of Your World". The other day I was playing from an old piano book we have. I like playing the piano because I can play without accompaniments. And sight reading is a lot easier for me on the piano (but that is probably because I play songs that I know...)!

November 14

So when I was playing the piano yesterday played through all of "Part of Your World" and when the song was over I realized that I had played the entire song without the tape on the keys! (I put tape on the keys and write the notes name on the tape) I am really proud of how far I have come since the beginning of this project! I am still having problems though when I try to play "The Impossible Dream". I am taking it slowly and playing just the left hand a few times, and then just the right hand a few times, but when I play both hands at one I mess up and have to start all over! But I will keep working on it and hopefully by the end of this semester I will have mastered that song as well. I haven't only been playing the songs that I decided on at the beginning of this project. I have been sight reading a lot of the music we have at home (my sister plays the piano and so we have a lot of piano books) and I think that I am getting better at sight reading and getting the notes right from the start of the song! I will be working on "The Impossible Dream" for another week or two and then I want to start "I Dreamed a Dream". Even though the Google Projects end in December, I plan on playing the piano after that as well. I really like playing the piano and I think that I am really getting the hang of it!

October 15 - November 4

I have switched from "A Spoonful of Sugar" because it was completely awful and didn't even sound like the real song. I have started practicing "The Impossible Dream" instead. I really like this song except the third page. The left and right hands have different parts and I have never played sixteenth notes with my left hand. For our classes "Google Day" I worked on that part for almost an hour and I can sort-of do it but it's not a consistent thing.

 I have taken a picture of the third page, so if you have any helpful hints, that would be great!

I have been practicing "Part of Your World" continually because I like it so much (I have also decided that this will be the song that I play for the class in December). The song is actually about twice as long as what I have been playing. In order to save the class (and myself) a lot of time I cut out two pages, because it is mostly repeats of the other stuff anyway.

And I will add videos of "The Impossible Dream" and the revised "Part of Your World" but my computer isn't letting me add them at the moment....

October 14

I am moving on from "Part of you World", but as I am working on other songs I will still continue to play it, preparing for the in-class presentation in December. Here is part of the song, I'm sorry that the camera doesn't have the best sound quality!

I also sight read "A Spoonful of Sugar". It was awful! So I will go back to that later and try one of the other songs that I picked out, maybe one of those two is a lot easier!

October 1- October 11

I have been working on using my left and right hand together for the past week and a half. In band I play the clarinet, so I can read the treble clef notes. But the left hand is in bass clef, so I am having trouble reading the notes for that. I wrote in all of the note names on the music so that I can still play with my left hand. But when I try to play without the written in notes I get lost and I can't play it right. I can now go through all of "Part of your World" using both hands and keeping a steady pace! I will continue to practice it until the end of the week and then I will switch to just the right hand of "A Spoonful of Sugar" and I will work my way into using both hands again. I am really enjoying playing the piano! I like how I can play multiple notes at once and how I can make the entire song and not need other instruments to back me up! It's really fun.       

September 29

Today as I was working on "Part of your World", I started to be really concerned about how it was sounding. The notes just didn't sound right together. After a while I remembered what Mr. Matthys always tells us before starting a piece, LOOK AT THE KEY SIGNATURE! It turns out that "Part of your World" is in F-sharp! After  realizing that I marked in all of the sharps. This time when I played it, it sounded right (only I play it really slow, and I'm still only using my right hand). Tomorrow when I practice I will add in my left hand!

September 28

I began with the song from The Little Mermaid, 'Part of you World',  because of the songs I have picked, this seems to be the easiest to start out with. My mom is teaching me how to play, so for right now I have tape marking each of the keys notes. By the end of this project I hope to be able to play without using the tape. This is going to be especially hard for me though because I don't know how to read the notes for the left hand (because it is not in treble clef). I tried to sight read this piece but I didn't have much success with the right hand and the left hand going at the same time. It's hard for me to be reading two lines at once!

September 28

After looking through a lot of piano books I have found four songs that I like and that are at a level that I could be at by December. My song choices are:

PART OF YOUR WORLD from The Little Mermaid,

I DREAMED A DREAM from Les Miserables (taken from the glee piano book),

A SPOONFUL OF SUGAR from Mary Poppins, and

THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM from Man of La Mancha (taken from The Most Beautiful Broadway Ballads piano book).

Laker Band Google Project

For my Google Project I will be learning how to play the piano! I have always wanted to learn how to play but I never got around to it. My plan for this project is to practice during the time given to us in class and also at home for at least 30 minutes five days a week.