Practice today, by Ritsumei on 05/23/2005, 22:52:26

Piano: 60ish min. in 2 chunks. Mostly playing with chords, some primary songs.

Banjo: 10 min. Doesn't hurt as bad today, but my LH isn't very coordinated! I also keep thumping the banjo's head with the pick on my thumb.

LJP Journal: Ritsumei

  • 06/01/2005 - Practice today:

    Piano: 45 min. The Entertainer, Bach's 8th Invention, Do As I'm Doing- with some fun licks, and some work from my new Stride Piano book, now that I've got it back from Dave. Banjo: 15 min. I think I'm going to have to take 2 or 3 days off, since my fingers hurt - I've got a blister on the right hand from the pick, and my brand new calous on my LH middle finger is trying to peel. But, I did manage to do some today. I've started working on picking, which I really enjoy. I want to find a Amin chord, for ope...

  • 06/01/2005 - New challenges

    Well, Dave's gone now. I think that maybe as much as 1/2 of the purpose of having a teacher (for me at this point) is having someone who will be able to hear it if I don't practice. I'm a little concerned about it, actually. But with my husband working on getting a new job, there's not tons of point in getting a new teacher just yet. Anyway, at my last lesson with Dave there was SO MUCH information!! He gave me pages and pages of information, saying that he thought that it'd probably keep me busy for th...

  • 05/24/2005 - Practice

    Andy got a call and was made to go to work just as we were getting ready to go out & do some things. Bummed me right out. As a result, I fooled around with "Across the Stars" - Anikin & Padme's theme. Nice and minor. Then I played with my own minor improv thingy. That turned out well. Probably because in addition to getting better at this, I don't know as much about minor keys, so I wasn't thinking so much as I usually have been. Just playing. I liked it. But then I was tired of the minor stuff - starting t...

  • 05/23/2005 - Second to last lesson

    Met with Dave tonight. We had fun. He asked me what I've done with the alterations we talked about (I think that's the right term - b3's, b's, b7's in the chords & scales) I've been frusterated with that very thing, although the basic chords & extensions/inversions he showed me are getting better as I find them around that circle. Anyway, I've been so frusterated with the alterations & licks because I "don't have anything to hang them on" is what I said. So far everything that I've been improvising is sl...

  • 05/23/2005 - Practice today

    Piano: 60ish min. in 2 chunks. Mostly playing with chords, some primary songs. Banjo: 10 min. Doesn't hurt as bad today, but my LH isn't very coordinated! I also keep thumping the banjo's head with the pick on my thumb.

  • 05/23/2005 - Practice yesterday:

    Piano: 50 min - Hannons (20 min mm64), jazz chords, The Entertainer...

  • 05/19/2005 - Practice

    Bummer - yesterday's practice didn't get recorded- guess that's what I get for leaving it for so long before I saved it... Today: [b]Piano[/b] - 5 min Hannon; 20 min The Entertainer; 10 min Rondo alla Turka; 10 min Jazz chords- D & started A. [b]Banjo[/b] - 15 min G, D7, little bit of C.

  • 05/17/2005 - This is tricky business

    I've decided that since I'm about to be without a teacher, that I need to keep track of my practice somewhere a little bit permanant, so I'm going to try keeping it here. We'll see how it works, as the computer is clear on the other side of the apartment. And speaking of the apartment, can I just take a moment and say that I can't wait to get a house! I was working on wandering my way around the circle, transposing the chords that Dave gave me, but its getting late, and there's kids downstairs, and I'm n...

  • 05/17/2005 - Practice today:

    5 min- (jazz?) chord based improv; 10 min- Hannons 1-3 mm64; 30 min- jazz chord transposing/improv...

  • 05/10/2005 - Progress

    Well, I think that I'm finally starting to feel some success with improvising. Not that Dave probably knows it. Last night we talked about proper voicing some more and we talked about alterations to the chords - the 5 with the flat 9, flat 7, sharp 5, that sort of thing, and some drilling on chord progressions, which was cool. But then he asked me to improvise a short little ditty to [i]use[/i] the stuff, and I just about freaked out. I calmed myself by reminding myself that this is why I have a teacher - t...

  • 05/04/2005 - Licks?

    Chuckle! I looked up "licks" in my cute litte music dictionary, and it says, "slang for a short melodic phrases." How... descriptive! I ended up wandering through melody - just to make sure that a melodic phrase wasn't some sort of strange new creature (I've met several strange new creatures recently - my theory background is sadly lacking, but improving), and then I endup wandering through polyphonic "an instrument able to sound 2 or more notes at the same time" and polyphony "when 2 or more melodi...

  • 05/04/2005 - I may not be toast after all :D

    I sat down this afternoon with the leading tones and the chords that Dave game me on Monday, and they made sense! I was excited, because the notes that I took in my book are a little less than coherant. I've decided that I need to re-copy most of the notes that I've taken in the lessons, along with the information parts of the theory lessons, into some kind of useable format. I'm seriously toying with the idea of getting my self a formal "theory book" once Dave's moved, but the thing that's great about lear...

  • 05/02/2005 - How'd you do that?

    I was right about practice being dismal right after Japan, but it lasted lots longer than I thought it would! We'd planned to go out to Utah immediately after arriving home from Japan, but had car problems and didn't. Anyway, you'd think that with an unexpected week in between getting home and my lesson I'd be doing pretty good. Not so! I was so jet lagged, it wasn't even close to funny. Anyway, I told Dave I wasn't going to be able to practice before I left, and he planned a whole bunch of theory for tonig...

  • 04/12/2005 - Almost Gone

    Well, yesterday night was my lesson and tonight I'm leaving for Japan. Not a good combination. But it's what I've got. I think that I'm starting to make some progress, which is exciting! Of course, this being new and entirely different, it's a bit slow and painful. But I did manage to jazz up "I Hope They Call Me on a Mission" some, which is lots of fun. He's given me a blues pattern, and we worked last night on walking bass, since my poor LH is so very clueless! For later, I also bought a stride book yeste...

  • 03/30/2005 - Not so hot

    Well, today's been pretty busy. I am getting ready for the recital that my students are doing next week, and that took up lots of my morning. What was left of the morning I used going to Barnes & Noble to find a Japanese phrase book for the trip to Japan I'm taking in 2 weeks. While I was there I picked up the book [u]The Art of Practicing[/u]. That looks to be a pretty good read. After I got back I went to lessons with some of those kids I'm working with, and from there to my other obsession - genealogy. I...

  • 03/28/2005 - Hello, Blues?

    Well, tonight, I said to Dave, "So, I've learned all those lovely chords, but what do I do with them?" And he [i]laughed[/i] at me. I guess that's a fair reaction, seeing as there seems to be a great deal that can be done with them! It's a shame that he's moving and I'll have to find another teacher. I rather like the one that I've got! Of course, if Andy gets the job he applied for, we'll move at the same time or before anyway. That would be a bummer, since I'll have to build up a new base of piano student...


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