Keeping my head up and moving forward with my slow and steady pace, I did make a bit of a progress and learnt a few new concepts this past week.
I had a chance to learn about these interesting numbers that one would see at the start of a line when looking at a music sheet. These symbols are called time signatures that tell how many beats are in a measure. I was mainly focusing on 3/4 and 4/4. In a 3/4 measure you’d count 1, 2, 3 and in a 4/4 measure you’d count 1, 2, 3, 4 with a major accent on 1 and a fairly minor accent on 3 in the 4/4 measure.
Although there are other time signatures in piano, such as 2/4 and 6/8, at this point I am only ready to demonstrate the 3/4 and 4/4 measures in my weekly podcast through the “Theme by Mozart” and “Party Time” songs.
Another new concept I became familiar with is the interval. Interval is the space between two notes used to create different feelings. Intervals are called 2nd (C to D), 3rd (C to E), 4th (C to F), 5th (C to G), 6th (C to A), 7th (C to B), the octave (C to C) depending on how many spaces are between the keys. There are two kinds of intervals, when the keys are played separately it is called melodic interval, and when played simultaneously, it is called harmonic interval.
Since I am only focusing on the white keys at this point, I am planning to learn more about intervals as well as continue to work on finger independence through various finger exercises. This is going to be my goal probably for the next year. Lol
I am also planning to speed up my sight reading through BAGE Mad Minutes that I learnt about from Daina Seymour’s blog. I am also determined to play the 2 octave with parallel hands. After three weeks, I am at the point where I am getting mad with this thing. How is it possible that I can play it with separate hands, but cannot put it together? I hope I will have some good news for you by the end of next week.
Thank you for being part of my journey, keeping me strong with your kind words and encouragement and sharing wonderful ideas that help me move forward. As a sign of my appreciation I’d like to end this blog with a piano joke:
Thanks for reading my blog! Stay tuned 🙂
Great joke, Melinda! Haha! On a more serious note, I know it can be very frustrating trying to coordinate your hands — having said that, it is actually a very difficult skill to learn! Don’t be too hard on yourself. The songs on your podcast sound great, and it will come with lots of practice!!
Thank you Daisy for your encouragement. Sometimes it is hard to see the baby steps 🙂
I admire your courage at the depth you are jumping into music theory. I am always fascinated at how much there is to learn about music. I love to talk with people about it, and often leave inspired to once again delve into it. Each time however I am met with a sudden case of narcolepsy and wake up in the morning with very little recollection of my former and short-lived ambition. May your reach always exceed your grasp. 🙂
Thanks for your comment, Brad! I am “jumping” into music theory because my teacher is making me. Haha With the abundance of online resources, I would have given up a long time ago. I need scaffolding to figure out my own path.
Awesome job, Melinda! I am so impressed with how much you are learning. I feel slightly behind in my piano learning when I look at what you’ve accomplished this week… haha. I am also trying to improve my skills with reading sheet music like you are. Thank you so much for sharing the resource that you got from Daina! I am totally going to use it! I am so glad we are on this journey together. Thanks for sharing, and thanks for the great joke 🙂
Thank you Amanda,
I am so happy that I was able to pass along a great resource that might be helpful for you. Keep it up! 🙂
Melinda
Hello Melinda
Congrats on the progress you continue to achieve towards your project!
Since I don’t have a single musical bone in my entire body, I can’t offer you any support with advice to help you. HOWEVER, I was curious about your question of “how is it possible that I can play it with separate hands, but not put it together?” So, I went to REDDIT and found this thread
https://www.reddit.com/r/piano/comments/32pl0z/i_cant_play_with_both_hands/
Who knew that there is an entire sub-reddit dedicated to piano playing!
Maybe there will be some answers that will give you the additional coaching you need?
Good luck. I look forward to your next post 🙂
Thank you so much, Nancy! This is great! I am not trying to be mean, but it is good to know that I am not the only one struggling with this. Playing excruciatingly slow, exactly what my piano teacher’s advice was. I cannot wait to show in my next podcast the slowest ever 2 octave. Haha
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