This week was frustrating! As I stated last week, I was playing songs such as Mary Had a Little Lamb and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, but this week I think I became a little too ambitious. This week I played the song “All of Me” by John Legend. At first glance, I thought that this song would be more at my level because it was more difficult, but I felt that it was something I could play. Well, it was definitely more difficult! The song had four flats in it! I had to work my brain far harder than I did last week to remember the notes, the flats, and how to properly move my fingers. I have the video of me playing linked below, and honestly hearing it back is so rewarding because I can hear major progress in my playing!

I used time-lapse on my phone to document my learning. I have never used time-lapse before, but I am glad I did this week. A time-lapse option is included in the iPhone camera, and it takes a picture every few minutes. I think that this is a very helpful tool to use in the classroom to document the progress of something that is constantly changing. An example could include growing a plant in class. The plant wouldn’t look very different to the naked eye from day to day because the students will always be looking at it, but if there was a time-lapse of the plant the students could see the months of growth within a few moments.  I think that because the students can see the process of the plant growing through the time-lapse this tool would be in the redefinition area. Because of the time-lapse, students can see the plant’s growth, flowers bloom, fruit appears, and leaves die. They can see the life cycle of the plant and they might not notice the significant change if not for the time-lapse.

When I made the time-lapse on my phone, I was able to see my progress. The only problem with the time-lapse is that I couldn’t hear my progress. This makes lots of sense because a time-lapse is just multiple images that make a video. When I finished practicing, I was very frustrated with myself, and I felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere but when I watched my time-lapse back, I saw that I put a whole lot of work in, and I was proud of myself!  I don’t think I would use this tool again to document my progress in piano, mainly because it is important to be able to hear the piano. However, I think that the time lapse would be a lot of sense in situations that do not require sound.

The other internet tool I used today was an app called “MuseScore”. This app has piano sheet music, but it also plays the music with you. I also found the app helpful because it included the words with music. When I played the note, I would sing the corresponding lyric (not very well may I add). This helped me because I could hear if a note was off depending on where I was in the song. There were some issues with this app. First and foremost, the app has in-app purchases, and as seen in the video below they pop up at inopportune times. If you paid for the subscription, you wouldn’t have the apps.

This is the sheet music from MuseScore

Thanks for reading, you’re a gem ?