Final Post: Mozart has Left the Building

     It's been a mighty quick 6 weeks and I felt that I finished off nicely with my Ted Talk. Preparing for my ted talk was pretty difficult. I had to make my power point and memorize my script in one night since states for FBLA took up a lot of my time, so I was up pretty late. In the morning I had a lot of caffeine in the form of red bull and coffee. First period I was straight up not having a good time, and felt very hyper but also very tired at the same time. Once I got on stage though, I felt good and was able to give my talk a lot better than I would've thought. Despite not having presented in front of anyone up until that point, I felt that I was able to show emotion and fluctuation in my voice more than I usually do. Before giving my talk I felt that I had made no progress, but after preparing it and presenting, I was convinced that I had actually done a lot over these 6 weeks.

     While creating my Ted Talk and realized that I accomplished more than I set out to do. For example I:

- Learned basic exercises
- Learned about the history of the piano
- Learned about famous pianists
- Learned about how the piano worked
- Learned a small amount about basic music theory
- Learned to play riffs from songs
- Learned to read sheet music
- Learned how to play a full song (of difficulty)

    Despite seeming like I achieved a lot, as I reflected I realized many of the accomplishments I made were brief, and I didn't really get to dive into and truly learn about some of the things I wanted to. Although I didn't really get to master some of the things I wanted to, I feel like I did a good job for having a short time frame. I also feel that by doing and learning about a variety of things, I was able to stay interested. Now that I don't have a time limit anymore, I can explore freely and get a better understanding of some of the things that peaked my interest. For example I really enjoyed learning about music theory and watching famous pianists, so maybe those are some things I can continue to learn about.

     At the beginning of this project, I chose to play the piano because I conveniently had a keyboard sitting in my attic and it sounded fun. I didn't believe I would ever play a song or even enjoy playing it that much. Through playing, many of these preconceived ideas changed, and I felt myself out of my comfort zone, but not hating it. I enjoyed playing an instrument and making music. It was something different and something I could be proud of. Over the course of this project, I didn't just build my skills, I also built my interest.

                                        

     These 6 weeks might be over, but I plan to try to continue playing the piano and getting better. With summer creeping up, it will be something cool to do when I am bored. Now that I have basic skills, I can start to learn more songs and build up my inventory. I may never be the next Mozart, but it would be cool to learn some harder songs and continue to get a little better. As of now I feel that my future on the piano is bright.

                                         

     This is it for my blog. I know many of you are probably shedding a tear as you realize that you won't be able to read about my journey anymore, but let me assure you that this is not the end of the road. I will try to continue to play and get better. It seemed like yesterday I was looking ahead and planning for the next 6 weeks, but all of a sudden I am looking back and reflecting. Its been a great experience and this has been a great project. It really gave me the opportunity to explore something new and find a new interest. It also gave me a chance to learn something different than the curriculum, and on top of learning something cool like playing the piano, I got to learn a lot about myself and my learning process. I believe many of the things I learned throughout this project will be important to me in the future. This project was one of the better ones this year and defiantly was the most beneficial.

     At this point I would like to say goodbye, and say thank you for reading my blog.
 

   

Post 4: The Final Countdown

                                 

     It has been a wondrous journey so far, and with my presentation creeping up on me, I am finishing up learning my first ever song on the piano (Clocks by Coldplay). This week I have had a bit going on, but have still been on the piano every night trying to learn. With this being my first song, there have been three tips I learned in the past that are really becoming crucial now. I have realized that some things are so much more important than I originally thought. These are:

1) Take things slow.

Clocks is a relatively fast song compared to everything else I have learned. It also requires a lot of finger movement across the piano. When I first attempted the song, I tried to learn it fast, but after deciding to break it down and take it slower, I was able to learn it. What I did was first go very slow to learn the notes, and then I would slowly speed it up until I could get it perfectly at the right speed. This may sound obvious, but it took a little while for me to realize the importance of it.

2) Play One Hand at a Time.

Clocks is played with two hands, and both hand's duties are fast and hard (that's what she said). Trying to learn both hands at the same time confused me and was very difficult. By mastering one hand at a time (specifically the right hand, or the melody first and then the left hand) I was able to learn the song a lot easier. 

3) Break the Song up Into Sections

When I first started trying to learn the song, I would find myself trying to learn to play a lot at one time. This would leave me confused and discouraged. I found it a lot easier to break my project up into small sections, and learning each one on top of another. So basically I would learn the first 4ish seconds, master it, and then start learning the next 4ish seconds, and add it on to what I had previously learned. This way I was learning the new part, practicing the old part and strengthening my transition between the section I had created all at one time.

     These things I had learned when playing my first song were a smoothie of previous tips, and just things I found to make things easier. I'm not sure if these are common tips, or unique to me, but they seemed to be very helpful. Now that I am attempting an actual song, I am seeing how I am adapting and changing my learning as I go along. It is really cool to see, because in the first week, I wasn't comfortable enough while playing to change anything I was doing. It is really cool to see how I am growing on the piano and changing my playing. Here is a video of me playing:

     I am defiantly learning a lot as I attempt my final goal. The problem is putting all of this into a neatly organized 5 minute presentation. While attempting to write my script I have run into lots of troubles. I have found myself re-writing my script several times in attempt to create something worth sharing. I have decided on a general theme of how all the knowledge we need to learn is right at our fingertips, and if you have an interest, dive right in and be a creator. It's sort of all about how we should all be doers and creators instead of observers, and that information is more accessible than ever. I know that this sounds sort of jumbled, and that is my trouble, but I think I am closing in on a good way of incorporating it all into my presentation. On top of this, I am also a bit nervous of playing and speaking on a stage in front of a lot of people, but I think I am just going to have to go out there and imagine they are all in their underwear (especially Sid).

     One more trouble I wish to share with you all is that I will be at an FBLA States competition from Sunday to Wednesday (leading up to the presentation). This takes away a lot of time I would've used to practice my presentation. That's why my goal is to try to get in some quality practice before the competition, and maybe while I'm there if I can find time. It's not all bad though because I get to go to Hershey Park while I am there. (Update: Me and my group at States + Adam and a Dancer guy in the bottom left:)

                        
       

     With that, I leave you all until after my presentation is complete. I know that many of you are saddened that there will only be one blog post after this, but I promise you all that it will be a quality post. Although I am very nervous for the presentation, and know it probably won't be my best, I will attempt to please my dedicated blog readers to the best of my ability. I am very proud of myself and everything I have learned so far, and never though it possible. I just really hope my presentation is able to math that success and excitement. Bye and see you on Friday.



More Sources:

TutorialsByHugo. "Coldplay - Clocks - Piano Tutorial + Sheets" Youtube.com, July 25, 2016.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4ZZPijmPNc 

Lima, Max. "Vladimir Horowitz: A Eminiscence (Documentary)" Youtube.com, July 27, 2017.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MUYHAgy3fg

eccentricXXX. "Art Tatum - Yesterdays" Youtube.com, September 6, 2008.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Cs_zb4q14

Was not able to create citation, but this website is good for finding free sheet music: https://musescore.com

Vlog Time

This week in place of my blog post I am going to entertain you with a vlog about my progress, inspirations and future plans. I will supply all my dedicated readers with a midweek blog post though so that you don't miss out on any exciting details. This week i am learning to play "Clocks", by Coldplay, which will be my first full song that I learn. Without further ado, here is my vlog:

Genius Project Vlog 2 from jake on Vimeo.

Post 3: I Got the Keys

   When I first laid my hands on a piano, the sound that spewed out was simply breathtaking. I think it is best described by my personal hero and our supreme leader Mr. Donald J. Trump,  "It's tangible, it's solid, it's beautiful. It's artistic, from my standpoint." Music is something you can hear, but also feel. It is a unique experience that can be appreciated by anyone. When I heard this elegant sound I took it as it was, but never really understood how it was produced by the piano. This week I took to learning some of the history of the piano, and just how exactly the piano made not just sound, but music.

     The piano is a lot more complex than most people think. As many people know, the piano uses strings to create its sound. The way the keys hit the stings is a complex lever system that looks like this:



     Now this is all very complicated and boring, but I'm going to try to explain it briefly. When the key is first struck, it causes that circular white piece to swing up and strike the string from underneath. This causes the string to vibrate and make noise. For the low keys, the strings are very long and thick, and one string is struck per key pressed. As the keys get higher (in sound) the strings are shorter and thinner, and up to 3 strings are struck per key pressed in the highest of keys. It looks a little something than this:



There is also a piece called the damper which it the brown box on the string in the first picture. It prevents the string from vibrating, and when the key is pressed, it releases, and when the key is released, it presses on the string again to stop the sound. The higher sounding keys don't have dampers though since the small strings don't vibrate enough for them to need one. This is the basic inner-workings of the piano.

     There are also parts of the piano called pedals. They help vary the sound of the piano and let composers do more with their music. The pedal that is used the most and is the only essential pedal for when your first starting on the piano is called the sustain pedal. It causes the notes to hold longer without having to hold the key. The way it works is when it is pressed, it lifts the dampers for all the keys so that the strings can keep vibrating. This is useful so that pianists can keep playing and not have to hold keys when they want the note to last. The sustain pedal is found on pretty much any piano sold. These are all of the pedals names. The soft pedal is used to change the pitch of the notes and basically shifts all the keys a little bit so they produce a softer sound. The sostenuto pedal is used just like the sustain pedal, but only holds out the keys you are pressing, so basically you can choose what notes hold out. This pedal is difficult to use and is for advanced piano players. here is what the pedals look like:



     I have a keyboard, and they work very different. Basically each key is programmed to produce a certain sound, and the keyboard stores thousands of sounds that can be produced when the key is pressed. Keyboards and pianos are very different to play, but they both have their advantages.

     Besides research I also was killing it on the keyboard. I worked very hard on my music reading and practiced playing music from a sheet. I started with the classic "Twinkle Twinkle little Star", and I truly felt up above the world so high, until I worked my way up to reading the sheet music for "Fur Elise". I was able to play it very slowly, and it helped me learn a lot of the little secrets to reading music. These are things such as knowing where specific keys are on the staff so you don't have to think before playing each note. Here is a video of me reading the music for "Fur Elise":

   
     Although this is very slow, it is without much practice (of the song) and it strictly from me reading it off the sheet.  I am still having trouble recognizing certain notes, but I am developing my skills with practice. Reading music helped me a lot with my playing, and with more practice (a lot more) I will become a master at it.

     Through this week I have also made my first piano-related purchase. As I read sheet music, I realized how important the sustain pedal was and how it was in the majority of the songs. I did some research and found that you could buy pedals for the keyboards. I looked even further into it, and found that the sustain pedal was really the only pedal you needed. So I took to Amazon and purchased an $11 sustain pedal with an average of 4.5 stars per review. Here is an example of a very happy customer:



As you can see, Mister Moose is highly satisfied with his purchase. I would have to say that I agree with this man and it works very well and I truly see how it effects the sound. Here is the difference it makes (in person it is more drastic but the computer speakers are poop and don't work too well):

   

     Despite this being the week where I have been on the piano the least due to lacrosse starting and other things that have robbed me of time, I have done a lot of learning off the keys that have acted as rocket fuel that will allow my playing to take off. Next week I hope to get back to playing more and start to learn to play a full song using sheet music. Learning the history and science behind the piano has in a strange way motivated me to keep playing. I foresee a bright future it my playing and believe I will accomplish my goals of playing a song with hard work.


More helpful sources:

Owen, Jared. "How does a Grand Piano work? - Part 1." Youtube.com, March 30, 2018.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDvS2V7HbnY

Owen, Jared. "How does a Grand Piano work? - Part 2." Youtube.com, May 30, 2018.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6effL4ATZVo

^^^^^ (The two videos above helped me understand how the piano worked)

“10 Tips and Tricks for Sight Reading Music.” Musicnotes Now, 30 Apr. 2018, www.musicnotes.com/now/tips/10-tips-tricks-sight-reading-music/.

^^^^^^^ (Helped with reading music and gave me some tips)

Post 2: 88 Keys and a Dream

      My first week is behind me, and the small amount of skills that I have are coming along. Throughout the first week I have done the grudge work of learning how to read music and playing basics exercises and riffs. Despite it not being quite as good of a time as I would have hoped, I have layed the ground work for my future playing, and it is all downhill from here. I have also learned lessons that go beyond exercises that will help me to keep working at it and improve.

     Learning to read music was a little more tricky than I thought it would be. For starters, I expected the staff (the lines the music is on) to be the same as when I played the trombone, and look like this:

      Instead, the piano uses two combined staffs. One is for treble and one is for bass. The bass is the bottom and is usually played with your left hand, while the treble is the top and is played with your right. It look like this:


      Besides this, I have also learned that "Every Good Boy Does Fine" (The acronym for remembering note positioning) only relates to the Treble staff, and as the notes go down to the bass staff, it becomes "Good Boy Do Fine Always" (or "good burritos don't fall apart"). It looks something like this:


     I have also learned which notes correspond to which keys since there are several different keys that correspond to a letter (for example there are 8 c's). There is a system where the keys are put onto extra lines called ledgers. As the keys go from bottom to top on the staff, they go from left to right. It looks something like this:

     There are many other things I have picked up from my research including what middle c is, what flats and sharps are (the black keys), what ties are, what whole, quarter and eighth notes are and a lot of other information, but I'm not going to bore you by giving you every little detail.

     Other than reading music, I have also been working on my playing by doing my exercises every chance I get. I also got to playing a riff from one of my exercise videos that really shows how far I have come. It involves both hands and switching keys with both hands at the same time. Here is me playing it:

     This week was also full of learning that doesn't just involve playing. There are 3 big takeaways that I think are worth sharing:

1. Start Slow
     When I first begin to learn and exercise or song, it helps when I start slow. Once I get the notes down I can get a feel for how to move my fingers. Then I can start going faster and after a lot of practice I will be able to play whatever I am attempting.

2. With Enough Practice (almost) Anything is Possible
     While it might be a while until I can play "Flight of a Bumble Bee", I can still play a lot more than I may think. When I sit down to play an exercise, it may seem difficult, but by going slow and taking it step by step, I can surprisingly play some difficult pieces (at least for a beginner). Basically I have learned that I shouldn't count myself out and should attempt something before I think it is too hard.

3. Don't Disadvantage Yourself
     When I first started playing, I would do things like only use my thumb, index finger and middle finger. Small things like these can really effect my playing as I begin to play difficult works. Using only three finger makes my hand more tired and prevents me from playing certain notes. The reason many beginners do this is because the last two finger are usually weaker and not as independent. By exposing them to playing and using them more, they begin to get stronger. Since I am just starting, this lesson is very important, and I have learned that doing the correct things and playing the correct way will make playing later a lot easier.

     Learning the piano has been a completely new experience to me. It is nothing like sports. It requires a level of patience and technique that isn't necessarily more difficult, but is different. I am beginning to understand what it is like to play an instrument, and am enjoying exploring a new interest. I have learned so much already and hope to keep it going in the next several weeks. I also hope to be able to keep this same level of interest as my journey goes on.


Helpful sources so far:

Cazaubon, Mantius. “How to Read Piano Notes.” 

Piano-Keyboard-Guide.com

, www.piano-keyboard-guide.com/read-piano-notes.html.

^^^(Helped with reading music)

Inspired, Musicians. "How to Read Notes Fast - The Landmark System." Youtube.com, Nov 4, 2017.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSOU-J9KHbg 

^^^(Helped with reading music)

MangoldProject. "5 Simple Piano Exercises For Building Technique." Youtube.com, Apr 23, 2016. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfWMTC9aRx8&t=29s 

^^^(Helpful exercises I warm up with every time I practice)

   

Post 1.5: Slight Progress

     It's been a little while since my last blog post, and I felt the need share with my dedicated readers about all the progress I have made. I have been relentless on the keys, racking up a solid 4-5 hours over the past four days and have really seen myself become more comfortable on the piano. As of today I have concluded my 8th day of practice. Over the past week I have learned basic exercises, started learning how to read music and have even started learning riffs from songs. For example here is an exercise I recorded myself playing on Monday (5th day of practice) (this was the best possible place for the camera I could find):

     As you can see I still have some things to work on, but slowly I am getting more comfortable. Throughout this week I have been working on things such as playing with two hands, finger speed and most importantly finger independence.  Finger independence is essential to playing the piano. It is how well your fingers can play individual notes. The better you are at it, the more often you will play the right notes. For example this exercise focuses on it. As I continue to play more, these skills will begin to develop.

                                        

    As I am playing the piano, for my first week, I am also learning how to read music. I started with "Every Good Boy Does Fine", an acronym that around 99.9% of us have heard before. I then began to learn the more important things that I never knew before such as how to know which part of the piano the notes is played, and that piano music has multiple staffs per line. I have also learned that there are different kinds of notes and all of them require you to play faster or slower. Reading music is an essential skill and I am beginning to develop an understanding of it, but only with practice will I begin to truly get better. 

    Throughout this first week, I have sadly not become a piano grand master yet. Despite not learning all of the secrets to playing the piano, I have learned some pretty important things thus far that I believe will be important for the rest of my playing. Stay tuned for my next post where I will be showcasing my talents on two riffs I have begun learning. I will also be sharing more of my information of what I have learned so far and how my goals have shifted.

                                             

Post 1: The Beginning

     My musical experience has been pretty weak through my first 15 years. Besides my completely amazing experience playing the recorder in 3rd grade, and my stint at trombone in 5th, I have never truly played an instrument before. Most of my time has been spent on school work and on a sports field. I also spend a considerable amount of time listening to music, and felt that learning to play this music would be a lot of fun. I took this project as an opportunity to explore something relatively new to me, and learn to play music on the piano.  

     By the end of the six weeks, I hope to be able to play intermediate level songs on the piano. This goal is going to take hard work to achieve. Due to my lack of musical experience, the difficulty of this goal is still unknown to me, and my journey may take me down a slightly different path than what I have in mind, but overall I hope to be able to play real songs in the end. In order to do this, I am going to have to work my way from the ground up.

  

     Since I am starting from ground zero, I had a lot of questions about where to start. I researched and talked to people who play the piano, and they all agreed that my two weeks should be spent getting acquainted with the piano. This means my first two weeks will be spent doing two things. I will first start learning basic exercises. These help with building up finger independence, two hand coordination, getting a feel for the space between keys and many other skills that are needed once I begin playing songs. They will overall just help me start to get a feel for the piano. I also want to begin learning to read music. This will help tremendously with playing songs in the future and also is a necessary skill for almost all musicians.  

Example of exercise I have started learning:

(Try in FireFox if its not playing; Also you can try the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfWMTC9aRx8&t=29s)

     After I have the basic down, and feel comfortable on the piano, I am going to move on to playing easy songs. I am going to work on memorization and keeping tempo. These will be very important for when I attempt pieces that are more advanced. My plan is to work my way up from the easy songs and see what level I can reach by the 6^th week. In order to be sure that I am making progress, I plan to keep a "diary", or record of what I do each day of practicing. This will allow me to see as I begin playing more advanced exercises/songs and will allow me to keep my learning organized.

     Mixed in with the playing, I also hope to learn a lot about the history of the piano and the players that paved the way for the modern piano. These are people such as Mozart, Beethoven, Vladimir Horowitz and Art Tatum. I hope to learn about how they mastered their craft and even get into musical theory and learn about why what they played sounded so good.

(In order right to left: Tatum, Mozart, Horowitz, Beethoven)

     For my six week adventure, I plan to absorb everything I can about the piano and I want to learn to play it to the best of my abilities. This is going to be something new to me, and I have little idea of where my learning will take me. I hope to progress quickly, but I also have begun to brace myself for the fact that this is likely to be very difficult and is going to take a lot of patience and persistence. It is also going to take flexibility, and my goals of playing intermediate music pieces and playing jazz may end up being a total fantasy. This means that I may end up having to adjust my goals which is something I am going to have to be ok with. As of now though, my motivation as well as my hopes are high, and I have designed my learning path to try to keep that motivation at a high level. I will continue to post videos of myself playing as well as everything I learn along the way. All I can say for now is that I am excited to see what becomes of my playing throughout the next 6 weeks.