My story starts with piano lessons when I was 8 years old and ends now when I have completely abandoned the music I loved to play.
No!!! The story is not over yet. My love of piano music has always remained strong and is something I think about constantly. A new story begins now...
Christmas is coming around the corner and that time of year is usually marked with me wishing I had gotten back into piano so I could play Christmas songs with my family. The dream is we are all around the piano singings songs with a fire warming us in the background.
My wife's favorite songs is "The Christmas Song." You may know it as "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire"
So my mission is to learn "The Christmas Song" by getting back into playing piano for my wife and family.
Setting The Table
First, I needed to set the table for success. I cleaned out my garage so I have a place to practice:
Before:
After:
Next I purchased a subscription to Piano Marvel
Piano Marvel allows me to connect my piano keyboard to my computer. I can then test my sight reading (just like a phonics assessment :)) and taking lessons with immediate feedback.
Third, I made a schedule of regular practice time. WAIT! My life does not allow for regular practice time. So, I made a schedule for irregular practice time. Irregular practice time means I can practice here and there and in between this and that. We will see how that goes :(
Baseline
According to the Standard Assessment of Sight Reading I have a raw score of 182. I will test every week to see any improvements
Also, I have no idea how to the play "The Christmas Song"......YET!
Plan
Each week I hope to provide progress data, audio clips of me playing and insights from trying to keep a passion alive in today's world of distraction and over working. Here goes nothing...
