Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum YOUR NEW MUSICALLY GOALS FOR 2013; reminder 26dec2013

To keep studying and practice, practice, practice...

Halfstep,

Time for practice.....that's the main problem for all of us....

Best regards,
Johan B

So far so good! What's the date?! LOL

Hey Nutty, your list is pretty much identical to mine:

*Take Grade 4 ABRSM or Trinity Guildhall
*Learn to play any of Einaudi's music
*Play better in front of my teacher (and others)
*Understand theory better-I've only done the book for grades 1&2 (not sat exam) and most of that hasn't sunk in
*Improve my sight reading-the only way is up on this one, I can't not memorise as I'm learning a piece, still can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing!

Neil.

I started in March 2012.

On the short list for the new year:
* Make a permanent place for the rig I have. Right now I have to pull it out from under the bed and set it up every time I want to play.
* Eventually a new rig. The 61-key Yamaha NP11 has served me well and taken me far, but most folks on the forum continue to tell me it is "toy."
* Continue to write original music, or make my own arrangements of known pieces. I will keep that flame of creativity burning.
* Continue to find the occasional inspiring cover piece to learn. While these tend to be major projects for a poor sightreader like me, they add familiar landmarks for the audiences to my repertoire, and on the whole, good projects for me to undertake. (I have no real desire to make a project of improving my sightreading. I would much rather spend my time and energy writing new music.)
* Continue to take care of, and be patient with my hands, wrists, shoulders, neck, etc, etc, etc. Years of flute and whistle playing, and heavy computer use, means that I have learned to manage what at times becomes chronic discomfort. Overuse can lead to pain. I have to watch carefully because I can get lost in the music.
* Continue to participate in the ABF recitals and the occasional post to the piano bar.
* Continue to play live at Songmakers, and also seek new audiences.

From the mental health program that I volunteer and participate in, these are relevant to my piano adventure.
* Endorse for the effort not the outcome
* Plan, decide, and act
* Do things in part acts
* Lower my standards so my performance can rise
* There is no right or wrong in trivialities (and by definition, everything hobby related tends to be a triviality).

/edit to add: I found this quote from John Coltrane, which seems so appropriate as a goal:
"My music is the spiritual expression of what I am."

I feel that at times I have gotten near to that place on whistle, and in my songwriting (over 10+ years). On piano keyboard, I am getting there, day by day. Some days I lose myself in music. On other days it feels more like frustration and a wall in front of me. As for being an ant before Everest, I share that sentiment, but the mountain ain't coming to me. Today's Daily inspiration expresses it so clearly for beginner pianists:
"I don’t need all the answers at once. I simply need to move forward one step at a time."

I started on September 2012, when I felt like an (mature) ant in front of the Everest, so my goals are:

-feel the keys more each time. I'm just beginning to do it and it's the first step.
-relax my hands and shoulders/keep hands closer to keybed.
-practice some scales every day, as a warm-up.
-improve sight reading. I tend to memorize and then I no longer read. I'm not bad at reading, but I can´t read and play in time, all together.
-read theory books, specially of harmony and chord progressions.
-start some blues scales and chords on my own. My piano teacher is on the classical side of the moon.
-work with musescore.
-learn some pieces (or covers adapted to my level) just for more fun: La vals Kendall (Calderazzo/Marsalis); some tunes from Tom Waits; Goodbye pork pie hat (Mingus); Armellodie (Gonzales)...the wishlist would be so long!
-participate in term recitals/play in front of people/control my nerves/not to begin missing notes as soon as I play record button!
-not to fall in love with my theory teacher (she's soooo nice)

Do you think this is realistic?

Hi there,

my music goals for 2013 are the following (at different levels):

-Relevance: Improve my motivation and understanding on what I want to learn music for.

-Efficiency: Play at least 15 hours per month, in a relax and concentrated manner. Continue assisting to Harmony Class every Wednesday.

-Effectiveness: Complete by June 2013 the VAI manual on harmony exercises. i started the year in page 150 and it has 195 pages.

-Impact: Continue playing with the Big Band. Assist every Thursday to rehearsal, and be able to follow, to play the assigned solos and contribute to the overall quality of the music. 18 May, we will play in a friend´s wedding. It must be awesome.
Furthermore, by end of 2013, i will have worked one full Beethoven sonata. Septimino op.49.2.

-Sustainability: I need to be able to improvise a bit better every month. It must also become part of my family life, giving good example to my two sons, and general fun and entertainment to all.

-Accountability: I will come back to you and report progress and issues ;-)

Wish you best 2013, full of respect, loyalty and harmony.
Manuel

Good question. I chose the John Thompson Modern Course for the Piano, red books, Book 1. There are 5 books in all, 70 pages of music for each book, so lots of music. I love the method for several reasons. It is challenging and very informative. I went to a large music store in town and look at about 30 methods. John Thompson came way ahead of any other method book - for me. But to be fair, I have played as a basic player,

so I know that I:
must play very slowly
repeat pieces every day
always play pieces without mistakes else I play it slower and slower until it is played without mistakes.
I can count so I know to grab a metronome if I am having trouble.
So I am okay for the moment and when I have trouble, I will get a teacher.

If you take the time to walk through the method books one by one over several months, you will see for yourself what will work for you. Most teacher say that they like to pick different stuff for each student's problems, and that is awesome. But the factors are different. People are paying money each week for a lesson and expect results from the teacher, and rightly so, and teachers want to keep the students interested and growing progressively better and improved. When you are self-taught you have to be motivated and I can take the time to slow down when things get tough and take a little longer to learn a particular technique without the risking
giving up where others might be discouraged if suddenly they have a difficulty learning something.

I have heard people say:
Johm Thompson is boring, dull,
steep learning curve,
not as good as the colourful
books that some people are using.

To this I say, piano books since pianos were invented were black notes on black staffs. If you want colourful
music books then perhaps you should be going to art school where everything is all about colour. Yes, I agree
John Thompson has a steep learning curve, but it is like lifitng weights, if you lift 1 pound weight 10 times
nothing will happen and you won't feel it. If you lift a 10 pound weight 10 times, you feel the 'pain' and feel
the 'glow" and life gets better. If you lift a 100 pound weight and have never done it before you break your
arm and tear your muscles and have destroyed your arm for life. So you have to know where to start. It is
whatever you want in life. I love having to work hard to learn a piece. It it usually takes a week to work through a piece and then weeks to months to learn the details that polish the piece to its best. To some poeple want to lean a piece in a day or two and move on to a new piece. I on the other hand love to play all the pieces I have ever learned and play them day after day as time permits day after day. It is all about playing the piano every chance I get.



To be fair, I had a guitar teacher, a voilin teacher, a few piano teachers for short periods of time over my lifetime, an excelent sax teacher for 4 years, all basic music, and also played in a blues band, 2 concert bands, a jazz band. I only says this because to be fair, I can only play basic music but I have lots of basic music experience, especially with other musicians. Playing with other musicians, you either sink or swim.

I have some general goals for this year:

- to learn how to play with others (either duets with my teacher or other musicians.)

- learn how to do basic improvisation

- learn a small amount of repatoire (why or why can I not spell that word?)

- continue with MOYD

- continue improving basic skills and theory

Goal set for 2013




Results:

Epic fail! While I did learn to play new melodies and increase my complexity a bit, this was not my goal; Actually, just the opposite!

I've been practicing very hard for nearly 9 years now and I am able to play some fairly decent tunes, but it is the emotion, sensitivity, delicacy and control that is STILL my weakness. Until I actually address these issues and overcome them, my playing will not advance much further. I just must do a better job in these areas to be satisfied with my accomplishments because I can honestly say that I haven't given it my best effort.

The 'way' I play sucks, and the quality of my recordings are even worse. [I am currently and 'literally' recording from a digital piano to a digital recorder,....wait for it.......'acoustically'. No-way can that be beat in terms of being pathetic!

Not all is lost however because I have an incredible amount of built up frustration in my shortcomings and I also know what I end up doing in these situations. It just gives me even more motivation to get it right when I'm actually focused and determined to get it done.

This summer when I'm back on the mighty Mason I'm going to get it perfectly tuned [so no excuses there], I'm going to do whatever it takes to get the acoustics acceptable [insert bed comforters here] and I'm going to perform the piece beautifully without it sounding like pound-O-rama or musical whack-A-mole.

Talk is cheap though so we'll see.

My goals for 2013 were:

1. To be a helpful voice in these forums.
I have no idea, but I hope I was somewhat helpful

2. To dip a toe into Classical waters and overcome my bias towards that genre.
Epic fail, I just can't get into it ...yet. Maybe never

3.To think about my posts before sending, do I have to say something or do I have something to say? (a biggie)
I do think I accomplished this goal. If not someone may point it out to me.

4.Be honest in my commitment to MOYD.
Definitely was honest about this and my commitment helped my playing a lot.

5.Increase my playing/practice time by at least 25 percent.
Oh yah, at least 25% increase and more efficient practice too.

6.Honor other's efforts no matter their stage of the journey, and not compare to mine.
Well.. I admit that I do get discouraged at times if I compare to others who have the same years experience as myself but are so much more advanced with similar pieces. As I gain experience I do this less and less though.

- to learn how to play with others (either duets with my teacher or other musicians.)
I began to learn this when I could still afford a teacher, so about 50% fulfilled

- learn how to do basic improvisation
Nope naughta nothing

- learn a small amount of repatoire (why or why can I not spell that word?)
Yes! I do have a small collection of repatoire now.

- continue with MOYD
Nope and I don't think I will try this again. I need breaks sometimes. This just doesn't suit me. Took two tries to figure it out!

- continue improving basic skills and theory
Definitely! My theory and skills are moving along at a great steady pace! Success on this one

Well I only managed a few but I'm happy with that. It was a very bad year (especially the last few months) and having met any of these goals is wonderful news!

I didn't practice every day, but certainly did more than my fair share of thinking about music every day. I also now no longer believe in setting a goal such as this for various reasons. Don't get me wrong, I believe in practicing every day now more than ever, but think doing so should be motivated through an intrinsic passion - not because you set some goal to go touch the keys daily. To think of practicing only as something you do while at the keyboard is also detrimental to one's progress and development. As my teacher eloquently put it in our final lesson, "think of practicing not as a thing you do, but a place you go to in your mind."



This was a bit overambitious and fairly lofty. While I didn't accomplish it, my tastes have changed pretty dramatically and so I don't any longer have this as an immediate goal.



This didn't go well. I need to readjust the specificity of my approach to this.



I feel the pedagogical knowledge I desired is now there more or less, but need to work on the control, or regimented application, of said knowledge.



I've learned a great deal about jazz, jazz theory, and jazz pedagogy and look forward to going further.




I did a to some extent, though hope to improve on this next year, and a lot of b by coincidence and will thankfully get the opportunity to continue to do so for the next couple years.

I need this! I have sort of mentally checked out of everything beyond work for the past several months.

1. Practice every day in an organized way, not just play every day.

2. Figure out when I am most mentally alert and block out practice time then as part of my schedule (This gets really difficult when I'm working on projects and deadlines in multiple worldwide time zones, sadly).

3. Pick pieces that are a slight stretch rather than a big stretch, so I can get them completed for deadlines.

4. Spend 20 minutes a day working with my jazz book.

5. Participate in as many recitals as possible, since those have been by far the most fun part of this year.

I share many of the goals I see here, so we're all in the same boat!

1) Continue MOYD. This is my third year and it has been great. I never miss a day and some days - actually most days, I practice twice. Usually a total of about 1 to 1.5 hrs. Longer on the weekends or if I'm home alone.

2) Memorize something. Anything. I am blessed to be a good sight reader but I make up for that with a woeful problem in memorization. I will fix that this year. some how, some way.

3) Learn to play by chords. Presently I am completely unable to improvise in any way, or do anything with a fake book other than play the melody and block chords. So, the pop music (which many look down on as 'simple') is beyond me, but I can play classical (which people say is harder) all day long, though not the advanced stuff yet. Guess I'm bass-ackwards. My teacher knows this is a goal but we haven't started on it yet.

4) Upgrade my piano. Okay, so I'm already dying to do that so maybe it doesn't count as a resolution, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Small grand in my future.