WEEKLY GOALS 📆

noellah-jeannica

This holiday season I vowed to be as laidback as possible with my piano goals, and so I've decided to learn and play simple renditions of common Christmas songs for my family and friends. Maybe I'll add the more complex riffs in the future, as soon as I get comfortable with them. For now, I kept things straightforward to avoid stress.

You can watch/listen to them if you want:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1J_cjhYXtnkn1YoLslZZjhhimFD82aley?usp=sharing

Let me take this chance to wish the Piano Picnic family Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! You are one of the highlights of my 2020. Thanks for being there!

alexx88

noellah-jeannica This is FABULOUS!!! Love it!! So soothing & peaceful. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!

alexx88

noellah-jeannica Love the lighting effects, too!

Bev

A Merry Christmas, indeed. Thank you all for praying for my friend & her family. The boys, son-in-law & grandson are feeling much better, and now after 2 full weeks, her daughter's fever has broken. She, also, is now on the road to recovery. My friend has not gotten it. Noella, I am so impressed with your playing (You're at the level that is my main goal!). I'm certain that with your dedication to a very well thought out practice plan, you will achieve just about anything you set your heart & mind to. Merry Christmas Everyone.

alexx88

Bev Merry Christmas!! So glad your friend is well & her family is doing much better!

noellah-jeannica

I'm so glad to hear that Bev. Thank you and alexx88 for appreciating my cover! I hope you are all enjoying the holidays 🎄💕

alexx88

noellah-jeannica This is helpful Noellah. I really like this concept. I'm going to use this. When something want feels like work, it takes the fun out of it.

alexx88

Ok. So I'm not a goal writer. At all. But here goes. This week :

I'm going to re-learn the solo from "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word" & post a video/audio of the entire song.
Figure out how to post video/audio to various platforms
Re-visit "Levon" & "Wasted Time"
Just finished the SBE 30 Day Challenge a few days early. I figured the entire melody for Song #4, & I'd like to come up with an arrangement for the entire song.

-Work on improv & creating riffs in C, & maybe G

Work on figuring out a 2021 Music Goal Statement

Seeing as it's Tuesday night, this is pretty lofty, but it's out in the universe now.😳😬

RuthPower

@noellah-jeannica I'm so delighted to hear your goals - and your no-pressure practice 'like brushing teeth' is brilliant and will pay dividends for you ongoing (especially with learning keys, inversions & improv!). I've loved listening to your Christmas carols too - beautiful, your technique is really coming along nicely - those alternated thirds in 'Carol of the Bells' are not easy! Thank you for being an integral & motivated Creative Pianist member this year!

@Bev - So glad to hear your friends are on the mend. I hope you had a relaxed Christmas all things considered.

@vkisamore a goal to think about goals is a legitimate way to do it! How'd you go with the carols?

@alexx88 YES! For a non-goal writer you've done pretty well here! See how you go - I've started the year yesterday (back to work) and I'm already feeling that easing into things is a better pace at least for the first week, so perhaps focus on 2-3 things to really REALLY get done and the rest are bonuses. That way you can be confident you'll achieve most of it. (OR throw out my advice and just GO FOR IT!))

alexx88

RuthPower Well, last weeks goals are also this weeks goals. 🙄 I spent a LOT of time trying to get a video. Way too much time. I did accomplish the 1st two though. Maybe I'll add starting my goals on Monday instead of Wednesday, but that will have to wait till next week. 😆

Here's a link to my 1st video EVER! It's one of my favorite songs to play. I used to play it all the time, but it's been a few years. "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word." Two goals written & completed. Check.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XHIV5sk6OAti65DyTLrX-B1L8UR_op8B/view?usp=sharing

Haven't done anything yet in terms of solidifying my BIG goals.

vkisamore

RuthPower I sort of relaxed my goals and was satisfied to just pick out the melodies, didn't really get a lot of extra fiddly bits put in. Had fun with my carols and with Carol of the Bells, never really got any of them polished, but I was working on process.

noellah-jeannica

My goals this week:

Get halfway through the SBE 30-day challenge (Finish the Songs 1-3) + catch up on forum / broadcast (if any)
Start a new warmup routine before playing
Wrap up my "Start Developing Musical Ears" training plan + update my progress journal on Musical U

P.S. I'm a bit ahead on the SBE 30-day challenge since I sometimes cover two to three days' worth of playing by ear practice each session (I get too excited sometimes!! 😆)

RuthPower

alexx88 ALEXXXXXXX!!!!!! This is SO amazing! Thank you so incredibly much for sharing this with us. This is a huge step for you – the song is absolutely beautiful, where has this arrangement come from? Is it a leadsheet conquest, or by ear, or by both or sheet music? Regardless, you played it without anything in front of you which is a huge feat to memorise, it was well-paced and thoughtful. Just gorgeous start to my day today!!!!
You've done this - I feel like you better set some BIG goals girl, because you've already smashed this one to pieces!
As teacher - I have one weeee tiny tip for next time you want to work on something.. it's the pedalling. Have a go at lifting the pedal more often see what a difference that makes.
Of course - I'm going to ask - would I have your permission to share a small portion of this with others? (Completely up to you, no pressure).

@noellah-jeannica Those goals sound great and I'm really excited (and impressed) that you are working in Musical U training as well. If you get ahead on the 30-day challenge, that just means you're loving it - absolutely no wrong thing about it!

noellah-jeannica

alexx88 You've played the piece nicely, Ms. Alexx! Also, thank you for introducing me to another classic (I've been collecting a few old tracks to take a break from modern ones).

And I can totally feel you with that inner frustration of getting through multiple takes when filming a piece 😅

alexx88

RuthPower Thank you so much for your feedback!! I learned that song probably 6 yrs ago. The one & only time I've ever played in public for a room full of people I didn't know at all, this is the song I played. That was 4 1/2 yrs ago. I have the sheet music for it, & I used that for the iconic riffs (intro, solo, outro), but it's a combo of the actual notation & my own arrangement. I just use sheet music as a road map, then I'll have a chord sheet as a cheat sheet/crutch to jog my memory. Never will I sit & play an entire place from sheet music.

When I'm really concentrating & trying not to make a mistake, I do have a tendency to zone out & get a little lead footed. Especially when I'm on the millionth take. I wanted to post a video of it done on my grand, but I wasn't feeling the love for that version.

I pulled a Sia, so sure, you can post some of it. ☺

alexx88

noellah-jeannica Thank you so much Noellah! I can’t wait to hear what you’ve been collecting to play!

Bev

Hi everyone. I'm back; mostly on voyeur status.
I plan on going back to the courses, perhaps even finish Lovin' Leadsheets. In the break, I've been playing my same tunes: American Patrol, Algiers Strut, and Let the Rest of the World Go By, just to keep my hands in, so to speak.
The talent in this group is overwhelming to my meager goals, but here are my goals:
Biggest goal; be able to play competently (correct, consistent timing & the right notes), both while comping chords with some ''interest," & by playing chords & melody along with my banjo-playing husband; Including being able to transition from one to the other without losing my place in the song.
Smaller bits to work on: 1. Slow down! As every music teacher says, including Ruth, get it right before you try to put it together. 2. Learn best chord inversions for new tunes (Irish Washer Woman & Mobile Stomp), & then actually remember to do the chords in those inversions. 3. Be able to play a couple of new "riffs" in each of my existing tunes.
Now I just have to find the link back to my "courses."

alexx88

Bev Welcome Back! We're all at different points in our journey. While I may not have trouble with inversions, you're in a band! & I wish I could do that! My teacher has always told me that the learning & the frustration of playing an instrument will never end, no matter what level we're at. We just need to make sure we're having fun with it.

alexx88

So I have to confess that I've been avoiding coming back to this page because I just can't seem to get my goals broken down & attempted the way I want. The parameters & milestones are getting me hung up. They overlap quite a bit, which is good & convenient, but a little tricky. I try to spend any time I have to actually practice & then save the goals breakdown for later, but it never fails that adulting gets the best of my time.

So my Big Kahuna goal is to play with 1+ more people. My Medium before I get there, I want to be able to: Sit anywhere & just play anything without something in front of me, to my Small: Get really good @ improv/riffs/fills/patterns & the Extra Small: Have a toolbox of rills/fills/patterns.

Then there's also: 1.) Learn 1 song by ear/month. 2.) Learn 1 new song/month 3.) Re-visit 3-4 old songs/month 4.) Take 1 key/week to improv/rill/fill/find patterns

There are SO many things I want to do, & I'm getting stuck on the dot, & not getting a whole lot done. I feel like a lot of this stuff should have been done years ago in my journey, & that I should be a LOT further than where I am right now. I feel like I'm going backward in regard to a lot of my goals. Things are getting to be more work than fun.

Bev

Alexx, reading your goals reads to me like a "5 year" plan! Playing with others is really fun. I almost fell into the spot I’m in now, simply because I gathered the courage 9 years ago (after 2 years of voice lessons) to call a fellow who led a local senior band & ask if they could use a vocalist. When he heard I had sung baritone in a barbershop chorus & quartet, he said to come "listen in" & try out the next day! I was scared half to death. Long story, short, while I was with them, I met a couple of guys (1 who is currently my band's tuba player) who encouraged me to visit the the jazz society's & the banjo band's jams & sing. He & my husband, whom I met at said banjo band jams, are my biggest '‘boosters." Now, if I could just believe them when they say I can get 'good' on piano. I certainly have the time now to practice, since everything is still shut down & haven’t been able to play out in almost a year! Moral of this story? Let everyone you know that you would like to play with other musicians; it can happen for you. You're quite good. Now, back to "Lovin Leadsheets."

alexx88

Bev Thanks Bev! It’s seeming like a 5 yr plan to me too sometimes! 😆 You’ve got some great tips. I need to put myself in the direction of some contacts. I’m doing the opposite of you. Working on singing after playing first. Baritone. Awesome! I’m an alto. I often joke about giving me all male songs to sing. We low voiced ladies need to stick together! I enjoyed Lovin' Leadsheets.

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