#ECI831MajorLearningProject

The Piano Project: The Big Finale

#ECI831, Major Learning Project

We made it! Nine weeks of learning, struggling, progressing, succeeding, and growing. It’s hard to believe how challenging, yet rewarding, it was to focus on a learning project as an adult. Setting time aside each week to work on something that I wouldn’t normally have time for was an enriching experience. Who knew that learning and playing the piano would be so fulfilling for me. I am grateful for what I learned and gained through this Major Learning Project, along with the inspiration that my #eci831 classmates gave me along the way.

In order to look back on my experience, I made a video to document the process with clips from each week. Don’t forget to watch until the end so that you can see my final piano piece. You can also watch my whole piano project with my previous vlogs from my Youtube Playlist or you can click the links below to read my posts. In the meantime, take a look at my final vlog from my piano project!

In honour of my final post, I thought I would reflect back on my piano project journey with the victories and challenges and also look forward to my future goals.

The Small Victories:

  • I was able to collaborate with Brad by playing the piano chords and adding vocals for I Want to Hold Your Hand. He made an awesome collaboration video for his final project!
  • I made great connections with other piano players who taught me a lot about the instrument.
  • I loved learning piano because it was a creative outlet for me!

The Challenges:

Demetri Martin
  • It was challenging to set time aside each week to learn the instrument when life gets busy.
  • It took a lot of time to not only learn my piano goals, but also edit videos each week to visually display my learning.
  • I wanted the learning process to go faster at times and felt discouraged when I didn’t attain my goals as quickly as I wanted! I learned the importance of having grace for myself and understanding that success can be messy.

Future Goals

  • I want to keep playing piano as often as I can so that I don’t forget the skills that I’ve learned.
  • I want to play for enjoyment and continue to use this instrument as a creative outlet!

Thanks for following along with me as I journeyed through my piano project. It was a “noteworthy” journey indeed!

-Amanda

The Piano Project: Week 8- Almost at the Finish Line

#ECI831, Major Learning Project

This week was all about taking the advice I received last week and applying it to my learning. Advice such as:

  • Play one hand at a time rather than learning everything at once
  • Look for the sharps and flats before I start learning a song
  • Take note of the time signature at the beginning of the sheet music

With the help from my colleagues, YouTube, and piano articles online, I am picking up a lot of skills and knowledge to help me in my piano journey. Since I’ve benefited so much from learning the theory of piano, I took some time to read some more information online in the areas I am struggling in.

Here are some things that stuck with me:

  • Before reading sheet music, I need to “stop and think” before I start playing because “it’s much easier to sight read when you are mentally prepared for everything that shows up in the music” according to Pianissimo.
Garrick Chow
  • I previously read on Daina’s blog that a metronome helped her play the clarinet. I decided to incorporate it into my practice this week, especially since JoyTunes insists that “learning how to keep time and pace on the piano is one of the most important skills a musician has to develop.” The use of the metronome helped me when I was practicing “I Want to Hold Your Hand”, the collaborative song that I am doing with Brad. I sent him a recording of the piano chords that I played with the use of the metronome so that he can follow the same beat when he plays the bass part.

I had a very productive week with my piano project! However, I still had a lot of frustrations and struggles as I practiced the song “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and with recording “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” You can take a look at how my practices went this week in my latest vlog. Enjoy!

The Small Victories:

  • I can almost play the right hand melody of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” without error.
  • I am becoming more fluent with playing piano chords, especially the C, D, E, G and A chords.

The Challenges:

  • When I started playing the right hand melody and the left hand chords together for “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, I was unable to keep time and play smoothly. I still need some practice with this!
  • I wanted to play chord inversions instead of the chord triads for “I Want to Hold Your Hand”, but I could only manage doing it for a portion of the song.
  • It took me a long time to practice and record the song “I Want to Hold Your Hand” because I am new to recording. I tried using Trackd app to collaborate, but it wasn’t as user friendly as I had hoped. In the end, I successfully recorded it on Garage Band.
Garage Band (Apple App Store)

The Resources:

  • I continued to use the sheet music from Music Notes to help me learn “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”
  • I used the metronome feature on Garage Band and I used my new Yeti Mic to record “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” I also used the chord charts on Guitar Tab to practice and play the song.

Goals for Next Week

I can’t believe my project is almost done! Even though I am “almost at the finish line” for the formal part of my Major Learning Project, I know that I will still continue to play the piano for enjoyment after this project is completed. I have so much more to learn and experience when it comes to piano and music in general! One thing I know for sure, is that this project has sparked my love for piano, for music, and for learning.

-Amanda

The Piano Project: Week 7- Experience Fuels the End Result

#ECI831, Major Learning Project

I had a glimpse of hope this week when I was reading sheet music and I didn’t have to say “All Cows Eat Grass” every time to remember the notes. That’s what I call progress! It helped that I practiced recalling notes through the Mad Minutes that Daina suggested. In my piano video this week, I displayed some of the work I have been doing to remember the notes in the Treble Clef and Bass Clef. Sometimes I feel as if learning an instrument as an adult is very difficult, and almost impossible, but then I receive encouragement like this: “The adult brain is also chock full of life experience, which can actually be beneficial when learning to play an instrument.”

Experience.

I have realized that all of my past experience in music, such as playing guitar, singing in choir, or just listening to music intently on a daily basis, actually helps me in my process of learning the piano. Even if it takes me a while to learn the notes, know the keys, or remember the chords, I still have a vast amount of background knowledge and skills to give me the motivation I need in order to learn this new instrument. So as I near the end of this project, and when I feel discouraged that I don’t know enough, I will rely on the beauty of my experience.

So with that, here is the video of my experience from this week.

The Small Victories:

  • I was reminded by a colleague to play one hand at a time, because then I can focus on a smaller task rather than get overwhelmed by doing many tasks at once.
  • Knowing the finger placement for the Treble Clef notes is becoming more natural and efficient.
  • When I take time out of my day to play, I feel refreshed. I am realizing that playing music is a way for me to take a mental break.

The Challenges:

  • I feel as though I have been too ambitious when starting to learn a new song. Instead of learning a lot of information at once, I need to remember to break it into smaller chunks.
  • The new song I learned had sharps and naturals in the sheet music, which took me a long time to figure out how to play them properly.

The Resources:

This week, I used these tools to help me learn:

  • I referred to the poll I put in my last blog post, which told me to learn the song “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” A friend found me the sheet music from the website Music Notes.
  • I practiced reading music notes with the Mad Minutes again this week.
  • I referred to the people in my life who could answer my piano questions and interject when I needed help on the spot.

Goals for Next Week

  • I am going to try using the app Trackd for collaborating on the song that my classmate Brad and I are going to play. I will add a piano track and vocals track so that Brad can add a bass guitar track. I have never used the app before, so here’s to hoping it’s user friendly and efficient!
  • I am going to focus on the song “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and make that my final piano song.

I am looking forward to spending the last couple weeks perfecting “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” I am going to make this my main priority, instead of giving myself several small goals. Within this one song, there are many new things I can learn. Besides, who doesn’t want to get into the Christmas spirit?

-Amanda

The Piano Project: Week 6- Getting There…

#ECI831, Major Learning Project

Another week of my Major Learning Project has come and gone and I finally feel like I am getting somewhere. Instead of working on a variety of separate tasks, I focused on practicing “Part of your World“, the Little Mermaid song that I introduced last week. As I was practicing the song, I took into account all of the things I learned in my lesson with Danielle.

I focused on proper finger placement and reading the sheet music properly, both of which weren’t easy. I also added another goal this week- learning the chords of the song with the left hand. Even though it wasn’t an easy thing to do, with a lot of practice, it started to come more naturally. By the end of the week, I felt comfortable playing most of the chords while playing the melody with the right hand. I still feel like I can become even more fluent in playing the song, but I am proud of how far I have come in two weeks time.

If you want to see my progress with the song “Part of your World“, check out my recent video!

The Small Victories:

  • Even if it looked like a struggle, it only took me a short time to learn the chords for Part of Your World.
  • I spent a lot of time practicing this week, which helped me become more confident in my skills.
  • I am becoming more comfortable with reading sheet music!

The Challenges:

  • I am having difficulty remember the notes on the Bass Clef.
  • I need more practice with the C minor and the B minor chord.
  • It’s difficult to know the proper finger placement for new songs that I learn. I still need to refer to my piano-playing friends and Youtube videos for that part.
Music Teacher

The Resources:

This week, I used these tools to help me learn:





Goals for Next Week

  • I will keep practicing the Bass Clef notes with the Mad Minutes I used this week.
  • I am going to keep practicing the chords for the song that my classmate Brad and I are collaborating on. Who knew B minor 7 was so difficult?!
  • I want to learn a Christmas song! I created another poll for you to help me choose.

Thanks for being a part of my piano process so far. I have learned a lot, but I still have a long way to go. However, I have realized that even if I haven’t reached a particular end goal yet, I am getting there, and that’s just where I need to be.

-Amanda

The Piano Project: Week 5- Back at it!

#ECI831, Major Learning Project

Last week I took a break from my piano project, but it felt good to get back into it this week. Like Catherine Ready was saying… we are already half way through our learning projects! I can’t believe it! I never anticipated that I would enjoy playing the piano this much. Even though I wish I stuck with piano growing up, it’s an enriching experience learning the piano at an older age. Now when I learn the piano, I am more determined to play the right notes and chords and reach my goals.

This week, I took your votes into account to choose the next song I learned on piano. I had an overwhelming response of… 3 votes! Okay, so maybe not as much input as I would have liked, but the majority still wins.

The winning song was Part of your World from the soundtrack of Little Mermaid. Honestly, I am glad that song won the poll. I remember learning this song when I was in piano lessons at a young age, but I didn’t have as much enthusiasm to learn it because I didn’t enjoy the practicing part of learning piano. I feel like I finally have a do-over… a fresh start… a clean slate!

In order to learn the song, I found sheet music online. I also had to revisit the resources I previously used for learning sheet music, because it was difficult to remember all of the notes at times! I put a lot of effort into actually reading the music, rather than just playing it by ear. After learning the right hand melody on my own, I decided to ask my piano-loving friend, Danielle Maley, to help me learn the proper finger placements for the song and answer other questions I had about the piano.

Since this song was longer than what I was used to playing, and more difficult, I chose to just learn the right hand and pick up the left hand chords next week. The song is not as smooth as I would like it to be, so I will also keep practicing the melody. I still want to become more fluent in reading sheet music, and practicing this song is a good way to do so. Along with Part of Your World, I also learned the E major scale. I now know the C, D, B and E major scale. Even though I have a long way to go, things are coming along, just take a look for yourself!

The Resources:

This week, I used these tools to help me learn:

  • My friend Danielle was an awesome resource this week! It was really beneficial to meet with her and work through some of the questions I had
The Online Metronome
  • I used the mnemonic phrases “Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge” and “F A C E” to help me remember the notes on the Treble Clef

Goals for Next Week

  • I will keep practicing the proper finger placement and reading the sheet music for Part of Your World and if I am ambitious enough…I want to learn the left hand chords too
  • My plan is to learn the rest of the major scales! All I have left are F, G, and A.
  • Since I didn’t get to this goal this week, I still want to learn and play all major and minor chords comfortably
  • I know the Treble Clef notes, but now I want to learn the Bass Clef notes too

For those of you who are learning instruments for your project… Are you finding it hard to complete your goals within a week? Are my goals too ambitious?

Not only am I learning how to play piano, I am also learning the art of goal setting and working through challenges when skills don’t come as quickly. I am glad that this learning project is a process and we can all go at our own pace. On that note, here’s to another week of goal setting, learning, and celebrating successes!

-Amanda

The Piano Project: Week 4

#ECI831, Major Learning Project

Sometimes, life doesn’t always go as planned. It can be beautiful one minute, and heartbreaking the next. This week, I received news that a friend of mine passed away. When something like that happens, it makes a piano project seem trivial. It seems to put everything else into perspective and makes everyday tasks seem small. It felt out of place to make a vlog this week detailing the piano notes I learned to read, or the major scales I learned to play. When something tragic happens, all you can really do is reflect, mourn, and feel.

Have you every been there?

This week, instead of making a vlog, I thought I would give myself permission to grieve the loss of a friend. Instead of going through the motions and pretending everything was okay, I wanted to be honest with what I went though this week. In light of the circumstances, I will postpone the goals for my piano project until next week. When death happens, the small things stop… and that’s okay.

I hope this reminds us all to take a step back, hug the ones we love, and when we face tragedy of any kind, may we all give ourselves permission to reflect, mourn, and feel too.

The Piano Project: Week 3- Technology Trials

#ECI831, Major Learning Project

Has technology ever failed you? Has it ever frustrated you or let you down? Well, this week it did for me. Let me explain…

I was SO excited to have an online lesson with my friend through FaceTime this week. I loved the convenience of learning piano without leaving my house. During the call, I showed her all of the major chords I have learned in the past two weeks, and most recently, the B major chord that I had so much trouble with last week. We talked about goals I was having difficulty achieving, and what I wanted to learn more of.

She spent a lot of time teaching me about chord inversions, which according to Uber Chord, are when “notes of a chord can be reshuffled in any order… (and) will still remain the same chord but no longer be in ‘root position’”. I practiced chord inversions through the song Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, the song that I learned the first week, and played it for her during the call. As she listened to my piano playing, she gave me tips and advice on how to improve my skills.

via giphy

After the call ended, I was thrilled with what I learned from her and how helpful the FaceTime piano experience was. Which brings us to the part in the story where technology failed me.

Did you know that when you use the screen record feature on your iPhone, it doesn’t automatically record the audio?

I probably should have done a little more research before I dove right in. Fortunately, I am going to take this as a learning experience. I did some digging afterwards and found out that all you have to do is change a setting on your phone. Conner Carey lays it out really clearly in his article “How to Screen Record with Audio on an iPhone”. All you have to do is hold the Screen Record button with 3D Touch and click “mic on” for the audio to work when you screen record. It’s as simple as that!

I found another silver lining through all of this. I learned how to overlay a video in iMovie! I watched the tutorial video from CalTalks Tech and quickly picked up on this new skill. Now you can take note of this amazing feature too!

Other than my screen recording mishap, I feel like there was a lot of success this week. I am becoming more comfortable playing notes and chords because of the practice I am doing with scales. I continue to gain more confidence with my skills and I am becoming more fluent with my piano playing. I hope that you notice my improvements and see just how much I have learned in the past three weeks in my latest vlog. Enjoy!

The Small Victories:

  • I can play the B major chord and the B major scale!
  • I learned how to play chord inversions for the song Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
  • I figured out how to turn audio on for Screen Recording on the iPhone
  • I learned how to overlay a video onto another clip in iMovie

The Challenges:

  • Technology… enough said
  • Playing more than 3 major chord inversions
  • Reading sheet music properly for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, since I am used to playing piano by ear. Similar to Daina’s experience with the clarinet, I have also “not spent enough time becoming familiar with sheet music”, which makes it hard to understand the notes I am supposed to play

The Resources:

This week, I used these tools to help me learn:

Goals for Next Week

  • I want to learn another song with the focus on reading sheet music and using proper finger placement, considering I only played Twinkle Twinkle Little Star again this week
  • I want to have another lesson with someone through FaceTime, Skype, or in person, but with the technology working properly this time!
  • I want to learn and play all major and minor chords comfortably. I was thinking in order to practice the chords, I could get someone to say a chord to me (in person or through FaceTime again), and I will have to play it on the spot with my keyboard.

So my question for you is:

  • What song should I learn next? Should I start preparing a song for Christmas? Should I do a classic? Answer in the poll and I will choose the winner!

I am looking forward to my fourth week of learning piano! It’s been a learning experience so far, especially since I am using a vlog to document my process. Hopefully my improved piano playing skills next week will be music to your ears.

-Amanda

The Piano Project: Week 2- Practice Makes (Almost) Perfect

#ECI831, Major Learning Project

Have you ever practiced something over and over, but still had trouble succeeding with it? That’s me and the B major chord. The B major chord is the bane of my existence. This week, my goal was to learn the tonic triad of the 6 major scales- C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Some of the chords were simple and easy to learn. Other chords, like the B major chord, took a lot more practice. They say practice makes perfect, but at this point, it sure isn’t perfect.

Luckily, you don’t have to “master every skill you learn” and “you can usually achieve the goals you set yourself in around 20 hours of deliberate practice” according to the article by Josh Kaufman called “It Takes 20 Hours Not 10,000 Hours to Learn a Skill”. Thanks to my classmate Brooke for posting this article on Twitter to encourage and help us with our Major Projects. With a little persistence, I’ve realized that just because I don’t master something within the first week, it doesn’t mean that I won’t succeed at it. So as for the B major chord, I won’t let it get me down.

Just like week one, I created a Vlog to demonstrate my process and experiences, including the frustration with the B Major Chord. I hope this video gives you a little more insight on what I’ve been learning this week.  

The Small Victories:

  • I learned the melody of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on the right and left hand with proper finger placement. Thanks to Catherine for suggesting the idea of speaking the notes out loud as I play the song. It really helped me learn the notes quicker!
  • I learned how to play the tonic triads with 6 of the major chords
  • I can confidently play the D scale with proper finger placement

The Challenges:

  • The B major chord!
  • I found it hard to read the notes in Twinkle Twinkle Little Star instead of playing it by ear (which comes more naturally to me)
  • I still need a tripod… which means filming can be a balancing act at times!

The Resources:

https://www.true-piano-lessons.com/twinkle-twinkle-little-star.html

This week, I used these tools to help me learn:






  • I also used Thomas Lemmon’s video to help me understand the finger placement for the D scale

Goals for Next Week

  • In Josh Kaufman’s article about learning a new skill, he suggests that we will have more success if we “break the skill down into smaller parts” through “deconstruction”. I have decided that, since I am still not confident in playing the B major chord, I will learn the B scale next and tackle it head on so that I know the notes that go into the chord
  • I want to meet with a piano player in person, over Skype, or through FaceTime to make sure I am on the right track and to learn more about finger placements with scales and chords
  • I will learn the melody of another basic song so that I can practice reading sheet music and finger placement

Even though I have a desire to master the piano, I know that it doesn’t have to be perfect. So here goes another week of practice, patience, and soon enough, triumph over the B major chord. Stay “tuned’!

-Amanda

The Piano Project: Week 1- The Struggle Was Real

#ECI831, Major Learning Project

This week, I focused on the basics with piano because I am fairly new to the instrument. Oh yeah, and did I mention I’m new to vlogging too? That in itself was a learning curve! In my vlog, I share a bit of my process during the first week of my Piano Project. Don’t forget to keep reading after the video because I give some more insight on what I did this week, what challenged me, and what my goals are for next week. Enjoy!

The Small Victories:

  • I learned how to read the notes on the treble clef
  • I successfully played the melody of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
  • I learned how to play the chords and melody together for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
  • I successfully edited my first vlog! (with the help from my friend)
  • I learned how to use the Picture over Picture feature on iMovie

The Challenges:

  • Playing a repetitive song over and over on piano can get frustrating (and annoying) at times
  • Finding time to practice piano on top of homework and teaching can feel overwhelming
  • It’s hard to film yourself for a vlog and not feel ridiculous sometimes!
  • It’s also hard to be authentic and real on camera. Sometimes I would film a clip over and over because I felt like I didn’t look good enough, or I didn’t sound intelligent enough, or I just wasn’t satisfied. In the end though, I went with all of the original clips (what you see is what you get)

The Resources:

This week, I used these tools to help me learn:

Goals for Next Week

  • Learn finger placement on the piano
  • Learn the D scale
  • Learn the D, E, F, G, A, B chords
  • Learn another basic song

Stay tuned for more progress, and hopefully, less struggle!

-Amanda

The Piano Project: A Noteworthy Journey

#ECI831, Major Learning Project

There aren’t very many things I regret in life, but quitting the piano before I even got started is one of them. I wish I could go back and tell myself that the practicing, the sore fingers, and the commitment was worth it.

© Josh Wells

As a kid, I didn’t think I needed the practice or the knowledge. I was having more fun playing kickball and watching movies with my friends. Fortunately, I was born with music in my bones, so I could play everything I heard by ear on the piano. However, that only gets you so far.

As I grew older, I became interested in learning the guitar. Thankfully at this time, Youtube was becoming more and more popular, so I decided to teach myself. The strumming and chording took some work, but over all, it came naturally. That only lasted so long though. I felt like I had only scratched the surface and had so much more to learn about the actual music side of things. The more I got involved with music, the more I wished that I had the skills, theory, and knowledge to dive deeper into every aspect of it.

I wanted to pick up sheet music and read the notes. I wanted to transpose keys effortlessly. I wanted to play music like it was my second language.

Fast forward to 2019. 

I decided that it was finally time to learn piano again. I searched on Amazon for a cheap, yet reliable, keyboard and purchased it as soon as I could. 

Fast forward to the present.

I finally get to put my new instrument to the test. For my major project in ECI 831, I get to choose anything that I want to learn and share my process with all of you! It feels like I get a do-over. A second chance. I finally get to learn piano (for real) and put in the time and effort it deserves. Now that I am older and understand the importance of commitment and dedication, I realize the value that this project will bring to my life. 

Now, I know what you’re thinking. You probably think I need to take piano lessons in order to actually learn piano, which is valid! However, there are so many different ways of learning an instrument online. As part of my project, I want to prove to you that with the right online resources, technology tools, social media access, and with a lot of practice, I can learn the piano.

Here’s the breakdown: 

The Goal: Learn piano. And not just the chords and a few notes. I want to actually have the knowledge and theory behind the sound this time.

But what does that look like for me? Here are some things that I want to be able to do by the end of this journey.

  1. Know and play the scales for each key without error.
  2. Know and play all of the major and minor chords.
  3. Know all of the notes and read basic sheet music.
  4. Play the notes with my right hand while playing chords on my left hand.
    And finally…
    5. Play a song all the way through without error and video record it.

The Process: There are a few ways I see myself accomplishing these goals. Here are some of the avenues I will take to get there:

  1. Online Videos
    I want to use Youtube tutorial videos to help me learn the basic skills, and in the end, use it to learn a song. Channels like HD Piano and Betacustic have videos that walk you through the keys, notes, and rhythms in various songs. Similarly to what Catherine Ready is attempting for her project, I will look up different types of “how-to” videos to help me learn the instrument.

  2. Blogs 
    There are a lot of easy-to-read blogs that explain the theory behind piano. I plan on gaining knowledge, along with skill, as I embark on this project. Sites like JoyTunes, Piano-Keyboard-Guide, and Odd Quartet explain chords, notes, and reading basic sheet music. 

  3. Social Media
    I plan on taking my project to social media and using Twitter to reach out to other musicians. I have started searching different hashtags that have to do with learning piano, and I have already noticed a community out there that wants to share their piano-learning process as well.

  4. Friends
    I have a few friends that play piano and are willing to share their experience and knowledge with me. I plan on meeting with them face-to-face, as well as using Skype and FaceTime to learn from them.

I have just over 8 weeks to accomplish my goal. I know it seems like a lot to learn in such a short time, but with a perseverance and a lot of practice, I know that I can get there. I plan to document my process through Vlogs, blog posts, and Twitter. Even though I want this experience to be authentic and real, I know it will be a struggle for me to put the whole process out there for the internet to see. This will definitely be a growing experience, but I am excited to see where it takes me. 

Before I embark on this new adventure, I have a few questions for you!

  1. What other avenues should I take to learn the theory and skill of piano?
  2. What song should I play on piano for my final video?
  3. What advice do you have for someone who is nervous to share their experience in an honest and raw way through Vlogs, blogs, and social media?

    I am excited to see where this journey of learning piano takes me. I know that this “Piano Project” will be difficult at times, but also rewarding. I think my younger, non-piano playing self would be proud.