Learning "Misty," Part 2

A few days ago, I wrote about how I'm learning "Misty" as part of a challenge group on Facebook. Week 1 focused on learning the melody only. The notes weren't hard at all, but the challenge was in memorizing it. Week 2's challenge--the stride-style left hand (LH)--was harder. Not only was I dealing with rootless voicings (something relatively new to me), but there were things like 13th chords with flatted ninths, and such. I studied and understood the theory (to a point), but mostly I just memorized hand shapes/positions.

Yes. I have memorized the LH section. I can't believe it, really. I mean, I can't remember why I walk into a room most days. Or where my keys are, or what I did with my phone, which was in my hand not two minutes ago. But I memorized the LH to "Misty."

In this video, you might notice that my hand gets to the chords a fraction of a second before I actually have to play them. This is because (1) it's good practice to get into this habit, and (2) my brain was dictating where to go, and I didn't allow my hand to play the keys until my brain deemed it to be in the proper position. I really need to make sure I've memorized this in my mind, and that it isn't all muscle memory. Muscle memory is involved, of course ... but as soon as I turn on the video camera, or try to play in front of an audience, my brain suddenly thinks, "Oh no! I don't really know this! Hand! Don't depend on your muscle memory! Try ... um ... THIS .. instead!"

And then it all goes to heck.

So, when I get in front of that audience and the nerves hit, I want my brain to think, "Yeah, I know this. No need to panic. So go ahead, hand. You know what to do."

Week 3 is the right hand (RH), with added chords, runs, and other ornaments. I'm learning it now, but I'm also practicing it with the LH. I'll plan to post a Week 3 video here before moving on to Week 4 (hands together + solo techniques).

For now, here is my Week 2 video!

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