Skip to main content

The Challenging Blues Challenge

Apologies for the very rambling post yesterday. I'm a writer, and you'd my blog posts would be neat, self-contained nuggets of clear writing, but ... well, they aren't even close to that. This blog is where I tend to let it all hang loose, and by "it," I mean entire paragraphs, as well as redundant phrases, misplaced modifiers, overly long sentences, and all the rest.

Today's post is different. I've been working on the "10 Lesson Blues Challenge" over at Piano With Jonny. I've been in Lesson 3 for a couple of weeks, not making great progress. But now that I'm in North Carolina for a few days with nothing but a 61-key keyboard, I've set Chopin, Maple Leaf, and even Bare Necessities aside to focus on blues.

Lesson 3 begins by teaching the blues scale, which was review for me because I've known the blues scale for literally decades. I never really new what to do with it, but it seems like I've always known the notes.

As with most "reviews" I've done on the PWJ site, this blues scale lesson has challenged and stretched my limits. The first challenge is being able to play the blues scale in eighth notes and in triplets ... easy enough, right? No. At least not when you're playing the blues shuffle in the left hand. And then there are the exercises where you're playing patterns of three and six ... and honestly, learning these reminded me of when I learned my first fugue. Or when I was trying to learn the contrary-motion scales.

I'm posting this video, which is full of errors, but hopefully it will give you a sense of how challenging this blues shuffle/blues scale coordination really is. I have come a VERY long way from where I started, but as you can see, I still have a VERY long way to go!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Rusty Lock and Key

I'm in a room. There's a door in front of me. On the other side of that door is a whole world of adventure and imagination and joy and delight, but for the moment, I'm locked in this gray little room. The door itself has a lock that is all rusted. I've tried to open it in the past, but I've never gotten very far. Sometimes I try to scrape the rust off the lock. I also have a rusty old key that I occasionally try to polish. Each time, after I've made a little progress, I'll put it into the keyhole in hopes of opening the door. It turns a half a millimeter or so, but the brief excitement at my progress dies quickly when I realize, once again, the lock isn't opening. I set the old key aside, and from there I can forget about the door, the lock, and the world outside, for months—years, even. But then something happens—I hear birdsong, or I catch a glimpse of color—and I pick up the key and start picking away at the stubborn rust. That dark little room is my ...

Dance of the Digits

Note: I've expanded significantly on this post over at my other blog, A Sort of Notebook . I am loving Liszt. I love the way my hands have to "share" the melody. I have so much to write on that, but I'm borrowing a computer and don't have enough time to do it justice. Suffice it to say that I've practiced three and a half wonderful hours today, and about two hours on Liszt alone. What I find wonderful about Liszt is that it pushes one hand hard, but not too hard. Then the other hand gets a turn to be pushed. But it's never both at the same time, and never one hand for too long. It's hard to explain. When I have more time to write, I'll word things rather more eloquently, I'm sure. All I can say now is that my fingers feel like they're dancing a wonderful, graceful dance. I've been trying to "play with my body," as my piano teacher says to do, so all of me is dancing. And Standchen, though it still need a lot of work (like, um...

The Amazing Practice Tracker 2.0: Leveling Up My Piano Game

(Apologies for the cheesy clip art. I needed to come up with something, or the Blogger template would show a fuzzy, overly-enlarged snippet of the first chart below.) When I showed my husband my piano practice tracker, he said I should market and sell it. Ha. It’s not for sale, but I’m excited to share how this tool has transformed my practice—and why it might inspire all three of my readers. Since my last post about the Amazing Practice Tracker, I’ve made it even better. Here’s a peek at how it works, using my June data. All The Pretty Colors, All the Pretty Winners My tracker now sparkles with color: darker shades for active pieces, lighter ones for maintenance, technique, and sight-reading. Each day, the piece I practice most gets a bright yellow highlight—a little “gold medal,” if you will. (Click image for a slightly larger view.) A leaderboard automatically shows the day’s top piece and time. And if that isn't enough, I keep track of the month's leaders--specifically, ho...