Skip to main content

Bluesy Amazing Grace

I did not see this coming.

On Wednesday after work, I headed north to Brevard, NC, where my parents live. My mom was getting cataract surgery Thursday morning, and even though my sister lives here in Brevard, my mom wanted me here to stay with my dad while she was getting surgery.

So I packed my laptop (so I could work remotely) and my 61-key Yamaha keyboard (so I could at least do some minor 7th and blues improvisation exercises).

I got a good bit of work done (I had to), but I honestly didn't expect to get much done on piano.

Boy, was I wrong.

Looking for "Amazing Grace"

I wanted to play "Amazing Grace" for my dad. Even though I can play it by ear, I wanted to find a good arrangement. I was looking ... and then it dawned on me that Piano With Jonny probably had one.

Well, they have a whole course on how to play Amazing Grace in a gospel blues style! Not only that, but they have it in intermediate and advanced versions!

My time to learn something new was limited, so I started working through the intermediate course, and all I can say is ... wow. Just wow.

Maybe It's a Grace Thing

I had no intention of learning anything new this weekend, much less on a little plastic keyboard, but instead I found the course I have been needing all my life. I have so many years of playing hymns and adding broken chords in the left hand, thinking of how they all sounded pretty but also how I was dying of boredom, doing the same old things over and over.

Friends, my days of being bored while improvising on hymns are over.

I have a lot still to learn and a lot of work to do, but this course has started me on the unexpected journey of learning to play in that gospel blues style I have always loved but never understood: slides, harmonizations, tremolo, walking bass, etc. All that stuff that I just needed someone to teach me because, for whatever reason, this classically trained girl couldn't figure out for herself.

Here is a halting version of "Amazing Grace" from the course, just a few hours after working my way through it at breakneck speed because I was so eager to learn it all. I'm mostly reading the music, but not completely. Since making this video a few hours ago, I've already worked on similar versions for "Higher Ground" and a couple of other hymns. I'm so excited.


My favorite part is the end when my dad says it's a pretty song. He is 90 years old and I know I will treasure that little clip for the rest of my life.

That rusty old key turned big-time this weekend. I'm on my way to being the pianist I want to be. So thankful for Jonny May and PWJ.

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 ...

March Goals Recap/Looking Ahead to April

It's April 1, and time to revisit the goals I set for last month. I practiced a total of 50.45 hours in March, averaging 1.62 hours (or just over an hour and a half) per day. Realistically, I practice about 45 minutes to an hour a day on weekdays, and I usually get at least one longer practice (or multiple shorter practices) in on one or both days of the weekend to bring the average up. CLASSICAL GOALS Chopin, F Minor Nocturne March Goal: Have entire piece by memory and performance-ready. I have about 90% of the piece by memory, but I still have some work to do before it's performance-ready. The only two sections that I don't quite have are "The Agitation" and the "stretto" section with the seventh chords. I'll work on both this week and will have them both memorized before the weekend. April Goal: Finish memorizing, and polish, polish, polish! My focus now is really on phrasing and dynamics. I have the notes down, even in the difficult passages. Fro...

Feb. 9 Practice

My February 9 practice was short and sweet. I worked only on the Liszt, playing in rhythms. Do you know how hard it is to play a piece in rhythms when the LH is even and the RH is all over the place, with 2-against-3 and later with 4-against-9? Don't worry--I'm not trying to be impeccably exact when I'm doing rhythms. And I've discovered what a *rut* I've gotten into with the Liszt. It's so beautiful, and part of me is content just to play it through, again and again, and be done with it. But rhythms are forcing me to look at the seamy underside, at the 0's and 1's that make this piece what it is. And it's not an altogether pleasant experience. But it's waking me up. The beauty of this piece has lulled me into a sort of sleepy complacency when I play it. I think that's why Deborah said not to play the piece through a single time this week. It is so tempting to just play it through and listen to the beautiful music. But when I do that, I'm...