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September Achievements, October Goals

 


September Highlights

September was a good month for piano. Here are a few standouts:

  • Played Jonny May's "Ode to Joy Rag" in the PWJ recital on Sept. 10.
  • Got to have an in-person piano lesson with Ethan (my ragtime teacher) on Sept. 12, then have dinner with his family and see him perform that night.
  • Completed the Piano With Jonny (PWJ) Chord Shells and Guide Tones Exercises course.
  • Completed Lesson 1 (Cycle of Fifths Progression) of the PWJ Play Lead Sheets with Chord Shells and Guide Tones course.
  • Participated in a short-term PWJ challenge last weekend to come up with something interesting from a chord progression. I came up with a fun ragtime bit, made a short video, posted it, and was done—all in about 10 minutes!
  • Made a "graduation video" for "Over the Rainbow."
  • Made a lot of progress learning the LSU Fight Song ("Hey, Fightin' Tigers") from a lead sheet.
  • Played at a local assisted living facility on Sept. 26 and did well on everything except poor "Edelweiss," which I butchered despite it being easy and despite my having practiced it that morning.
  • Practiced almost 70 hours (and possibly will hit 70 by the end of the month).

Wow! That is more than I realized, so I'm glad I thought to list everything. Just wow.

I definitely have momentum right now. I'm working on several arranging projects, and I'll soon be starting Lesson 2 of the PWJ lead sheets course. There is quite a bit of overlap there; even though the PWJ course focuses specifically on chord shells, they're both about reading lead sheets, which is becoming much easier with practice.

October Goals

So, my goals for October—which I have not thought about until right now—are:

  • Finish my arrangement of "When You Wish Upon a Star."
  • Learn some autumn-themed songs ("Autumn Leaves," "Take Me Out to the Ball Game") from lead sheets for the assisted living place.
  • Start learning the lead sheets for "Georgia on My Mind" and "On the Sunny Side of the Street."
  • Complete two more lessons of the PWJ lead sheets course.
  • Schedule another in-person piano lesson with Ethan, if weekend schedules allow.
  • Play at the assisted living facility in mid-October (this is already scheduled).

I would also like to make a good video of "Ode to Joy Rag" in October if I don't manage to make one in September. I didn't play particularly well at the recital, and I would really like to have a good video as proof that I really can play this!

So, those are the goals. I'll write about my progress toward them throughout the month.

A Good Place to Be

I am so happy these days. I just feel so thankful—for Piano with Jonny, for Ethan, for my online piano communities, and for all of the work I've done, not just in the past few years but throughout my life, that has enabled me to play at the level I'm playing now.

None of that time and effort was wasted, though I've had my doubts over the years. I also no longer feel regretful about not learning all of this earlier, about not being more serious about piano earlier. I felt that way for a long time. But now? I'm where I am, and it's a pretty good place to be.

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