Thought the duration of the last 12 weeks, I have experienced both physical and emotional hurtles while learning the piano. First, I will address the physical hurdles of my piano experience. Playing the fiddle, mandolin, and guitar has required me to play the rhythm with my strumming and bowing hand, while the other hand participates in the melody of the song or tune. Using both hands collaboratively in A River Flows In You by Yiruma has been extremely hard. The only thing I can compare it to is attempting to rub your belly and pat your head at the same time! Multi tasking mistakes on a musical instrument cannot be easily played off, every mis-step is emulated into existence for my poor roommate to hear (bless her heart). But finally, with as much practice as I could squeeze in, I have made it through the music piece.
As referenced in my last post, I have had to change the complexity of the piece for my final exam. Technically it is the same piano song, however, there have been some slight changes in order to make it more approachable for beginners. The decision to jump down to an easier version was quite straining on my ego to be completely honest. Not only is music an avenue of my life that I rely on to to de-stress, I have always felt at peace that music is a hobby I am good at. Through this course, I know now that music cannot be achieved under pressure. Standing in the shoes of a student learning a completely different skill has been extremely humbling. This experience has improved the grace I will give towards my future young learners, I cannot imagine having a learning impediment and tackling a project like this .
I can strongly say that the piece itself, was what drove me to keep working through it. As a future educator I hope to both implement and provide opportunity for students to explore their interests, especially in a self driven project. Each measure I read through and converted into correct note names, I couldn’t wait to hear how it translated onto the piano keys.
Even after I had modified my music from the original to an alternate piece, I was challenged to read, convert, play, and focus on the timing of the piece as well.
The ties that lay between many of the notes threw me off at first, but soon learned that they are just like a slur in fiddle music; the notes are combined together without a pause. Another thing that threw me off were the sixteenth notes that provide the majority of the crescendo and decrescendo in the piece. I found my flow in the music through these swells of rising and falling notes, as they were clear indicators of when the music was going to settle, and what was to come next. In my final project video, you can see me attempting this song with a slow tempo, in order to keep up (especially with the 23rd measure, my most difficult area. Another reason why a slow tempo was mandatory for me was because there is no set finger positioning on the modified version. Therefore, I had to figure out what fingering made sense, in regards to the current notes played and the future notes ahead.
Thank you so much for tuning into my musical journey! It has truly fostered a new appreciation and love towards piano music. Furthermore, it has instilled an awareness to be more adaptable and compassionate as I lead my future students through many “firsts” of their lives.
Below is the film of my piano project with just my treble clef hand.
Movie on 2019-11-25 at 3.51 PM