Learning the Piano

End of the road

Monday, May 11, 2015

I mentioned this before but I'll be continuing my project. There's still a lot of things that I want to learn. In terms of updating the blog, I don't know. That seems like a lot of work, and you know me; I don't like work. In fact I've recorded a song like two weeks ago, and I can upload it any day now, but I still haven't uploaded it. Why? I dunno. Throughout the year, I learned piano, sure. But I didn't really enjoy the process all that much. It's really slow and I hate being slow; I want to learn songs quick and easily, and for piano I'm not that fast. So I stopped and I procrastinated. I'm trying to get better though. I enjoyed it, and I also hated it. But for certain, I can say that this project was fun.

20% Time Speech

20% Time Speech (I don't know why it's over here)

Jisung Ko

I think making music is a lot of fun. The vibrations that you feel after you press each individual note, every note making its own sound to create harmony, and just the fact that you’re creating all of this unified music; it’s very satisfying. That’s why I really love piano. Well, not actually love. It’s more of a love-hate relationship. Piano is challenging, and you have to put in a lot of work, but in the end it’s rewarding. But getting to the end is a lot easier said than done.

I accomplished many things in 20% time. I learned how to read sheet music, and I’ve learned songs that I’ve wanted to play for a long time, and really that’s all I wanted to do for 20% time. My goal was to learn how to read sheet music, and I accomplished that fairly easily. However, I think I still have room to improve. I still need to read sheet music more efficiently, I need to learn more terms, I have a lot of songs that I want to learn; even though I accomplished my goal, I still have a really long way to go.

While accomplishing my goal, there were lots of roadblocks in the way. I procrastinated, I had no motivation, and learning songs was just really boring. I’m not trying to contradict myself; I like playing the piano a lot… but learning songs isn’t the most fun thing to do. It takes a very long time to learn a song (at least for me), and while doing it I get really bored and I don’t feel like doing it anymore. It’s like… doing homework, except at the end it’s actually worth it. I haven’t been able to deal with these problems all that well, especially the lack of motivation. I’ve been trying to practice every day, but I think it’s just that I’m a lazy person, and I probably shouldn’t try to do things that I’m uncomfortable with.

Despite the things I’ve said that might discourage you, I think this project was worth it. I learned how to play piano. I learned how to make music, and making music is very fun. However, I think you have to be devoted in order to play piano. When I say that, I mean that you should really consider putting in a lot of time when playing piano. When I was starting to play piano, I got really into it. But, as time went on, I became bored and I procrastinated. There were days where I’d be doing nothing, and I’d think to myself, “I should really play some piano…” and then that’s it. I wouldn’t actually play piano. It’s very easy to stop playing. But the piano is an instrument with unlimited musical potential, and you shouldn’t stop playing just because you don’t feel like it. It’s a lot easier said than done; I don’t even follow my own advice, but that’s what I think of piano.

Upcoming stuff

Friday, May 1, 2015

Uhh, yup. There's some stuff going on. I don't know what I'm supposed to type about. I'm a bit anxious, I guess. I also feel unprepared. I'm supposed to be presenting on what I learned during 20% time, but I only learned like two songs. Both songs are two minutes top each, too. Soo that's four minutes, and the total amount of the presentation is a whole entire class period. I don't know what to do. Maybe I can play arpeggios and then expect nobody to know what arpeggios are. That sounds like a good plan.

My speech is complete, so that's good too. I haven't started on my poster-board but I'm planning on doing that after I finish typing this update post. Which is right now! See you.

I really don't have anything else to say, but here's a picture of a man I drew

Update post

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Hello! I'm sorry that I haven't been posting for a while. I'm still learning songs, don't worry; in fact, I've just learned a new one! Yes, after three months I finally learned a new song other than the Tetris theme. It's also just as short as the Tetris theme, too. Why did it take me so long? Long story short, I'm just a very lazy person and I'd rather do a lot more fun stuff than learn songs. I like piano--I'm not trying to say I don't--buuuuuut learning songs is really boring.

However, I'll be posting a new video shortly (at least I think I will) and I'm in the process of learning a new song right now. I'm like 35% done! I'll be posting a lot more during the summer, too, since I don't have school related stuff to worry about either. Another thing; I'll be continuing my 20% time for pretty much forever! I think piano is a pretty great instrument to play and I still have a lot of songs that I want to learn. I could always improve, so why not? After 20% time is officially over, I'll probably change my blog name (but I'm fairly sure nobody reads my blog anyways). I will see you on the next post.

Songs that have piano in them

Friday, March 6, 2015

I'm not sure if you do or not, but do you remember last time I said that I'll post a video depending on how motivated I am? Well, it turns out I'm not very motivated. At all, unfortunately. I guess I am posting videos in a way, though. I did actually learn the four chords though, so I might make a video on that. I'm learning a song right now too, but to be honest learning a piano song is really boring and uninteresting, so it's taking a really long time. That's my own fault, though.

I'm making this post because I was listening to some music a while ago, and I noticed that there was some piano going on in the background. So I thought to myself, "How many other of my favorite songs have piano in them?" Well, it turns out there's a lot. The piano is a very well-known and popular instrument, and a lot of songs incorporate piano into them. However, since there's a ton of songs that do, I'll just pick some of my favorites.

Here's the song 'The Way' by Fastball, and not Ariana Grande. I can't tell you how many times I've mentioned this song, only to get the response, "By Ariana Grande?" No. This song is about a couple that runs away from their home and their children. From then on, they've only had happy moments. It's a bit sad. If you start listening to the song, around the fifteen second mark, you can hear the piano playing. I like the song a lot since 1) It's pretty catchy and 2) I like the lyrics.

This is 'Piano Man' by Billy Joel. I think it's pretty obvious that this would incorporate some piano into the song, since... it's in the name. This song is about a piano player in a bar, and he starts yapping about everybody who regrets their life, including him. They're all different people with different occupations, but they all share a similarity; they're a bit down, so they want to listen to some tunes. It's a bittersweet kind of song, and I think it sounds really nice. I especially like the part where Billy Joel is like, "La de da de dee daa..."

This is 'Drunk Again' by Reel Big Fish, and not Ed Sheeran. They don't even have the same name; one's 'Drunk Again,' and the other is 'Drunk.' Okay? And yes, I know it's not actually "piano" piano, but it's still on a keyboard, so it's pretty darn close. So what's this song about? This song is about this really sad, alcoholic dude who can't help but drink. Dang, this song is sort of depressing. (P.S. don't be discouraged by the first ten seconds)

I don't want to make any empty promises, but I'm fairly certain that my next post will actually be about a video. That I made! (I think)

Songs that I've played

End of the road

20% Time Speech

20% Time Speech (I don't know why it's over here)

Upcoming stuff

Update post

Songs that have piano in them

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