Entry #11 - May 2, 2014

This last week has really just been a scramble to finish the final product and work on the presentation. I am still working on some songs and have learned a few random songs from my book like "Angry Angry Man." Other than that, I've really just been preparing for my presentation. Aside from that, there's nothing really worth mentioning. I've been working on my more complicated songs and I've been progressing. I'm finally using the pedal now because now I understand when to use it and it adds more of a resonating throaty kind of sound to the notes which lingers. I've found it's really good for when you need to hold a note or chord but you need your hand to be somewhere else. I am still happy with my progress but I'm getting more concerned as the final days are coming because a bunch of work has popped out of nowhere. My biggest concern at this point is not being able to finish the final product and/or create a decent presentation.

Source: "Movie Maker - Microsoft Windows." Windows.microsoft.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2014.
I am using the Windows Movie Maker software to create my final product.

Entry #10 - April 18, 2014

This week has been another relatively busy week. I haven't made much progress in regards to learning new songs because the songs I'm learning now span multiple pages, so it takes longer to learn new ones. Currently, I'm just trying to hammer out "Moonlight Sonata" because it seems like a very good practice song. It doesn't have too many advanced maneuvers and you don't have to fiddle around with the pedal like in other songs. Right now, I'm actually learning the second page of Moonlight Sonata. The final product is still going on. I'm still editing the video together and there's been a few complications with WMM. I wish I had a better program to be honest. I'm still excited about this project because I still get to learn new songs which always makes me ecstatic. I'm still happy with my progress even though it's slowing down with these more challenging songs. I think I did much better than I expected. Not too many interesting things have happened besides the fact that I learned what the other 2 pedals on the piano are.

Source:  "Moonlight Sonata." Moonlight Sonata Sheet Music. N.p., n.d. Web.

This is the second page of "Moonlight Sonata" which I am currently learning.

Entry #9 - April 11, 2014

This past week has not been, to be frank, very exciting. In fact, it's not even close to exciting. It's been a lot of technical, music theory work. I have mostly been learning the symbols on sheet music because I found it was very hard to read sheet music if I didn't know what all the weird symbols mean. I spent most of the past week just learning about that which was not fun at all. I haven't worked on my final product this past week mostly because I haven't been learning the rest of "Moonlight Sonata" which I do intend to do. Hopefully I'll finish the song by next week. Learning sheet music has been bothersome to say the least because it really is just about memorization and memorizing symbols is possibly the most boring task. That said, I am still happy with the progress I've made. I no longer have to keep re-checking what certain symbols mean or what sharp symbols on the lines mean. 

Source: "Musical Symbols - Sheet Music Terms and Musical Symbols." Musical Symbols - Sheet Music Terms and Musical Symbols. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.

This is the website I was using to learn about the various symbols when reading sheet music. 

Entry #8 - April 4, 2014

As usual, I'm learning songs to play on the piano. I've started to shift away from the more basic songs like "London Bridge is Falling Down" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" to more advanced songs like "Moonlight Sonata." The video is coming together. I've found that I actually progressed quite fast, in my opinion. I moved almost immediately from the child-like songs to very famous classical pieces. While I can't play the entirety of "Fur Elise," I can play the part the everyone knows. My excitement about learning the piano has not died since I've started learning. Even though it sometimes takes me hours to learn a part of a song, I don't get frustrated or upset (maybe a little). It's always satisfying to be able to play the piece correctly. The only major thing I am worried about at this point is if I will finish the final product in time. I guess the other thing would be reading sheet music. There are a lot of weird symbols that just require memorization. As stated, I am elated by the progress. Maybe, this also drives my excitement because I'm actually progressing and learning.

This is the sheet music for "Moonlight Sonata," the song I'm currently learning.

Entry #7 - March 28,2014

This week, I've learned one more song and part of a part of fur Elise. I've found that the second and third parts of fur Elise are a lot more difficult than the first, but I believe I can still do it. I've learned a Lord of the Rings song which makes me super excited because I am a huge Lord of the Rings fan. The final product is progressing along quite well. I will probably start editing the video now because I have enough footage to work with unlike before. The new songs I am learning always keep me excited because when I'm playing the songs, I can "feel" the song in a sense. I've also learned all of the chords. I found it easier to take a systematic approach to memorizing the chords rather than individually memorize each chord. I find that some of the songs that have more than 3 chords are too difficult for me at this current point which bothers me. I'm still happy with my progress though because I've memorized all the chords (though I need a piano still to say what notes make up a chord). Not to many things interesting came up, but I did, at one point, try to create my own song. It was very loud and dissonant.

Source: "Beginner Piano Chords." : Master Chord List. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
These are the major and the minor chords that I learned for the piano. 

Entry #6- March 21, 2014

A lot of things have happened since the last update. I actually started to learn and play songs. As of right now, I can play "London Bridge is Falling Down," "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," and the first bar of Fur Elise. The final product follows with my piano practice because it's a video about journey of learning the piano, so I'm constantly working on my video along with new songs. It's always exciting for me to learn new songs and to see the variation you can have with essentially just seven notes. I'm also excited because I've progressed faster than I thought I would and it's always exciting to be able to play multiple songs. The things that bother me are kind of trivial because it's mostly the fact I keep hitting the B key instead of the A key sometimes and I'm not really comfortable with working the pedals. I'm really happy about my progress so far. I've learned songs faster than I expected. At first, I thought playing Fur Elise might have never happened, but I've already started to learn to play it.

Source: Verlag, Henle G. "Beethoven, Für Elise WoO 59 – Do You Strike the Right Note?" N.p., n.d. Web.
This is the part of the song "Fur Elise" which I just learned to play. 

Entry #5 - March 7, 2014

Over the course of this project, I have found a multitude of websites that have been extremely useful for me. found Wikihow when I was confused about a couple of musical definitions. So, I looked them up and I found this website that has all the major chords and explains each musical term. Through this website I've learned about root notes, perfect fifths, octaves, and a whole bunch of other musical definitions. The other website, True Piano Lessons, was found when I was looking for other websites that could help me learn about the piano. I found it very similar to zebrakeys.com but it's lessons were slightly different than those in Zebra Keys. So, I started using both websites to learn about playing the piano. They both come with practice sheet music for when I play the piano at home. Both of these websites have been extremely useful in learning about playing the piano and music in general, especially wikihow. It had a surprising amount of depth and explanation for many of the musical terms I didn't understand.

"How to Play Major Chords on a Keyboard." WikiHow. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2014.

http://www.wikihow.com/Play-Major-Chords-on-a-Keyboard

"How To Play The Piano." How To Play The Piano. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2014.

http://www.true-piano-lessons.com/how-to-play-the-piano.html

Entry #4 - February 28, 2013

There have been two major challenges for me so far on my journey to play the piano. The first major problem that I am currently facing is the fact that my fingers are relatively clumsy. I  accidentally keep hitting the wrong key, but I'm training my fingers to not hit the wrong key. The main problem is that when I have to use both my hands. That's when I have the hardest time. The second challenge that I'm facing is memorizing all the chords for the piano. I've learned about 5 of them so far, but there is a large amount of chords that are on the piano. I think I will be able to overcome these challenges though with more practice and time. I believe that I will be able to help with the finger problem because there are many websites that teach give you exercises to help with clumsy fingers. The chords are mostly memorization so I should be good on those as well.

Source: "Overcome Clumsy Piano Fingers Crossed Sniper." Overcome Clumsy Piano Fingers Crossed Sniper. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
Website: http://pianofingerscrossedsniper.blogspot.com/

Entry #3 - February 14, 2014

I think I am starting off really strong so far. I've learned far more about music than I have in the past 14 years of my life. I am able to read basic sheet music and I know what the notes for the treble and the base cleff are. I am starting to play on the piano because I can finally read some basic sheet music. I still sometimes need to check over the website I'm using to do so, but I am starting to remember certain key notes. I think I still need to work on my hand posture though because sometimes I don't press the key hard enough or I hold it for too long.

Source: "Patterns of the Black and White Keys." Patterns of the Black and White Keys. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2014.
At this point, I am starting to read sheet music from a grand scale. These are some basic songs that I am currently learning right now. As you can see, I am using a website, ZebraKeys.com, which offers not only sheet music, but also a tutorial on how to play each one. 

Entry #2 - January 31, 2014

Explanation: I, with no musical knowledge at, am going to learn to play the piano.

Links:
1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vphWgqbF-AM
2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq0tan49rmc
3) http://www.zebrakeys.com/
4) http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/business-career/public-speaking/how-to-make-a-good-pitch

I am quite confident with my pitch because I have had prior experience in doing sales pitches and whatnot. I think this will go well unless I really mess up. I guess the only concern I really have is remembering to say everything because sometimes I blank out. Other than that, I am pretty good to go. I have a solid idea. I have an end product in mind. I have an idea as to how it will help me and others and I think I know what I am going to be doing inside and outside of class. Actually, another thing I might be worried about is conveying my idea across to people. To me, it seems very simple, but I find that sometimes I have a hard time explaining it to others. Anyways, let us see what happens.

Entry #1 - January 24,2013

I am really excited to start this project. I think that learning to play the piano along with the basics of music would definitely be a benefit to me and the people I will present this project to. Learning to play the piano, from a background of no musical experience, is going to be a difficult but fun task for me. The most difficult part of this project for me is probably going to be learning to actually read the music and understand what it means. This project could help me a lot later in life with anything creative. By understanding music, I think it will help me be more creative and open up new and interesting opportunities that I may have never thought of before.

There are many websites on the internet that I think would be helpful to me in my attempt to learn to play the piano and learn the basics of music.

This Data Dragon Information Services website is extremely useful as it teaches all the basics of music as well as the different parts of a music sheet like cleffs, time signatures, and the different types of notes. I found this website by using a search engine.
Link : http://datadragon.com/education/reading/

Another source of information that would be extremely beneficial for my project would be this online video that teaches people the basics of the piano. This is helpful because for someone like me who knows nothing about the piano, this is a great start to learn about the keys on the piano, hand posture, etc. I found this also by using a search engine.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vphWgqbF-AM