March 25, 2018

This is my first piano update after the “Jolly the Piano Player” entry. It might not have been a good idea for me to commit to posting every week about my piano practice. I’ve only managed to practice maybe 12 times since my first post in January. So much has been going on from trips, to family sickness and other endeavors of mine. My birthday is next week and I plan to start back afterwards. I  was hoping to travel on a birthday trip in search of a music topic to write about, but after learning that my grandmother has been sent to a hospice and its Easter weekend (flight prices are insane), I decided to postpone my trip. Hopefully I will stumble across something interesting soon.

Despite practicing less than I originally set out to, I was able to accomplish a satisfying goal. Each practice began with scale and chord warm-ups and run-throughs of songs I played as a child. I somehow can still play Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag perfectly. Unfortunately, I couldn’t say the same for Chopin’s “Hats off Gentlemen three weeks ago. This piece was one of my favorites growing up and  I felt ashamed when I found that I couldn’t play it anymore. I immediately made it my goal to re-learn the music. I had to re-learn the fingering.  After the sixth practice, I was able to play the song with little to no mistakes. Re-mastering the song, gave me a new since of confidence. I now feel that I can actually tell people that I am a piano player. I am hoping to learn two new songs for my next goal of which I will reveal in a future post.

-Jolly