5TH AND FINAL POST!!

Hello everybody and welcome to my 5th and final post!! I have been hard at work this week with Charlee, getting more familiar with using all 10 fingers and trying to keep it together. I was able to play "Roller Coaster" but it did take some time and I still feel like my form isn't very good. (You'll see what I mean in the video below). I guess only practicing an hour per week doesn't help, and to be honest I get discouraged very quickly and if I practiced any more then I would probably not be a very pleasant person to be around.LOL. I did however learn a lot more than I initially thought and spending time with Charlee has made us both very proud of each other. She is a great teacher and I was amazed how much she knew and how patient she was with me. I believe she is proud of me too, she has never said it but, she does get happy when I get something right. I enjoyed the time we spent each week and I will miss interupting her TV time on a friday to help me practice. Looking forward in the book I was using I could see a whole bunch of different symbols and weird lingo, as well that the notes stop displaying the letter on them, so you would have to know the note by its postion on the staff. Hahaha I only know that word because I cheated looking ahead. I have to say that it looked very discouraging and I'm glad that I didn't make it that far. I guess what I am trying to say is that I have a whole lot of respect for anybody who can play an instrument. It takes alot of practice, patience and talent. If I could have changed anything about this experience it would probably be to go into each lesson with a more positive attitude, I always saw the pages and songs and immediately thought that it was too hard or impossible to do and it really annoyed Charlee. As the lesson went on I would find that it got easier the more you did it and it would have been better to be positive from the start. When my lesson was finished this week I found a music sheet for Happy Birthday on the internet and I am going to practice on my own without Charlee knowing. I hope to be able to surprise her on her birthday by playing it for her and hoping to sing as well. This will be sure to embarass her in front of her friends and that, my friends is what makes this project all worth it. HAHAHA. I hope that you have all enjoyed my journey and who knows maybe I will continue to practice and learn new songs, even if I dont make it in the music business at least I can have a hobby that I can share with my family. Ciao for now and stay classy!!!

4TH POST

Wow! I can't believe this will be the 2nd last post and that next weeks post should have me ready for Hollywood. Time flies when your having a mostly good but sometimes bad time. Welcome to this weeks post where I got introduced to alot of new and crazy things. Again me and Charlee started off be recapping last weeks lesson. I nailed notes A through E using the thumb,index and middle fingers on both hands and Charlee was pretty impressed that I did it pretty much on my own. I knew I was in trouble though this week when she turned the page and said oh daddy this is gonna be hard for you. Like what kind of teacher says that? The page had two new songs on it and guess what? two new notes, G and F. Now I would have to start using the ring fingers on both hands only leaving the pinkies out. It definitely took some getting used to and there were again some moments that I'd rather not mention. About half way through the lesson I started picking it up more easily and played the 2 songs quite easily. First was "My Clever Pup" then "Kitty Cat" (real tough guy songs). I then made the mistake of gloating which then prompted Charlee to turn the page. Oh No! guess what? even more notes and more fingers. Like c'mon man. Yup I got what I deserved, F and G notes again? yup, but on opposite sides which meant that the right hand would have F on the ring finger and G on the pinky and the left hand would have G on the ring finger and F on the pinky. WHAT??. I knew that I was in trouble so I apologized to Charlee and told her im sorry and I would buy her whatever she wanted if I didnt have to do that. She agreed and I thought we were done, haha I win. Unfortunatley my wife must have superhuman hearing or something, because she overheard me and said "you're not buying her anything, stop being a baby and just do it". There was a breif timeout for all the crying, but once my eyes were dry I could start again. This is where I really had a hard time, trying to read the music now was even harder because you have 2 notes that are the same and you need to know which hand to use. I was not able to play this song by the time the lesson ended but I guess there was some progress. I'm hoping that next week I can do better at using all 10 fingers and be able to learn this song, it's called "Roller Coaster"(pretty fitting). My goal after hopefully succeeding will be to try and learn Happy Birthday. I'm wondering how many notes and fingers it takes to play and if I would be able to learn it for my finale next week. I figured it's a song that everyone knows and I can play it for Charlee's birthday in March. Even if I can"t learn it by next week I will continue to practice so I will be ready for March. I think she would love if I surprised her with that, so I may have to learn on my own without her knowing. Shhhh. Anyways that's all for this week, I hope you've enjoyed my journey thus far and I hope you will be back to see what my final week brings. See you soon!