So last time when I wrote about my piano playing hobby, I talked about how I had managed to keep my practice routine going for like a month. I had managed to keep playing piano every day, which enabled me to progress with the instrument relatively well.
Indeed, especially as I kept practicing the theme song of 'La La Land' (Mia & Sebastian's theme), I kept getting better. As I managed to learn the song and get my muscle memory improved (especially the jazz solo), it was obvious that I had been doing things right.
At the same time, even though I kept progressing and had learned some new stuff, I knew that it wasn't enough. I was more or less only getting started and had still so much to learn about the craft (proper technique, sight reading, musical theory etc.)
Naturally, the next step was to select new songs to play that would both challenge me and keep me interested with the instrument. I chose - like I had predicted in my last post - the theme song from 'Pirates of The Caribbean', which is a really popular melody.
So with 'He's a Pirate' song, I have to say that things didn't go as smoothly as I had thought at first. The melody, even though rather simple and even repetitive in many places, requires a lot of control from you and ability to play the keys really fast.
Indeed, as I kept learning to play it - I again divided the song to sections in order to learn and memorize it - I noticed that I wouldn't be able to progress as fast as I would like to. I was simply not as good, especially technique-wise, than I thought I would be.
Progress-wise, it was rather difficult to admit that even though I did get better with the song and how I played it, I had my limitations. No matter how hard I would practice, I would still struggle with the fast transitions, even though I did my best.
So the next step, naturally, in order to keep my sanity and not go crazy from all the repetition was to move on from the song. I had to choose another song to practice, which would help improve my basic technique and consequently make me a better player.
Song-wise, after the Pirates song, I decided to choose 'City of Stars', another song from 'La La Land', which I found to be interesting too. It just sounded so melodic and fascinating, even though the song seemed rather simple and 'easy' to play.
Fortunately, even though I at first really struggled with that song (left hand skips certain notes), I learned the melody and moved to the next song. I chose Edith Piaf's 'La Vie en Rose', a popular and romantic song that I've been practicing for the last two weeks.
Indeed, this a song that has its own challenges and demands (octave + stretches with fingers, using almost all the fingers at the same time). This is clearly a new song that will improve my basic technique, even though it requires tons of practice from me.
In that sense, now that I've managed to keep going with my practice routine for three months pretty much every single day, it's pretty clear that I'm slowly getting better. I'm getting better, even though I have still so many things to learn.
After all, among other things, I still struggle with my muscle memory and my ability to control fast transitions. I also don't have the ability to sight read (play without practice by simply looking at the notes) that well, which is a sign that I have to practice on this front too.
Still, in the end, as I'm next trying to pay attention to the theory side a little bit more, I shouldn't be feeling too bad about the progress that I've made during the last few months. I shouldn't be thinking that I'm not getting better as a pianist.
After all, even though there are days when I don't notice the progress - despite my deliberate practice, I keep getting better. I keep getting better and as long as I practice diligently every single day, eventually I'll be able to play the instrument as well as I'd like to.
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