Hello Pamela…thanks for your comment, the children 'songbook resulted in a super cool final product (well, any creature is super cool to its mother 's eyes I guess ).
I took a few pictures to show you also the inside and have a sweet recording about a funny rooster to go along with them…I only need sometime to put it all together!
This is really great to read, thank you I try to go as slow as I can and enjoy the journey above all things… and I tend to be quite happy with myself…it’s very valuable to me if some tangible improvement is noticeable to others.
Sylvia, congratulation on one year of progress on the guitar, especially the classical guitar. IN your videos you can tell that you enjoy playing the guitar and it shows in your playing.
I did want to mention that your organized table at the beginning of your learning log was what inspired me to create practice charts for my grade 3 modules.
Thank you Steve
I’m glad that the picture of my organised materials was inspiring to you. The monthly schedule, with all its is proving to be a very effective tool for me…though I have to admit that my songbook is once more a real mess with a few more added songs that inspired me, I started and didn’t finish to learn
Here’s a short video, to show my “Languages and self expressions” project with the 5yo children this year. First thing: the group was formed only by 11 children, which never happened before in my career and probably will never happen again! Such a reduced number of kids allowed to give them more individual attention and to make sure they were all fully engaged in the activities. I never played the Uke by myself, as we had two ukes and one per time they all always had the chance to strum along with me and I showed them how to play the C chord. We had about 10 sessions, one per month and the activities followed a quite structured format: circle time for strumming and singing, YouTube tracks to dance/ sing along and keep attention levels up, some coloring at the table and then free playing with the school toys and with the ukes available for them to explore…and learning some english too all the way through
I loved it …and there’s not much more to add…as it would turn out to be too much! @pkboo3 Pamela, I hope you’ll enjoy this little funny audio
It’s so wonderful that you can do so much with these precious children! The audio-video gave me a chuckle in a few places. “DUCK!!” I can tell they all had a blast. Such a cute song. You turned me on to some unfamiliar Kid’s Songs and Nursery Rhymes when I searched for Bartalito.
I loved all the art work too. You have something to be so proud of.
Education through the music is wonderful, fact that you can make kids listen and respond is an achievement on its own. My kids (although older) threw away every instrument I tried to introduced to them and stick with roblox/minecratft/youtube instead .
One year into CG…it’s about time for a recap and write down some reflections on how it went and it’s going. I already wrote about the beginning and that appeal Music Standard Notation had on me which made me open my book with much enthusiasm everyday! I’ve been following the outlined path insofar and worked and allowed a lot of time for every little easy melody in order to slowly develop my skills: reading, alternated picking, legato and listening in the first place…and while working on these a few crucial “side aspects” popped up. The most important one, I think, is about the Study Method I developed along the way which is based on listening, being able to read and sing the melodies, both singing the notes or humming them to solicit my musical imagination, which I suspected to be one of my weak points…ahwww Musical Imagination! When I first heard Justin use this expression I was: “Do I really have one? What is it about? What is it made of?” I felt like I had no experience of it or maybe my experience of it was actually so poor that I couldn’t even detect it! Now I think it’d be more correct to say that, of course we all have some Musical Imagination, but that I was pretty much unaware of mine! Singing the melodies proved to be a very good exercise, I can see how good it is now that I have just started working on Two Voices Pieces (it seems like all the fun and challenging stuff is yet to come!) and practicing the accompainement voice against the humming of the melody is way easier than practicing it on its own, as the melody already contains the timing and I can better become aware where in the melody the bass notes are added…also, one more crucial “side aspect”, I’m not reading the musicsheet note by note anymore but I’m more and more able to identify the structure of the piece and rely on that. If I focus on technique and keeping time is still difficult for me to remember the piece and reading is a good option; on the other hand I’m able to remember and play most of the pieces, but technique and keeping time suffer from my slow dragging the notes out from memory and I just do it sometimes as an exercise. I think that my internalisation’s skill will somehow develop naturally along the way, but I wish I could find some more spare time to invest on ear training to speed the process up, as there’s a special feeling about anticipating in my mind the notes that are to be played…I think I’m on the right track as I’m to some extent doing it already while I keep the musicsheet there just as a reference while playing.
Enough…I’m sure I forgot something, but the sun is reaching my in the shade spot under the rock and I’m already as red as a lobster! I swam twice in the sea, the water is just wonderfully clear and nice early in the morning!
Hi Sylvia, it sounds like you have come a long way and well on the way forward. I like the idea of singing the melody to get it in your ‘musical imagination’. Unfortunately that probably wouldn’t work for me as I tend to sing all the wrong notes so that would confuse me even more
It doesn’t matter if you sing the wrong notes! As long as you can keep the timing going is a very good exercise as well, and with practice you’ll be able to hit the right pitches by simply trying…I’m no music teacher…but you need to trust me on this! I wouldn’t be able to sing perfectly each single note of a melody, but as long as it flows smoothly it won’t matter that much if it’s not perfect
I’m so jealous that getting to swim in the sea and enjoy the blistering sun.
The key things that I think underlines the wonderful progress that you have made over the course of a year is you have followed a structure approach to learning, regularly record and review you progress, learn at your own pace, and approach everything with enthusiasm.
Definitely on the right track and by not relying on the music sheet you have freed yourself up to play the pieces with feeling.
James I appreciate very much that you take the time for reading and commenting, you very often have the power to recap the things I write in a way and form that makes me think " Yeah, then it must mean I’m actually doing great!" Thanks for that!
I’m just following the medical prescriptions, yesterday I finished my Physiotherapy cycle and the Physiotherapist reccomended that I should go swimming as often as I can…so I’m going most days Really I’m blessed I live in this beautiful place
Really interesting update Silvia, and the structure and method you have built for yourself explains the amazing playing we have seen from you. The practice you go through must really ingrain a piece of music in your head so much.
This I can relate to, I’ve just finished watching module 15 where there’s alot of references to musical imagination and I get the point. I do quite a bit of “playing around” which I guess is the same kind of thing, but this does seem like it is time to knuckle down to make that “playing around” into something more tangible.
I am also envious of you being able to swim in the sea!! Enjoy
An early update this month before I find myself packing anything but the kitchen sink for our vacation .
CLASSICAL GUITAR
Dotted quarter notes on my plate this month plus some fun in making a strumming backing track to play along this Scottish Folk Song you’ll find in the video (may your ears be indulgent with some unwanted sound ) and…oh…uh…look at the second clip: that is what only one month ago I would have called “classical guitar complicated right hand technique”, but eventually it turned out to be “relatively easy”…it’s not my intention to get anyone mad with this I swear
Jokes apart things are gradually increasing in complexity and I’d better write down what worked to remind me later on, in case I’ll find myself in trouble with more difficult pieces. This is how I practiced the Russian Melody and much to my surprise develop and nailed the required technique:
listening and tapping the rhythm on the page while reading the notes
humming the melody while reading and then while tapping
singing the notes both while listening and not
playing the melody on the guitar alternating i/m all the time (which alternated by themselves at this point)
playing only the melody a lot, identifying phrases and structure, internalising it until I could play it from memory
practice the bass line slowly by itself while humming the melody trying to get aware and remember where in the phrase the bass notes occured
visualising the bass line
practice the two voices together slowly but yet decently on time with a special focus on making sure that i/m were alternating consistently
practice practice practice and…some more practice
I think it’s very important at this point to go even slowier than ever to develop a good technique things will get even more challenging! I’m quite happy with myself insofar as I enjoy so much the time I spend with my Classical Guitar
ACOUSTIC GUITAR
I found more spare time for my Jude this month and after a short recap on Wind of Change I focussed a lot on this song, planning ahead these learning goals:
develop more confidence in holding the pick
strum lightly on the strings
improve the feeling of accents on 2 and 4
get the whole song
doing some mindful listening to work out some dynamics and be able to smoothly transition from the different song’s sections
get used to mute the thickest string on the C chord
improve my fingers’ position on F and G barre chords
playing mostly from memory
Definitely too much, as you’ll see in the video, but since I have mercy on your ears I cut the video in the part that still requires work and just give alittle taste of it (I shouldn’t have expected to be able to pick individual strings with the pick when I never do it!) So…no whole song yet! But I think I did some good practice and achieved some of the goals I had set, and I really had fun with it Self-assessment indicator: if it sounds good than it’s good!
Hi Silvia,
That looks RelativAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa… can’t say it
Great videos and the Britney Spears was actually worthy of its own video topic for most people already , but I understand that you want to work on it a little more, you really got a super song there,
Enjoy your weekend in the high mountains,
Greetings…
I love the way that you are learning folk songs from across the world. You will soon be able to record an international classical folk album the Scottish song was instantly recognisable. Interestingly the original lyrics I believe were written by an Englishman. Though I seem to recall Robert Louis Stevenson wrote alternative lyrics. @sairfingers will probably remember this one.
You’re definitely making a lot of progress with your strumming practice. Hit Me Baby One More Time is really shaping up and your making it your own which is wonderful to see. I particularly enjoyed the little picked note section. Keep up the good work, you’re doing fantastic.
Terrific update Sylvia and some really lovely guitar play too. You’d get more views if you posted your songs in the AVoYP section. I’d have missed your super playing if @Socio hadn’t tagged me.
Having said that, your learning log is a real journal of progress and achievement. Well done.
Yes the Skye Boat Song is typical of a lot of Scottish folk music. The origins get lost in time with different people adding lyrics and alternative melodies. It’s probably most famous at the moment as it’s used as the theme tune for the tv series Outlander.
The song is best when done by pipe band. IMHO.
).
to go along with them…I only need sometime to put it all together!
I try to go as slow as I can and enjoy the journey above all things… and I tend to be quite happy with myself…it’s very valuable to me if some tangible improvement is noticeable to others.
…and there’s not much more to add…as it would turn out to be too much! 
The audio-video gave me a chuckle in a few places. “DUCK!!” I can tell they all had a blast. Such a cute song. You turned me on to some unfamiliar Kid’s Songs and Nursery Rhymes when I searched for Bartalito.
.
.
) and…oh…uh…look at the second clip: that is what only one month ago I would have called “classical guitar complicated right hand technique”, but eventually it turned out to be 
“relatively easy”…it’s not my intention to get anyone mad with this I swear 
