Silvia's Learning Log

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Thanks Radek, I guess improvisation will come to you naturally in a very similar way it came to me.

I agree, it seems to me that while we’re learning melodies we’re also developing our rhythm skills and we can play the notes with a smooth timing first of all; and we also get used to the distance in pitch of the notes. There’s no shortcut but keep on practicing and enjoy the journey! No need to rush and push to do something that should be a natural expression of yourself, we need skills
first, IMHO :blush:

Me too :rofl:

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UPDATE TIME :alarm_clock::blush:

Such a busy month :see_no_evil: the first thing to report is that at work I’ve been appointed as one of our school head’ s assistants, which in practical words means I’m now responsible for our kindergarten complex: only one School Head on 4 different territorial Districts with schools from kindergartens up to 14 years-old boys and girls and one trustee in each school, as you can imagine she delegates a lot and that means more work and responsibilities for me…

Also one of our two classes has been cut, we have now only one of 29 children, which is for our Education Minister an appropriate number for 1 Teacher, we’re 2 Teachers together only 2 hours a day, for taking care of the children at lunchtime and maybe, if we manage for a 45 minutes of educational activity a day, so that we can still call it a school and not a baby-parking or a chicken-coop :cry:

…but I’ve been able to cope insofar, I managed to find time and mental energy for guitar practice, which is actually turning out to be my lifeline…

CLASSICAL GUITAR
This month the 2 most challenging pieces in the book…YAY! Am I not lucky? :zipper_mouth_face:

What I have been achieving

  • I’ve been able to analyse, identify, visualise and memorise the structure of both pieces; I can play them from memory.
  • I didn’t get crazy or lost through all the Leyenda’s repetitions, but gradually improving my focus, my being present in the flow of music and at the present note.
  • I’ve been enjoying a lot my practice sessions and they helped me to re-center myself in the flow of life events.
  • …probably more…
  • A brand new super cool Classical Babe!!!:smiling_face_with_three_hearts::gift_heart::sparkling_heart::heartpulse::heart::heavy_heart_exclamation::cupid::green_heart::dizzy:

What I’ll achieve
Better technique, legato, lovely crescendo e decrescendo of unique and wonderfully graceful leaves’ fallings…ok you get the idea…not sure if in this life or my next one :joy:

To be honest I’m already very happy with myself for what I learned even if my brain’s Slow Neurons Union has called for a strike against the recent work overload and sued the composers for kicking them in the butt to make them connect faster and speed the playing up :see_no_evil:

STRUMMING
I managed to be consistent, 15 minutes/5 days a week (10 with the metronome, which is my best companion and makes me relax in myself, no need for struggling)… it’s not much, it’s not enough; I’m doing my October routine tomorrow and I need to plan more. I didn’t play much, but preferred to go easy on myself and enjoyed muted strumming along the original recordings, sometimes applying well known patterns, sometimes searching for new ones, often going wild, just trying to stay on the beat and see if I could catch the feeling of the song.
I started the Strumming Dynamics Course and worked on the “4 bars feeling”; I recorded one of my practice 5 min session with the metronome on friday: only one 5bars mistake! :partying_face:

WIND OF CHANGE
It’s now a matter of working mainly on technique, challenging stuff actually…I’m putting it aside for a while because I’m getting a bit bored of repetitions. I’m sure I’ll get back to it with renewed enthusiasm one day…hopefully soon!

I forgot to say that I also started with the pick manipulation and I think I’m making good progress :grin:

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Oh my Gosh! I had just taken a drink of coffee when I read this and almost lost it trying to stifle the urge to laugh out loud… which caused me to choke… after swallowing I coughed so hard that my eyes :eyes: teared to the point that I couldn’t even read the whole post!!! LOL!!!

I really enjoyed this video, Silvia! You look confident, relaxed & in control of that pesky ring finger you’ve been worried about! Malagueña is one of my “Dreamers” & you make it look so easy! Love the rasgueado at the end coupled with your beaming smile!!! Lovely rendition!!! Leyenda was recommended to me by a guitarist who was playing in a mariachi trio at a restaurant one evening several years ago… I bought the sheet music :musical_score: for it & promptly forgot about it… need to dig it out and give it a try now that I feel better about playing after a year of Justin’s lessons! Also, I remember reading that a reworked version of Leyenda is the basis of The Doors song “Spanish Caravan” from their 1968 album “Waiting for the Sun”… your version was very good! Nice, clear notes enhanced with a beautiful tone from your Classical guitar made this piece so wonderful!
Keep up the good work & keep posting your progress!!! Thank you for sharing!!!

Tod

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Here’s that version by The Doors… I think it’s “Classicalesque” but definitely a bit different…

Tod

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Hi Silvia,
Nice that you have been given more responsibility, that is always a good feeling :smiley: :sunglasses:… very sad to read that the rest are/are becoming pretty much the same problems as here in the schools… very sad to read,

But I enjoyed your playing again :sunglasses: :clap: :bouquet:

Greetings and I wish you the power to introduce at least one hour of music lessons every day :index_pointing_at_the_viewer: :guitar: :microphone: :notes: :drum:

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Hi Silvia,

sorry to hear about the changing conditions at your school(s), it seems to be the same as here where classes keep growing and number of teachers decreasing… It’s a shame, but maybe not the right place for ramblings on this. :face_with_diagonal_mouth:
But at least congrats on being chosen as assistant of school’s head. Shows they trust you and appreciate you! :smiley: Hope you’ll adjust soon to this new situation as well and the waves of work flatten a little. Fingers crossed for you. :slight_smile:

It’s good to see and hear, playing guitar helps you calming down and bring you back to yourself. Lovely what music and making it can do for us. I enjoyed watching your video, such a lovely playing and the joy you feel while doing so completely swaps over to me! :slight_smile:
So practice really pays off, so well done. I think, the first piece you played I learned on piano almost 20 years ago and wasn’t easy. :grimacing:

All the best for the upcoming challenges. :four_leaf_clover: Looking forward to the next update already.

Thanks for sharing your journey. :slight_smile:

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Well done Sylvia. You are to be congratulated for your promotion and that lovely piece of guitar playing. I really enjoyed that.

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As always, loved your update, Silvia.

Wish you well in the new role.

Practice is as always well organised, disciplined, dedicated … an example to follow.

And two pieces that sounded lovely. The music was a delight as was watching you, your delight and joy is one of my brightest moments in the Community.

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Hello Tod…no serious consequences with your coffee :sweat_smile::joy:

I really appreciate you checked my log and video and happy you enjoyed the pieces, please let me know when you’re going to approach one of them as I’ll be happy to share some tips :blush:

I quickly listened to The Doors 'song, thanks for sharing it, it’s actually a real remaking of the piece! I’ll re listen more carefully as I liked it!

:grin::grin::grin: yes no doubt about it, sharing and making videos for you all also helps me really to keep me on track…do you have a Learning Log? If yes I’ll go and check it as well…otherwise you need to start one!

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Hi Rogier :hugs: thank you really for your kind words of understanding…as I read them I felt my heart a bit lighter for a while! :blush:

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Oh ooops…:woman_shrugging: great fun to come, we are a lot, but you know music loves company :wink:

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Hi Lisa, thanks a lot for your interest in my progress, I’m very happy we can share about our music journeys :blush:

I agree it is lovely and wonderful what she does for us, as David observed

…it requires some discipline and effort but since I know what the outcome is it’s easy as well to stop anything else and say “Practice Time needed now!” It often happens I start wandering in the house in the afternoon so I think " routine and play take 45 minutes, after that I’ll be more focussed on anything else", and that is true, I’ll be always more productive after guitar time! I need it.

David you make me blush! :blush::blush::blush: Ever so glad my positive approach to learning makes others happy to! :heart_eyes: Thank you!

@TonyHS thanks Tony both for the congratulations and for sharing this with me, I’m glad you enjoyed my playing :blush:

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Hi Sylvia. Terrific LL update. I’m glad to hear that your efforts at work are being rewarded. Well done, it’s always a great feeling to know you are appreciated.
I love the little musical notes hanging on the staff. It’s a great idea to get the kids thinking about music.

I know I was put off music at a very early age at school by a teacher who thought the most important facts to teach us were - birth and death dates of all the classical composers, where they were born etc etc. He made us read biographies of them and then we had to answer questions. We never got to touch a musical instrument. :worried:

Your classical piece update was excellent. Well played and off by heart too! Well done, your organised routine is paying dividends.

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Hi Silvia, another great LL update. Pleased to hear that rewards are being achieved at work and guitar. Wish you well in your new role and hope it gives you lots of expendable cash to fuel the GAS… maybe we will see Silvia rocking out on an electric guitar very soon. The classical pieces sounded fluent and great, you can clearly see and hear the progress you have made since last month. Great to read that you are still strumming away and putting in the effort on Justin’s new Strumming Course and making good friends with the metronome. Look forward to seeing your latest progress update in a months time.

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Hi Gordon, thank you for checking my Log and progress…I really appreciate it! Sad to read your experience at school, we also had to read and study the biographies and of course nobody was interested in that, but at least the Teacher taught us a bit of Music Standard Notation and to play the recorder, I remember I was very good at it. I recently brought it at school too because I find it sounds really close to the human voice and I can use it for simple activities and games with the children. The Classical pieces have been quite tough to learn but in the end consistency and routine paid off!

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Hi James, thanks for your feedback! :blush:

…I would love to use this emoji :money_mouth_face:, but no…it doesn’t fit :zipper_mouth_face:
I’m aiming to be as much productive and good at it as much as a good-balanced human being and preserve the quality of class time with the children , that will be the best reward for me!

:nerd_face::grin::sweat_smile: tough but I kinda nailed them along the way!

Absolutely, this course seems designed exactly for me! And I feel the exercises are being super beneficial! :grin:

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Time flies and it’s already time for a new LL update…it flied :notes: nicely :notes: along for me and my guitars :grin:

CLASSICAL GUITAR
No very challenging stuff as Leyenda Theme and Malaguenas :sweat_smile::relieved:

  • Siciliano: short and sweet, only the first section in my beginner book…I just did a few attempts to add the flick- offs at the beginning of the phrase (which I noticed on most renditions on YouTube)…I resisted the temptation to go for the all piece :sweat_smile: which is btw one of the sweetest little things I encountered insofar :heavy_heart_exclamation: :heart_eyes::notes::heartbeat::sparkling_heart: This first section was actually a piece of (sweetest!!!) cake to learn, though from the very beginning I averted a disatisfaction for how easily notes tend to fade away in the air; I tried to do my best to contrast that; as a beginner I feel happy with myself for the achieved results because I think I’ll learn more techniques to refine my Legato along the way (I’m adding some more scales 'practice to my routine, though).

  • Minuet in G: for the first time it was requested to learn both parts of the Duet and…I’m afraid the cheerful video effect won’t disguise the very concentrated look on my face. I can tell you after a month of practice I can’t hear the Accompainement part on its own yet; I eventually decided not to bother too much as it would have no sense on its own after all! Practicing it while humming just the melody proved to be difficult as well so I applied a little easier strategy :bulb: (a short demo clip at the end of the video).

STRUMMING AND THEORY

I wish I found more time for Theory, as taking part of the Theory Class is very inspiring and engaging, nevertheless I"m happy I could work on an easy concept in a very practical way and use my Chord Progressions to work on the Song Structure Lesson and start using Fills and Builds (even if not so smoothly yet :roll_eyes:) as well.
Here’s my homework :see_no_evil::laughing: I’ll be bold and say I’m quite happy with it as well :speak_no_evil::joy:

I also did some mindful listening on two italian songs to work out the structures…but it all ended up more long than wished because there’s always some nice melodic intro and I made my humble attempts at transcribing (they both require so much further practice before I can say I can play them).

The 8 Bars Feeling: I’m getting to it :partying_face: …On the fourth bar I feel a need in my right hand to add or remove strums depending on the strumming pattern, I just feel it without counting, and from this to the 8th bar is now just 1 step (not 4 steps anymore) Yuppiiiii! :grin::sweat_smile::innocent:

THE PICK: :zipper_mouth_face: it’s gonna end up just like anything else with my strumming progress…too early to say :zipper_mouth_face::woman_teacher::children_crossing::smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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Hi Silvia,
I could comment a lot ,well maybe not :smiley:… not about your videos because they are fun and good to watch and listen to :sunglasses: :clap: :bouquet:…

… not necessary not necessary :joy:… great KEEP IT UP :wave:
Got to go now bye bye :sunglasses:

Wondering where your song is going ??? :comet: :star:
Greetings,

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Silvia, I really admire how well you are doing. I especially loved the strumming video. I must admit I never thought of using it with the chord progression ideas. I will have to have a go at that.

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Hi Silvia,

it’s so great to follow your progress. :smiley: Those two classical pieces were so sweet to listen to. :clap: The Minuet in G always was one of my favourite pieces on the piano and you made it sound sooo good on guitar. Brought up some good memories, thanks for sharing this one! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

You’re chord progression sounds also really nice and quite round to my ears. I liked the dynamics in it and your strumming was really solid. :+1:

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Great to read about your progress Silvia. It’s clear from your videos how much you’ve progressed over the last few months. It must feel good!

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