Daily Piano - Week 8

So I've reached the point where I'm re-playing Arashi stuff again (which I've done in January). Probably need to make my daily practice more varied or something now.

Adding music theory is nice too but I'm afraid that I'll use this as an easy-way-out kind of thing from the real practice lol... Should be implemented carefully, I guess.

Also interested in transcribing songs (I have a few in MuseScore which I never completed). This can easily take longer than an hour... but it's not practice IMO. Listening practice, maybe, but not real practice.

Daily Piano - Week 5

So, it finally happened. I missed a day. Just because I forgot about it! (*sigh*.. that's one of the dangers of "I'll do it later"... at night)

I make the rules so there's going to be a rest day every month. I can decide if it's no-practice rest day or yes-practice but yes... I just took a rest day yesterday, that's all!

I did doubled my practice time today.. just to make myself better. 

Not going to let this bother me.

I'm still doing it randomly. Pieces from here, songs from there. Not sure if I'm going to do it differently for next month.

Daily Piano - Week 3

Okay, on my third week of an-hour daily piano practice. Quite amazed that I'm still at it. It helps not making a big deal about it. "It's only 1 hour, do it!"

Still playing random stuff... lately into my Arashi songs files XD. 

Some days I played at night and... that always made me self-conscious. I'm afraid of playing the piano too loud so I avoid songs/pieces that has like large chords (haaaa). One of the days, I ended up only playing the LH part. Which was actually interesting. I'm aware of the fact but that really helped in playing a complete one especially the hard parts. LH parts just go smoothly.. or something. 

Ideas for future months:
- Scales and arpeggios 
- Tackle one difficult piece that I thought I'll never going to play it good enough
- Practice on controlling dynamics [not paying much attention to this as of now because I'm still trying to familiarise with the piano again ]
- Transcribe the BGMs from Voltage games that I'm playing [far, far future]

I'm trying to get over this wall kind of problems:
- Just keep playing, even though I played it wrong before
- Repeat a phrase until I'm satisfied
- Play the piece/song at least once or most of it

Daily Piano - Week 1

There's not going to be weekly updates on this. Only when I think I have something to say.

I want to play the piano daily (at least an hour). I seriously need the practice. - my blog, "2021 is..."

So.. Have been doing this daily so far but let me tell you... starting is as hard as maintaining/continuing. Just yesterday I already started being bored *sigh*.

For this month, I'm just going to jump in and play whatever I want. Randomly. For at least an hour everyday. I think that's important. Shouldn't decide to do hours of practice when I'm just trying to get back to this.

ただいま! and Happy New Year~

 I'm reviving this blog lol

Although it seems that I did want to post sth last year:

It was empty though...

I don't know how yet but I [kind of] want to make this year a year where I get back to playing piano regularly. I mentioned some of the things in my personal blog, ... I guess I want to gain (or regain) certain [new] skills this year. Yeah. This month, I'm going to start with at least an hour of piano-playing daily.

G6 results & New Home

I thought of combining this blog with my main blog (the same issues came up when I was about to create this small corner for my piano playing adventures :D)... & decided (again) to keep them separated. But, I moved to the same blogging platform.

From Vox (closed down) to Typepad (I keep forgetting my password!) & finally back to the first place where I started keeping a blog in 2005! Hopefully I'll update this more often because now it's more convenient :)

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I passed my ABRSM practical exam for G6 (that I took last year) with merit! It was only a few weeks after the exam that I got a call from Sabah's Ministry of Education to go retrieve my result. All the results for Sabahan candidates are there, enclosed in big fancy envelopes with individual & music school names. Funny thing though. There was only a piece of paper inside my envelope so if you put the envelope out under the sun, I can see what's inside! Basically it became semi-transparent... So haha... it felt a bit anti-climax to me but I saw what my result was before I even pull out the paper XD

Honestly, the first thing I did was let out a relieved sigh. I'm all "I passed!"... BUT I confess, the few marks I lost for my [silly] mistakes cost me a distinction. I got 125/150 - passed with merit - and just 5 marks short for a distinction. Well... it actually matched the efforts I put into practising though.. maybe even more than I deserve, I think.

Now I'm practicing Grade 7 pieces & I got into a bit shock in the beginning. More like in a form of hitting a wall? It's like what I do all this time doesn't matter anymore. Like I don't know how to play the piano anymore. I'm slowly trying to get over this feeling with the help of my piano teacher (although I didn't tell her about this).. it has something to do more with my confidence in playing.

She also warned me that I really, really need to practise more now that I'm in the higher grade. I understand this very much after seeing the level of G7 pieces. Logically, this should help me build my confidence... but I don't know why I struggle so much in dedicating practice time at home (considering how I spend most of my time at home). I also play non-exam pieces/songs & sometimes I play one to gauge how I'm "doing" that day.

One interesting thing I realised few weeks ago was I did some hours of sight-reading practice (more like randomly picking things to play & don't care if I got it right or not at the first play) & played my exam pieces quite well during the next class. I didn't even practise much my exam pieces! So I'm going to try doing more of that now~

ABRSM Music Theory Exam G5: 90 and a D

I haven't been blogging lately... it's almost like I'm running away from something although... *sigh*

Anyway. Here are some updates regarding my musical journey:

• Long gotten the results for Guild's Music Theory Exam G4.. yup, I passed! Although I never thought that I got the highest marks (there was an award event last year if I remember correctly *but I didn't attend*?) in Malaysia!!! I think it's because most students don't take G4 - just straight away skip to G5, I think.. 
• I'm already familiarised with my ABRSM G6 pieces but my technical parts (the aural that is) still need more practice...
• I took the exam for ABRSM music theory G5 last August 16th... I was surprised by the lack of people! I mean... the parking lots were basically empty compared to the first session... Maybe because it's held on a Saturday.. I might want to get the same session next time. Oh and for the practical exam ones *hoping hard not to run into people from my music school lol*
• OH.. and I just realised the result came out earlier... (maybe the 3 months thing was the time for its certificiate to come?).. I checked my e-mail and it was only 2 days later that I got around to check my results online! Anyway, I passed my G5 music theory exam! Barely got a Distinction (90!!)!! Haha... I was quite nervous how I'll do (although I do think I'll pass) because I finished answering everything exactly according to the time! The last section was the composing part which I didn't have time to recheck... *sigh*
• My teacher gave me some of her old books which included some old ABRSM books - pretty cool stuff! 

Short Update for 2013

ARGHH. Life is giving me lemons & I don't know how to make them into delicious lemonade.

How are you, my dearest music diary..?

Updating here for things related to music only: 

• I already received my ABRSM certificiate for Grade 5 Practical Piano two weeks ago...
• Currently I'm learning Grade 6 pieces (so far so good :D)...
• Peeked into the scales etc for G6; tried those I should have known from G5.. to be honest, it's better now that I caught up with my music theory (currently aiming to take G5's ABRSM music theory exam), those scales with plenty of sharps and flats don't really scare me much anymore...
• Last week, I started driving to piano class by myself (ho ho ho)... 
• My sister is currently taking diploma for music; she's learning to play the violin for the first time... The last time a violin existed in our house was a violin given to my father as a gift, which my child self took liberty destroying it (I'm horrible, I know!)... Gosh. I planned to learn to play the violin from my sister later haha...
• ...

2012

My first post in 2012! XD

My parents bought a new sofa set few weeks ago, so the piano was re-located... well not far from it's original place... but lol.. I just want to say it sounds really pretty now when I play it! I haven't check it online, but I think it has some effects to the acoustic of the room (or sth) when you put the piano too closely to the wall... Before, the sound was echo-ish and not as pleasant as now.. I don't know... psychological, maybe... lol

Anyway.. starting this year -following a somewhat big change in my father's church situation...- my piano classes will be on Saturdays..

I believe 2012 will be a great year.

Niji

I suddenly have a strong urge to play Ninomiya Kazunari’s “Niji” on the piano. I’m not good at it (yet) because I still can’t get the hang of the semiquaver count… Grrh.

Today is crappy like any other Tuesdays since I started having VR tutorial classes at 4pm (who the heck again chose that time??). Added with recent courier delivery problems – crap! – my new OHNO-BLUE mp3 player & Lotus singles, 大丈夫か？

Read some disturbing Arashi news today which just made my day go even sour. Arashi fans, never ever forget the dark side of entertainment industry.

And since I haven’t updated this like for months (笑), I’ve finally moved on to Grade 4 ABRSM pieces!!! Funnily, those pieces didn’t give me much impression when I attempt to play it at home… then, when piano teacher decided to try G4 pieces, I fell in love~ It’s fun again~

Oh… Ms C asked if I have the book, and I mindlessly said yes (originally planned to say no), which led to when did I buy it… I answered earlier this year even though it was last year’s August…

Almost a 2-month absence...

…from this blog. Actually from all blogs. Except Tumblr and Twitter, of course. Though.. I don’t tweet much these few days.

BTW. My Twitter Bio now reads like this :

Positive pessimist. Curious. Sophomore. Struggling with Math problems and Programming assignments in university. Currently obsessed with Ohno Satoshi & Arashi.

Anyway. Instead of me asking my piano teacher to skip to Grade 4, she had asked me first few weeks ago. I was elated of course but I didn’t show my enthusiasm… she wanted me to think first then tell her next week (but she totally forgotten about it). Then.. in yesterday’s piano class, she mentioned about it again. I suspect she has similar thoughts with me though… I think I should really do well for the G3 pieces first before moving on to G4’s pieces… And she gave me another hard (4 sharps with 4-in-1 notes *if you get what I mean*) piano piece to practise my sight-reading skills. I am not good at sight-reading but in the last exam (G2), when I practise sight-reading, I kind of have the feeling that I can do that well. Kind of.

Also, few weeks ago… I had some kind of vacation from piano practice (busy watching Arashi in my room). Sounds bad, you think? No, not really. The funny thing that happened was like me eating Kit Kat chocolate bar. I LOVE Kit Kat but I seldom eat them because… I want to preserve that feeling of longing to eat one. I think the same thing happened to the practice. When I play, I realised how I miss the sound of the piano… as if they are a new sound to me, I got excited and was a bit more confident to play. The result was odd but good.

I used to always play Demi Lovato and Jonas Brothers songs on the piano. Their songs are usually in keys with mostly sharps… Now that I’ve found a new love in Arashi’s leader, Ohno Satoshi… it’s pretty much Arashi songs only these days. Haha… Their songs are more varied though, keys with flats & sharps here and there…

I’m still scared of flats. And staccatos.

A Wannabe.

Sophomore. Pianist wannabe. Positive pessimist with hopes. Currently struggling with Math problems and Programming assignments in university.

That's my updated Twitter Bio. Been longing to update to something more current. This time I added "Pianist wannabe." In my opinion, although I can play the piano, it's still early to call myself a pianist. There are so many things that a pianist usually do that I can't do yet. I don't have their kind of confidence. 

It's a blessing to be able to pursue my study in music now even though I'm a full-time university student. I've been selfish and demanding (living off-campus since the 1st semester) to make this arrangement work. So that I'll have access to the upright piano at home 24-7. I study Maths during Weekdays and then Music during weekends. 

It's a life-long journey.