Progress
It has been a great week of progress. I decided to learn the song "Ode to Joy," and started on the right hand, or melody. I have noticed that I was inclined to use both hands while attempting to complete it. I forced myself to only use my right hand, because I know that later on the chords or accompaniment will be played with the left hand. At first, I burned into my mind the first half of the melody. Slowly but surely, I built on that. Practice means perfect, and after hours of practice and watching tutorials, I was able to successfully play the melody to "Ode to Joy." I then commenced on mastering it. My goal was to play the melody to "Ode to Joy" blindfolded, and I did that. It took hours of practice and repetition, but I can now say positively that I have mastered it. Below is a video of that progress.
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Learning
After mastering the melody, I started on the left hand, or accompaniment. So far, I have really been struggling in getting this part down. Not only is it using my non-dominant hand, but memorizing multiple keys at once. For example, the "A7" chord requires four keys to be played at once. To help me switch between these keys, I have been taught to keep my hand in the root position. While keeping my thumb on the same key, I can switch between the A7 and D chord with much more ease.
Root position: the lowest note is the root (hence the name), but
other notes are the lowest in other inversions of the chord.
I have to invert my notes, because I am using a shrunken keyboard. The sounds are the same, but they are played in a different way.
I have to invert my notes, because I am using a shrunken keyboard. The sounds are the same, but they are played in a different way.
I have also color coded the keys. Blue is the A7 chord, and Pink is the D chord. Once I memorize these, I can move on to the two other chords that need to be memorized. Eventually, I will pair the chords and melody to play the full song.
