I've got so much music up in my bones it seems like a waste to not use it on a regular basis. I've come to a place where I'm finally getting into the groove of staying home and balancing what I want to do with music therapy. I always talk about wanting to be a better musician...even though I went through 8 years of music school...because without regular practice and review, that stuff gets dusty for me. Plus my undergraduate music education wasn't a time I spent doing a whole lot of practicing. Or studying, for that matter.
So, in accordance with my 12 for 2012 I wish to replace some idle time with...let's start with...30 minutes of music playing a night. It may not sound like a lot, but for someone who is going from 0 minutes a week to 210 minutes (3.5 hours) a week, I mean come on. Pretty good start. I have in my possession a ukulele, some guitars, a legit djembe, a piano, and a mandolin, along with instruction books for all of them. I am going to start out just learning chords so I can get my way around them, and then I'll start working on scales because I have always wanted to be able to improvise, and it'll also help me review my music theory.
I'll have to come up with some kind of schedule for this. Do I spend an entire week on just guitar or change it up every day? Maybe I can have a song number goal by the end of each week. Hm. Like, 5 new songs on the guitar by the end of this week, and then I can start over and learn those same songs on the ukulele, and so on. Plus, I'll bump my time up 5 minutes every week until I get to an hour. And every week I'll add a song. Yeah. I like that. If it sounds like overkill, I have to be method about it or else I'll never get to it.
Lucky for me I've been keeping a list of songs I want to learn, totally memorized, performance worthy, by the end of the week:
1. Blackbird - The Beatles
2. Your Hands - JJ Heller
3. Three Little Birds - Bob Marley
4. Someone Like You - Adele
5. La Flor De La Canela - Chabuca Granda
and in waiting so far we have:
6. Let It Be Me - Ray LaMontagne
7. Canta de Alma - Del Castillo (if anyone can find me a reliable source for chords and lyrics, that would be great. Haven't found one yet.)
8. Tears in Heaven - Eric Clapton
This is the video I'm going to use to tackle Blackbird. I started learning it last year but it didn't stick with me, probably because I quit playing for awhile. It is for sure a mind and finger workout.
I'll have to come up with some kind of schedule for this. Do I spend an entire week on just guitar or change it up every day? Maybe I can have a song number goal by the end of each week. Hm. Like, 5 new songs on the guitar by the end of this week, and then I can start over and learn those same songs on the ukulele, and so on. Plus, I'll bump my time up 5 minutes every week until I get to an hour. And every week I'll add a song. Yeah. I like that. If it sounds like overkill, I have to be method about it or else I'll never get to it.
Lucky for me I've been keeping a list of songs I want to learn, totally memorized, performance worthy, by the end of the week:
1. Blackbird - The Beatles
2. Your Hands - JJ Heller
3. Three Little Birds - Bob Marley
4. Someone Like You - Adele
5. La Flor De La Canela - Chabuca Granda
and in waiting so far we have:
6. Let It Be Me - Ray LaMontagne
7. Canta de Alma - Del Castillo (if anyone can find me a reliable source for chords and lyrics, that would be great. Haven't found one yet.)
8. Tears in Heaven - Eric Clapton
This is the video I'm going to use to tackle Blackbird. I started learning it last year but it didn't stick with me, probably because I quit playing for awhile. It is for sure a mind and finger workout.
1 comment:
I learned "Tears in Heaven" on guitar a while back... it's not too bad and I felt like a guitar goddess playing it :)
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