I'm waiting to see you check in. You know, I often don't follow up on commitments to myself, and one of the hardest things for me is simply "forgetting". Please check in, whether or not you've done your full commitment. I support you, no matter how you much you have or haven't done. That's why I'm on here, too: so that I have to report somewhere. |
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I have been practicing an average of 30 minutes per day. Over the last few days I have skipped the practices. I have Autumn Leaves and Black Orpheus almost fully memorized. This includes the melody and the Chords. I am playing the harmony as eighth-note arpeggios, filling in the spaces in between the harmony. |
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Today I played for a couple of hours. I went over the walking bass line and melody for Autumn Leaves, Summertime, Black Orpheus and Fly Me to the Moon. I can go through the melody lines (all repeats and coda) with few mistakes. I didn't play the chords this time, like I've been doing before. I want to get the melody down pat and then bring in the chords.
I started playing Nuages. I did the same as above, walking bass and melody. This piece needs more work.
I played a piece that I used to love, Retrato Brasileiro. I was singing the melody line as I went along. This is new, I didn't used to sing before. I like to do some singing with the guitar (like Bob Dylan or Paul Simon) but never in front of people and never while playing notes and 'serious' music. Singing along helps a lot though, I'm getting a feel for the piece as a whole. |
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When I turned 16 my sister got me a classical guitar as a birthday gift. I took some lessons over the next couple of years and even got a job as a music teacher when I was 18. I was into classical music and acoustic jazz, mostly Latin. I stopped playing seriously in my early 20s.
A few years later I practiced together with a friend who played the tabla drum. We planned to play at his cousin's wedding. In the end though I had to play the wedding by myself. My friend's illness got worse a month before the wedding and he passed away. When he was in a coma I brought the guitar to the ICU and played there. People said it was good to do. After my friend died, I decided then that I would like to go back one day and play again. Since then I've only picked up the guitar now and again without much focus.
Last spring I moved to a new place and played the guitar quite a bit, almost every day. I got some of my focus back. I liked getting positive feedback from my roommate.
I've been playing regularly for the last week. I've been relearning Summertime, Black Orpheus, Autumn Leaves and Fly Me to the Moon. My plan is to build a repertoire of 10 jazz standards, then go back and volunteer playing music at the hospital. I want to learn to play melody and chords together on the guitar. I'm slowly working my way there.
List of 10 standards I'm planning to (re-)learn:
Black Orpheus
Autumn Leaves
Summertime
Fly Me to the Moon
The Girl from Ipanema
Minor Swing
My Romance
Cheek to Cheek
Blue Bossa
Nuages
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