On The Move.....

Well, I'm in the final stages of packing, I got a nice job offer in Madison, Wisconsin that I accepted, so I'll be headed out of Arizona in approximately 27 hours and counting....the major reason why I finally started teaching myself the piano was because I was unemployed and had access to one, so it just made sense. Now, three months later, I'll be leaving Arizona and a good friend of mine....the Yamaha Clavinova CVP-75 that I have spent countless hours at....well not countless, maybe liiiiiike...140....or 150 hours?? either way, suffice it to say, me 'n Mr. Clav 75 have gotten to know eachother pretty well over the past few months.....

I couldn't be more happy with this first step in my Piano journey, ummm, scratch that, would definitely be happier if my right wrist never started hurting! But nevertheless, I'm playing songs that I'm proud of, songs I didn't think I would learn for many years to come....It feels good to know that I can sit down at a piano and play a couple pretty nice songs from memory.......it feels even better to know that, say a year from now, I'll be playing at a much higher level.

So as I get ready for my move, I say goodbye to the piano, and will be taking a little break as I locate, then settle, into my future residence. I have plans to purchase a pretty nice little digital piano myself (in the $800, or so, range).....and will continue my journey. I'm hoping I get the new instrument in September, but due to financial constraints, I may be waiting until mid-October.....Either way, surprise surprise, I won't be posting much in the coming weeks.

As for now, sleep is beckoning, as well as the surplus of packing I have saved for tomorrow haha.....

Hope this finds you well.

Zak

One Last One....

well updates have not been as regular as originally anticipated but that's ok, still here........I actually haven't been playing as much lately since my right wrist has been giving me problems. Hurt it this winter while snowboarding and with the consistent 2 - 3 hrs/day, it reinjured itself....oh and I missed last satuday, so my daily streak ended at a little over 10 weeks consecutive, not too shabby.....but yeah, hopefully august will prove to be a better updating month, shouldn't be too hard, if I write once a week in august I'll beat my current record of 3 entries/month hahaa.......

hope that as you're reading this you're doing well.....

zak

just barely made it....

well i'm now fifty something days into my streak of playing everyday, and just narrowly escaped the demise of this streak. I left tuesday morning headed to madison, wi for job interview purposes. I made sure and played a quick song before I left with every intention of keeping the streak alive.....after some serious travelling, I returned home weds. night at about 1145, and after taking out my contacts and gettin my bags indoors, I sat down at the piano at 11:53pm, phew, just made it.......

progress still coming along nicely, just learned O Sole Mio! and a quick version of Jericho.......recordings coming soon, really, they are....

zak

finally got it right!

sooo...it's been a while since I last wrote. Still been practicing every day, tho some more than others. Still moving through my Alfred's book (just finished little brown jug [not the best song ever] and started Chiapanecas), but that's not the big deal here.....

the big deal is I started learning a song two weeks ago called Arctic Night by Gilbert DeBenedetti.....I really liked the way it sounded and thought I had a shot at it, and finally after two weeks of daily practice, I just played it correctly without making any mistakes for the first time.....played it at the right tempo with the right dynamics, played it just as I wanted to.....I had to learn this song, from the beginning, measure by measure, note by note, and each tiny piece was at the limits of my skill level.....but I made it.....

the funny thing is: I finally played it correctly after I took the sheet music off of the piano, and just played it from memory....I could just focus on hearing the right sounds internally, rather than focusing any energy on reading off the sheet.......

side note: I had put the whole recording thing on hold because I wanted to get this song down before I started recording, but I have the 50ft. RCA cable now, should be up 'n running shortly........the only point of contention with that is I'm flying out to Wisconsin this week for a job interview.....

i'll keep you posted.

zak

Still Pressin' Those Keys.....

Still goin strong every day, haven't missed one yet. Just finished my 2nd practice session of the day and got to thinking........I don't write in this thing enough. Even if it is essentially me talking to myself with a couple others overhearing, I gotta keep track of my progress, that's kinda the point.

Moving thru my Alfred's book pretty quickly. In the past week I've come across at least 4 blues songs and I'm loving 'em. Thinkin I may pick up a blues lesson book here in the next month or so.

Biggest issue I'm having right now is strain in my right wrist. Fell on it real hard this winter while snowboarding and it still hasn't fully healed. Trying to be careful with it, stretching it, rolling it, praying for it, etc. haha.....

Ok, bed time, job interview tomorrow......then after it's off to Best Buy to see if they have the cheap audio cables I'm looking for (Radio Shack didn't)....I just gotta remind myself to keep updating even if I can't find those cables!

Zak