This week, I have practiced the music that I previously learned in order to be able to play them from memory without having to reference the sheet that they are written on. I have also practiced speeding up, which I have enjoyed. I am now able to play slightly faster, and I will continue to work to be able to play even faster.I am also able to better recall past pieces of music now that I have went back and taken the time to relearn them.
Genius Hour has been fun and has taught me a lot of things that will be valuable to me in the future, both near and far. Genius Hour has taught me how to stick with something even when I get frustrated and tired. I also have learned that it is important to take beaks when you are feeling burnt out, but not let that be the end of what you are doing, especially if you were enjoying it. I was enjoying playing the mandolin, but was getting pretty burnt out, so I took a short break. The hardest part of taking this break was picking up my mandolin and playing it again. However, after I finally forced myself to pick it up again, I began to enjoy it much more, and that has not faded since. My plan for the future is to continue taking lessons and continue refining my skills. I am going to continue to learn different skills that I need to be able to play whatever song that I want with sufficient time and practice. I am looking forward to continuing to learn more about playing the mandolin and also continuing to play it, hopefully with others in the near future. I have had a great time learning about the mandolin and how to play it.
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This week has been very good for me. I have gotten better and faster at switching between chops and they are sounding pretty clear. I feel like I am doing well with the new piece of music that I am learning, which is called 'Gold Rush'. I have not attempted to play and new songs because I have been focusing on improving my chops and memorizing 'Gold Rush'. I need to work more on the music that I have learned in the past because I am beginning to forget exactly how they progress. I can remember pieces from almost everything that I have done in the past, but have to reference where I have it written down to be able to play them all of the way through.
At my lesson this week, I learned a few things. I learned the last half of 'Gold Rush' and that I was doing very good with my technique. I also learned that I need to speed up on a few pieces of music, mainly 'Big Mon'. I can do this by using the tuner that I have to set a metronome and start at a pace that is comfortable for me and work my way to being faster. I need to be at about 180 beats per minute and at the moment, I don't think that I am very close. I will practice speeding up with other pieces than just 'Big Mon' so that I can be comfortabe speeding everything up if I need to. I have been practicing whenever I can, but this week has been pretty hectic. Christmas is at the forefront of everyones mind at this time of the year and most of my plans get tjrown out the window whenever I learn about something we have to do about an hour before we have to do it. Most people don't think that people my age have plans, but I have stuff that I need to do on certain days, which doesn't usually get to happen. This week, I am going to do my best to keep all of my plans intact, which also means my plans to practice. I am going to try to practice until my finger are (metaphorocally) bleeding this week so that I can be prepared for the end of genius hour. My practice is paying off. I am getting better and better every week that I continue to play and I keep getting compliments of what I am doing. I am being able to make sounds clearer when I play and am working on what I do when I play, which is helping to make sounds clearer. I am getting better at a few things that have been introduced to me lately. I am really enjoying what I am doing and am looking forward to learning more.
Yesterday, I went to another lesson. I learned that I need to pay more attention to the timing whenever I play. I was shown by my teacher just how important timing and pauses are. He showed me by playing ‘Old Joe Clark’ like it is supposed to be played, with correct timing and pauses, and then playing it without timing and pauses. Whenever it was played without correct timing, it sounded very mechanical, but whenever the pauses were added, it immediately sounded more musical. This week, I need to focus on two things. One is working on pauses in what I am playing in order for it to sound better. The other thing that I need to work on is getting more confident in my chops and being able to switch between them faster. I have been practicing my chops, but will need to practice more this week in order to be prepared for next week’s lesson. I also need to learn how to play the first half of a song called ‘Gold Rush’. I have most of what I need to play this because it has elements of what I have already played. I will play this and practice adding pauses so that they will begin to come more natural, I hope. I am looking forward to continuing to learn and play the mandolin. I have been doing pretty good so far. I believe that I am on my way to completing my goals for 'Genius Hour'. As of right now, I am able to play a few songs and am learning new things at every lesson. I need to improve my chops and still need to get better with finger placement. I will continue to work on these as I continue to play, even after 'Genius Hour' is over. I am having a lot of fun and am looking forward to learning more about the mandolin.
I did not get to go to a lesson this week, but I should be able to go next week. This week, I am going to practice what I have previously learned in order to strengthen my skills and build my confidence. I will also keep working on switching between chops and making them clearer. I am thinking about trying to play a few things that I haven't learned yet to see if that will help me with my finger placement because I am being exposed to new things and have not fallen into any patterns yet. I think it is important that I go back and practice what I have already done so that I don't forget the skills that I will need to be successful in the future. I hope that I am able to stay on the course that I am and be able to complete my goals for Genius Hour and continue to learn and play the mandolin. My practice is finally beginning to pay off. I am getting better at switching between chops and am becoming more fluid. I have been practicing 'Blackberry Blossom' a lot, and that has really helped me. I am also becoming more precise with my finger placement as I continue to practice and learn new things. I think that the thing that is helping me the most is when I am forced to go beyond what I am comfortable with and learn how to do new things on my own. Whenever I am at a lesson, I am shown the correct way to do something, but I eventually have to leave and figure out exactly how to do it as quickly as I can so that I can practice the correct way to do it for as long as possible.
Today, I went to another lesson. I learned a few things, such as how to slide from fret to fret and where the banjo originated. I also began to learn a song called 'Old Joe Clark', which is shorter than the songs that I have learned in the past and is very fun to play. I like to play it because of how simple it is and because of how it sounds. In songs that I previously learned, I am having to stretch my hand in all sorts of ways and am moving all around the fretboard. In 'Old Joe Clark', each section stays in a pretty small area so it is easier to play. Most of the sections repeat, so I only have to learn five patterns and remember which piece to play and when to play them. Whenever I was first taking lessons, it was me and the instructor and we both had a mandolin. Recently, my instructor began to play the same thing as me, but with a guitar. This is teaching me much more than I originally thought. It is teaching me to focus on myself while, at the same time, being observant of what others are doing. Playing at the same time as someone else is also teaching me to keep playing if I make a mistake and to not restart. I can't get hung up one on small mistake whenever I play with someone else because then everyone would have to restart. I am looking forward to being challenged with new things in the future and by playing with others. I hope I can begin playing with even more people in the somewhat near future. My practice is starting to pay off. I am getting much better at playing chops and am getting faster, but I still need to switch between them smoother. I can play faster, but I still want to play even faster and have better finger placement. Whenever I play, my music sounds more fluent and rehearsed than when I first started. I am beginning to sound more professional and that makes me excited for the future.
I went to a lesson today and had a great time. I was getting burnt out and left my mandolin alone for a few days, but have now picked it back up and am enjoying playing much more. I was given the last half of 'Big Mon' and need to practice and learn that. I am also going to practice 'Blackberry Blossom' so that I can get better and faster at switching between chops. I especially need to practice switching to and from the G chop. As long as I practice, I should be able to do this by next week. I have very recently begun to learn more about different types of mandolins by watching videos and looking at different websites. I learned that a mandolin can come in many different shapes and styles. One that I learned about was called a mandocaster. It is an electric version of a typical mandolin. This style of mandolin sticks out to me because it shows the versatility of the instrument by putting the instrument, which is typically thought of as a bluegrass instrument, in a platform that is typically thought of as a rock and roll instrument. It is really cool to go onto the internet and watch videos or listen to other people play the same instrument that you are learning. I like listening to the people that my instructor recommends because they all are really good. I like to think that with enough practice and time, I could do what they are doing one day. Listening to these people is inspiring me and helping to keep me on track on my Genius Hour project. It is the end of week six of Genius Hour and tomorrow is my birthday. Although Genius Hour is halfway over, I don't feel like I am halfway towards my goal. I still feel like I need to get better at everything related to mandolin. I need to work on finger placement some more and need to work on chops a lot more. I also need to get better at practicing more often. I haven't been practicing as I should recently and have been pushing it to the back. I have started to get back into the groove in the past two days and have been really enjoying it.
I think the reason that I pushed mandolin practice to the back was that I was getting burnt out. I was practicing every day and going to lessons every Saturday. I began to see practicing the mandolin as a chore and not as something very fun. After taking a break and from practicing and taking a Saturday off from lessons, I am enjoying practicing a lot more. I did not have a lesson yesterday and I am kind of happy about it. I didn't practice much the past week and still needed to practice what I was told to. I am enjoying practicing more now so I suspect that I will practice more often and get better at the mandolin. I need to practice finger placement still because I still mess up a lot. I also want to be able to play a lot faster whenever I pick sets of strings. Not because I need to be able to play faster for a song or because I play slow in general, but because I like to play fast because I think that it sounds good. I should go back for more lessons next week and am looking forward to it. I have been getting a little bit better at finger placement and chops, but I still need a lot of practice. I need to be able to switch between chops faster so that I can make sounds that resemble music and not someone driving a nail with a hammer. I need to work on the songs that I currently have and also be getting prepared for more songs in the future. I am looking forward to practicing the mandolin more and getting better in the future. I have no idea how Genius Hour has gone by so fast. Five weeks have already gone by which means that next week is the halfway point. I also don't feel like I am almost halfway through. I still have a lot of stuff to learn before I can start fluently playing songs and playing songs without having seen them first.
I am still practicing many of the things that I learned a while ago. I am still having a difficult time with chops, however, I am getting better. I am able to switch between chops faster and also am getting more accurate with the placement of my fingers. I am always working on finger placement when I pick strings instead of play chops. Sometimes I play the wrong fret, sometimes I play the wrong string, and sometimes I get everything right. Even though I am correct most of the time, I still want to become more fluent when picking strings. However, when I play chops, I am still very slow and inaccurate, which I hope changes with more practice. This week, I am going to practice what I have been practicing more and improve on what I already know instead of adding more stuff to do on top of it. I really need to keep practicing what I already know to improve on chops. To do this, I will practice "Blackberry Blossom" more. I will also practice "Amazing Grace" to improve how my music sounds. I have been told that how I play right now sounds very mechanical and robotic and that if I play at varying speeds and spaces in between, it will sound better and more human. Another thing that I will practice is "Big Mon". Playing this will help me with finger placement and will help build up the muscles in my hands. I am looking forward to this upcoming week and improving on what I have already. Genius hour is already a quarter of the way through and I am feeling good so far. At first, I had a lot of time to practice the mandolin and that time is starting to slowly fade away. I used to be able to come home after school and practice whenever I wanted, but as the school year has progressed, that free time after school has suddenly disappeared. Clubs have started up during smart lunch and after school, so I have lost times that I usually would have worked on homework. One club that I was accepted into, War Eagle Motorsports, will take a lot more time coming up than it has because we have to try to build a solar-powered car, from start to finish, by May to race against colleges at cape fear. However, today I got to practice and I got to go to a lesson. At the lesson, I learned that I am doing well. I still need to work on my chops and need to start strumming the sets of strings both up and down instead of just down. Strumming the sets of strings up and down makes the sounds that come from the instrument blend together more and also make the songs sound more professional when they are played. I am still practicing "Blackberry Blossom" to learn how to better play chops and how to switch between chops faster. To practice picking and strumming pairs of strings, I was given the first half of a song called "Big Mon," which was originally played by Bill Monroe. I have started practicing this already and have had a decent time so far. Strumming up and down instead of just strumming down allows, and forces, me to play faster and have more accurate finger placement on the frets. I have had a little bit of difficulty keeping up with myself whenever I strum up and down, but not too much. My main problem has been accurate finger placement and playing the correct string. Next week is my last lesson for now, and I am not sure if I will get any more. If I don't get any more lessons, I will not have any idea what to do or how to get there. I hope I will be able to continue my progress and continue to learn more as I make my way through the rest of the Genius Hour project.
I feel like I am on the right track to be able to accomplish my goals at the end of the Genius Hour Project. It has already been three weeks and twenty-five percent of the project has already passed. I have been learning how to pick single strings and have also worked on some chops. Even though I don't have a lesson this week, I still have about the same amount of time to practice what I need too before my next lesson. The reason for this is because my instructor, once he found out that I am taking the PSAT this Saturday, added another weeks worth of work to do so that I wouldn't get bored practicing the same things for twice the usual amount of time. Even though I should have about the same amount of time to practice, it probably will not turn out that way. I had to write a section of my memoir that is at least four pages long by Friday, take the PSAT on Saturday, and help cook chicken stew for my brothers birthday on Saturday. This took up a lot of time during the week that I could have used to practice and will take up most, if not all, of my Saturday. If the PSAT and cooking chicken stew do not take up all of my Saturday, I will probably have to help my grandpa clean out the pot and take everything that is needed to my great aunts house, which is where we will cook the chicken stew at.
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