Category: Music

Here is the link to my video of the songs Always Remember Us This Way

Part One: https://youtu.be/wWo2CpdUUWA

Part Two: https://youtu.be/HZERgEu8FZo

Here is the link to my video of the song Don’t Stop Believing https://youtu.be/nY_Cu66t7WE

This week I have been practicing  Don’t Stop Believing to have this song perfected to record it for my final music post. I have still continued to practice the song Shallow and Always Remember Us This Way since the beginning of term just to keep playing them for fun. I will be recording Always Remember Us This way because I had changed my plan after the midterm. I will also record myself playing the song Don’t Stop Believing for my midterm. This song has been so much fun to learn and play because the song is so popular that anywhere I can play it people know the song and can sing along. This song was my favourite upbeat song that I have ever learned because the beat is so easy to follow. Kate and I have also been playing the song together, she played it on the ukelele and it was fun to play together.

This week I have been practicing the song Don’t Stop Believing by Journey, and it is fun to play. The chords are simple they are just going from E, F#, G#, B, C#, D#, and A. The song that I’m learning I am learning off of a Youtube video. There are lots of different versions so I am having fun listening to them all and using some to make the song sound exactly like the song. My Dad learned how to play it first and I heard it and instantly wanted to learn how to play it. One thing about this song is that the cords are a very big stretch in the treble clef, and my fingers get so sore after playing it because I am stretching so far to play it and also to be able to play the song at the tempo that it is supposed to be.

I am still practicing Always Remember Us This Way and I am getting much better at it. I am still playing a few mistakes because sometimes I am getting the songs mixed up when I play because some parts they sound similar that I will play an F# in this song but it doesn’t have one, Shallow has one.

So last week’s plans have changed after the midterm date and I was able to revise my musical growth plan. I decided to change things up, Bohemian Rapsody was a very difficult song to learn and I wasn’t getting as far as I wanted to for learning the chords with difficult flats and sharps. I have now taken Bohemian Rapsody completely out of my musical growth plan and added the song Don’t Stop Believing by Journey. I will now be focusing on Don’t Stop Believing until the end of the term. My old musical growth plan outlined that I would learn the song Always Remember Us This Way from A Star is Born written by Lady Gaga after the midterm until the end of term but I decided to learn it when I was getting stuck on Bohemian Rapsody. I ended up learning the whole song before the midterm and I will continue practicing Always Remember Us This Way and have it perfected, along with Don’t Stop Believing by the end of the term. I will have Always Remember Us This Way and Don’t Stop Believing in my final recording.

Here is a video of me playing Shallow from A Star is Born by Lady Gaga

https://youtu.be/2DizCylbCyE 

Today I have been practicing Bohemian Rapsody, I know that my musical growth plan says that I should be able to play more of the song than I am currently able to at the moment, but I am working on it. This song is difficult because it has at least eight different parts to the song and it is a fairly fast (allegro) song to play. So far I am currently practicing the first four pages and trying to move onto the fifth, sixth, and seventh pages. The chorus changes to a more difficult part. The one thing that is complicated about this song is there are lots of flats and sharps in the song so it is sometimes hard to sight-read quickly. Also, the bass clef is moderately easy; so far, to play with the right hand by trying to play both hands together on the fourth and fifth pages is a struggle for me. The whole book of sheet music for this one song is eleven pages, this is definitely the longest song I have ever attempted to learn how to play.

On a side note, I have started to play Always Remember Us This Way when I get stuck on Bohemian Rapsody.

I went to Long and McQuade about 2 weeks ago and picked up some sheet music. I decided to learn how to play Bohemian Rhapsody, Shallow and Always Remember Us This Way, which are from A Star is Born. I have been playing the piano since I was 6 years old and I stopped taking lessons when I turned 16. I definitely regret stopping piano lessons but this music class has regained my confidence and gets me excited to learn these new songs.

I started learning Shallow, it was fairly simple to learn the treble clef, it was a bit tricky at times combining the treble and bass clefs together. Some days were better than others when I was practicing. The song only took me about 2 days to learn but I know that it will need some more practice and going over. I know how the song is supposed to sound so once I figured out the chords it was easy to play. I will now be perfecting it and playing it very smoothly over and over again until it is perfect.

I had my cousin in town from Nanoose Bay and she loves to sing so we decided to do a little performance for my family and it is very difficult to play the piano while somebody else is singing along.