Hello there!
I discovered Piano World while researching for reviews on the 700 Yamaha CLP series and ended up going through different forums and topics — and finally decided to join last night when going through the Adult Beginners Forum!
If this isn't the right place for an hello, please feel free to move the thread to the proper area.
I took a year of piano classes when I was in 7th grade but at the time I never really dedicated my self much into it and decided to quit. However, I had a small DP ever since which I used to play with — particularly whenever I had to study for exams
. Roughly 4 or 5 years ago started goofing around again and tried to learn a few songs through YouTube and eventually discovered Synthesia. I didn't actual make much progress other than a badly played Comptine D'une Autre Été and incomplete Chopin Nocturnes 9. At that point I decided to upgrade and changed into a used Yamaha YDP-142.
However, since I attend a swing music dance school, I was eventually encouraged into taking classes and got a teacher mostly focused in jazz — the ultimate goal is that we could form an amateur band to play on Tuesday's jam sessions.
That said, I've been taking piano classes for 2 years and a a few months now. Pre COVID we would usually meet on Mondays and play a few jazz standards such as "All of Me" and "Sunny Side of the Street". Since most of us had started recently playing each instrument, it was something funny to watch. I kept learning the same type of music and feel like I have progressed more than I would ever do without a teacher (which I noticed is one of the most important tips here in the forum).
My classes consist mostly around learning chords (major, minor, dominant, diminished), major and minor scales, progressions, learning how to read standards (mostly iReal and Fake Jazz book sheets), practicing for playing with the band and also solos, getting melodies by hear, making sure I'm on tempo — you all probably know that better than I do
.
More recently we've been focusing in improving my stride and also solos.
Right now I have online classes as to avoid meeting my teacher in person — which is not ideal but better than having no classes at all. I try to play at least 30 minutes a day but I actually have no idea if I practise long enough or not. For that, I decided to start tracking my time in an iOS called Hours — let's see how that goes. I also try to have two one-hour classes each week — this was mostly because I started taking classes directly with my teacher instead of through the school and with the rate update I just decided to pay the same and have classes twice a week — in a way it's good because it works as a stable practice schedule but sometimes I can't find the time to do my homework between classes. In between work and family (we had a little girl in January!) it can be hard to find time.
Currently I'm learning "I'm Confessin' (That I love You)" by Thelonious Monk. For that I use an app called Transcribe. For those unfamiliar with it, it allows me to decrease the speed of the song and repeat specific parts. I've been able to get most of the melody and am now going through the solo - which I write on my notebook. Also, sometimes I do cheat and check if things are correct through a sheet in musescore, eheh.
That was a longer introduction than what I was expecting!
Anyway, looking to share my experience and also get some tips if possible. I usually have questions such as if I have the right teacher, if I'm progressing too slowly, if I should update my DP to a CLP or it's not worth it financially speaking, etc. Regarding the DP update I'm looking to avoid having such an experience gap when playing in an upright as I do now, hence considering the CLP-745.
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