PLAYING THE PIANO

Summarize what you did in this activity/project:

In this activity I learnt and played various different piano compositions. With only four months of prior knowledge, I took upon the challenge of learning a wide range of piano pieces, from classical compositions to modern pieces. The pieces I learnt include, Swan Lake Op. 20, Clair de lune, Color me blue, and quiet resonance.

I practiced each piece heavily in order to understand the dynamics, time significance, etc. I executed all the pieces on the common room vertical piano.

Explain what you hoped to accomplish through this activity/project?

With this project I hoped to become friendlier with the piano, and understand different concepts more. I also hoped to be able to become fluent with reading different piano sheets. In terms of skills, I tried to practice every alternate day in order to prepare myself to give the trinity exams in the start of January 2023, as well as try to get myself to become more patient with the learning process and wait for the best outcomes possible.

How successful were you in achieving your goals? What difficulties did you encounter and how did you overcome them?

I was successful with achieving my goals as I was able to grasp and retain many of the new concepts I learnt, i.e. legatos, staccatos, different pedals and their purposes, notations, etc. With that, I found myself becoming more patient with the learning process and give myself time to understand and play rather than going in blindly. However, I did face many issues with trying to read the piano sheets, it seemed like an entirely different language to me. I was able to overcome this by seeking help from a friend of mine over call as well as looking at tutorial videos of the piece itself to give myself an idea of what each notation denotes and how I should apply it to the piano.

How can you apply what you have learned in other life
situations?

Being able to become more patient will help me a lot in the future as it’ll give me the opportunity to assess and evaluate situations calmly in order to get the best outcome. With that I also hope to be able to give the grade 5 trinity exams over the next 3-4 years, and this presented itself as a stepping stool to achieve my next goal.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Self Graded on a scale of 1 - 3

Quiet Resonance

Swan Lake

Clair De Lune

Color Me Blue