Rock & Roll 101

September 25th, 2024

Will didn't practise this week, so has decided to not continue with lessons until he's ready to make more time for it.

September 11th, 2024

Will hadn't practised much this week, but we went over the scales and Champagne problems. We talked about playing the F chord at the end of each line... he could leave the A out of that chord so it doesn't sound too muddy.

September 3rd, 2024

Will is switching to every second week, sharing with Caitlin Ball.

Today we reviewed a lot of the things we've been learning since before the summer.

We added a new Taylor Swift song, Champagne Problems.

August 27th, 2024

Will didn't come today.

August 20th, 2024

August 13th, 2024

Will forgot to come again today.

August 6th, 2024

Will forgot to come today.

July 30th, 2024

I cancelled lessons today.

July 23rd, 2024

We worked on his songs and scales today. There was some confusion regarding major and minor scales, so I tried to explain those again. Because Will is playing inversions already, it makes it harder to understand how minor and majors are different and which note is changed for those chords.

July 16th, 2024

July 9th, 2024

July 2nd, 2024

We looked at scales again today, as Will was having some trouble going the same direction on the keyboard. I suggested he only go opposite directions (hands away from each other and toward each other). We also looked at how to play all the way up the keyboard, by tucking your finger after four notes - alternating middle, ring, middle ring etc.

I also wrote out the next part of Star Wars, and put some chords with the first part of star wars to work on.

June 18th, 2024

Will is doing really well. We worked through his songs, and went over the fingering for them.
We also looked at the scales, because he was mixing up when he tucks his thumb over / under.

We added the song Star Wars (the first part), and went over chord shapes as well. I suggested he use more fingers when playing the chord (pinky, middle, thumb is ideal).

June 4th, 2024

We talked about how to get better at hand independence, partly by just focusing on the trouble spot, and doing it over and over. Also, using the right inversions can make it easier - only moving one or two fingers in the chords. I also recommended memorizing the melody so that focus can be solely on the chords.
We looked at the C scale again, just one octave, and I recommended he try doing it with the left hand alone, and the left hand joining the right hand. If you do opposite directions again (like a mirror), then it's easier to execute until which time you are comfortable enough to work on going the same direction in both hands (up the piano or down the piano).

May 21st, 2024

Will wasn't able to make it this week because he is giving blood.

May 7th, 2024

In Will's lesson we reviewed the songs he's been working on. He was having trouble switching chords quick enough, so I showed him inversions, and how he can sometimes change chords by just moving one or two fingers.

I wrote out another song for him, London Bridge.

April 23rd, 2024

We reviewed the names of the piano keys, and played through Mary Had a Little Lamb and Happy Birthday, first with holding a single note in the left hand, and then while playing the chord triads.

We then added a new song, Down by the Bay, before running out of time.

April 9th, 2024

This was Will's first lesson, and we learned the note names, and major and minor chords. We did C Major, F major, and G major, and D minor, E minor, and A minor.

We learned about the note names as dog and grandma... he played Mary Had a Little Lamb and Happy Birthday