Tuesday, August 19, 2008

22. Still Working Away

Just wanted to let you know that I haven't given up -- I'm still working at it. I've had to take a few days off here and there when I had important gigs coming up, and needed to work on some pieces. Also, I have to admit that there are some days when I only work for an hour instead of two. I've found that it's easiest on my back if I don't work two hours in a row, and sometimes I don't get back to the piano for that second hour.

I've cut down on my jazz gigs until December so I'll have more time for sight-reading.

I generally do an hour of hymns (I'm coming up on five times through both hymnals) plus an hour of popular or traditional music.

I'm still happy about what I've learned but disappointed that I haven't learned more. This one of the hardest things I've done.

I've also noticed an improvement of my single line + chord jazz sight-reading, which is nice.

I have less to report and talk about, so if you don't see any posts for a while, it doesn't mean that I've given up!

2 comments:

Philip said...

Hi,
I really enjoyed your blog and I am full of admiration for you, well done!! I am determined myself to be a good sight reader, although i have not been putting in anything like the amount of hours that you you have. But now i think I will try harder and make it a part of my DAILY routine, not just now and again. Good for you!!

Philip

Josh said...

With interest I've read part of your blog on sight reading at the keyboard.

I recently started using this software and it has already helped me.
http://www.prestokeys.com/

When using it, I have the keyboard covered so I cannot see it. Also sometimes I paste an index card to the computer screen that forces me to look a beat or a measure ahead, quickly and temporarily memorizing what I see before it disappears behind the index card. The software keeps the music moving so I cannot slow down.
Best,
Josh