Poseur to Composer

This'll be a short one, as I'm busy and sleep deprived. The new job is intense. There's never a full moment at the homeless shelter. Not sure how I'll squeeze meaningful practice in between back-to-back 12 hour shifts though.

Right now I'm flipping my circadian rhythm to be awake during the night and sleepy during the day. It takes at least five days to do it, five days before I sleep properly. Once I'm sleeping properly my focus and memory retention will return to normal.

How does one switch from days to nights in only five days? The trick isn't when you go to bed, it's when you wake up. You must awaken at the same time every day for five days straight, and not take a nap during those days either. Works like a charm.

I'm still doing Joff's left right hand exercises, even as I nod off. Will practice Jump too.

Meditation Time bookstanding today: 40 minutes Quality of meditation (out of 10): 6

Practice Minutes on the keyboard today (out of 40): 10 minutes Quality of practice (out of 10): 4

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Tonight I start my new job. I hope it goes better than when I started my last job. Let me tell you about it.

When I started my last job, my employer almost immediately took me from the role I was hired for and put me in a manager training program. This irked some employees (understandably enough) and they scrutinized everything I did.

Eventually, things smoothed over and I earned their friendships, but never had I felt so under a microscope.

Another employee said that from the first moment he saw me he knew he wouldn't like me. He didn't like my face, I guess. I thanked him for his candidness and we never spoke since.

Despite the rocky start, most of my co-workers there were great, and I made the best of a situation I didn't really want to be in. Yesterday I left on favourable conditions.

Today I start my new job, and hope no one hates me simply because of my (very ordinary) looks. I'm probably a touch paranoid.

As for my quest to becoming a composer, I've been practicing those left right hand exercises I mentioned yesterday. The trick, as Joff shows, is to break the task into smaller parts and go slowly at first. It's the fastest way to learn almost anything. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast as the Navy SEALs like to say.

I also ran through the C Minor Blues Scale and the intro to So What. My fingers fumbled a lot today, and for some reason thought of when my daughter took piano lessons. I was a young father back then, preoccupied with other things, and wasn't supportive like I should have been.

Learning from mistakes. Becoming better. That's a big part of life and what Poseur to Composer is about.

Have a safe Halloween.

Meditation Time bookstanding today: 40 minutes Quality of meditation (out of 10): 6

Practice Minutes on the keyboard today (out of 40): 20 minutes Quality of practice (out of 10): 6

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Yesterday I mentioned a few reasons why I haven't learned a song in its entirety, even after 18+ weeks of practice. However I failed to recognise the biggest one. It's the brick wall that's stopped me cold every. single. time.

It's the lack of hand independence.

Specifically, my left hand can't play independently of my right hand. Today I tried to get further with Jump by Van Halen but my left can't comp while the right hand plays those iconic chords.

After searching the web I see lack of hand independence is common, even for people who played for years. I think the problem can be avoided and masked over. Looking back through this blog, you can see how I avoided facing the issue head-on by switching around, moving away from So What, improvisations, practicing scales and project Dhymn. I didn't finish any of them.

It's like I'm doing a slight-of-hand trick on myself.

Okay, now I've sussed out the real problem, what's the fix? How does one develop hand independence?

There's plenty of advice and piano exercises one can do, but with the limited amount of time I spend on the keyboard it would take eons. This is urgent, and hand independence isn't necessarily a piano skill to learn but the rewiring of the brain. I need exercises I can do away from the keyboard, during a break at work or waiting in line.

I found several videos that fit this criteria by professional juggler Joff J-K. He has instructional videos for left/right independence exercises, a few are inconspicuous enough they can be done in public.

Here's the first exercise I'm going to tackle:

Meditation Time meditating today: 0 Quality of meditation (out of 10): 0

Practice Minutes on the keyboard today (out of 40): 20 minutes Quality of practice (out of 10): 5

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