Poseur to Composer

Veggyburger: Come at me bro!

First, a little housekeeping. I stopped using Rosa Suen's ATTACK & SAY IT OUT LOUD method as well as Dan Delany's Learn to Play Piano in Six Weeks or Less.... The former because it’s too basic and the latter because it’s a bit too advanced for me right now. Maybe later.

Yesterday I skim-read a research paper on the gamification of piano practice, particularly the repetitive technical exercises such as scales, chords and arpeggios. Students often lack the motivation to do these exercises because they are perceived as boring. However, if these exercises are not done, their piano playing suffers greatly. They don’t have mastery over the keyboard like the students who do diligently practice, nor can they execute musical pieces with the same competence.

The key takeaway here is that motivation to practice is linked closely with achievement. But how do you increase motivation so that students want to do these technical exercises? This paper discusses that, specifically how "game elements are added to a learning environment in an effort to increase engagement and increase desired behaviour."

To accomplish this, the author Heather Birch conducted a study with a group of piano students and a game called Technique Tower. The findings at the end of the study was "attitude toward practicing technique had a moderate positive effect". In other words, gamification does increase motivation to practice ergo making you a better piano player.

Inspired by this study, I downloaded several apps that gamify sight-reading and interval training and played until my arms throbbed in pain (about 45 minutes, it doesn't take long to aggravate my tendinitis).

My scores are public on Google Play Games and, in case you want to join me, my profile name is... veggyburger.

Today I unsuccessfully tried to decipher the D6-5sus2 chord using various apps (the article didn't help me crack this nut). I don't even know if D6-5sus2 is one or two chords. Maybe it's a chord progression?

I'm hoping that by airing out my stupid questions in public, the benefits will be twofold: 1) it will leave breadcrumbs for other beginners and 2) facilitate my learning process through self reflection.

For number one, I may never know if people will benefit from these sleep-deprived ramblings but for number two, it turns out journaling can be an effective learning tool. From the book Journal Keeping: How to Use Reflective Writing for Learning, Teaching, Professional Insight and Positive Change, this passage:

Journal writing can benefit individuals by enhancing reflection, facilitating critical thinking, expressing feelings, and writing focused arguments. It also allows one to reflect on new knowledge learned and solidify learning experiences by recording ones evolving thought process as one progress further in ones learning, learn new material, and form new conclusions (Stevens & Cooper, 2009, p. 3).

I also found a list of possible questions to answer in a reflective journal (see the bottom of the page). I may use some of them or make my own.

Last night I dreamt about chords and chord formulas. It was a fitful sleep. In my dreams I kept trying to play the elusive opening chords for So What by Bill Evans on my RockJam 54-key keyboard. When I finally rose from bed this morning, still half in a dream state, I pointed to my cat crossly and said "you better tell me how to play those chords" – as if she knew the secret finger positioning and was holding out on me.

Even if she does know, she's not talking.

Speaking of cryptic chord combinations, I played the first two chords of David Sylvian's September and it sounded right. A smile crept upon my face. Then I hit this brick wall of a chord (or is it chords) with D6-5sus2. I'm decoding the chord using this fantastic article as a guide.

A few things have changed since starting the Poseur to Composer project about a month and a half ago. Punctuality is one: I was late for work again today. I'm also sleeping an hour less at night, stopped exercising completely, cut my meditation time from an hour to 20 minutes, and my diet has gotten worse (eating mostly comfort foods, very little fruit and vegetables).

I suspect these changes are due to immersion / cognitive flow. This stuff is fascinating for me and time is whirring by...

That reminds me, I need to get to bed.