Completed UNIT 2 of my one year online piano course

   UPDATE: January 11 2018 My teacher Lesa made new Certificates of completion upon completion of the courses at PianoVideoLessons.com  Each certificate has 1 more flagged not on it.

New 2 flagged, Year 1 Unit 2 Certificate Of Completion Certificate

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   I completed UNIT 2 of the one year online piano course I am taking.  On to UNIT 3 of  Piano Video Lessons - UNIT 3.  I hope to continue to progress at playing the piano.  I am continuing through the course while keeping practice with 'Ode to Joy' and 'Christian Dedication.  

   My Right 4th and 5th fingers have bothered me off and on while playing so I have during these times broken up my practice songs up into separate daily sessions.  I have never been diagnosed with arthritis but even before piano lesson I have wondered.  I hope to address this at my next doctor appointment.

   There will be no Personalized Coaching Video(PCV) this month as several patrons decided not to contribute to the course at the last moments of the month.  I hope there will be more patrons who are taking the course decide all the teachers hard work and materials are worth contributing for, and perhaps even decide that it is worth $10 a month to get a chance in the monthly drawing for the PCV.  I sure found mine that I won very useful to me as the feedback from her alerted me to a couple habits with my hands during playing that I need to keep in mind.  I would never have known if not for her tips for me in my PCV.  I hope to have the opportunity for another PCV in the future.

July PVL Personalized Coaching Video

The July ‘Piano Video Lessons’ ‘Personalized Coaching Video’

& and my notes from the teacher's comments.

The July drawing it was a lot of fun.  Here are the two practice songs I used for the video for the teacher to critique for me and my notes from the PCV.  The teacher's PCV link to her reply is in the last section of this post if you want to get right to it.  I enjoyed Lisa’s help and pointers to use as I continue to learn to play the piano.

Let’s Go Skipping Hands Together

First I chose to practice ‘Let’s Go Skipping Hands Together’ from Unit 2 Lesson 7.  Here is a previous practice session I recorded of this song when I was working on this lesson before I removed the last of the keyboard ‘helpers’.  Lesson 7 was one of my marker lessons I wanted to come back to review but had not done.  Consequently when I came back to record it for a second time for my PCV, instead of showing improvements, I had to do go through it several times until I got to where I was before.  Notes from Teacher comments: Rhythm steady, Beats and count perfect, Natural curved hands, not tense.  Can’t see wrist position in video.  Move hands into keys toward black keys.  Missed one note, I played F instead of G key.  Included tips on hand and arm posture.

Ode to Joy

The second song I played was ‘Ode to Joy’ from Unit 2 Lesson 11 that I am currently working on.  This is a song I plan to continue to practice and play for friends, and so is a song I wish to continue to improve on and add complexities to it, such as playing some real chords with it.  I would enjoy a few simple upgrades to the song I could add.  I will no doubt want to make another future practice video of this song to compare with as well.  Perhaps even for another Personalized Coaching Video for PVL. Notes from Teacher comments: Line 1:  Left hand wrist not level but angled pinky(5) down.  Line 2: A little bit of volume weakness in right pinky.  Line 3: Good but slower and more cautiously which is ok.  Played correct notes but need to practice line 3.  Line 4: Had some errors because of pressure just coming off of line 3 that I had trouble with.

During my video I asked how to add some ‘upgrades’ to my playing of ‘Ode to Joy’’ I would like to make a future video using some of these improvements.  Here are the teachers suggestions:  Notes on the Teachers tips about adding more to my playing of ‘Ode to Joy’: Play C triad chord for line 1, 2 and 4.  For line 3 can play the G chord.  Another option is to play the song left and right hand in unison.  Can also play left hand lower an octave in the base for lines 1, 2, and 4 for stronger ‘forte’ but move back up for lie 3 for lighter ‘piano’.  Can also use pedal.  Add dotted quarter rhythm to last 3 notes in lines 1, 2, 4 - dotted quarter - eighth - half as in original.  So here is my teacher's reply to my PCV practice session at PVL on YouTube.  I hope it benefits others. Thank you Lisa for providing the July PCV for me.