Today was presentation...I didn't get to present everything though, since class time was crammed with stuff.
Besides just the performance we gave today, I've worked with my brother on the violin Viva la Vida piece. I actually learned more out of that than I expected--I downloaded a program (different than the last one I posted about, that one's free version is fairly wimpy) called Audacity and was able to combine three wav files into one mp3. It was cool to be able to cut, paste, shorten, lengthen, or adjust the volume of just one line of music while the other two were still playing. It also helped me in that I was able to give advice to my brother on how to play. He hadn't picked up his violin for years before this project, so it took a while to get back into things. I was able to help him with overall sound quality and the like.
My other (and main!) Google Project was learning the piano! I've always loved piano and its versatility, but I have never learned the thing... So it was the perfect chance. I'm sad that I didn't get to perform the piece that I had been practicing forever, but there's always next time. (And by then, hopefully I can do it memorized and with singing!--okay maybe not the singing part). The piece is Apologize by OneRepublic. It isn't a basic piano piece either; the hands are doing completely different things. It's not like the left hand is on half notes the whole time -- there are many syncopations on the left hand. It's hard! But I was able to learn how to line up and count two lines at the same time (kind of). It is so cool! The melody would be going and there's a base line with it! I'm a flute player, so I never get that low base sound, always just the melody or a really repetitive harmony.
My other pieces that I'm starting to work on on the piano are River Flows in You (Yiruma), and Love Story (Taylor Swift). Also, when I randomly bang on my keyboard, sometimes I would run into groups of notes that sound familiar, as if from songs that I listen to. I write the notes down and work out a type of "play-by-ear" system. Currently in my notebook I have maybe six of these random notes that sound like familiar songs. One of them was Somewhere in Brooklyn (Bruno Mars). Of course, my play by ear isn't great, so that means that the only part I can make out is the chorus. But at least it sounds right, and I'm doing it without any sheet music!
I'm really motivated to do more on the piano. I really prefer its versatility. Recently, I've found many people on Youtube who play piano (original pieces or covers), and I suppose you could call them inspiration: Ray Mak, Keudae, Marasy8, and Sherah, among others.
^^Katie
