Band practice

hehe..

well first of all, just so you know about the last video where i am playing audrey hepburn's favorite, the acoustics in my room do not help to get a very good sound on those high notes. it's a little vibrato, and down right scary. i promise it sounds better live.

any way. i practiced yesterday with the IVN band (spanish church)!!! it was so great for two reasons. first of all, they were very gracious with me speaking spanish back to them. i got some valuable vocabulary lessons, especially from a wonderful woman named Marina. in general i was able to follow most of what was said too. thanks rosetta stone ;)

secondly, they didn't exactly have music for me to read and play with them. i just had to experiment after listening to them play and then adding either some extra notes, or playing the melody. that sort of on-the-fly experience was a lot of fun. embarrassing at first, don't get me wrong, but i was slowly getting the hang of it. i also made sure they didn't set up a mic for me this time. though apparently Raul says i must have one for next time. aye carumba!

here's the kicker. the final song on the set list, Un dia a la vez. can't quite get away from that song, eh? love it.

una hora mas. 83 total.

Slow and steady

had to go black and white with this one for nostalgia's sake. also, it's snowing outside, so it was sort of done out of boredom. wish that i could be playing outside right now (as in jugando, not tocando) is what i'm trying to say.

that's okay. time to make lemonade. i am for sure playing with the IVN worship band starting next week! and we've picked out the songs for the last ska band performance i will have in colorado. very exciting!

in the meantime, i'll keep working on these sixteenth notes and triplets. while Bill Bailey is sounding snazzy, i can't quite move forward in the book with all the rhythm changes going on. pray for me :P

add another hour to the total.

Texas practice number two

played for an hour for the family (including grandparents). i felt bad for not knowing enough variety of songs, but what can i do? keep practicing.

deal.

i'm past the 80 hour mark. woohoo!!

Back

twas a busy week at church last week. got a lot of painting and various renovating of the high impact room done, which meant i had to set aside the sax for the week. trust me, very sad.

but i'm back, and playing Moon River as well as Bill Bailey. songs meant for either a really great piano solo, or a jazzy little somethin somethin on the saxamaphone..

still working on the sixteenth note rhythm. i find that clapping out before i play really helps. someday it will come more naturally i hope though. i see on the next few pages something called triplets is next. oh boy.

at least i added another hour to my total. so glad to have mondays off!

one--ee--and--uh

thrice in one week!

thirty minutes or so before good friday service. i just wanted to make sure i got some time in, and unfortunately i was too wiped out from the day to get in more time. that's okay

i'm pleased to say i've figured out the beginning riff of Moon River, and i learned high D so that i can now play all of the Entertainer. now it's just a matter of playing well.

wink.

Figuring stuff out

i practiced for only 30 min. i have a video to edit (woot!) and some phone calls to make today, but i wanted to get some time in. it was a good practice. solid tone for the most part, and worked on sight reading with pieces later on in the book.

i also realized that i can play 3 hymns: Amazing Grace, Come Thou Fount, and Be Thou My Vision. i was wondering though, aren't there other worship melodies i'd like to learn? i couldn't think of anything specific, so if you have suggestions, that would be most helpful. i'll do my best to play it for you!

also, stay tuned for the future! justin and i started brainstorming some ska songs to play at a possible battle of the bands. streetlight manifesto is included in the possibilities!!! it's super fun to have more incentive to practice!!!

brings my grand total to 78.5 hours!