Wohooo!

   Tong Hua is doneeee! I thought this song would be so much easier because of how slow it was, but some of the chords are crazy impossible. Haha... I'm so glad I got over the ending bump. Even though I can't play it perfectly, when I hear myself hitting the notes and I feel them flow together and I hear them resembling the actual song, I get really really happy. Even though it's still "broken", I can imagine myself playing it perfectly with all the notes flowing smoothly. I think it's kind of weird that I feel this way, and it's sort of an embarrassing, but oh well. I just hope I can get this song perfect in the next week.
    I don't want to reveal toooooo muchh here because I want it to be a special performance when I play it for my presentation, but since I haven't really had practice with audience in performance, I am planning on playing the song for an audience to practice either this Friday or this weekend. I'm contemplating whether or not to just go to church and play it for a bunch of strangers as like a... "test". Hahaha.

Mentor Meeting & Response on Ideas for End of the Year

(semi posting this like a week later, but the date's set to when it's supposed to be so that my journal entries are in order as they're supposed to be)
   So like I've stated in my last mentor meeting blog, I've still been having trouble coming back online. But anyways, in my mentor meeting today, Ms. Lord congratulated me on sort of finding my way, and stepping out of my comfort zone (a lot)? Similar to my last mentor meeting post, I seem to be still having lack of motivation in coming online onto my blog. Scraps of paper keep piling up somewhere around the house when I write notes down for my journal, but I'm really having trouble coming back here to update. Maybe it's the end of the year or maybe it's cause spring break/AP week's coming, but it's definitely an issue. Which brings up the next point I need to make. What am I planning for my end of the year presentation? The end is coming by really fast and no joke, it might crash into me, so where am I headed? Ms. Lord says it's a good time to start thinking now. And I have, a little bit, or at least in the thirty minutes...
   I guess I'm still not quite sure on exactly yet, but I think for my presentation, what I could be (possibly) showing are (oh my gosh really?) my progress videos, if they turn out okay and I do enough [maybe just the first and last?] and perhaps teach the class a little something that they would be able to play on their own?

Hmm something new....

   Okay, so hopefully this works... I went and took a video of myself with an iPhone and uploaded it to 4shared. I didn't realize I could just upload it through Blogger, but too late I guess. I just posted the embed code into the Edit HTML section and messed around with the <br> break lines and other HTML stuff I learned from when I was in middle school and I was playing around online with coding and layouts and such. Anyways, here's how far I've gotten with Canon in D Major. This song went a lot smoother than Fireflies (not my playing, but the process of me trying to play). Ahhhahaha it's so embarrassing. [Is this stepping out of my comfort zone? I think so!] It definitely doesn't sound anywhere as good as the other youtube version by the tiny child, but... oh well. Don't laugh. Or mock. Or whatever else, comforting words won't help either.

   If you saw the video, you would've noticed that I made a super big obvious mistake at the end before I stopped recording. I also probably made several mistakes prior to the end, but yeah... that's how far I am this week. I think this is how I'm going to keep track of my progress. I'm going to try and upload a video every weekend to show how far I've gotten with my playing, and to show what I'm playing. I think it's a very good "doing" demonstration. As far as this song goes, I'm still kinda bad at moving from one position to the other, and everything sounds chunky, so that's something I'm hoping to fix with practice. I'm not even finished learning the piece yet (I think the beginning was the easier part), so next week, I'll be moving further along there too... yepp.

OH AND I ALMOST FORGOT! Sometime next week, I'll be asking my little sister to comment on my playing and to tell me what I'm doing wrong and where I'm doing wrong, as Mrs. Miller had instructed I do during our last lesson for the purpose that the mistakes that I don't see get pointed out.

A Stir Away From (Fire)Flies

   Is this a step into or out of my comfort zone? Either way, I think this is good, the fact that I opened one of my old books to a song I've never really played and stopped on this one. I think I've always thought this song was really pretty, but it's definitely, DEFINITELY, SLOW. Previously, as in years before, I lovedd fast songs because they were easier to learn the rhythm to, and they were easier to play (maybe?), or at least in my opinion. I didn't want to learn this song for that reason. Anyways, I decided to attack it this week, and it's been going on pretty well :) OH I've been rambling for this entire time and I haven't even mentioned the title of this song yet. It's Pachelbel Canon in D Major. Since the sheet music is sometime I have physically, I can't link to it here, but there's a youtube version of this song in D Major here: Canon in D Major (by the looks of his hands, this person looks like he/she's under the age of 10....)

   Yeahhh, and the version to which I linked above is a lot more... fancy/emphasized than the version I have. Mine is A LOT simpler, and probably sounds a lot worse....

Comments on "Disrupting My Comfort Zone" + BIG REFLECTION?

  Brian Grazer, huh? Well, I think that he's a pretty great person for challenging himself and continuing to challenge himself. I think he's overcome some great feats and he definitely speaks some words of wisdom.

 "If you're not growing, you're dying."

   I think his enthusiasm towards "disrupting [his] comfort zone" is really great. It would be pretty awesome to adopt that outlook of his, but things are easier said than done. I do think that I have disrupted my comfort zone, but definitely not a lot. However, I think that not a lot of disruption is acceptable for me. I don't think my project asks that I get out of my comfort zone a lot. Actually, I think it helps me if I stay in my comfort zone. Perhaps in another situation, but the "comfort zone disruption" isn't something I'm aiming towards in this project.... or is that just what I think?

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On the board it prompts:

What are...

...3 ways I've stepped out of my comfort zone?

I feel like my decision on actually taking lessons is definitely an example of my stepping out of my comfort zone. This would be... the third piano teacher I've had, and I've had other music instructors for other instruments in the past as well. I don't know why, but I absolutely detest having piano lessons. Somehow or another, I always feel like I would disappoint the teacher and it would make me feel extremely uncomfortable before my lessons. Another way that' I've stepped out of my comfort zone could perhaps include when I played for some friends at school when they came by to visit me in one of the practice rooms.  I was super self-conscious because the friends for which I was playing were all really good at piano. This actually reminds me, I should journal more of my practicing experiences because it shows more "doing". I guess a third way I've stepped out of my comfort zone would be when I asked my middle sister to watch me play piano and point of if I was doing anything wrong because that's what Mrs. Miller had suggested I do before ended lessons. She said that this would help me make sure that I was playing correctly. I was reluctant to do so because it's kinda odd to have a little girl tell you you're doing things wrong... but it's for the best :)

...4 ways my project has changed thus far?

Honestly, I don't think my project has changed a lot. Or perhaps I just haven't noticed it yet? Though, everything's taking a really long time and I've already forgotten the deadlines I've set for myself at the beginning of this period. This reminds me, I should go and read my first entries.  What's with the music and emotions thing? The idea seems really odd to me now... xD 

...3 things I wish I'd done differently in working on my project so far?

I definitely think I should have come with a better plan on the research portion. I have NO research plan. All I do is randomly find things and stick them into a bookmark folder on my browser and that's it. Hm... I also think I should've considered how I would be managing with a teacher and/or working independently a lot earlier. Everything seems messy because I had no idea where to go. Another thing I wish I'd done differently was find a more interesting specific topic to research, a more interesting micro-research focus.

...5 things I've learned about my field of interest, myself, and working with others?

My field of interest? Why, there's a lot of people devoted to it and my sisters really love it. I like piano, but I definitely don't have the same passion as some other students that my teacher has. Myself? I'm a very indecisive person and I let a lot of different things affect me... I guess that means I'm sensitive? Or something... IDK. (There I go again with the 'I don't know' 's). Working with others? Sometimes what others have in mind for me is not exactly the same as my own ideas, even though we may not be having trouble working together.