Week 11 10/31/11: Well this is that last week for writing in this journal. I have diligently tried to keep up on the writing and the practicing. I have enjoyed this medium of journal keeping on the blog. Classrooms where everyone has a computer would do well to have the students keep a journal on their own blog. It could encompass their math journal, reading journal, science journal and maybe even a 'Learn Something New' journal.
I have found learning something new to be challenging and difficult. I really thought I would be able to be successful at using the organ pedals if I just practiced enough. I believe now that it will take me a year of practicing to be able to do the pedals for one piece. That is not a bad goal. I think, being the lifelong learner that I am, that I will set that goal for myself. I will choose a hymn and work to learn the pedals. I'll give myself a year but no more! Wednesday Melissa and I will play our final rendition of 'All Creatures of Our God and King'. It will hopefully be beautiful even though the use of the pedals is limited. I will practice tomorrow and hopefully be ready for our taping on Wednesday.
Thank you, Dr. Carr, for having us do this exercise. It has been eye opening to see how difficult learning something new can be. I did think that I would be successful. I didn't realize that after all of this practicing, that I would feel so very unsuccessful. But, it just means that more practice is required and patience, just as students, especially students with disabilities require more practice and patience (Eggen, 2012). (I just read that in our Chapter 9 reading today). (This is not the end, go on to November's posts).
Monday, October 31, 2011
Learn Something New
Week 10: 10/27/11 I practiced on the piano again for 30 min. I am sad that I can't focus on the hands and my feet at the same time. The only place that I can really do the pedals is at the end. It sounds great and the hands are not changing while I come up the scale with the pedal. Since the hands are just holding down chords, I can concentrate on moving my foot. What is discouraging is that my student Melissa last week, sat down for the second time to try the organ and she brought a piece with her that she practiced the hands and now wanted to try the feet. She was amazing. I don't know how she was able to do so well. I feel perhaps like special ed kids feel when the other students in the class understand that math problem, and they just don't see it. My feet surely do not see the pedals. I don't know how she was able to coordinate her hands and feet so well. Wow! It was shocking. I just have to accept the fact that some people can achieve more in some areas than others. Perhaps playing the foot pedals takes kinesthetic intelligence and perhaps that is what I do not have. I used to be athletic and coordinated, but my body does not let me do much in the way of athletics anymore. So, perhaps I am losing my kinesthetic intelligence and that is why I cannot coordinate my feet and hands like Melissa can. I was really beginning to wonder how anyone manages to play the pedals. Since witnessing Melissa do it so effortlessly, I realize that some people can do it quite easily.
10/28/11: It is alright that Melissa is so great on her first attempt to try the pedals. I said earlier it was her second time at the organ, because two weeks ago, after we tried our piece, she came over and played the organ just for fun. She didn't attempt the pedals then, but just played some hymns and goofed off with this new, fun, instrument. So when she came prepared to try her organ piece, I was amazed that she could play those pedals with relative ease. They were not perfect, but she was playing them and was not afraid to try. I practiced for 30 minutes again.
10/28/11: It is alright that Melissa is so great on her first attempt to try the pedals. I said earlier it was her second time at the organ, because two weeks ago, after we tried our piece, she came over and played the organ just for fun. She didn't attempt the pedals then, but just played some hymns and goofed off with this new, fun, instrument. So when she came prepared to try her organ piece, I was amazed that she could play those pedals with relative ease. They were not perfect, but she was playing them and was not afraid to try. I practiced for 30 minutes again.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Learn Something New
Week 9 10/21/11: I met Melissa at the church for her organ/piano lesson. She is wanting to learn how to play the organ now too. She played a piece that she started working on at home on her piano. She did amazingly well at playing it on the organ and adding the foot pedals. I am now thinking that it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks. I have been practicing for weeks now and I am not as proficient with the pedals as she was on her first try. Hmmmmmm. Hopefully this humiliation is making me a much more understanding teacher when I try to teach someone how to do fractions and they just don't get it. I'll be able to remember back to the organ footpedals and just sigh.
We practiced our duet for 30 minutes. It sounds great together for if one of us makes a mistake it is not noticed because the other instrument is carrying the sound.
10/23/11: There are not any You Tube videos on the stops of an organ. I am surprised. I shall have to go to the library. Hey, we have a library at school. I'll checkit out!
10/23/11: My son Jens comes home in less than two weeks!! He comes home from two years in Chile on Nov. 4, Friday. We present our Learn Something New project on Monday the 7th.
We practiced our duet for 30 minutes. It sounds great together for if one of us makes a mistake it is not noticed because the other instrument is carrying the sound.
10/23/11: There are not any You Tube videos on the stops of an organ. I am surprised. I shall have to go to the library. Hey, we have a library at school. I'll checkit out!
10/23/11: My son Jens comes home in less than two weeks!! He comes home from two years in Chile on Nov. 4, Friday. We present our Learn Something New project on Monday the 7th.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Learn Something New
Week 9: 10/20/11 I practiced my piece on the piano today for 15 minutes, and I practiced yesterday for 15 minutes. Tomorrow is Melissa's lesson. Perhaps we will practice with the organ again. I still need to look up You Tube videos on organ playing. I talked with my neighbor who I consider to be a great organist, but she said she did not really understand the stops either. She would just practice and guess at which stops she wanted to use and then would fool around until she had the piece sounding the way she wanted. I can't get the information that I was hoping to get from her. That is how I have been playing also. On Sundays when I am the organist (just once a month), I just fool around with the stops until I think it sounds ok and then try to remember what I decided. She also said she did not use the pedals. That made me feel a lot better. I know the other organists don't use the pedals either so I suppose they are hard for everyone. This duet piece is very special though and I would really like to be able to use the pedals proficiently for it.
So to summarize up to this point, I have been practicing a lot on the piano to learn the piece. I have practiced on the organ alone and with Melissa. I have talked to my neighbor and found that she would not be the reservoir of information that I was hoping for. My pedaling is awful and I need to keep practicing. I did watch twice the tutorial video that came with the organ and learned a lot. It so far has taught me the most about the workings of the organ and the stops. I hope I can find a book that will teach me how the organ works and some philosophy behind the workings of the stops.
So to summarize up to this point, I have been practicing a lot on the piano to learn the piece. I have practiced on the organ alone and with Melissa. I have talked to my neighbor and found that she would not be the reservoir of information that I was hoping for. My pedaling is awful and I need to keep practicing. I did watch twice the tutorial video that came with the organ and learned a lot. It so far has taught me the most about the workings of the organ and the stops. I hope I can find a book that will teach me how the organ works and some philosophy behind the workings of the stops.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Learn Something New
Week 7: 10/13/11 I practiced on the piano for 30 min. I still need to develop automaticity (new word I learned in this weeks reading) with my hands so that I can concentrate on the feet. It is much harder than I thought it was going to be. I don't know how organists do it all. My hands are getting better so there is a small ray of hope. I still need to check out some You Tube videos. I'm sure there must be something on it about the stops and the pedals.
10/14/11: I practiced on the piano for 45 minutes today. It's coming along better.
10/16/11: I went to church an hour early and practiced for 45 minutes on the organ. I wasn't practicing this particular piece, but it was good organ practicing and I think it counts for that.
Week 8: 10/19/11: I practiced the piece on the piano for 15 minutes. It is getting better. Now I'm going to look up some You Tube videos. I shoudl see if the library has any organ videos or books as well. I'll do that tomorrow.
10/14/11: I practiced on the piano for 45 minutes today. It's coming along better.
10/16/11: I went to church an hour early and practiced for 45 minutes on the organ. I wasn't practicing this particular piece, but it was good organ practicing and I think it counts for that.
Week 8: 10/19/11: I practiced the piece on the piano for 15 minutes. It is getting better. Now I'm going to look up some You Tube videos. I shoudl see if the library has any organ videos or books as well. I'll do that tomorrow.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Learn Something New
Week 6: 10/8/11 I practiced at the church with my student, Melissa. We practiced for 45 minutes. I am getting better with my hands, but the feet are not coming yet, except for the last 2 measures. Joy took a video of me and Melissa and hopefully we can add it into this blog. Yesterday I practiced for an hour and Joy took video footage (of my feet)he, he. I hope we can put a little on here. I keep trying...I hope I can improve, but improvement is slow.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Learn Something New
Week 5: 10/6/11 I practiced on the piano for 45 minutes as I waited for my next piano student. I am having a hard time keeping my eyes going to the next line even with my yellow lines indicating where the organ plays. I naturally want to go to the piano lines. I really want to get good at this piece, but I can't imagine trying to keep track of my feet. I'm having a hard time keeping track of my hands.
10/7/11 My daughter Joy filmed me practicing the piece on the piano. Then we went over to the church and she filmed me explaining my limited knowledge about the organ. I do not know much. I only know what I learned from watching the demonstration video. I demonstrated a little about the stops and the pre-set buttons. Joy showed us what the foot pedals sound like. She played chopsticks with the foot pedals. I should have increased the volume. If we can't hear it I will have to record her again, it was too good. Then she recorded me playing the last page of the piece. I do not play it very well on the organ. It is a different beast than the piano. It is making me appreciate how difficult it is to learn new things, which I am sure is the purpose of this exercise. We need to feel some of the struggle that our students are feeling when we introduce a new math concept, or have them write an essay for the first time. Anything new and difficult is a challenge.
10/7/11 My daughter Joy filmed me practicing the piece on the piano. Then we went over to the church and she filmed me explaining my limited knowledge about the organ. I do not know much. I only know what I learned from watching the demonstration video. I demonstrated a little about the stops and the pre-set buttons. Joy showed us what the foot pedals sound like. She played chopsticks with the foot pedals. I should have increased the volume. If we can't hear it I will have to record her again, it was too good. Then she recorded me playing the last page of the piece. I do not play it very well on the organ. It is a different beast than the piano. It is making me appreciate how difficult it is to learn new things, which I am sure is the purpose of this exercise. We need to feel some of the struggle that our students are feeling when we introduce a new math concept, or have them write an essay for the first time. Anything new and difficult is a challenge.
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