Semester 1 was a funny one. For a start, I finally realised I wasn't the only keyboard player in the course, be it HND1, HND or even the DFM year. I realised that I had to start working.
Last year, my feeling was that I had nothing to worry about. I was the only keyboard player in DFM. Bands who wanted a keyboard player had no choice but to ask me to play for them, and I happily did. The amount of experience I gained last year was phenomenal;
I played more genres than I ever thought I'd play,
I gained more performance experience than I'd ever had before,
I gained a certain degree of confidence,
I gained a certain degree of competence when it came to recording and setting/gearing up for performances.
I began the year working at Grade 4 theory, requested to be transferred to Grade 5 two weeks before the exam and received a 94% mark after two weeks of solid work at it.
I jumped from playing Grade 5 pieces (my audition) to Grade 7 pieces (my final exam) without practicing all the 'recommended' work in-between.
The latter of which, I found unbelievable. I went from playing Grade 5 pieces at a Pass level to playing Grade 7 pieces at Merit level. I achieved an overall distinction for my work over the entire year. As a musician, I progressed more than I ever thought I would in my first year at college.
That was last year, though. This post is about this year. And this year, for my first semester?
I was a lazy bastard. For the first two months of the course, I still lived in Hawick, which meant regular travel (2.5 hours from home to college, each way) was my most common option. It destroyed my will to attend. It destroyed my will to work (who wants to practice after being at college for 4 hours and travelling for 6 hours in a single day?). The only thing I felt improving was my theory knowledge. I was making a start on the jump from Grade 5 theory to Grade 7.
I will admit that I didn't do half the work I could have in the first semester, especially during our performance blocks. Not to say I wasn't busy; I had pieces to learn for group performance classes, Glee club, my solo classes, new band work, etc...I got through them all, just not as well as I could have.
I then joined Sonic Thrill, a band comprised of people from inside and outside college. The musicians in this band are phenomenal. Playing a few gigs with them not only gave me more valuable live performance experience (I can now speak to a sound man confidently about how I want sound, along with how my keyboard setup can best be used) but playing with them made me want to be able to play as well as they did. That was the start of my inspiration.
Inspiration; I'll stop there. I think that's the main word I should use to describe Semester 1. It gave me the inspiration to start doing that work I'm doing now in Semester 2.
I mentioned at the start of this post, other keyboard players, in my year and the year above. I decided to speak to them all, even if I didn't know them. Each one of them has more technical ability than myself on the keyboard. I know this, I have heard all of them play off the bat. They can improvise and make it sound good on the spot. I can't. But I asked them questions. I may have got jealous and worried when our performance groups (our year and the year above) were merged meaning we'd be playing with more experienced players at the start, but I soon saw past that. I saw it as an opportunity to learn and then challenge myself. Which I have now done. Every one of the fantastic keyboard players in the years/levels surrounding mine, be it above or below, I have questioned and learned from. And I now do not find myself nervous playing in front of other keyboard players - last year I was the only one, so I didn't have to worry about people hearing my keyboard related mistakes.
Of course when talking about keyboard players, I should mention my new teacher, Steve Grossart. Steve is a fantastic teacher. From the way he talks and explains things to the way he plays, I leave every lesson inspired, with an optimistic buzz.
Steve is fluent in every genre, from classical to blues to jazz. I can play the start of ANYTHING, be it a Bach Prelude, a melody from a less known blues track or a even just simple chord progression played to a certain rhythm, and he will say "oh, that is this, isn't it?" and play it through. Like most piano teachers, he uses it as an opportunity to show off ["or you could play it like THIS..."], but that's what excites me. It makes me think "I will can play that soon." He was happy with my Merit reward for my Grade 8 piece two weeks ago; he now aims to bring my final performance mark up to a Distinction.
Which brings me to the main point of this post; work. Last Semester I was sloppy. This semester, I am letting no such thing happen.
I started the semester, as I said, achieving a Merit in my Grade 8 solo keyboard piece. I am over the moon with this. Last year at this time the very thought of performing a Grade 8 piece made me feel sick. Now I have learnt that with the work, I will be able to play almost anything [note: anything is a strong word. Not anything.]
The pieces I have chosen for my final exam are difficult pieces. Stupidly quick ragtime, overly complicated pieces in 9/8 with a separate 4/4 swing section, more complicated Jazz pieces...it's daunting thinking that I have only two months to perfect them.
But I am confident. Because for the past week now, since timetables have returned to normal, I have been practicing at least two hours a day. Receiving such a good mark with my Grade 8 piece has made me realise that I can do anything I want, providing I put the work in.
For example, improvisation will always be a struggle to me. My solution? Buy a Jazz piano book written by one of history's most esteemed Jazz pianists, rent out books on improvisation from the college library and destroy all music saved on my phone so that it can be replaced by jazz songs. Then transpose a selected few of said jazz songs.
And then practice my theory next to the piano; playing through every chord, every scale in every key. Every night, before I even think about playing tunes. If I do this, by March, hopefully myself and my tutors will see a huge improvement in my performing.
I have a lot of work to do. And rather than spending my time blogging, I should be playing. Expect more updates in future.
o/
