Learn How To Play Piano

At first, I was a bit confused about what I should pick for my Personal Project. I was trapped and isolated during covid era, I knew it’s for my own sake. So there’s not much option to choose. But then, I realized that I always have “a thing” for one instrument which is Piano. The reason why I decided to learn the Piano was because of my newly-gained interest in music during the pandemic. So much so that I thought to learn about it. In this case, about instruments. I felt that if I were to begin learning any instruments it would be the Piano. That way I would be able to learn more instruments easier later on. Then, I told my parents they were willing to pay for a piano or keyboard, because I knew that to be able to achieve my goal and be able to play the piano I need to have it on my own. Apparently, my parents agreed on one condition, that I will learn to play it seriously and diligently. My mom sought a place to learn and then she enrolled me in the Yamaha School of Music in Kota Kasablanka. Why there? Because it is close to my grandparents' apartment and I can just go there, take the lesson and go back to the apartment immediately. I chose to join the classic class because I want to learn how to play the piano from scratch. I believe that learning classical piano will give me very strong grounding piano skills. In these classes they teached me not only how to play the piano itself, but I need to know basic harmonies, compositional technique, and how to read music sheets. I wanted to be able to play piano because I hear so many good things happen if you’re able to play piano. Studying piano amazingly can boost up our memories, build good habits to focus and perseverance, diligence and creativity. For these reasons, I knew that the personal project would be a precious opportunity to improve our skills, not only learn how to play piano but also do the process from step 1, the history behind the piano or the benefit after we’re able to play it. I decided that my learning goal would be to learn how to play the piano from zero.

Product Goal

For my product, I will create a performance video where I showcase myself playing 3 pieces on piano. Each piece will be 2 minutes long. Since the way I learned the piano was through Classical lessons, I have gotten used to playing with music sheets. As such, each recording of playing each piece will have two variations. One will have me playing the music sheets, and the other without. In order to show my progress in learning the piano and getting better at playing it.

Reflection

When I first started this project, I had thought I would be able to learn the basics and mostly simple knowledge and techniques of playing the piano. And as I had done that, I had a few revelations along the way. I was able to gradually realize how much easier it was for me to play the piano, due to how great of an instrument it can be for beginners wanting to learn any instrument. Also realizing I should focus on practicing for my lessons to get better. During my lessons with my classical piano teacher, I often found myself mostly focused on where my fingers were rather than looking at the notebook. It made me think that pop piano would probably be a better option for me to learn soon.

Product Evaluation

My final product was to record myself playing 3 different songs with the Piano. Unfortunately, I was not able to perform this many songs and instead opted to perform 2 songs due to time constraints. Not only did I know how to play it but also mastered the right technique to play the Piano myself. I found myself interested in many types of Piano. I always thought that all Pianos are the same, but since I’ve learned it, I know that there are 3 different types of Piano. The grand Piano, the digital Piano and upright piano. My Piano teacher said that I can make it possible for myself to complete my project at a decent level which I am proud of. Learning to play the Piano was a great experience for me, I had a lot of fun and also had the opportunity to do something that I wanted to do for a long time ago. It even makes me realize there’s a lot of things that haven't been discovered inside of me. Which I don’t even realize exists. I will continue to practice and pursue my goals in life and my fascination towards the Piano in the future.