I am at the midway mark and I have decided to refer to it as “Midway Madness”… I may have bitten off more than I can chew. The song is going really well; however, my time is limited and running out very quickly. It has been difficult because with the end of the semester looming, all of our final projects are nearing. I have been so busy that it has been hard to find time to practice. Although I have been practicing often for short chunks, this piece is complex and needs a good amount of attention. With all of this in mind, the song is coming along quite well, I just do not know if I will have enough time to fully finish it and put it all together. We will have to see what happens. I have been thinking about solutions to this predicament in case I cannot finish it and have come up with a few options:

1. The final section of the song repeats the first section but adds a more complex ending/finale. If times runs out and I feel I will not be able to finish the song, I could cut out the more complex ending and finish it the same way as the beginning section of the song with solid finale chords at the end instead. This will allow me to focus on solidifying the other sections of the song without cutting/missing out on much of the song.
2. Finish the song but not up to tempo. I can always learn the whole song slightly slower than it is supposed to be. This will allow me to better sightread the specific parts I am struggling with.
3. If putting the song together does not go smoothly, I could record the different sections of the song separately and either showcase it that way or find a way to paste them together.
4. If all else fails, I can admit to taking on more than I could handle and showcase what I have accomplished thus far. Sometimes, with goal setting, things do not go as planned and this is ok! Sometimes, we need to not be so hard on ourselves and realize it is ok that we did not complete our goal exactly as we imagined and planned. This does not mean we cannot finish it on a revised timeline.

I am still hoping to complete the full song, but we will have to see how this goes over the next few weeks. If it does not work out, I do have some good backup ideas that I will try to accomplish instead; but for now, I will keep on trying!

Now that I have that out of the way, let’s talk about how things have been going the past few days. If there was no timeline on learning this song, and I was just doing this purely for fun, I would say things are going great! I have been learning the song relatively fast, I have been able to figure out most of the rhythms without too much difficulty, and I really enjoy this piece and the way it sounds. What has been a struggle so far is the complex ending, and bars 62-68. Both of these small sections have a couple of runs that I stumble over and am having a harder time getting down. Over the next couple of days, I am hoping to section of these chunks and work on them in a loop. By slowing them down and repeating the small chunks over and over again, it will help me solidify the notes and rhythms and work it into my muscle memory. I am hoping to have these chunks down by the beginning of next week so I can begin putting the entire song together.

Something else that is going to be tough to do in a short amount of time is getting all the stylistic elements of the song down pat. I am hoping that at the very least I can some of the main ones such as playing certain notes staccato and others legato. This will come at the very end when the whole song is put together and if time allows for it.

To end this blog, I am going to give a brief preview of the first section of the song. Enjoy!

Photo Credits: Header photo by Markus Gjengaar on Unsplash