Overall, I am now able to play two songs at three-quarter speed; Swan Lake Theme- Tchaikovsky and Demons- Imagine Dragons. All of Me is still a work in progress, but I am able to play it to the ability that I predicted I would be able to awhile ago (somewhat accurately at half-speed). Three-quarter speed is still a challenge with All of Me. There was a lot going on outside the practice room while I was trying to record All of Me so it was very difficult to focus and play in time with a bunch of loud noises outside. Learning piano was both harder than I thought and easier. Some of my greatest challenges were being able to watch the music on my screen while playing at the same time, as well as knowing where my hands were on the keys as I moved them back and forth. The hardest song for me to learn was All of Me. I think this because the parts where I had to play with 3 fingers on my left hand were very difficult, and the right hand was also more mobile throughout the song than in either of the other two songs. A couple of things that I found easier than I thought would be was learning the bass clef which keys were which. Another thing that I found surprisingly easy was my ability to be able to hear what notes were right or wrong on one hand by how they sounded with the notes of the other. As a band student, I learned how to identify when notes did not sound right, but on the piano, it was difficult at first and later became quite easy. I also learned how to be able to fix my hands if I played a wrong note without having to start and stop the video all the time. By only being able to practice for two hours a week (the maximum I was allowed to book a practice room), it was very difficult to get these pieces together to the best of my ability. I am very proud of myself for how far I have come in this process and even if I did not quite entirely accomplish my stretch of a goal for All of Me, I completed what I was hoping that I would be able to by around this time. I would definitely like to keep working on my piano skills after the term is over, as I quite enjoyed it and it was a way for me to just relax and forget about the other things going on in my courses.
