Music
Fall is turning into music. Three days plus a week, I'm spending time on it, in an effort to be noticably better by spring. This will be my creative seed this season, so I'll be writing more about it.
Lessons are Tuesday; I'm working with Annie to learn songs by ear, both tempo and pitch. It's interesting, and I'm enjoying flexing muscles that I can't actually see in being able to pick things up on the fly. To complement this, I'm also attending session on Thursdays for two hours, both for exposure to new tunes to learn and musicality with other instruments.
Wednesdays are pleasantjams sessions, where I play with friends who are also learning, figuring out how to harmonize, how to etiquette, how to lead the melody, how to share songs we enjoy in a way that others can pick up. We're exploring geek songs, irish tunes, and tunes we just like. It's motivating. I'm blogging a bit about the theory that I'm learning, and what it's like slowly getting better.
Every day is theoretically practice, but I realistically try and just get longer bits done on days that I'm feeling motivated. Most days, that is true; I'm logging about an hour or two, depending on the day. My frustration to improvement ratio could be better, but it's still something. I'm able to keep up tempo on some songs on Thursdays, and that's something.
Learning notes names and reading music? Hard. Slowing down once I have a bit? Hard. Easy to keep practicing though, it's caught my attention for a bit. It's a good thing.
Are any of you learning a new instrument or style this year?