2020-2021 20% Time/Genius Hour

 My 20% project is that I'm going to learn how to play the piano. I choose this project because the piano is the only instrument I am interested in learning. By doing this project I hope to learn the basics of the piano so that I could play music for others like my family.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSOU-J9KHbg 

November 11th, 2020

This week I learned the different parts of the piano. I don't want to jump in too fast so I am going to take it a little slow. I learned that there is a peddle at the bottom of the piano. Learning about this was really easy since it wasn't that complicated to understand. The purpose of the peddle is when you press a note and the peddle makes the note last longer without just holding on to it. This was a little more complicated but I understood it. Overall, this week's progress I think was good and next week I will learn about the white notes.

November 18th, 2020

 Today for my 20% project I worked on learning the notes and playing a song. I went onto Youtube and found a video that taught me which notes are which on the music staff. There are two staff, the treble clef, and the bass clef. The staffs have different notes so they are not similar. Once I finished watching the video I made flashcards to practice which notes are which. This part was tedious because I have a hard time memorizing things like this. Once I got familiar with the notes so I watched another video showing me which notes are which on the piano. I labeled it so I could remember which note is which. All in all, I am satisfied with my work this week.

December 2nd,2020

I decided that I have learned enough to learn a song which is "Happy Birthday". I looked up the notes and found it. After about a while I got the hang of it and mastered "Happy Birthday". It was a little difficult for me to do but it wasn't too hard. I think that today I learned a lot and got some work done. At some points, I left a little unmotivated but that might just be because I am tired.  I think I learned this song when I was younger which was probably why I remembered some of the notes. I kept on continuing to practice the song so when I show my mom I won't mess up in front of her. Overall, I am very happy with my progress so far.

December 3rd,2020

Today I decided to learn 4 chords are the piano. I went on Youtube which is where I learned it from. I learned these chords, A minor, C major, F major, and G major. It was easy for me to do but I did have trouble on one part. I didn't know how to position my hands when playing some chords. Since I didn't know how to position my hands I got a little frustrated. But once I got over that part I didn't struggle anymore. When I was younger I took piano classes which I think might have made this easier. I kept on practicing the hand positions while playing the chords so after a while I got used to it. Overall, this part wasn't that hard compared to last week's.

December 9th,2020

For this week I decided to learn about the other music staff. The music staff that I learned in November was the treble clef. In hindsight, I probably should have learned this earlier but better late than never. I did feel unmotivated to learn this since I was bored but I got to do it. I went on to a youtube video and learned from there. It was a little more difficult to learn the bass clef since I was confusing some of the notes with the treble clef. I then, like last time, made flashcards for this part and memorized them. This part took some time since I didn't want to do it at this moment. I am considering changing my 20% time project when I get the chance. Once I had this memorized I quizzed myself on it and didn't get that many wrong. Overall, I was satisfied with what I accomplished today.

December 16th, 2020

Today I didn't feel as motivated to continue learning the piano but I still got through it.  I learned about the small black notes. To begin with, the process of doing this was similar to learning about white notes. On my keyboard, I labeled which note was which. After I did that I started to memorized which note is which without looking at my labels. This part was kind of hard but there weren't that many to memorize which made it easier. Once I had them memorized I tested myself on it and got almost all of them right. Although I have made a lot of progress with the piano it has started to feel more like a chore than something I want to do. I am happy with the progress I made today.

March 17th,2021

Today I decided to review for a bit of what I had previously learned. I still had a good comprehension of what I had done before so it didn't take that long. The only problem I had was remembering some of the notes but with some practice, I was back to normal. After I had reviewed that I found some warm-ups on Youtube to help me practice and get more used to the piano. First I had to get into a comfortable position which wasn't hard since I have sort of good posture. The warm-up was pressing on the black keys with your hands while going up the piano. This was not difficult and it was a good warm-up to get to just feel the weight of each key. I also learned other warm-ups which were fairly simple. I decided to do these every time before I begin to play because I think it will help me improve more. Overall, this was a successful day for me.

March 24th, 2021

Today I decided to learn a song on the piano. I haven't learned many songs so this will be fun. To begin with, I searched for a song I wanted to learn. The song I chose was from a game called "Under Tale" and it's called fallen down. It sounds fairly easy to do but not too easy so that I don't learn anything. I got started on my warm-ups which took about fifteen minutes. Then, I watched a youtube video on the song a few times. I found the first part easy but once I got further into the song I got more difficult. I decided to write down the notes so that I didn't have to constantly rewatch the video. This went on for about thirty minutes because I couldn't do the full thing without messing up some part. It was partly frustrating because what I messed up on was easy. Overall, I eventually learned the full thing without messing up which made me feel very happy and good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B69GfSqEZEs           <----- link for the song  

April 7th,2021

Today I decided to learn another song that I have been interested in learning. To begin with, I decided to warm up with the ones I spoke about previously. It only took a few minutes to warm up which was good since I also had other things to do. Once I had finished warming up I started to learn the song. It was sort of easy to do most of the time but on certain parts of it, I got frustrated. I had to go over the parts that were difficult quite a few times. I was excited to learn this song since it was the intro for a show that I really enjoyed. I had finally mastered the song as much I could and then I showed my brother since he also enjoyed the show. Overall, this was a good song to learn since it wasn't too easy or too difficult to learn. 

<------- Picture of main characters since the song for the intro is blocked on the school Chromebook.

April 14th, 2021

Today I decided to learn another song that my mom wanted me to learn. But before I get into that I had to warm up. As usual, they weren't that difficult to learn but it still helped me. Afterward, I got started on the song which for this week was "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". I remember learning this when I was younger but I have since forgotten how to play. Once I was doing it I remembered some of the hand movements. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be so that was nice. The hand movements weren't hard either. Overall, this has been my favorite song to learn because it brought back happy memories and it wasn't too hard to learn. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCjJyiqpAuU  <------ link to the song

April 21st, 2021

For this week I learned "All of Me" by John Legend. Before I began I did my warm-ups. The warm-ups were a bit difficult since I didn't touch the piano in a week because I didn't have time. Afterward, I got to learning the song. Some background I have with this song is that my cousins used to play it on the piano for me back when I used to take piano classes. It was nice to remember some of my memories of the past when I started playing the first few notes. It was easier than I remember which I guess is a good thing. When I was younger the song looked much harder to play which led me to try to learn the song right now. It took some time to finish learning because I was getting distracted. Overall, this song was very enjoyable to learn and fairly easy.

Lyrics of "All of Me" by John Legend

April 28th, 2021

For this week since it was my last, I decided to learn something fun. But before I begin with it I had to do my warm-ups. As usual, they were helpful and not too challenging. Afterward, I began to learn the song. What I would be learning this week is the Attack On Titan intro from season two. I chose this because it was my family's favorite song and intro since it was really catchy. The video I chose to learn it from wasn't that difficult but there was more movement for my left hand. Since I had to have both of my hands moving it took longer to master. It was also slower than the original intro so sometimes it didn't sound like it. I enjoyed learning this song mostly because it meant something to me and it reminded me of when I spent a lot of time watching that show with my family. It wasn't easy nor difficult to learn in the end. I definitely didn't reach the goal I thought I would in the beginning.  Some things came up this year that caused me not to have as much free time but at least I got to learn a thing or two. For next school year, I do not think I will continue learning the piano. I am making this decision because I got very bored and unmotivated quite a few times which made this learning experience less enjoyable. Overall, I did learn a few things from this but I wouldn't do it again if I was given the chance.

               <------------ main characters of Attack On Titan