Mary queen of scots

This is a lovely song that I have just finished, it is a little long and slightly repetitive but the video recording is so funny because Max decided to sing along to the song, which he does not normally do.  Max is a quiet bird, we have a couple of others that are really noisy and sometimes we have to cover the cage when we record, but Max is such a quiet strong soul, that when he does make any sounds I want to eat him up that's how cute he is.  The quality of the video is a little low because we didn't focus the camera properly, but by the time I finished it was too late to re-record, so here it is:

the competitive spirit

My piano class time was moved to a different day this year, so at the end of the class, I met the student after me.  She was about 14, and had studied piano for 4 years.  She played a few pieces for me when my teacher asked her to, and I thought she was eons ahead of me.  She had great control over the dynamics, played her scale exercises flawlessly, and could sight read without mistakes a piece that would have taken me a while to plow through.

Hmmm, competitive spirit awaken in me, and taketh me over.  This year I want want want to reach her level.  She is one grade above me, and has studied piano for as long as I have, so that means I have lost one year due to lack of enthusiasm.  For an entire year, I was playing only enough to get by (read: to avoid getting expelled).  I changed teachers, and I am so much more enthusiastic now.  The teacher makes a big difference.  Obviously this one knows me well enough to realize that a little competition is all I need.

Music box dancer by Frank Mills

I have bad bad bad performance anxiety.  I am not a performer.  I can play this song quite well as long as nobody other than Max is listening.  However, the moment the camera points its cyclops eye at me, I get dizzy and my mind goes blank.  In order to overcome my performance anxiety, I have decided to post imperfect performances, to show my brain that it is not necessary to be perfect.  Hopefully, over time, I will improve and you won't hear all that stumbling going on.

Background

I have started playing piano in 2006.  I started as an adult, because it was a long awaited dream of mine, to be able to play piano.  I am by far not a good student.  Over the past few years, despite having a full time job and a lot of heartache (for more info, read www.asecondline.blogspot.com, my blog about infertility and stillbirth), I have continued to take lessons, and to practice as much as I could.

I thought I would post some of the songs that I am learning so that one day I can look back and see how far I have come.  Also, if there are any other adult beginners, perhaps watching some my fumbling performances recorded in video will make you decide that hey, it's not so very bad to make a fool of oneself while learning something you've wanted to do your whole life.

The reason I am calling this blog "Piano and bird" is because my pet parrot, Max, is going to be present on my shoulder for most of the performances I suspect.  He so enjoys piano, and he helps me practice by keeping me company.