Ode to Joy!

The first piece I've come to in my book which is an actual piece and not a finger exercise thingy! I've been playing through different parts on different hands and I'm slowly making progress!

The two linked 8th notes on the right hand was the first eight notes I'd come across. They were difficult the first few times but then I managed to fit those 2 bars which contain them in one hand motion and now its my easiest part of the piece and now everything else sounds behind! Haha, its funny how this practice stuff works, its kinda scary how you improve the more you try, never had a hobby like this when I can see the progress so clearly! ^^

I'll post back when I've completed it and it sounds musical!
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I'm getting better! I've started making it sound more like recordings I've heard of it, its a little more difficult than what I thought but most parts I'm extremely happy with! I even closed my eyes and saw if I could play it and I can play it better eyes closed than open and I don't understand why, haha!

Ode to Joy was also one of the first "real" songs that I learned to play (all of 3 weeks ago). It's such a nice tune, and I still play it daily as practice. Just go slow, and you'll get it.

In case anybody is interested, I am playing this easy version (LINK). I always lament people discussing a tune without direction to the sheet, in case other people would like to play it too. So there.

That sheet is a little different to the one I am playing, it has the left hand played WITH the right hand, at the same time! It however is the next logical step for me now that I can do hands separately on the main melody and I shall go practice it at once! Thanks lady!

That is the next step, and also the great hurdle I think we all encounter; playing something different with left and right hand at the same time. It takes a LOT of practice I guess. I've just mastered the solid chords, now I'm trying to learn to play broken chords. Like you, I can play the hands individually beautifully, then put them together, and chaos ensues LOL.

But it feels great when you finally play a piece that took you almost a week to master

www.makingmusicfun.net/

I've stumbled across this site with great free sheet music, which goes in levels and also has classical/traditional sections of each level, so its great! I've been listening to the sheet music which you can do on the site, so you know how it should sound and I'm surprised how many pieces I recognise!

It also has an Ode to Joy version I'm working through and also a Sonatina by Clementi which I absolutely adore!

That is also my favorite site for sheet music, especially since you can hear what the piece is supposed to sound. So many sites offer sheet music, but if you don't know the piece already, how would you know if you'd even like to play it?
By the way, I now play Ode to Joy with full chords (triads) in the bass instead, as it sounds fuller and better to me. It's fun when you get to a stage where you can have some fun with the little pieces, so you don't get bored by the constant practice.

I'm starting to have trouble whenever I have to use my 4th and 5th finger in quick succession as I have to in a part of Ode To Joy. Strange things keep happening like I automatically speed up my entire hand for the notes afterward when they aren't 8th notes and don't need to be. I guess I'll just keep working on my 2 weak fingers!

On a side note, my mum walked by my room and went "That sounds nice!"

And I'm sure it did.

Living in England, you've probably never heard of it, but I lived for many years in USA, and there I learned the two-step. It's a cowboy dance, and the rythm of it is slow-slow-quick-quick, like you'd imagine dancing on a sheet of music with 4-4-8-8 notes. Anyway, having similar trouble with my fingers (pinky and ring on both hands), I started practicing the two-step on the piano. That is to say, I practiced over and over again, playing 4-4-8-8-4-4-8-8-4-4, with the weak fingers doing the 8 notes, and the other fingers for the 4 notes. That did the trick for me.

By the way, from another posting here, I found a link to the piano lessons book, in order to get the sheet music for the 'Mountain Song'.
After copying the sheet, I started to read through this book from the beginning, and it has a world of great information, including great directions on what and how to practice, also trouble-areas (like weak fingers). I picked up a lot of pointers here, and it has improved and structured my practice even more.

Its a very in depth book isn't it?

I'm reading through it from the start now as I'm typing this. Its really honest which I like and has pretty much everything I could think of answered, I'll be referring back to this one a lot. Thanks! ^_^

EDIT
I just managed to play half of Ode to Joy perfectly! Right tempo and right dynamics, everything! I was recording myself and there was no stops and starts which I get when I go to the next line or phrase but then half way through I got to the hard bit and made a mistake but oh well! Its the first time I've played something which actually sounds musical and not mechanical! YAY! ^_^

I can play it all now! Yay!!
Onto Little Sonata by Charles Henry Wilton!