Sherry (adult) Prep level C

Segment one Sept/Oct

I wasn't able to practice faithfully during this time frame. And I did not get any video of my practice.

Some of my Guess Key scores were 690, 736, and 693. I didn't know I was supposed to keep track of the time so I didn't write that down. I know that I usually played for about 3 minutes on the game time, not actual time.

Scores for HCB played with both hands were mostly 36/37 or 37/37 & the other number was 3 or 4 with a couple times of 2.
Small Fir Tree score with right hand was 42/42 & 27 -25
Jingle Bells with both hands was 75/77 & 26
Ode to Joy with both hands was 47 or 48/48 & 6 or 7

Note Duration Game scores were between 202 and 229 each time I played it.

Note Alphabet Game scores were 153 - 2:31 and 120 - 2:20

I had been practicing Hanon, but after watching some other videos of other people playing it, I realize that I have been practicing it wrong. So now I am trying to re-learn it and make my fingers break their habit.

Soon, I will try to post about our practice during segment 2 and show videos of myself and Maria for then.

We were able to practice Segment 2 much more faithfully!

Some of my Guess Key scores were:
1041 - 3:07, 1186 - 3:35, 1011 - 2:56 1115 - 3:07, 1184 - 3:20,
1173 - 3:12, 1296 - 3:26

Some of my Note Alphabet scores were:
174 - 3:04, 405 - 5:16, 512 - 6:06, 528 - 5:07, 594 - 5:28,
576 - 5:23,

My best score for Hot Cross Buns was 37/37 - 1
Small Fir Tree 68/68 - 12
Jingle Bells 77/77 - 5
French Song 48/48 - 3
Ode to Joy 48/48 - 4
New Year's Tree 57/57 - 4
I have videos for all of these songs, I have tried several times to attach them, but lost my whole post. I will just post this and then try to add the videos next.

I also practiced Haydn's Surprise, Mulberry Bush, Humperdinck's Slumber Song, and Ten Little Indians, but I did not get videos of any of these. Should I??

I still play Hanon 1 and Cat & Mouse. Do you want videos of these?

I have been practicing the things from Segment 3 already too, I just am getting around to posting about Segment 2.

French Song:


Jingle Bells:


New Year's Tree:


Ode To Joy:


Small Fir Tree:

I just realized that I did not post for segment 3, so here is an update for both segments 3 & 4.

Segment 3:

Both my daughter and I loved this segment's music appreciation! We had so much fun dancing to the Nutcracker March. Someday I want to take her to see the whole thing. She would love it! I practiced playing it, but I could not get a perfect score and she couldn't recognize it when I played it, but she learned to recognize it whenever I played a video of it, even when she couldn't see it.

For Tom, Tom the Piper's Son my best score was: 30/30, 9

I chose 5 Christmas songs to practice this time. After a while, I quit writing down every score unless I got beat my old score. This seemed to keep me motivated to improve! Have to try all the tricks to get an old dog to learn new tricks! I played in P-3 for the first time for all of these, and it actually seemed easier.

Deck the Halls: 103/108, 21; 104/108, 56; 104/108, 37; 104/108, 19; 106/108, 31; 106/108, 28; 106/108, 22; 106/108, 17; 107/108,29; 107/108, 25; 107/108, 22; 107/108, 21 107/108, 18; 108/108, 39; 108/108, 21

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas: 65/67 17; 66/67, 14; 67/67, 18; 67/67, 17; 67/67, 9; 67/67, 7 67/67, 6

We Wish You a Merry Christmas: (Grrrr! This was a hard song! )
112/117, 81; 114/117, 54; 114/117, 45; 115/117, 68; 115/117,48 116/117, 51; 116/117, 38; 116/117, 30; 117/117, 30; 117/117, 23

Away In A Manger: 68/72, 50 69/72, 30; 70/72, 41; 70/72, 28, 70/72, 23; 71/72, 21; 71/72, 19; 72/72, 24; 72/72, 21; 72/72, 18

Silent Night: (I really struggled with this one too ) 73/82, 66; 74/82, 22; 76/78, 28; 78/82, 19; 79/82, 30; 79/82, 21; 81/82, 19; 81/82, 17; 82/82, 17; 82/82, 13

When I played Fruit Lines Game, there seemed to be an unwritten rule in our house--"if Momma sits down to play this game, something unexpected must happen before she can finish!" So here are the few scores from when I was actually able to play for at least 5 minutes! 683- 7:34, 546- 5:16, 621- 5:40, 611- 5:28, 621- 5:09, 541- 4:59.

I think that this game has helped me the most with recognizing where the notes are on the staff. If you continue the game long enough or get to a high enough level, does the staff ever turn horizontally? I think that this would help even more.

Segment 4: We also enjoyed Carol of the Bells, but I could not find it to play it. Where should I look? I enjoyed this song even more after I saw the little girl making her own version of it! That was really impressive!!!

I continue practicing Hanon and started the chromatic scale. Do I need to take a video of me doing this?

My best score for Mary Had a Little Lamb was 63/63, 5

I chose one of my hardest songs from last segment and then 2 others that I liked for the recital. Once again, I only wrote down scores when I beat my old score, so it doesn't seem like I practice them often, but I played them so many times that it probably drove the rest of my family crazy.

Silent Night: I had already gotten a perfect score last month, so: 82/82 13; 82/82, 12; 82/82, 11. I could not get it better than that. I memorized this one more quickly than the others, I think because I sung it and heard it so often as a child that it was in my head better.

The Blue Danube Waltz: 130/131, 41; 130/131, 15; 131/131, 12; 131/131, 11; 131/131, 10. This one also wasn't too hard to memorize probably because the notes followed the same patterns.

Fur Elise: This song was soooo hard for me, I don't know why!!! I did not get a perfect score until the day before I videoed it before the recital. I can not seem to memorize it either! I have continued practicing it after the recital and still have never gotten all the way through the song from memory! Any way here are the scores: 212/216,78; 212/216, 74; 214/216, 36; 214/216, 33; 215/216, 28; 216/216 26; 216/216, 24.

Which songs should I practice for Segment 5?

I finally made it through all of Simona's 1st three albums. I had actually never heard of any of these songs, so it was hard to choose.

Simona #1: A Cuckoo in the Woods, Allegro, and March #3
Simona #2: Etude, Song, A little Polka, Giocoso, Oh, the Ring is Broken, A Little Waltz, and Away with Melancholy
Simona #3: The Doll's Grief and Village Dance