My plan for the Scholars G.O.A.L.S. Spring Semester Project is to learn how to play piano. I’m interested in this project because I’ve always wanted to learn a new instrument, and I think the piano is beautiful. Although I’ve always had the intention to start learning how to play, I’ve never made the leap to just finally start; so, I think this project will be great motivation to finally realize this dream of mine.
This goal of mine aligns with the Academic Enrichment segment of the Honors and Scholars goals we talked about earlier this semester. Along with expanding my hobbies and skills, learning an instrument is very beneficial to increasing focus and improving hand-eye coordination. I plan to begin working on this project as soon as possible, but this will mean having access to a piano, which I may not be able to manage over break. However, I plan to start by the beginning of second semester at the latest.
My first step to completing this project will be locating a piano to practice, and identifying resources that may help me along the way, such as tutors or clubs that are centered around piano-playing. I have a few friends who play the piano, and I learned how to sight read in chorus, so I believe that I’ll be off to a good start to learn! The second step will be choosing one or two pieces of music suited for beginners, and starting to build basic skills as I work towards learning these pieces. I’m sure that online resources such as sheet music and video tutorials will be beneficial to me during these beginning steps, especially as I work to acquaint myself with the structure of the piano and the hand placement.
Hopefully, I will achieve my first two steps of finding resources and learning to play some simple pieces by mid- to the end of February, and from there I can start working towards mastering more intermediate pieces. Perhaps I will even compose a small piece of music myself by the end of this project!