PIANO

**Write down what aspect of music you are interested in learning about this semester.** I'm interested in improving my basic skills on piano, refreshing old pieces, and learning new ones. **What do you want to know more about?** I have an upright piano at home, and the insides are obviously different than those of a grand or baby grand, which I'm relatively familiar with. I'd like to do some research about the insides of my piano, and maybe observe our piano tuner, Lucy, next time she comes to tune it. **What skills do you wish to develop?** I'd like to be able to play all of my scales and arpeggios by memory, so I need to review that. Also, working with some étude books will help my piano fluency. Once my fingers have gotten back in shape, I want to review old pieces, specifically one called Reverie (Debussy, I think) that I played for a recital 3 or 4 years ago. Depending on how long it takes to get the old stuff mastered, I might want to start a new piece. All in all, I'll be focusing on primarily classical pieces. **What topic will inspire you to engage in creative research?** I want to be skilled at piano again, to be able to sit down and play a piece. **What tools will be needed for your study?** I should pretty much only be using the resources I already have - a scale book, "A Dozen a Day" étude books (of which I have probably 5 or 6 volumes), a book of classical pieces (which includes Reverie), and whatever sheet music I find for a new piece, if I get there.
 * 1. Brainstorm**

**2. Narrow down the topic** **What are all the components that would need to be learned in order to master the topic?** 1. Scales 2. Arpeggios 3. Chords 4. Finger flexibility and separation of thought and motion between the two hands

**If you are unsure of all the components, do you think you can find more information to help you find depth for your study?** I'm sure there are countless youtube videos and websites, and I bet Julie has some books that could help me with a method.

**Are there enough questions about the topic that need to be solved or do you already know enough about the subject?** I feel like I more or less have a grasp of the knowledge of what I need to do and how to do it, I just need to DO it, and get used to playing again.

**Is there a history to your subject that can help your study? Who has done this? What have they done with it? Has it ever been done before?** There is a lot of information about the piano on the internet...I also have some pretty good method plan books, the Alfred Adult All-In-One Books 2 and 3.

**3**. **Initial Research** **Complete some initial research into your subject. Is there information readily available? Are the method books or articles that will help your work?** I have most of the books I'll need to complete the playing. There's a lot of interesting information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano#Upright about the upright piano and also about player pianos. My grandparents have a player piano that I grew up loving to play, and those might be interesting to learn about as well.

Most of the resources from the server mirror what I have at home, so I think I should be fine with what I have - but if I am looking for further music, there is a lot on the server.

**4. Review** **Review your brainstorming with your instructor. Use this a guide for the creation of your proposal.**