Wow, I Can Actually Play Piano

 For my final term at GCE, I have been taking a class, Endurance, that has helped be learn a lot more about human history and some of the more atrocious events that mankind endured. We began this class by learning about Ernest Shackleton, a sailor who led an expedition to the Antarctic that did not go as planned. After his ship being crushed by glaciers and his men being stranded on uninhabited territory, he managed to get every crew member back to safety. 

A book that we read throughout the unit was Night by Elie Wiesel. Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor retold the story of his family being taken by Nazi German Soldiers and placed in concentration camps. This heavy retelling was both heartbreaking grotesque and also inspirational to the history and remembrance of this time period. 

These stories allowed be to better understand the factual evidence of the capacity to which humans can endure. My assignment was to pick something that I could dedicate 24 hours of practice to, in order to achieve a goal. The goal I chose was to improve my piano skills with my guiding question being "To what extent can I become an improved pianist if given 24 hours of practice time to learn?" You will see below, the process I chose in order to find an answer to this goal. 

 

To conclude the process of this project, I leave you with some of my final reflections. 

Through this journey, I have discovered that if I apply myself, I can become a skilled pianist. Over the course of a few weeks, I learned four different songs, mostly to completion with room for improvement. Those songs include: To Build A Home by The Cinematic Orchestra, Rosemary's Song by Olivia Belli, Je Te Laisserai Des Mots by Patrick Watson, and Fur Elise by Beethoven. I improved on my ability to read sheet music, as well as more chords. This project was challenging but I am glad that I was able to improve my capabilities. While I wasn't able to make it to 24 hours for this assignment's deadline, I will continue to practice and learn to become a more improved pianist.