5/31: TED Talk with Script

The long-awaited Ted Talk is here, along with the script if needed.

SCRIPT

Hello everyone, my name is Kevin Lobo and I am a piano GENIUS, so I decided to play it for my Genius Project! I started playing piano the moment I was born and composed my first masterpiece at the age of three...

Nah, I am just kidding. 

I ACTUALLY started the Genius Project, a misleading name, I know, about ten weeks ago with no musical background whatsoever! Well, aside from my “purple belt” with the recorder back in elementary school.

I had an old keyboard which my parents gifted me when I was like nine and I have barely touched it since. I have, however, become rather interested in all sorts of music over quarantine, from experimental hip-hop to dream pop. I wanted to play some songs I learned in the future, so I decided to bring out the keyboard!

I used many resources throughout my keyboard journey. YouTube videos from channels like AmosDoll music and Mangold Project really helped me out, in addition to the apps SimplyPiano and Chordify. Also, shoutout to my mom for recording all the songs I learned, even though it took a million takes to get one that was accurate.

My friends also guided me when I was struggling... for one, to find which note

This corresponded to, which turned out to be middle C.

Before I started any of this, however, I had to create a timeline.

Here it is...

I just had to follow a natural progression: learn the basics of music theory, practice by playing some chords and simpler songs, learn to read sheet music, and finally play some of MY favorite songs.

Simple enough… or was it?

Ok let’s say we are going on a road trip for the first time. We reach point B much earlier than expected. What do we do? The best thing would probably be to add another destination,

Point C, and add details in between. The thing is, I got too eager. I reached Point B too early, already learning Sweden within my 3rd week, and without stopping to define a Point C, my path kind of transformed to something like this.

,which ultimately caused me to unknowingly skip over learning some symbols in sheet music, switching between learning songs and concepts, and just being all over the place in general.

All said, I have always thought of myself as an organized person but this late realization put me in check. I have begun to plan out my upcoming homework and projects using apps like Google Tasks and as well as my future as a whole. This approach helped me make this very Ted Talk! No wonder it's so great . It also helped me realize the importance of long-term planning. Even though this was only around ten weeks long, I should have put more thought into the process and been able to adapt.

Sven Haefliger points out in HIS Ted Talk that most people seek joy, relaxation, and an expression of creativity when learning piano.

Boy, were they wrong! Personally, I sought out relaxation, but in reality,

I faced a lot of frustration instead while playing the keyboard, especially while learning Für Elise. I had a great start, motivated to learn a new song. After the fourth consecutive day of practicing, however, I noticed that I would tend to not enjoy playing; it almost felt like a chore. During these days, I would get annoyed when me and my clumsy fingers would press multiple notes at once. This led to me taking THREE WEEKS to learn ONE song. A similar process really happened in some fashion with every song I learned during these ten weeks, aside from a few. Sweden by C418 was one. What was special about this one? Well I’ve had a connection to this song when I was a little kid; it brought back memories of simpler times when I used to be able to play Minecraft on my Xbox 360 with utmost joy.

This has taught me to practice what you enjoy learning to play, or it will just seem like a burden. I have also learned to take breaks and split up my practice hours throughout the day, which helped me feel refreshed and made playing more enjoyable.

To recap, create detailed outlines and change them as you go and learn by playing what makes YOU happy. These carry out to learning any skill and I wish I had this advice for myself BEFORE starting!

Anyway, now for something I ACTUALLY had planned . Here we have ME playing myself out. Have a good day everyone!