Hi Kristeta. I love the way you put your own touch on this tune! 
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Very nice Kristeta. You are progressing very well!!!
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hi. Thanks very much Paul - Means a lot to me. Hope you are well! … Hayden’s transcriptions are always very moving, interesting and challenging 
- I listen to his recording and I am motivated instantly - and then the moment i look at the piece hahah! I knew would take me weeks | months to learn , yesterday - I thought I was gonna give up on it! 
- I am now starting to listen to other versions and will still be working on the polishing part… long way to go - whew but always a smile on my face when the lesson I am watching is helping me understand what I am doing -hehe , - I’m still on the theory part - and re-watching the lessons, taking notes etc… The improv part is slowly (very) happening, since I’m really new to jazz improv - the first few trials I made still showed my classical influence + a bit of new age ( i sort of love combining both) = so ending was , it didn’t sound jazz at all hahah… I’ve been really surrounding myself with jazz music, watching - listening to jazz drumming … and enjoying it! Best part is being part of this community - You all inspire me
Do you normally have a set time for jazz practice? or when learning songs etc? or do you go by mood maybe? … or do you use an actual journal? I know Hayden mentioned about a practice plan (not sure if that’s the term) haven’t tried it but hopefully next time, would love to use it too… Thanks very much again, Take care.
Hello Celia! How are you? Thank you for the kind words. Really appreciate it! It gets tempting (for me) to jump from one song to the next which I know I should not do unless I’m
done (and have fully understood) with the previous songs I am learning…
I know you’d agree, the music lessons here are really inspiring and addicting! (including Piano groove members’ videos are so fun to watch) How are you doing? Any new songs you have currently been busy learning or playing - I haven’t checked all the threads yet _ but will hope to see everyone’s Practice logs (including yours and Paul’s) ! Really excited to learn too from you, others or what lessons Piano Groovers are tackling and interested in. Take care and Thanks so much for stoppin’ by!
Edit: I saw somewhere you wrote how stunning Nearness of You piece is! Yay. so true… I am currently learning it - and smiling ear to ear each time I hear or see new/ interesting harmonies! love the arrangement 
Wow , just read you already have learned 21 songs or maybe more than that now - that is amazing Celia. Am really impressed!
Your performance sounds beautiful Kristeta 
Nice job!
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Hi Kristeta,
There is a lot to learn and PianoGroove has given us a great platform.
I like to play in the morning when I am fresh. In the past, I have practiced at least two to three hours a day and often times more. However, mood does play a role and it has had an impact lately. I have just started Body and Soul. Below is my practice list. They are all memorized, but still a work in progress.! (Once I have Body and Soul memorized, it will be added to the list.)
!
I try to work on at least a third of the list each day and use an Excel file to mark them off to make sure I cover everything. Unfortunately, I have not been doing as well at getting to all of them over the past week to ten days. I am going to push myself though.
Keep posting. Your enthusiasm is encouraging and inspiring.
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Hi Kristeta,
Glad your finding the threads on Pianogroove useful as so much information - may Hayden should collate this into a book - haha - be a best seller I bet! 
Please don’t give up - we all have good days and bad days when practicing for whatever reasons. Can’t have the good without the bad.
Yep listening to different versions is great to feel the emotions from other players and how they approach the tunes as we all express ourselves differently, Remember its a journey we’re all on and must say its a busy and bumpy road we are all driving long… 
I terms of practice time - given I’m a freelancer I spend my day working at home and try to set myself a time each to practice for a couple of hours or less depending how things are progressing - normally around 8 pm at night which is not a good time really. Normally I play tunes that I have learnt (so I don’t forget them…) outside of a few warm up Hanon five finger exercises. and split my on 1-2 new songs and 251’s and theory (pending the iPad battery lasting).
I also tend to chop and change between intermediary and advanced standards and sometimes they take me weeks if not a month or two to master like the tune “You Must Believe in Spring” that Tuomo taught - I tricky piece that’s for sure. I also go back from time to time to play some of the songs I learnt earlier to try new things which is thoroughly recommended.
I must say, I don’t use a practice plan as I tend to work from what I think I need to play or learn. Its a good idea though the foundation and other planner are a good step to monitor your progress and identify areas that you find difficult to spend more time on.
Anyway - hope this help given you a window into my playing. 
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Wonderful tips and advice here @paul1523727, @celia, and @Kristeta.
It’s really great to hear the different way we approach our practice as ultimately there is no ‘one size fits all’.
Thanks for sharing and I’m sure our students who are new to jazz will find these insights helpful and inspiring.
Cheers and happy Easter to everyone!
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Thanks very much! Hayden that’s very encouraging! … will keep with the practice! Hope you are well and Happy Easter! Take care.
Wow. Celia - I love your list ! Thanks so much for sharing … “All the way” is very tempting - really love that song! too 
I like how you have indicated the song form and key for each song - that’s a really great idea! Thanks for that.
so agree with you on the mood … Does play a role
plus checking on Piano groove really allows the motivation to grow/increase .
Yay. Enjoy your jam on Body and Soul. CooL! Take care. thanks again!
Actually, I can’t take credit for indicating the form of the song. That was Hayden’s idea! 
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hi there! Paul. Really appreciate the response. Great share of your practice routine, plus tips, thoughts , very helpful! - Really Thank you - as well for the kind words.
“You Must Believe in Spring” - sounds really interesting. Would love to listen to it. Yeah about the theory, 251s etc - I’m really glad we have the notes section - that is one of my favourites. Each time I go back to a lesson - those notes I’ve written are such excellent reminders esp (for me) what I find as a highlight in the lesson - plus Hayden does have the theory lecture available on what he discussed - that is so beneficial!
For some reason, I do love practising on a midnight too lol when everyone and everything is soooo quiet haha - but I of course adjust the volume.
It’s been really a great experience learning from fellow Piano groove members - thank you again and Happy Playing! Take care.
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haha! Thanks very much Celia , - Hayden is a genius !
your list is a great motivation for me !
MAY 2020 Progress Videos
Hello! It has been a bit challenging working and teaching from home 
due to covid crisis but I’m so pleased I am able to make a bit of time for practice and learning interesting and challenging lessons from PianoGroove…
Embraceable You | Week 3 Progress
(feels like it’s taking me forever haha! there’s a lot more work to do here but for now - this is where I am. Hayden’s arrangements are amazing, challenging, and really fun to learn and play - Hopefully in the near future, I’d be able to arrange my own version of these beautiful tunes!)
This one below isn’t from Piano Groove but since it is also one of the tunes I was learning, I thought just to remind myself of my favourite pieces, that I also post and share this here…
I was also learning bars 59-73 (i think) of Can’t Help Falling In Love arrangement by PianoGuys - this was also fun to learn…
Week 1 Progress
Hope you are all doing well and staying safe! Take care always!
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June Month 2020
has been crazy busy in school! (i mean doing virtual teaching from home )
The last week of May and first week of June - I went back to practicing “Nearness of You” and “Girl from Ipanema”
things got hectic and I’m really aiming to record my recap on Nearness of You soon !
I started analyzing how I am progressing and one of the things I noticed with my monthly practices -
Since starting with Piano Groove - I am so happy and amazed to find out that my sight reading is immensely improving! 4 of my fingers hahah in each hand are now more comfortable and very slowly getting the hang of things - I would notice they would sometimes automatically place themselves (each finger) on the keys when I am reading certain jazz chords - the finger muscles are remembering very well
I used to have a bit of difficulty playing some pop tunes - and I realised the reason was because most of them use jazz chords! I recently played a few of the pop music scores I have at home and to my surprise - it was so much easier to learn them and play and I was really enjoying more!
So this post is also to send a HUGE THANKS to Piano Groove, to Hayden and the wonderful instructors who make things more musical in our lives and funner too!
The musical arrangements are always beautifully planned and excellently executed, performed - the lesson explanations are well detailed and very INSPIRING to learn from!
That progress I made and achieved in such a short time is all because of Piano Groove.
A Million Thanks! to Hayden and the other Piano Groove Instructors!!!
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Seems i miss your practice log … thanks sharing all this !! some really cool performance
Bravo !!
PS maybe placing the recorder in another place could help avoiding the noise that we hear in front of your recording.
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hey Thanks very much Pierrot - really appreciate it!
Yeah - this has been an issue for me for some months now - - I’m gonna try moving the recorder and look for a good spot. I used to record on the piano connected to the computer using garage band and was easier to produce an mp3 or a wav file my connector got broken so will need to buy a new one! Hope you are doing fab! Stay safe and take care!
July 2020 Progress
Two months of not much progress due to other distractions in life that we have lol 
but have been trying to dedicate small chunks of practices just for recall of Hayden’s Jazz standard arrangements that I started to learn …
I finally got the chance to practice and record " Nearness of You "
…yet , still with a lot of things I want to improve on but otherwise happy that I was able to play this without so much stopping in between… I did put the metronome on and as always - it would be a constant battle hahah…
Apologies if the recording is not that good - any/all critique are welcome
Hope you are all safe. Take care. After recording, got me to listening more to different song versions - Just now I was listening to Ella Fitzgerald’s version - I really liked it.
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Nice Kristeta! Don’t you just love that song? I did not know about it until I took Hayden’s lesson on it. Now I can’t get enough of it. Keep up the good work!
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Hi Celia
Thanks for listening
this indeed is one of my favourites too - difficult part is when Hayden plays any song, the piano instrument sings big time - you listen to it and everything you would want and need to hear in the song is already heard in his performance
that’s big for me and I really want and hope to learn that… in a - - years haha…
I enjoyed this tune and I must say, one of the challenging ones for me …
hope you’re doing well! Take care.