Throughout this process I have been trying my best to keep up with the pace! A few weeks ago a discovered that taking time to get familiar with your resources will save you time and stress in the long run!

Youtube is a great tool that has helped me throughout this process. When I first came across a series of videos that give tutorials on recorder songs, I thought what I great idea! When I started with “Happy Birthday “, it was a much easier experience than my second chosen song, “O Canada”.  Because of this, I felt very discouraged and wasn’t sure why the video was playing so fast! I couldn’t keep up with note transitions and I kept feeling frustrated that they wouldn’t slow it down for beginners to learn. Then when we had a Personal Growth day, I was with Lauren in the learning commons practicing my notes. She asked if she could join in to play “O Canada” with me and I said of course! Once the video started to play I was trying to keep up to speed and she informed me that the video slows down after the song plays through once. Imagine that… All this time I had been rewinding the video back to the start because I could never master the first 2/3rds of the song!

So from this, I have really resonated with the FPPL: learning takes time and patience. From this, I have realized that if I were to have reached out to my resources (my peers) in class who were also playing the recorder, I may have learned some tips and tricks earlier on. With more patience, I also would have been able to do one full run-through of the video before playing to really get familiar with the notes, the transitions, the song, and the resource (the YouTube video!).

In moving forward, although I am nowhere near perfect, my note transitions and my speed have improved! And more importantly… my patience!