The Greats

Piano

Sergey Rachmaninoff:

Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmainnoff was a Russian pianist, composer, and conductor. He was born during the late Romantic period, and his pieces are some of the most popular in the Romantic repertoire.

Liberace:
Władziu Valentino Liberace was an American piano player, singer, and actor. Liberace was a Wisconsin-born child prodigy. His parents were of Italian and Polish origin.
Liberace lived a life spanning four decades, full of concerts, recordings, television, motion pictures, and endorsements.

John Elton:
Sir Elton John CBE is an England-born pianist, songwriter & coposer. Since 1967, he has collaborated with lyricist Bernie Taupin on over 30 albums. Elton John has 67 entires in the Billboard Hot 100, 9 of which reaching #1, leaving him tied for 10th place among all acts for the most leaders.

Peter Bence:
Peter Bence is a Hungary-born pianist, music producer, and composer. He has gathered significant internet fame for piano arrangements on Despacito, Sia, Queen and Michael Jackson, congregating over five hundred million views on YouTube and Facebook.

My First Solo Performance

What instrument did you play and why?
I picked the piano because I have past experience with the instrument.

What song did you choose to play and why?
I decided to play Autumn Leaves by Joseph Kosma, a jazz piece in G major. I picked Autumn Leaves because not only is it a nice jazz tune, but because it makes extensive uses of major and minor II, V, I chord progressions, which are easy to improvise over.

Were you happy with your performance? Explain.
I feel like while I played the song well, I could've played it better. I lost time after a certain chord change that involves moving up an octave. I hesitated while I was playing this chord, and it left a gap in the bassline.

If you had to do it again, what would you change?
I would've been more diverse in my improvisation, and taken more breaks. Looking back on my performance, I tended to play a constant melody, taking no breaks to let the bassline shine. and used the sustain pedal to make the gap between chords more seamless.

Link to my performance:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/154tma0iawnxOR1KsMKNHZdoC2Gve3-g6/view?usp=sharing

Gymnastics

Today in gymnastics I worked on my skills on the beam. I've thought that the beam is scary beacuse of how high up it is, and how much it would hurt if I jumped and didn't land on my feet on the bar.

I feel like I've improved on the bar since Tuesday and am less scared of doing tricks on the bar, but I still have a long way to go. In the video below I perform a side mount to straddle dismount.

Write That Essay Sentences

LO: Write WTE sentences to improve our writing.

Simple sentences begin with the subject of the sentence:

My shoelaces are tied up.

The very short sentence is one of the most powerful sentences ever developed. It grabs your attention. The rule: Five words or fewer:

My shoes are black.

The power sentence is used at the beginning of a paragraph to make a quick impact on the reader. They consist of twelve words or less:

Leather shoes have been a staple in formal attire for years.

The red, white, and blue, sentence is a sentence used when you have several ideas to communicate:

Common elements found on shoes include laces, in-soles, and tongues.

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Start a sentence with an adverb; it adds interest and intrigue. Remember the rule: when you start your sentence with an adverb, place a comma after the adverb then write the rest of the sentence:

Often, dress shoes are made out of brown or black leather.

Try starting your sentence with a preposition. Prepositions are little words indicating movement or position:

Before shoes were invented, people walked bare foot.

Try starting a sentence with the -ing form of a verb. The rule: when you have finished your -ing phrase, place a comma, then write the rest of the sentence.

Wanting to protect their feet and have their feet exposed, the Assyrians invented sandals.

Try starting a sentence with the -ed form of the verb. It makes for a punch opening to the sentence.

Determined to create a better running shoe, Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman founded Nike.

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When you have two independent clauses (two mini-sentences) joined by a conjunction (e.g. and, but), you can remove the conjunction and replace it with a semi-colon.

My dog likes chewing on my shoes; it strengthens his teeth.

The em-dash in English is the long dash. Use the long dash to drop a phrase in a sentence that is at complete odds with the flow of the sentence--way out there--but which adds colour and interest.

Gucci loafers--while comftorable--are extremely expensive.

Try beginning a sentence with a W-word. Here are some: who, while, when, where, what, whereas. The W-start makes writing sound thgoughtful and knowledgable.

When shoes were invented, they were just planks of wood surrounded with flax leaf.

Accomplished writers use this sentence style. The rule: begin your sentence with the subject then place a comma. Say something interesting about the subject. Place another comma. Then, finish your sentences.

Shoes, both stylish and comfy, took over the world in ~1200 BC.