Solo Study One- Average Student Learning Time
Mr. Barrett: I'm sorry if this posted twice. I think I erred the first time and am not sure if it posted. In any event here are my questions about solo harmoica study one.
1. For proper progression through the levels of achievment, should I learn Examples 1.1 through 2.8? (At one place on the web, you commented to focus for now on Examples 1.1 through 1.7. Seems like I need to go all the way through 2.8 but I'm not sure if that's what is needed.)
2. How much practice time does the average student take to learn Solo Harmonica Lesson One? Based on an earlier comment on one of your videos, I spent a week for each chorus in Walk With Me. So 7 weeks. That guidance on length of time to spend practicing each chorus was helpful. Do you have a similar rule of thumb on the length of time an average student spends on Solo Study One? If it's a week per chorus it looks like we're looking at 11 to 12 weeks. Am I looking at this correctly?
Thanks
I am attempting to get through an entire LOA every two months. The Study Songs are the most time intensive part. If I manage to master a chorus a week, I can get through the entire song in that timeframe. As I work through the Study Song, I'm also going through the other sections, like the Solo Study, Accompaniment, or Music Theory, but those don't take nearly as much practice (at this point).
Good morning brittleonard. Answers below.
1. Yes, it is a good idea to go through all of the examples leading up to the example numbers required for LOA. For LOA-L1 it is up to Ex. 1.7. The single-note version of each example is not the main focus, they are there to give you an idea of the underlying melody… so focus on the chordal examples (1.2 is the chordal example of 1.1 for example).
If you haven't already seen this PDF, I recommend you download/print it for your reference: http://www.bluesharmonica.com/sites/bluesharmonica.com/files/private/loa...
2. The study songs I write are generally two weeks per chorus. Solo Harmonica Study 1 essentially is one lick per example. Typically my private students will be able to to play Examples 1.2 and 1.4 in two weeks and 1.7 takes about a month. Every student is of course different, for varying reasons (practice time, past music experience, if their dog howls when they play ;-)
Have fun with the material and have a great weekend.