markschuldenfrei | Music learning status update

So, I started the year with a list of 9 songs to learn and 5 to review. (Review meaning I learned it years ago but do I still remember it?)

I've learned 8 songs and reviewed all 5, and added 3 more to review. One more to learn. But "learned" doesn't mean I've sung them with people yet, only against recordings.

In most cases "review" was easy. Listen twice, sing once, good to go.

Learning has been fun. Three of the songs I classify as hard. "Rock It For Me" is relatively complicated as it varies greatly in each verse and chorus, while "Angel Eyes" has lovely complex harmonies which require very careful tuning. "Home" has an uneven and confusing pattern. (All of the songs are lovely, I'm just describing the challenges.)

I started the final song last night. I hope to have it done by the end of the week.

What's making me so happy about this is not my speed. So many people learn music faster and better than I do. But, FOR ME, this is a jump in speed and accuracy from when I first started cramming songs for Harmony Brigades. The first one was 5 months of preparation, and I wasn't really ready. 9 new songs in 3 weeks is a real improvement.

Since I like to measure my life by personal improvements, this is happy.

I'm not "ready" for this next Brigade. I'll start practicing with people soon, and many errors will reveal themselves and need fixing. But the event is March 22nd, and I'm sure I will be "word and note-perfect" by then.

In April I will get the music for the fall Brigade, and 8 will be repeats from this one. (A feature, not a bug.) That's an opportunity to learn more songs.

I wonder what I should learn?