Life gets in the way of blogs. We have completed "Theory" and "Charting a Song." This week, we are on to Congregational Accompaniment. A great class! You're going to love it. And between my old (young) piano teacher and me, we will be embelishing and enhancing the course. Can't wait. See you Thursday and Saturday!

Class #2 - Looking Back

We have successfully completed week 2 of The Church Pianist's course. Minus a web hiccup here and there, it seems to me to be going very well! I think perhaps one of the most important things to remember if you are joining us online would be to completely shut down your computer and restart before joining the webinar. I am finding that because the platform is such a power horse, it needs every bit of juice your computer can offer. At least on my laptop if I don't clear it's overwhelmed little "brain" before we get started, it acts like I've required it to climb Everest or swim the Atlantic. I thought I would share this blog post by Greg Howlett. I find many of his posts inspire and motivate me to continue to better my skills. http://www.greghowlett.com/blog/free-lessons/042212.aspx.

Glitches

Glitch: A glitch is a short-lived fault in a system. It is often used to describe a transient fault that corrects itself, and is therefore difficult to troubleshoot.

Thank you, Widipedia.

I worked hard to make the first night smooth as silk. I had my house clean, chocolates on the table for local attendees, and my laptop and my large monitor hooked up and ready to go at 5:30. I tried loading the video one more time just for peace of mind. It wouldn't load. It's sort of an important element to our class time. I tried again. Nothing. I shut the meeting down and restarted it. Load video. Nothing.

Someone logs on. I try the video again. Nothing. I call customer service.

"Oh, it must be a glitch." (see above definition)

Ya think? That's an awesome technical term if I ever heard one. What am I going to do with a "glitch?" (see below definition)

"Oh, you'll have to shut the meeting down and restart it."

"Did that."

"Well, you'll have to upload the content again. When does your meeting start?"

"Five minutes ago." (video takes about an hour to upload)

"Oh. Well, I think it's a glitch. You will want to start everything over again." (see above and below definitions)

"Ya think? I'll file that away. Good bye." (under my breath...thanks for NOTHING)

Anyhow, I did indeed delete the file from my content on the webinar. I loaded it again today. And vwalla! No more glitches!! I practiced with a viewer and it's working like a charm. Of course it was working like a charm earlier this week, too. So I'll test it a couple of hours before our webinar tomorrow to be sure the "glitch" hasn't returned.

Glitch: a web-based massively-multiplayer game which takes place inside the minds of eleven peculiarly imaginative Giants.

I'll say...

Class Time Clarification

I sometimes meet myself coming and going, but typically, other people meet me coming and going before I meet me. I've been announcing the start of class at 6 but I originally posted the start time at 6:30. We're sticking with 6:30. I'm very sorry about the confusion. So, I will actually start the online meeting at 6:00 so everyone can get logged on and comfortable with the webinar before class begins. Again - I apolologize for the timing glitch.

Meet & Greet Tonight!

If you have registered for the class, you should have received an e-mail from me (and FuzeMeeting.com) about our upcoming "meet and greet" tonight via FuzeMeeting. It should give you all the information you need to login tonight at 8 p.m. so we can do a quick walkthrough on the webinar and become more familiar with our new "classroom." :) Sorry - you have to bring your own refreshments to the virtual classroom. I can't offer a vending machine.

This is just a test...

I'd like to have a "meet and greet" for a few minutes on Monday night around 8 CST. If you have registered, I will send you the link via e-mail to join us so we can all say hi and get used to the webinar before class on Thursday night. If you would like to join and cannot on Monday at 8, I will schedule another time for you to join me and get used to the platform.

In other news, I attended a storm spotter's class last night! Can't wait for the storms to roll in! I'm a photographer (in my other life) and I am dying to get some good storm pictures. And just to see a tornado would be a dream come true. Call me crazy, but I've seriously drooled over the idea of being face-to-face with a tornado since childhood. They've always fascinated me. We had a close shave with one in 2008...but that's another story for another day. And I have an appointment 5 minutes ago. Yes, you heard me right. :)

Crunch Time

We are getting down to the wire! I'm so excited for class to begin. I am certain that you will love the course as much as I do. I sent out e-mails and facebook messages to those I know are interested in the course. If you did not receive that information, please let me know.

Our first class will begin at 6:00 p.m. (CST) on Thursday, April 5 and 6:00 p.m. Saturday, April 7. These two classes contain the same information, providing two opportunities for you to take the class. Our next class will follow two weeks later on Thur/Sat evenings.

Once you have registered and payed for at least the first class (should you choose to pay per class), I will shortly follow up your registration/payment with a pdf printout and the login information for our upcoming webinar.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions that I have not answered here. Be checking back here every couple of days for updates!