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Ali teaches himself the piano from YouTube tutorials in his third year of medical school

story · status: told 3×, last update 2020 · last event: update (2020-11-22) · owner: Ali

Told alongside: Ali's years of playing World of Warcraft

About: one-year rule, World of Warcraft

date event what video
2017-09-07 (said on 2017-08-28, implied) update Ali wants to teach himself piano sight-reading during the 2017–18 year by practising five minutes a day, though he says it probably won't happen. (hedged) Journey to placement - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #02 00:02:58
2018-06-12 update Ali is learning to read music and some music theory: since taking up the piano he has mostly played by ear, and his playing is now well ahead of his reading. Live Stream - Tuesday Evening Hangout 00:19:31
2018-10-01 mentioned Ali suggests using gaps in the university timetable to learn skills: with a two-hour gap between lectures you might as well learn to play River Flows in You, to play it on the piano at Cambridge's Grand Arcade. Is university worth it? The non-academic value of university 00:02:53
2019-02-14 retold Ali started learning the piano in his third year of university, when he had a piano in his room and was doing psychology, a very relaxed year. Valentine’s Day Live Stream 00:42:55
2019-03-30 retold Ali learned the piano by exploration, bashing out notes and playing by ear, and discovering music theory afterwards gave him a profound insight he thinks he would not have had by the traditional route. Monthly Favourites #7 - Ali Abdaal 00:05:40
2020-03-24 retold In his third year of medical school, studying psychology with a lot of spare time, Ali was tempted to restart World of Warcraft, but asked what his future self would want and taught himself the piano from YouTube tutorials. How to be More Productive in Lockdown 00:00:58
2020-04-17 mentioned Ali wishes he had taken music more seriously and got better at music theory: he has played the piano for five years, since his third year of medical school, and can play chords and sing along but never learned to read music. Answering your Questions 00:22:17
2020-05-17 update Ali practises reading music on the piano by trying to play the Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone soundtrack. My Productive Birthday in Lockdown - Day in the Life Vlog 00:02:44
2020-10-14 mentioned Ali credits James with inspiring him to learn to play the piano. Revamping My Living Room - Day In The Life 00:01:56
2020-11-22 update Ali is learning songs from The Greatest Showman, teaching himself to read music, and now takes piano lessons to get better at the piano. My PRODUCTIVE Apartment Tour (2021) 00:15:36

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4 statements, by date (the events above are the turns of the thread; these are the details).