8 days ebook jacques hopkins 2

BYJACQUES HOPKINS

A,.,_—

An eBook of the first 8 days of

Jacques‘ Piano in 21 Days Course.

This eBook contains the first 8 dagsof mg 21 deg video course fromPiano|n2i Dagsoom.

The contents of this eBook are thepropertg of Jacques Hopkins. Nopart of this eBook shall bereproduced, transmitted, or sold inwhole or in part in ang form, withoutthe prior written consent of theauthor.

I I \‘21d3U§

TABLE OF CONTENTS

htroduotioh

Jay: 1: White KeL_,]s

2: Black Kegs

: -alf & Whole Steps

: Vajor Chords — C, F, & G

: Vajor Chords — D, E, A, & B: Vihor Chords

7: _eft Hand

8: Learn 36 Songs in a FewVlihutes

LJOJ

L} L} L}[D [D OJTC TC TC TC TC TC [C-

L}[DO“U"|-|>£/O

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fl /iiiairi H

Introduction

Welcome all to the Piano in 21 Days

I hated piano course. The main course is a Video setwhich can be purchased at

lessons PianoIn21Days.com. What you are

growing Up. I reading is the eBook Version is the first

blame sheet 8 days of the course, where I will take

music you from absolute beginner to beingable to play 36 pop and rock songs injust 8 days.

I am Jacques Hopkins, your host onthis journey to piano competency. Letme start by telling you about some ofmy frustrations with playing the piano.

I took piano lessons growing up likemany kids do. I hated piano lessonsgrowing up like many kids do. One ofthe main reasons is because I'm just notVery good at reading sheet music.

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Introduction

Sheet music is great for some people.But banging out songs after hours andhours and days and days with sheetmusic is simply not enjoyable for me. Iknew there had to be a better way.

Another way some people learn is byear. They hear a tune and then can"pick it up". Not my style either. It just

Once ou9 doesn't work for me.

learn my

method. 90“ The method I lay out in the pages to

follow is the only way I play today and

will be the way I have been playing for the pastlearning 10 years.

307193 I” 5 This method has enabled me to play inlT'|if'|Ut6S. n0t several bands, rack up hundreds of

5 weeks, thousands of views on YouTube and

provide me with an overall pleasurableexperience every time I sit down at thepiano.

Once you learn my method, you will belearning songs in 5 minutes, not 5

weeks.

’ days -

Introduction

As the saying goes, I'm going to teach

you to fish rather than simply give you

a fish. What's different about my

course versus virtually any other piano

fi3h- learning method out there is my courseteaches you how to learn for yourself.I'm not going to simply teach youcertain songs, but am going to teachyou how to learn the techniques toenable you to learn just about any songin just a few minutes.

I am going toteach gou to

A quick note about practice before webegin with the first lesson. I've donethe very best I can to help you byputting this course together. Now it'sup to you to follow through. Each day,I provide you with a lesson and one ormore guided practice sessions. To getthe most out of this course, you shouldspend as much time as it takes on yourown master that day's lesson.

’ illiiidays -

Introduction

This practice can get boring at times,but I promise it will be worth it. Onceyou learn the fundamentals of mymethod, practice will be a delight.

In just 8 days, you will be playing abasic version of songs like "Don't StopBelievin" by Journey, "She Will BeLoved" by Maroon 5, or "Poker Face"by Lady Gaga.

After the full 21 day course, you willhave learned the more advancedtechniques to able to play the songs likeI do in my videos.

I wish you the best of luck in thisjourney. Enjoy.

’ illiiidays -

Dag 1: White Kegs

We are going to start right from the

beginning. If you're a beginner, you'rein the perfect place. If you have someexperience, you can continue throughthe pages to find the right place to pickup, or you may want to just stick herefor a review.

Here we go. This is what all the keys ona piano look like:

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

88 keys. 52 white keys. 36 black keys.You may have a keyboard that has lessthan 88 keys, that's okay. You probablyhave the important ones.

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Dag I: White Kegs

If you are new to piano, don't getoverwhelmed already. Today we aregoing to focus on just the white keys.

Music is broken into 7 letter notes. Youmay have heard of a song "being in thekey of C" or someone playing a "G" oran "A". Those are musical notes andthere are 7 and only 7 of them.

We are going to start with "C" since it isso easy to recognize on the piano. C isthe key just to the left of the 2 blackkeys that are together. See if you canfind all of them.

llIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Notice how 2 black keys are groupedtogether and 3 black keys are groupedtogether. Where you have the 2 blackkeys together, just to the left is the "C"key.

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Dag I: White Kegs

The same pattern of 12 keys (7 white, 5black) repeats itself over and over againon the piano. For now, pick a section ofthese 12 keys and stick with them forthe next several days (pick something

in the middle).So, again, we'll start with the "C" key.

Let's work our way from the there tothe right. The next white key is "D".Notice the "D" key is right between thegroup of 2 black keys.

Then we have the "E" key, to the right

of the 2 black keys.

Then the "F" key to the left of the groupof 3 black keys.

Then "G" is next. What's after "G"?The alphabet starts over after "G" inmusic.

The "A" key is after "G".Finally, the "B" key is just to the right ofthe group of 3 black keys. If we were to

go one more key to the right, we wouldbe back to another "C" key.

’ days -

Dag I: White Kegs

Now that we have gotten acquaintedwith the 7 white key notes, we canbegin playing them. We are going to goahead and jump into our first PracticeSession of today.

Play a white key and name that key.Practice Refer to the image on the left asSESSION 1 3 needed. Use any finger(s) you want atthis point.

Continue until you feel comfortable.

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Dag I: White Kegs

Practice Print out the next page and cut alongSession 2: the dotted lines to make flash cards.Put the flash cards in a stack andshuffle. Go through flash cards one at atime and play the note you see.

For example, if you see the "E" flashcard, look at your piano and play "E".Then, move on to another flash card.

Continue with exercise untilcomfortable.

You will needto print thenext page foruse inPracticeSession 2

’ days -

_':U'ag I: White Kegsjj

Dag I: White Kegs

That's it for today. Make sure you don't

move on to Day 2 until you arecomfortable with everything in Day 1.

Tomorrow in Day 2's lesson, we'll beginwith the black keys.

‘Life is like apiano. Whatyou get out of itdepends onhow gou plagit.‘

— Tom Lehrer

fl /IIIII

Dag 2: Black Kegs

Welcome to the 2nd day of the Piano in

21 Days course. Today we are going to

learn about the black keys on the piano.

Yesterday we learned the white keys

. and at this point I should be able to

Th? piano play any white key and you should be

am '5 got no able to name the letter note

Wr°”Q notes-' corresponding to that key. I should

_ Thelomous also be able to say a letter and have you

M Om K play the correct key. If you are havingtrouble with either, make sure youreview yesterday's lesson beforeproceeding with today's.

Hopefully you are ready, though. If so,let's press forward with the black keys.

’ days -

Dag 2: Black Kegs

You may have heard of "flats" and"sharps" in music. These are the blackkeys. A flat is the black key just to theleft of a white key. A sharp is the blackkey just to the right of a white key. Agood way to remember it is if you thinkabout the words "flat" and "left", theyboth contain the letters "f", "l", and "t",so they are very similar word. Flatthink left. Sharp think right.

Also note the symbols for flats andsharps. The symbol for flat is b . The

symbol for sharp is Ii.

From yesterday, you know where the"D" key is, for example. If you play theblack note just to the left of "D", that isthe "D b ". If I play the black note justto the right of D, we have the "Dii".

Now, here is where it can get tricky. Diihas another name. Do you know whatit is? That's right, E b . The black keybetween D and E is both Dii and E b .

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Dag 2: Black Kegs

For every 7 white keys, there are only 5black keys. Let's look at the 5 blackkeys as flats and then as sharps. Makesure to refer to the image to the left.

Sharps: Flats:0 C11 0 DbO Dii O EbO Fifi 0 Gb0 Gii 0 Ab0 AI: 0 Bb

’ days -

Dag 2: Black Kegs

That's really it for the main idea fortoday. We don't want to get too farahead of ourselves.

We're now going to do a couple ofpractice sessions involving the blackkeys.

Practice Play a black key and give both namesSession I I for that key. Refer to the image on theleft as needed. Use any finger(s) youwant at this point.

Continue until you feel comfortable.

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Dag 2: Black Kegs

Practice Print out the next 2 pages and cut alongSession 2: the dotted lines to make flash cards.Put the flash cards in a stack andshuffle. Go through flash cards one at atime and play the note you see.

You Wm need For example, if you see the "E b " flashto Print the card, look at your piano and play "E b ".next 2 pages Then, move on to another flash card.for use In Continue with exercise until

Practice comfortable.

Session 2

Practice Mix together flash cards from Day 1Session 3: and Day 2 and repeat Practice Session2.

’ days -

Dag 2: Black Kegs

-I I I I I I I I I I ‘ I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I - I I I I I I I I I I

iliill day.

Dag 2: Black Kegs

After Day 2, you should feel verycomfortable with every individual keyon the piano. Continue practicing onyour own with the flash cards asnecessary.

We'll begin playing sequences of notestomorrow.

‘If, while at the piano. gouattempt to form littlemelodies. that is verg well:but If theg come into gourmind of themselves. whengou are not practising. goumag be still more pleased:for the internal organ ofmusic is then roused in gou.The fingers must do whatthe head desires: not thecontrary.’

— Robert Schumann"

fl filiillli

Dag 3: Half & WholeSteps

Welcome to Day 3. If you came intothis as a complete beginner, you shouldbe feeling pretty good about yourself.you now know every key on the pianoin only 2 days.

Today, we are going to get into playingtwo consecutive notes.

If you play a note on the piano, thenplay the absolute very next note in

either direction, you have just gone a

half step.

For example, play a D and then a Difi.You have just gone up a half step.

Now play D and then D b . You havejust gone down a half step.

’ illiiidays -

Dag 3: Half 8. Whole Steps

Get it?

Try playing some of these half steps onyour own:

E to E b is a half step downG to Gifi is a half step upB to B b is a half step downF to Fifi is a half step upC to Cifi is a half step upA to A b is a half step down

Now, here are some tricky ones. Imentioned it's a half step if it's theabsolute next key. So, what is a halfstep up from E? That's right, F. And ahalf step down from F is E.

The same thing applies to B and C.

Now, what do you get when you put twohalf steps together? Right, a wholestep. 1/2 + 1/2 = 1 whole.

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A whole step up from C is D. A wholestep up from G is F. A whole step up

from D is Fifi. Let's try some:

Pracflce Play D and then a whole step up

Session I: from D (E)Play A and then a whole step down

from A (G)- Play Cifi and then a whole step upfrom Cifi (Difi)

Play F and then a whole step downfrom F (Difi)

Play E and then a whole step upfrom E (Fifi)

Great. Mastering half and whole stepsis really going to help us on our way tolearning chords (notes played at thesame time). Let's continue with

another practice session.

Practice Use all of your flash cards from Day 1Session 21 and Day 2. When you see a flash card,play that key, and then one half step upfrom that key.

For example, if you see the C flash card,play C and then Cifi.

iliillda-as Q


Practice Repeat Practice Session 2 but going aSession 3: half step down instead of up.

Repeat Practice Session 2 but go up aPractice Wh01e Step.

Session 4:

Repeat Practice Session 3 but go downPractice a Whole step.Session 5:

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Great work. Remember to practice asmuch as you feel necessary.

Remember, the journey of a thousand

The-ioun-'39 miles starts with just a single step. Itof 3 may seem like a while to day 8 or daythousand 21, but believe me you have taken manyfnfles starts steps and will be playing real songswith Just a before you know it.

single step Tomorrow we will get started withactual chords. I'm really lookingforward to it and hope you are too.

’ days -

Dag 4 - Major ChordsC, F, & G

Day 4 is upon us and this is where

things start to get very interesting!

A chord '3 Today we are going to begin playing

basicauki just multiple notes at the same time, known

8 set of notes as chords. It won't be long before we

plaged at the can put a few chords together and start

Same t[me_ playing songs. Let's jump right in.As I mentioned, a chord is basically justa set of notes played at the same time.Chords come in a variety of flavors, butthe two main ones (and you've probablyheard of these) are major and minorchords. We are going to spend twodays focusing on the 7 main majorchords. We will spend the day afterthat focusing on the 7 main minorchords.

’ days -

Dag 4 - Major Chords - C, F, 8. G

Just so you know, major chords are theones that have a nice bright and cheerysound to them. Minor chords are adarker, sadder sound. You will seewhat I mean in a bit.

For now, we are going to focus on themajor chords, and specifically rightMajor chords now, a C major chord. Now, all majorare bright chords have exactly the same struction.That's right, once you learn one majorand cheery. chord, you know them all. And youthought you had to spend years

Mincr chords learning piano!

have a darker Here is all you have to remember forand sadder major chords: 4-3. That's it. Here is

sound what I mean:

Right now we want to play a C majorchord. Put your right thumb on C.From there, we'll count up 4 half steps(the first number of 4-3) and end up onE. Now, do the same thing from E andgo 3 half steps. That puts you on a G.Put your thumb on C, your middlefinger on E and your pinky finger on G.

’ days -


Press all three keys at the same timeand we have a C major chord.

III!

C Major Chord

You see how we built the chord? Again,to build a C major chord, we started atthe C key, went up 4 half steps, andthen 3 half steps.

Practice Play the C major chord (C-E-G) severalSession I : times with your right hand until it feels

somewhat natural. Next, I want you toplay every C major chord you can findon your piano or keyboard. Play it overand over again until you feelcomfortable.

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Once finished with Practice Session 1,you should be an expert on C major!Let's try a couple more chords now.

F major is going to be next. We aregoing to build the F major chord thesame way we did for C. Start at the Fkey, go up 4 half steps, and then 3 halfsteps (remember 4-3).

You should have F-A-C. Use the samefinger structure as you did for the Cmajor chord (thumb on F, middlefinger on A, pinky on C).

III!

F Major Chord

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Practice Play all the F major chords on yourSession 2: piano or keyboard.

Practice Build a G major chord the same waySeeeicn 33 you built the C major chord and F

major chord. The answer to what a Gmajor chord looks like is on the nextpage. Really try to figure it out on yourown before turning the page.

Practice Play all the G major chords on yourSeeeicn 43 piano or keyboard.

Practice Grab only the "C", "F", & "G" flashSession 5: cards from Day 1. Go through themover and over again playing the majorchord as it come up.

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Dag 4 - Major Chords - C, F, 8. S

III I

G Major Chord

You have now learned 3 chords: C, F, &G major. Just so you know, it is no

coincidence we are starting with these 3as they are the only 3 major chordsusing only white keys. Let's try 1 morePractice Session.

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Practice

Session 6:

C majorC majorG majorC majorF majorC majorF majorC majorG majorG majorC majorC majorG majorC major

illill days

Play the following chords in order (playeach one 4 times before moving to thenext one):


Want to hear some great news? Youjust played a song! It's not Billy Joel,but it is a song. Ever heard of SilentNight? Go back and play PracticeSession 6 again and see if you can hearthe tune.

Great work today. We'll add somemore major chords tomorrow.

’ illiiidaus -

Dag 5 - Major ChordsD, E, A. 8. B

Welcome back. I'm glad you've stuckwith me to this point. Yesterday welearned the first chords and even abasic song. Today, we are going to addsome more chords.

Remember the key to major chords wetalked about yesterday? That's right, 4-3. Don't forget that, it's very important.

As a quick review, go ahead and play aC major chord, then an F major chord,then a G major chord.

Great. Today, we are going to add D, E,A, & B major chords.

’ days -

Dag 5 - Major Chords - D, E, A, 8. B

We'll start with D major for today.Life begins at Now, you may remember fromyesterday that we already hit the onlythe end of major chords that only have white keys.Hour c°mf°rt So, from here on out with majorzone. chords, there will be one or more blackkeys involved. Don’t get scared. Thinkof it as an adventure. Remember, lifebegins at the end of your comfort zone.

So, begin at the D key. Go up 4 halfsteps. You will find our black key - Fifi.Then go 3 half steps to A. We have D-

Fifi—A.

D Major Chord

’ illiiidays -


PracticeSession I:

PracticeSession 2:

PracticeSession 3:

PracticeSession 4:

Play all the D major chords on yourpiano or keyboard.

Build an E major chord.

Play all the E major chords on yourpiano or keyboard.

Build an A major chord.

Play all the A major chords on yourpiano or keyboard.

Build an B major chord.

Play all the B major chords on yourpiano or keyboard.

The answer to what an E, an A, and a Bmajor chord looks like is on the next

page.

iiiiiiii H


IIIIII III II!!!

E Major Chord

IIIIIIIII III II

A Major Chord

IIIIIIIIII II!!!

B Major Chord

fl iiiiiiiii Q


PracticeSession 5:

Grab all 7 flash cards from Day 1. Gothrough them as you did on Day 1,except now we are going to play majorchords rather than individual notes.

That's it for Day 5. Make sure you arevery comfortable with all 7 majorchords we have learned so far beforemoving on to Day 6.

iliill daU§

Bag 6 - Minor Chords

Welcome to Day 6. I want to remindyou that I can't stress practicing

once 90“ enough. You should be following thelearn the lessons and practice sessions, but alsomethod, gou not moving on to the next thing untilwill able to feeling comfortable to that point.

pick up Believe me, it's going to be worth it. Letsongs in 3 me let you in on a little secret. Thematter of practice you are doing right now is theminutes. most boring, tedious, and lame practice

you will ever do if you stick with mymethod. Once you learn the method,you will be able to pick up songs in amatter of minutes and practice will be ablast because you will actually beplaying the song.

’ days -

Dag 6 - Minor Chords

I hope that gives you a little motivation

‘An ounce of to keep going‘

practice is The past 2 days we focused on 7 majorchords. Today, we are going to focus on7 minor chords. If you remember fromDay 4, I mentioned that major chords

worth morethan a ton of

preaching.‘ are the ones that sounds happy and_ Mahatma cheery. Minor chords sound a little lessaham ai happy and a little darker. That's the

best way to tell them apart.

I have mentioned several times now thekey to forming a major chord is toremember 4-3. Well, every minorchord is just the opposite: 3-4.

Let's start with C. A C major chord isC-E-G. We built it by starting at C,going up 4 half steps to E, and then 3half steps to G.

Let's reverse the build to get a minorchord. Start at C, go up 3 half steps toE b , then go 4 half steps from there toG. So that's C-E b -G.

’ illiiidays -

Tag 6 - Minor Chords '_:'

4+3-73+4-7

flbdfieem:check mgmath]

You'll notice the top and bottom notesare the same between the major andminor chord. That's because 4 + 3 = 7and 3 + 4 = 7. The top and bottom notewill always be the same between themajor and minor chord. The onlydifference between a major and minorchord is you drop the middle note onehalf step.

Play C major and then C minor and seeif you can tell the difference in thesounds. Remember, major chordssound happier and cheerier than dominor chords.

III II

C Minor Chord

iiiiiiii Q


Practice Since you are now an expert at buildingSession I : chords, I am going to let you build thefollowing yourself:

D minorE minorF minorG minorA minorB minor

The answers are on the following pagesif you need help.

’ illiildaus -

Dag 6 - ooooooooo ds

IIIII I I IIIIII IIIIIIII III III

D MMMMMM hord G MMMMMM hord

IIIICDIIII III” IIIII III III! III


Practice Print out the 14 flash cards on theSession 2: following page. Shuffle the cards andgo through them, playing the chord asit appears. Continue until proficient.

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5 major? major? major 5 major 5 major;

......

Iiliill d39§


Awesome job today. Ready to add in

A river cuts the left hand? We'll get into thattomorrow.

through rock.

not becauseof its power.but becauseof itspersistence.

— Unknown

’ days -

Bag 7 - Left Hand

If you've made it this far, let's allbreathe a collective sigh of relief, astoday should be a relatively easy day.knew the 14 In just 6 days you now know every keymost popular on the piano, as well as the 14 mostchar-c,|a_ popular chords. It's high time we throwin the left hand.

Up to this point everything we havedone has been with the right hand andit's time to change that. Today will becompletely devoted to adding in the lefthand to what we have already done.

You now

’ days -

Dag 7 - Left Hand

Let's start with our trusty C majorchord in the right hand. The way toadd in the left hand for now is tostretch out your hand and play two Cnotes, one with your left pinky, and onewith your left thumb. These two Cnotes will be the next two C notes to theleft of the chord you are playing in yourright hand.

Left Hand Right Hand

’ illiildays -

Dag 7 - Left Hand

Practice When you play the 3 notes in the rightSession 21 hand, also play the 2 notes in the lefthand. And, it's the same in the left

hand whether it's a major or minorchord.

Repeat Practice Session 2 from Day 6,but add in the left hand.

After Practice Session 2, that is all fortoday. One week down. I've got aspecial reward for you tomorrow formaking it through the first week. Aftertomorrow, you will be able to play 36songs. And it's only going to take us 18

307193 I” .IU3t hours, so make sure you get your sleepa few tonight.

mInUte3- Only kidding! It's only going to take usa few minutes. And, it's not 36 songslike Silent Night. It's 36 pop and rockradio songs. That's the beauty of mymethod.

Tomorrowwe'll learn 36

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Bag 8 - Learn 36Songs in a FewMinutes

Welcome back to the course.Unfortunately you are reading the "8Days" version of the eBook and thatmeans this is our final lesson togetherfor now. Fortunately, today is a great

lesson.But when I I teased it a little bit yesterday by tellingfirst fell In you that you would be learning 36

love with the songs today. And you are. But there ispig.-,o_ | knew one small catch. All 36 songs use theIt was me | same chords in the same order.

was dging to Have you heard of the band Axis of.

play‘. Awesome? They have a YouTube videocalled "4 Chord Song" where they run

' Aticia K395 through 36 pop and rock songs allusing the same 4 chords. If you haven'tseen the video, go check it out andcome back:

http: / / www.voutube.com / watch?v= 5pidokakU4I

fl I

' D-'ag 8 - Learn 36 Songs in a Few Minu'Ees—-'

'If it isimportant togou. gou willfind a wag. Ifnot. gou willfind anexcuse.‘

— Unknown

Pretty cool, huh? So, the obviousquestion is, what are the 4 chords? Inthat video they played E major, Bmajor, Cifi minor, and A major.

Now, I know what you are thinking:Jacques, we haven't learned Cifi minor!

You would of course be correct. So, ifyou want to play these 36 songs, youhave two options. The first option is tolearn Cifi minor. I have given you thetools to do so, so it should not be toohard. Start at Cifi. Since it's minor, go3-4. Add in a couple of Cifi's to the lefthand, and bingo.

The 2nd option is to view another videofrom Axis of Awesome called "4 ChordsOfficial Music Video":

http: / / www.voutube.com / watch?

v=oOlDewpCfZg 3

In this video the 4 chords are D major,A major, B minor, and G major. I'mgoing to choose this option goingforward in this lesson.

I I. \I21dag§

' D-'ag 8 - Learn 36 Songs in a Few Minu'Ees—-'

Practice Play the chords D major, A major, BSession 2: minor, and G major in order over andover again.

I've put together a special video lessonfor you for today. You can view it here:

http: //pianoin21davs.com/ebook-

video I

I I. \I21dag§

Thanks for stickingaround for the Bdags.

I'll be in touch withmore great pianoawesomeness!

Cheers!-Jacques

fl /iiiiiii fl_

8 days ebook jacques hopkins 2

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