Monday, March 12, 2007

Piano/Keyboard

In my youth I learned to play the piano to grade three standard, quitting while studying for grade four. I've owned a keyboard for 12 years that has sat in my cupboard for long stretches of time. Whenever I get it out, I get too easily discouraged because all the music notation I have uses chords and relatively complicated arrangements for a rusty ex-pianist like myself, but yesterday when we visited Toni's cousin Heidi in Chelmsford we discovered they're learning the piano too. I was invited to sit down and try some of the simple pieces Heidi was practicising and found out I could still read and play simple music two-handed, simple being single notes and no chords on each hand.

Now, for the umpteenth time since giving up, I'm going to try and start again, but this time I'll do it properly, and walk before I attempt to run. My keyboard is a full-sized, five-octave model, so should be more than capable for the task. I'm going way back to basics and will start at the level Heidi is at, and rebuild my piano-playing skills from there. It's at times like this I'm grateful for our local library, which appears to be well-stocked with piano tutor books. I think I might look forward to this - if I can persuade Toni to let me keep the keyboard downstairs next to the stereo (it doesn't have any speakers of its own, so I need to run it through the stereo or find a set of speakers to run it through).

3 comments:

Steve said...

I've got a dusty electric guitar sitting across my study from me. If you're learn piano again, I might as well start guitar again!

Nick said...

I can see our name in lights now: The Jalim-Peers Beat Combo...

I've always struggled with guitar - can pluck fine, but can't get my fingers into position for the chords. What's the third chord you learn? That's where I come unstuck...

Steve said...

Well, I never learned to read music, so we're on to a winner here... :o)