April 17, 2004
Music
When I was a kid, I used to be quite into music - I played, I sung, I could read music, the lot. I certainly wasn't any kind of prodigy, but I enjoyed it and didn't do too badly. After playing the recorder family to death, I wanted a more exciting challenge, and asked my teacher to let me learn the piano. I was told that, since I didn't have a piano at home, I wouldn't be allowed to, despite the fact that I was willing to stay late at school every day to practice there. I was offered the chance to learn violin instead, which I did in a desultory way for a couple of months before we moved house and I ended up at a less musical school.
So, I'm really excited about the fact that I'm now going to get the chance to learn that I was denied as a youngster. And I'm going to be taught by a former concert pianist, no less. And I'm going to be learning on a six foot Steinway. And I'm going to be playing Bach. I had my first lesson yesterday, and I can't wait to play some more. It's funny hearing the dusty attic doors of my memory creaking open, and seeing the dusty remnants of my music knowledge creeping back into my brain. It's even funnier staring at my fingers on the keyboard, trying to work out which one to move, and what key to play.
I'm so excited!
Posted by savs at April 17, 2004 9:59 PMSteinways are cool, although you're unlikely to appreciate quite why for some time yet ;) The great thing about pianos is that you don't have to tune them up particularly often because it's not a string instrument, so you can just sit down and play - my instrument of choice is the guitar (although I did go through the Suzuki method on Violin..) and you pretty much have to tune a guitar every time you pick it up if you don't want to sound like crap.
If you can at all, lay off the pedals as much as possible - play pianissimo and legato using hand technique rather than relying on the pedals whenever you can, as an exercise at least. Also, if your tutor asks you whether or not you want to do the exams, do them - < grade 5 is fairly dull, but worth it for the confidence. Grade 5+ means you start actually being able to play the thing to a standard that will impress people and will give you an assurance that your playing is reasonably well-rounded.
Oh, and definitely practice scales. I used to have a rule when practicing that I go through scale sets one and a time, and if I made an error I would play it again and again until I had played it flawlessly three times. If that means slowing down quite hard a few times to get the technique right, so be it, but that kind of regime will definitely enhance your playing ;)
Posted by: Alex Hudson at April 18, 2004 12:55 PM