Piano

[wildeabandon]

I’ve been learning the piano again, and it’s giving me a great deal of pleasure. I learned for a few years as a child, but gave up when it started getting difficult, and in the last five years or so I’ve periodically gone “I should learn to play again”, made enthusiastic attempts for a couple of weeks, and then gotten bored. About a year ago, when we were preparing for a couple of singthroughs at Ardgour-en-France, I volunteered to do the easy piano version accompaniment for a couple of the songs. It took a ridiculous amount of time to get these really quite simple pieces to a non-terrible standard, but it got me back into the habit of playing regularly again, and I’ve carried on ever since.

When I moved out to Northampton I had quite a lot of time to myself, so after a little while decided to treat myself to a cheap spare piano out here, and since then I’ve been playing a lot more, and recently started taking lessons again. I’m not someone who’s naturally musically talented, but it turns out that actually practicing a reasonable amount means you get better at a reasonable rate. Who knew? I’m preparing for my grade 5 now, and having a lot of fun with the pieces (not so much fun with the scales, of which there are many, but I do seem to find it easier to be disciplined about them than I did as a youngster).

Comments

[sfred]

Hurray :-)

I too had lessons as a child and stopped when it got difficult. I wonder whether I will ever try again. I'm glad it's giving you pleasure.

[wildeabandon]

Thank you :) When I move back to London I'll be looking for someone to look after the spare piano as a long-term loan, if you think you might be interested in picking it up again.

[sfred]

Thank you - I will bear that in mind!

[nou]

Yay for pianoing! If sfred decides against taking yours when the time comes, I can give it a home assuming I haven't already got my own by then. (I intend to get one eventually, and have decided where in the house it will go, but if I'm spending money on it then I want to get a semi-decent one, which means saving up, and there are other things ahead of it in the saving-up queue.)

[emperor]

Cool :)