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I’m reconditioning a Betsy Ross Spinet that is already in pretty good interior shape for my daughter. It was a free piano but we went on a piano hunt when her keyboard broke and this practically fell out of the sky for us. It isn’t our final destination piano but I don’t want to feel rushed to buy a piano. I want to make an educated purchase and get a better sense of how it will go with the little one. I’m thinking used Yamaha studio or institutional. Unless the right baby grand presented its self. I like the history of the turn of the century pianos and day dream of owning a reconditioned grand.

She is 5 and bi lingual Russian/English. She likes the piano but we do have the practice fights. I grew up with a grandfather that was an excellent player but didn’t have the interest to learn until the opportunity was gone… with his pianos in the estate sale. I later regretted that.

I’ve been piggybacking on my daughters lessons and letting her teach me how to do it. I used to teach ballroom and there is nothing that helps solidify learning like having to teach it to someone else.
My focus right now is getting her going and taking my first exam for business statistician’s problem solving (6 sigma/quality process analyst). Hopefully that will precede a move up the food chain and serious piano shopping can commence. Test is June 1.
Then I’d like to look at self study materials and the occasional lesson myself.

Hi! I guess since I have been posting here for a week or so, it's time to formally introduce myself. I am married, 54 years old with two grown kids and 3 grandkids. I live on and run a small farm (more of a homestead) where we raise a lot of our food (sheep, chickens, veggies, beef, etc). I have wanted to play the piano for years. Every time I here someone playing, I think how much I'd love to be able to do that. So finally I am!

Last month I bought a Yamaha CLP 440 and I have taken 3 lessons so far. My teacher says I am catching on very fast. I am interested in playing Classical and Boogie Woogie. I know....sort of like opposite ends of the spectrum. I can play a simplified version of 12th Street Rag at a decent tempo and can play the beginning section of Fur Elise along with quite a few other beginning type songs. I am enjoying it very much!

I am very happy I discovered this forum. I am really quite amazed at how thorough many of the answers are! Many of you are excellent teachers and very generous with your time, judging by the detailed answers I have seen here. I am looking to learning all I can from this group.

Cindy

I'll probably be shot down for what I write here:
I don't bother much about sight reading because, I know the method of constructing major and minor scales,and thus key signatures. I do not bother much about time as I play for my own pleasure.
BUT I do carefully go through each piece and work out and write in the best fingering before even trying to learn it.
I do make certain that I have heard the piece a few times and like it so much that I will enjoy learning it. It may take me an age to learn the piece but it is great when I can playthe whole thind at any reasoable speed and THINK about how I will vary tone and anything elce, sometimes with my eyes shut just for fun.

No one will shoot you down on this forum Goof, we are all very different in our approach to our learning.

Welcome aboard DashanDad and carolinagirl, look forward to hearing how your journey's progress.

Welcome to PW, DashanDad and carolinagirl!

Hi guys, after reading a slew of threads on this forum over the past few days I decided to join in on the fun and hopefully contribute to the valuable resource that is Pianoworld.

I'm 25 and reside in Sydney Australia. I've decided to start playing the piano within the last few months where I've been making slow but steady progress through self teaching. It has been a very rewarding experience so far.

Very happy to be on board and looking forward to learning and sharing with you all.

Hi everyone! I´m 20 years old guy from Finland. I started to play the piano about 4 months ago (end of January) and i´m playing like 70% by myself and 30% with my mom, who was a pretty good pianist when she was young. At the moment i´m playing with cheap digital piano(Hemingway DP201), which does its job, but of course i`m dreaming of an acoustic piano. So far I haven´t studied any music theory apart from notes, I just like to play more than study. I started my piano "career" by picking one nice piece and just playing that with my moms help. It took me quite a while to learn that piece, but in the end i managed to play it pretty nicely. I feel that it was really useful to learn that piece because I learned a lot just by trying play it over and over again. I also learned some notes and I could learn my next pieces much faster than that first one. So far I have learned almost 3 pieces. I know that its not very fast learning process (like 1.5 months/piece), but I´m playing only 30-60 minutes per day, because I have a lot of other studying to do. And those pieces are pretty hard, at least for me, so let these be my excuses. So far I have enjoyed piano so much and I feel like my passions is growing every day and its very hard to think something else than piano.

I´m very happy that I found this forum because there are not that many places in the internet where you can talk with other people who are also beginners with piano.

Welcome Dumik, you will find it very common to take quite a time to learn new pieces. This has been a great revelation to myself initially thinking just pure enthusiasm would get me through.

As you said you are learning something important from each new piece you choose. After playing for only six months myself I love how almost every day I can learn something new. I wonder though if these might by the halcyon days when advancement seems fast.

Must be fantastic to be able to play piano with your mother (or any family member). I trade daily emails with my brother who is also learning but on the other side of the world.

I have already introduced myself on this thread a while back, but I received this youtube clip today a friend had put together, and I thought I would share it with my new piano friends.

In 2012 we trained and competed in Australia's toughest ultra marathon, 175km of torture.
The race finish is a little signpost which you kiss (not compulsory). I am the one photographed almost falling over as I kneel to kiss the post.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=onWcOqrmcTQ

That was some serious racing you used to do!!!!! Support hose for the runners?? Piano is much easier!!!!!

I realized last night that my "support hose" comment came off the wrong way. I was simply surprised that ultra running would cause leg fatigue so bad that runners would try to compensate. Makes sense actually. I was a sprinter when I ran in HS an college. I'm in awe of anyone who can run distances.

Dynamobt, I sort of guessed the compression calf guards may have looked a bit odd to an outsider. However compression garments have become very popular with some believing wearing them helps in recovery. For most though they act as protection against cuts when running through high grass or bushy areas.
As a sprinter in your school days I am sure you had to work pretty darn hard, distance runners are just lazy people who prefer to slow everything down and do it over a longer timeframe.

Heck, the clothes are nothing - you should see the food some people chow down during the longer ultras. (I paced a friend twice at the Leadville 100, and swear someone guzzled a whole can of cheese whiz at one of the rest stops the second year...)

I could never keep anything down during marathons, so watching my friend eat a pack of tortillas with various toppings and then start off again impressed me too.

Alas I am no longer running but still chowing down the worst food.........somethings going to have to give

Hello everyone, my name is Jonah, but people can call me by my real name or user name, either or is fine.

I am new to piano, or sort of new to music in general. I've played classical guitar for over a year now but when I really paid attention to piano, its very much like classical guitar but so much more versatile. So I really want to learn how to play!!

I've never thought of joining a forum full of musicians so I was quite excited to see one as big as this forum. I hope to learn lots and look forward to meeting whoever comes my way. ^^

Hi Satoshi,

Welcome to this forum!

Hi Jonah and welcome to PW!
What kind of music/style do you prefer?

Welcome Jonah, I don't think I have ever been called a musician but I think I'll take the compliment. A fellow countryman of yours and I think he is in BC too has a great online selection of piano tutorials worth checking out.

http://www.howtoplaypiano.ca/

Age 56, started piano in November. I find it very hard and begin each practice by suspending disbelief and opening the book.

Married with 2 kids, tired all the time.

I've been a software developer since 1984. At times I think this hinders learning music. I was a 3rd generation journeyman carpenter when I was young but did not like it.

I have 3 dogs who keep me busy!

I've been a pilot since 1979 and instrument rated since 2000. Laugh all you want but I see MANY similarities between piano lessons and flight training. One on one instruction is way different from classroom training, at least in my book.

If you listen to Pandora and use the 'Why Was This Track Selected' feature, then I would tell you that I appear to really like prominent rhythm piano, acoustic sonority, and a couple of other things I don't understand yet!