Rediscovering the piano - 01/11/14 09:40 PM
Hello friends. I understand this is the "Adult" piano forum, I am 16 and I didn't know exactly where else to post this kind of thing.
We've had this fairly nice Yamaha piano in the house ever since we've been here, and A long time ago (when I was like 5-6) I had taken piano lessons, and I learned basic piano stuff, chords, music theory, etc. After a few years we didn't have the time or money (or drive) to continue doing them, so I quit.
Very recently however I have decided to become much more involved in the piano, it seemed redundant such a beautiful instrument was in the corner of the room but nobody ever played it. Over the last few months I've re-acquainted with it, and I'm able to advance much quickly. I know all the notes and stuff, and I'm fairly proficient with the treble clef in general, from having played the clarinet the last 8 years. So I opened up the old Adult Lesson Piano books, and started playing the really watered-down versions of The Entertainer, Canon in D, etc. A few weeks ago I went to the music store and a book called "Easiest Piano Classics", while ironically, most of them are not so easy for me, I also got anothher one with a bunch of more tunes in it.
I am planning on taking lessons again, probably starting this Fall or some time around then.
I can read music and point out every dynamics term, staccato, dimuendo, etc, which I've learned in my years on the clarinet. My downfall however is that I have trouble in pieces that are left-hand heavy. I've been playing Sonatina in C Major by Muzio Clementi, Moonlight Sonata (again, watered down), etc. Because most of the more advanced fingering is on the right hands of those pieces, at least for me.
Overall the treble cleff is pretty simple for me, even with the chords and whatnot. I also have a good sense of time, while the Fantaisie-Impromptu which I have recently heard for the first ime, sounds very incredible, and I have heard that it is seen to be difficult by many because of the triplets on the left hand and the sixteenth notes for the right - that sort of thing would come easy to me, but however, that song specifically has much, much more to it than just its rhythm.
I have trouble sort of moving my left hand about the keyboard, like in The Entertainer, with the left hand you play one note and then a chord, then back to the one note that keeps getting lower (this is hard to explain, I don't know the nomenclature of musical styles and whatnot), aut I can't keep at a steady pace. Due to my infamiliarity with the bass clef in general I take more time to read it, but I am becoming much able to do it from muscle memory. But chords dancing all over the left hand is alien to me. Unfortunately these are some of the most important concepts and It's barring me from advancing to the next level.
For now, I want to take the rest of this year to maybe get a few "easier" pieces under my fingers so I can take lessons in the fall and be able to tell my teacher what I don't understand, what I need to work on, etc.
I figured coming here would be a good place for some help. My main concern is what do you guys think I should do to help familiarize myself with these bass-clef concepts and maybe some practices I can do every day to try to make it muscle memory to me. I don't have much to do at home and always wondered why I wasn't playing the piano. I have hours every day where I sit and repeat playing that Sonatina because playing the piano is so fun. My dog also loves listening to the piano, he is terrified of the clarinet.
I'm also not really interested in learning the piano for anything in particular. Music is not my intended career, but I think being able to play such a versatile instrument that I perosnally think can function as its own "band" is cool. A clarinet can't really be played by itself, clarinet solos, or almost any wind instrument requests a piano accompaniment. Pianos on the other hand, can be played by theirselves and still tell the full story of a musical piece.
We've had this fairly nice Yamaha piano in the house ever since we've been here, and A long time ago (when I was like 5-6) I had taken piano lessons, and I learned basic piano stuff, chords, music theory, etc. After a few years we didn't have the time or money (or drive) to continue doing them, so I quit.
Very recently however I have decided to become much more involved in the piano, it seemed redundant such a beautiful instrument was in the corner of the room but nobody ever played it. Over the last few months I've re-acquainted with it, and I'm able to advance much quickly. I know all the notes and stuff, and I'm fairly proficient with the treble clef in general, from having played the clarinet the last 8 years. So I opened up the old Adult Lesson Piano books, and started playing the really watered-down versions of The Entertainer, Canon in D, etc. A few weeks ago I went to the music store and a book called "Easiest Piano Classics", while ironically, most of them are not so easy for me, I also got anothher one with a bunch of more tunes in it.
I am planning on taking lessons again, probably starting this Fall or some time around then.
I can read music and point out every dynamics term, staccato, dimuendo, etc, which I've learned in my years on the clarinet. My downfall however is that I have trouble in pieces that are left-hand heavy. I've been playing Sonatina in C Major by Muzio Clementi, Moonlight Sonata (again, watered down), etc. Because most of the more advanced fingering is on the right hands of those pieces, at least for me.
Overall the treble cleff is pretty simple for me, even with the chords and whatnot. I also have a good sense of time, while the Fantaisie-Impromptu which I have recently heard for the first ime, sounds very incredible, and I have heard that it is seen to be difficult by many because of the triplets on the left hand and the sixteenth notes for the right - that sort of thing would come easy to me, but however, that song specifically has much, much more to it than just its rhythm.
I have trouble sort of moving my left hand about the keyboard, like in The Entertainer, with the left hand you play one note and then a chord, then back to the one note that keeps getting lower (this is hard to explain, I don't know the nomenclature of musical styles and whatnot), aut I can't keep at a steady pace. Due to my infamiliarity with the bass clef in general I take more time to read it, but I am becoming much able to do it from muscle memory. But chords dancing all over the left hand is alien to me. Unfortunately these are some of the most important concepts and It's barring me from advancing to the next level.
For now, I want to take the rest of this year to maybe get a few "easier" pieces under my fingers so I can take lessons in the fall and be able to tell my teacher what I don't understand, what I need to work on, etc.
I figured coming here would be a good place for some help. My main concern is what do you guys think I should do to help familiarize myself with these bass-clef concepts and maybe some practices I can do every day to try to make it muscle memory to me. I don't have much to do at home and always wondered why I wasn't playing the piano. I have hours every day where I sit and repeat playing that Sonatina because playing the piano is so fun. My dog also loves listening to the piano, he is terrified of the clarinet.
I'm also not really interested in learning the piano for anything in particular. Music is not my intended career, but I think being able to play such a versatile instrument that I perosnally think can function as its own "band" is cool. A clarinet can't really be played by itself, clarinet solos, or almost any wind instrument requests a piano accompaniment. Pianos on the other hand, can be played by theirselves and still tell the full story of a musical piece.
