Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner New Visitors and Lurkers Please Read...

I'd like to invite any new members or lurkers out there to introduce yourselves and join in the discussions.

So if you've been looking for a reason and a way to get your feet wet, here's your chance. Reply here and introduce yourself, then pick a topic and jump right in!

Hi. I'm a new member

I just joined after ordering a Yamaha DGX 630, it's not a real piano I know, but I cant afford, nor have space for one yet

It will be far better then my current PSR-530 which doesnt even have enough keys for the pieces I am learning.

I started playing the keyboard when I was 5, and was really good at it and have been playing almost daily since then, but never got lessons beyond what I learnt in music and afterschool classes because my parents were cheapskates that wouldnt pay for lessons.

But I managed to make my own way to Grade 5 playing ability at 16, Grade 7 by 19, and then got stuck while studying a minor in music for my degree as I didnt really know what I was doing and couldnt get any better due to having a terrible technique. I gave up for almost 2 years when I was 22, and just started playing again last month and have somehow started to make really good progress with grade 8+ pieces, and am practicing a lot better now with scales and excersizes, and seem to understand my instrument a lot better then I did when I was in my teens, hence why I needed to buy a Portable Grand.

Soon I will be self taught to Grade 8+ standard, by the end of 2009 I should be a pro

I hardly know anything about music theory, or classical music, and am mostly going to be learning rag time piano, but I will also learn a few classical pieces too.

Welcome to the Forum, Bhav!

Sometimes taking a break like that is a good thing, and that's how it sounds like it was for you. There are times in our lives when we're just not ready for what we need to do, and then we catch up

I've been lurking quite a bit on this forum, posted a bit on a couple other boards here but not much of a contributor.

I am a busy stay-at-home-mom of two kids (2 and 4) and have recently begun playing piano after a long hiatus. I got tired of not being able to play anything anymore. I've been practicing an average of an hour a day in the month of November. I would like to practice more, but... well... two little kids.

I began piano lessons in the first grade, moved to another country after that and started with a new teacher in second grade and stayed with her until I moved back to Germany in the sixth grade. We had trouble finding consistent teachers there, but somehow I got through it... sort of. I passed off Alfred's level 3 in 8th grade and we moved back to the States where I began lessons again. This is where I really began to learn. The teacher tested me and had me skip level 4 and went right into level 5. I continued to advance in piano and participated in competitions, doing quite well once or twice. Eventually, I was awarded a teeny-tiny piano scholarship to a state university (I think it was a combination of pity and trying to build their music program!) where I immediately slacked off and dropped out of the program. I regret my apathy and laziness so much now 10+ years later. I took lessons for a couple more years and eventually stopped playing almost entirely.

I got married and didn't have a piano for a long time. Finally, soon before the birth of my first child, we got a really old upright that was in storage from the state. It is in surprisingly good condition and is almost in tune. I'm afraid of having it tuned because I'm afraid the strings will break. My neighbor and friend tunes pianos and told me that is very common with pianos as old as mine. I didn't play it much, just once in a while, because I was so busy raising my kids and I didn't make piano a priority.

About a month ago, I found a renewed conviction and began playing again. I sit down and play a few times during the day when I have a moment. The problem is the 2 year old likes to climb on me and sit on my shoulders when I'm playing. My sessions are usually pretty short during the day. I play a lot at night after they go to bed. The little one has only woken up once while I was playing. As long as I don't get too loud, it's usually fine.

I would like to buy a new piano, but there is no way we can afford it right now. Perhaps in a year or so we can get a nice upright. I want a nice piano for my kids to learn on. My goals right now are to perfect and memorize songs I once had perfected. Also, to set a good example of practicing so my kids can see that it is important. Right now I'm working on Chopin nocturne 55.1, Clair de Lune, Bach prealudium 21, Granados' May Song (this one is almost there), Beethoven Sonata no. 8, and a few others. Once I have these songs perfected and (re)memorized, I'm not sure what I'm going to start with. I'm also going back to the books I was studying out of before I stopped lessons, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea.

I'll probably lurk a lot, because I am in that awkward group of non-beginner but not really advanced, either. I'm trying to improve my skills to become the type of pianist I want to be-- better sight reader, faster at learning songs, can improvise, etc.

Carolyn

Hello,
I'm Ira and I've been playing since I was 4(I'm 23 now) though without taking any real lessons for 6 years. I re-started regularly last year with my old teacher which is so amazing and helpful and I'm hoping to get my degree in 2 years. I've lost a lot of technique and strength during my "break" but I think my playing is much more mature now.
However I have to work really really hard to reach my goals..
I will try to contribute in this wonderful community although I don't believe I can be much help!
Anyway, it's nice to be here.
Take care

Hello to all. I guess my story isn't too unusual. I started playing when I was in elementary school and took lessons on and off through early high school. After college I purchased a Yamaha digital piano to carry me through until I could purchase my own acoustic piano, but that never happened before life got in the way (work, marriage, kids, work). After a more than 20 year break, I finally got the urge to play again. I convinced the wife to let me purchase a new piano (Pramberger PS 175), then began repurchasing the study books (Hanon, Beringer, Czerny) and music pieces (Sonatina Album, etc.) I had as a kid.

My situation is very similar to Carolyn's. I'm not a beginner, but I'm nowhere near where I used to be technically. Rusty intermediate might be a better description. I only get to play three or four times a week, maybe 20 to 30 minutes while the kids are getting ready for bed.

It's been a bit frustrating, though, because I haven't been able to work out a practice routine. I'm not sure how I'm going to improve over time if I don't follow a consistent routine. One thing that has helped me, however, is the availability of books of classical pieces with an accompanying CD of the music. Taking lessons as a kid more than 35 years ago, I never really knew how these pieces were supposed to sound.

This forum is a wonderful community and I'm glad to be part of it.

Jim

Hello,

I'm another new member:) I'm 27 and working on my biomedical research PhD in a hemophilia gene therapy lab. I'd been away from lessons for the past 3 years, but after passing qualifying exams last spring, I decided to start piano lessons again. This career is one that can easily swallow up your life, and I decided that, in addition to helping me refine things, the potential embarrassment and financial loss of coming to a weekly lesson without having practiced was exactly the sort of support I needed to keep piano an active part of my life.

I started piano when I was 9 and studied with the same teacher until I went off to university at age 19. I went a year without lessons, then had lessons from piano grad students for two years before I decided to take the plunge and add piano as a second major in addition to molecular biology.

I've done about three years of teaching piano lessons here and there, and I think it's great fun, but I'm not doing any of it right now. I've also taken lots of theory courses and some basic composition classes, and I'm very very slowly working on making a few piano transcriptions.

I'm constantly thinking about pieces that I'd like to play next (as I'm sure most of us are). My favorites are Liszt, Beethoven, Chopin, Bach and Alkan, but I love many composers. I have an attraction to Romantic & late Romantic era pieces, especially those of extended length in a cyclical or variation form (eg. Paganini Variations, Totentanz, Symphonic Etudes, Liszt Sonata, Grieg Ballade, etc) as well as colorful transcriptions.

As I was walking home from work a while ago, I was thinking about all the pieces that I really want to play in my life, and I realized that the current total length is about 43 hours worth of music. I think I can work up and record only about 1 hour of music per year, so this is going to be a lifelong project. I hope to contribute to the member recordings forum soon:)

Thank you for the welcome!
Mark

Hi, I'm also a new member. I've been aware of this board for a while, and recognize a few familiar usernames from another forum.

I probably started when I was about 7 or 8, and had my first proper teacher from 11 to 16. After I left school, I stopped playing piano for close on ten years (which I now regret considerably). Since then I'm mostly self-taught, but I realised that I was limiting myself through that approach and have been a fairly regular attendee at a summer school course/masterclass program, which has done me a lot of good.

I'm interested in the hidden riches of the romantic repertoire, composers such as Thalberg, Alkan, Liapunov and others, and I'm particularly interested in piano transcriptions.

I'm a lurker too. Story is pretty similar. I took lessons for years and majored in piano for one year of college before I saw the light and realized I was a competent technician and not a real artist. Got married, lived in tiny houses for many years and played a hammered dulcimer instead. Finally got my grand piano moved into my house about 10 years ago. I go through spasms of playing, and this summer was one of those - I had a serious illness and realized I'm not getting any younger - if I'm going to get good again, it had better be now! For the first time, I've learned some new stuff (Brahms Intermezzi) rather than rehashing what I knew from before. I'm taking lessons again, but not on the classical stuff, but geared towards accompanying other folks who want to play & sing popular music. More about ear-training, finding chords to play, voicing, style......I've also purchased a used but good-feeling digital piano, so I can practice with headphones. I'm hoping that will help me find more time to play - one of my excuses is not wanting to bother anybody.

I have long-term goals of a couple of the big piano concertos (Beethoven #4, Schumann A min) but find them challenging not only technically but the lack of an orchestra or at least a second piano.

Great to see so many lurkers joining!!
Welcome to all (ronde, nice to see you here as well). I enjoyed reading your stories, favorite repertoire, and plans for the future. Have a good time here!

Hi! I recently found this forum when I went looking for some information on the fingering for Beethoven's Minuet in G (which I didn't find, but eventually figured out).

I had 10 years of (Suzuki) lessons growing up, then stopped lessons in highschool (what was I thinking...). In college I taught myself to play what I call 'church' piano, by which I mean accompaniment piano improvised from the guitar chords. I also snuck into the music school's piano practice rooms, since I had no piano of my own. When I graduated from college, I bought a Kawaii MP9000 electric piano, which was the very best piano weight/sound keyboard I could find. I've played sporadically since then, learning miscellaneous movie theme music and pop songs, and the odd classical piece.

Last month I decided to officially start practicing regularly again. From a very old book called 'Playing the Piano for Pleasure' I pulled some repertoire ideas, and started with Beethoven's Minuet in G as a way to ease myself back into learning a song from scratch and practicing. It went well, although the fingering was unexpectedly tricky. I've started on Chopin's Prelude in A (all 3 lines), and today pulled out all of my old music books to chose some of the more difficult things I could play once-upon-a-time to relearn.

I was very excited to see your ecitals, I hadn't thought to record the music I've learned for many years, and I look forward to building my own music collection. I plan to buy a piano in a few months, as a reward for all the practicing I will be doing from now on! My husband would like me to buy the piano now, but I think he will regret that...he has never lived with a musician, and doesn't know that listening to someone practicing means sometimes listening to the same 4 measures 50 times...and then the whole piece 50,000 times!

--Sarah

Heya everyone, somewhat of a lurker here because I have posted a few times before looking for help. This place is a great resource for help and opinions from many musicians:D!

I am 21 years old and a late starter. I have only been playing for 3 1/2 years. I'm studying music in college with a minor in business. I would love to eventually become a music theory teacher and give piano lessons.

My favorite composers are Chopin, Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms and Bartok. I'm currently finishing up the Beethoven sonata op. 2 no. 1 in F minor and loving the last movement:). Along with this I am also working on Bach, Brahms and Bartok.

One of my main goals in piano performance is to be able to play the Chopin Ballade No. 3(my fav:D).

Thanks for this thread Kreisler!

And I thought I were the only person that played the Piano on top of studying Science o.O. I studied (and passed) a combined honours in Human Biology with Music, but didnt get a high enough grade to go onto further education in Biology .

I worked in a supermarket for over a year after graduating, but developed an ear disorder in both ears which has destroyed my hearing and balance, and doctors have recently told me I dont have to work for 12 months untill another health assessment and will get incapacity benefit all that time, so I have all the time in the world to try and pursue my dream of having a career in music, however long it may take me.

My ears dont work too well and I want to be a pianist or composer / songwriter lol.

I don't study science, but... I personally know two very good pianists who are physicians, whom I presume studied science as an undergrad. One of them was a professional pianist for some time, I believe. I am accompanying both of them in a musical number and I am by far the weakest pianist of the three of us But that's okay-- one of the physicians is not much of a singer so I think we'll be just fine.

As a side note, all of a sudden people actually know I play piano and have been asking me to play for them on occasion. Just accompnyment hymnstyle, which has always been my weakness. Since I've been practicing, I feel so much more confident about how I play. But I'm so clumsy still! I'll just keep plugging along I guess. Maybe one day I'll be really good. I can only hope!

Personally, I hate accompanying (mostly because I'm very particular in what I want to play), but I had a take an accompanying/sightreading class in undergrad in addition to accompanying at least one person every semester. My teacher in that class really helped me along. The best exercise she gave us was the following:

She'd give us something to sightread, give us a moment to look through it, and then we had to pick any tempo and stick to it exactly. If we messed up, we had to keep in mind where the flow of the music should have gone and come back in there, and we were not allowed to look at our hands at all. If she saw us look, she'd get out a 3-ring binder and hold it at our chest level below our faces so we couldn't see the keyboard.

It seems severe, but it really helps you develop your abilities because you never have to look away from the music if your hands can do it without the help of your eyes. Realistically speaking, even when sight-reading you're probably going to look away for big leaps, but when you're working on developing your sense of the keyboard, it's impressive how close you can come to the right note even in very big leaps without looking at all. I bet Carolyn, that if you practiced this for just 15 minutes a day, you'd get vastly better at playing hynm-style accompaniment:)

Actually, I've met a few other scientist/musicians in my days. At my school we just had a med art show, where all doctors, researchers, med student and grad students were invited to submit visual or performance art. There was quite a turnout (mostly paintings), but there were two pianists besides myself, and last year there was also a string quartet!

That's tough luck about your ear disorder! Sorry to hear it. But there's always Beethoven to keep in mind as an idol. Where there's a will there's a way. Good luck!

Hi Everyone!

I'm from New York and I just turned 29. I started playing the piano when I was 6 and stopped when I was 12. I stopped because my family needed to move. Since then, I was basically playing without any lessons, which was unfortunate. So you could say, I haven't had a lesson in 16 years!

I was originally from the Philippines and moved to New York in 2004. I'm looking to buy a digital piano in the next few weeks (Yamaha YDP-160) and get back into the grove!

I am interested in meeting people in New York, preferably around Long Island who I can share time with in learning and improving my skills on the Piano.

This website is absolutely a great thing for us pianist to share our passion, ideas and experience!

Hi there everyone.

I'm Daniel, 18 years old and I live in the Netherlands in a village near Amsterdam.

I started playing the piano when I was about 8 years old, taking lessons once a week until I was 14. Like a lot of children of that age, I didn't feel like practicing a lot and I wasn't really into playing the piano so I quit taking lessons and barely played anymore.

When I was 17 I regained interest in the piano and tried to learn myself some songs and chunks out of classical pieces that weren't too hard. 3 months ago I called my old teacher and made an appointment, which led to me having regular lessons once again .

I'm now playing some Scarlatti sonata's (K466 & K467) and I'm working on a Mazurka by Chopin (op 7 no 1).

I've really enjoyed reading the threads on this forum and I thought that I should introduce myself. I love playing the piano, I think and hope that I will progress fast and that I will be of some use for this forum.

Daniel

Seth Darst, professor of bio-physics at Rockefeller University just performed with the I Medici Orchestra in Montreal, played the Mozart Concerto d minor no.20 at McGill University. He was wonderful!! He was not a music major but got to study with good teachers. http://www.imedici.mcgill.ca He is also on youtubecom competing 2 years ago in Amateur Competitions.

Hi!

I'm 13 years old and have been playing piano for 7 1/2 years. I love it more than life itself, and not that many people know it because I'm kind of quite, and one of those girls who you would kind of assume doesn't do anything worth while. It was kind of interesting when I signed up for the keyboarding class last year and they gave us beginner's keyboarding books. I was pretty much terrified of everyone because I was alone in the class and didn't want to speak up. Finally, when we were being tested on Hanon 1 (something I already knew but didn't tell anybody) everybody was expecting this one kid to be the fastest. Then I played it up and down the piano in 14 seconds (compared to his 22 seconds) and everybody was pretty shocked. I had to bit my tongue to keep from laughing.

So, that was a stupid and long rant. Glad to be here, though!