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We Got a Birdcage
If you'll recall, during my first venture out to the Mennonite congregation in Apeldoorn, I had made the decision to take up the piano after watching the church pianist lovin' life and makin' music. So I began asking around about potentially acquiring a piano to practice on (I figured "what are the odds that all three pianos are frequently being used at the same time"). Apparently it's not that uncommon to have all three of them booked out over here. However one day when we were grabbing one of the pianos for a rental group I happened to notice a piano with the front ripped off of it. So I asked what the deal with that piano was, and after a bit of sleuth work, I discovered that it was an old piano that was in such terrible disrepair that they essentially just used it for parts whenever the other piano (of the exact same make and model) needs repairs. So being the tin eared musician that I am, always finding a certain charm in instruments that are just slightly off, I asked if I might be able to use this particular piano (because how often do pianos actually need repair?). I was told it should be OK as they don't often need repair, but not more than a week later we came across a piano left by a rental group missing the sustain pedal... Fortunately it wasn't the piano they use this one to repair, so I think my pedals are going to be safe (although it is just a pedal, and for all I know pedals might be a pretty universal piece of hardware).
But none-the-less, I got a piano... What some might call a birdcage due to it's disrepair, although I'm betting it's not beyond hope if they were willing to put the money into it. Very quickly I realized how difficult my newest instrument of choice was going to be when I attempted to play the song "Linus and Lucy" from Peanuts. I tried playing out the left hand and got it pretty decently. Then I made an attempt at the right hand and , while I couldn't chord at that speed yet, I was able to figure out which notes of the chords made the melody and managed to put those together pretty decently. The trouble came when I tried playing both parts at the same time. I naturally figured that this was normal and everything will just come with time and practise. However, according to Taliah (the resident pillar of piano knowledge), when one takes piano lessons you learn songs requiring independence in both hands right from the get-go. She apparently cannot even remember a time during her piano escapades when she couldn't play with both hands simultaneously. So that was kind of a discouraging realization, although hopefully not one I cannot overcome. Although the other problem I've come across is it takes me about half an hour to read one or two lines of music... So I've just taken to making stuff up and throwing things in here and there once I'm comfortable. So far, after two and a half weeks of tinkering around on this thing, I can play basic melodies/chords along with my left hand pounding out a baseline (as long as that baseline consists of the same two notes over and over again). My end goal is essentially to be able to sit at a piano and actually have the abilities to play whatever melody I might have in my head without compromising anything to my lack of skill. If I can get to that level, even if I still can't read music, I'll be happy (although, it would be nice to actually understand why the things that I play sound good to me as opposed to just randomly throwing chords together and hoping for the best).
[If you are at all curious how my self-taught piano is coming along, I have made a video of something I threw together last week after failing to get the sound I wanted out of the ukulele]
- comments
Scott You can TOO play with the hands independent! That's how I learned. Plus, a decade into my piano career, I was still playing with my hands independent: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=376WmI74mxc
Zach I know that one can, but at the moment I cannot. Taliah also said that's how she learned... But it's not so easy to self-teach yourself that kind of independence. Hopefully my piano experience from my early days will kick in and I'll suddenly know what I'm doing again, but until then I'm hoping that my own unique teaching methods will begin to work sooner than later.