I, too, love listening to music and for most of my life wanted to be able to create it. In my late twenties, I had the opportunity to take piano lessons from one of my grandmother's friends. I stuck with it for a few years, practicing at home on an electric keyboard, and discovered that my brain isn't wired for moving both hands different ways at the same time. I can swiftly switch from one hand to the other, but not many songs are written that way.
I had a babysitter with a piano, and I fell madly in love with it, to the point where I started begging my mother for piano lessons. How she found a piano that we could afford, I don’t know, but she made it happen. In my last two years of high school I went from singing in the choir to accompanying the choir on piano. I wasn’t the best player, but was apparently the best available and interested at the time. In college, there was no time for music, and then careers got in the way.
Fast forward to 2006 when Dan(my Dan) bought a guitar and I bought a mandolin. Very different from piano! But my understanding of the relationships between notes on the fretboard was helped by my keyboard knowledge. Seventeen years later, I’m playing mandolin, mountain dulcimer, ukulele, and acoustic bass guitar. And our last album has me playing piano on one of my songs! I have played piano in public exactly twice since high school (I wrote a song for our 25th wedding anniversary and played it on piano at two open mics), and our keyboard is electronic now, but I still have a soft spot in my heart for it.
Nothing says you or Uma ever need to learn to play. Listeners are valuable, too! But there are other cool instruments out there besides guitar, and there’s always singing, should either of you ever decide to consider it again.
Oh, and the blisters harden to calluses with regular play. :)
I love this! But I'm curious, why did you fall in love with it? As a musician, what was it about the piano that just moved you to the next step and to all the work that came with learning it?
Part of it may have been the fact that she was a very cool babysitter. :) But it just seemed manageable. I tried the flute once, for a few months, and just couldn’t wrap my head around every note being a different fingering. There were patterns in a few places (my mathematical brain loves patterns), but only in a couple of keys. The piano was much more logical. I stuck with it partly because I liked being able to play music I liked to sing, and maybe a wee bit of guilt that my mom had gone to such effort to find me a piano.
The whole pattern thing is a lot of what I love about the mandolin and bass. Need to change key? Slide up or down the right number of frets, or move one string over and slide up or down appropriately. The chord and scale shapes are the same. The ukulele still confounds me a bit, and I’m still a beginner on the mountain dulcimer.
LOVE the enthusiastic guitar picture! LOL!! I have memories (not so good) of piano lessons like this! I guess some of the music “ability” rubbed off though. Several of my kids played the violin and flute. Today my granddaughter is playing the flute and piano! She LOVES the piano…..the flute not so much! 😆. Keep at it, Dan!! I am sure there will be things that will rub off…at least a greater appreciation for sure!
Interesting about enjoying versus playing. I learned trumpet at 14, can't remember exactly why although my grandfather ferried me to lessons and I'm assuming paid the instructor. It was enjoyable but a wind instrument isn't something you just pick up and play. There's muscle tone in the lips and of course reading music. I was ahead in that department as my aunt taught me to read music and play on the piano. The benefit of this was as I marched down Manchester's Elm St. in my high school band I had memorized every song while others still were looking at the music sheets on their instruments...I did enjoy it, marched in many parades/football games. Great memories...
I, too, love listening to music and for most of my life wanted to be able to create it. In my late twenties, I had the opportunity to take piano lessons from one of my grandmother's friends. I stuck with it for a few years, practicing at home on an electric keyboard, and discovered that my brain isn't wired for moving both hands different ways at the same time. I can swiftly switch from one hand to the other, but not many songs are written that way.
those kid pix of you are priceless!
I had a babysitter with a piano, and I fell madly in love with it, to the point where I started begging my mother for piano lessons. How she found a piano that we could afford, I don’t know, but she made it happen. In my last two years of high school I went from singing in the choir to accompanying the choir on piano. I wasn’t the best player, but was apparently the best available and interested at the time. In college, there was no time for music, and then careers got in the way.
Fast forward to 2006 when Dan(my Dan) bought a guitar and I bought a mandolin. Very different from piano! But my understanding of the relationships between notes on the fretboard was helped by my keyboard knowledge. Seventeen years later, I’m playing mandolin, mountain dulcimer, ukulele, and acoustic bass guitar. And our last album has me playing piano on one of my songs! I have played piano in public exactly twice since high school (I wrote a song for our 25th wedding anniversary and played it on piano at two open mics), and our keyboard is electronic now, but I still have a soft spot in my heart for it.
Nothing says you or Uma ever need to learn to play. Listeners are valuable, too! But there are other cool instruments out there besides guitar, and there’s always singing, should either of you ever decide to consider it again.
Oh, and the blisters harden to calluses with regular play. :)
I love this! But I'm curious, why did you fall in love with it? As a musician, what was it about the piano that just moved you to the next step and to all the work that came with learning it?
Part of it may have been the fact that she was a very cool babysitter. :) But it just seemed manageable. I tried the flute once, for a few months, and just couldn’t wrap my head around every note being a different fingering. There were patterns in a few places (my mathematical brain loves patterns), but only in a couple of keys. The piano was much more logical. I stuck with it partly because I liked being able to play music I liked to sing, and maybe a wee bit of guilt that my mom had gone to such effort to find me a piano.
The whole pattern thing is a lot of what I love about the mandolin and bass. Need to change key? Slide up or down the right number of frets, or move one string over and slide up or down appropriately. The chord and scale shapes are the same. The ukulele still confounds me a bit, and I’m still a beginner on the mountain dulcimer.
LOVE the enthusiastic guitar picture! LOL!! I have memories (not so good) of piano lessons like this! I guess some of the music “ability” rubbed off though. Several of my kids played the violin and flute. Today my granddaughter is playing the flute and piano! She LOVES the piano…..the flute not so much! 😆. Keep at it, Dan!! I am sure there will be things that will rub off…at least a greater appreciation for sure!
Interesting about enjoying versus playing. I learned trumpet at 14, can't remember exactly why although my grandfather ferried me to lessons and I'm assuming paid the instructor. It was enjoyable but a wind instrument isn't something you just pick up and play. There's muscle tone in the lips and of course reading music. I was ahead in that department as my aunt taught me to read music and play on the piano. The benefit of this was as I marched down Manchester's Elm St. in my high school band I had memorized every song while others still were looking at the music sheets on their instruments...I did enjoy it, marched in many parades/football games. Great memories...