jumping the gun?
Remember how my New Year's resolution was to learn piano? And how I took piano lessons?
Let's give you my music background. I don't have much. I suppose I did play the clarinet in the school band for seven years. I suppose I wasn't too bad at it. From taking band I sort of know how music "works."
Steven bought me a keyboard about 5 years ago. The keyboard has little built in tutorials so you can learn the songs in the songbook that came with the keyboard. I was actually able to memorize a number of songs (with both hands - yeah, I know, musical genius) and play them fairly well.
After Christmas I started piano lessons. The girl who was "teaching" me piano was a few years younger than me. I don't know if she is just a really gentle person, or whether she was intimidated by having to teach someone older than her, but I found that I didn't get much out of the lessons. I'd basically pick away at songs at home, learn some stuff, and then go and play it for her. She didn't criticize much of anything or instruct me in ways to get better. She basically just said that yes, I played the song better than I did the week before, and would tell me to concentrate on learning a chunk of a song instead of stumbling through the entire thing.
Lessons were a little too expensive for the amount of instruction I wasn't getting.
I still want to play the piano, even if it takes me weeks to learn a song. Today, I am buying a piano. No, I am not musically fluent - I still have to sit down and hack through songs for a while before it sounds like I actually know how to play them. Should I have bought a piano? I don't know. Am I excited? Heck yes!
Let's give you my music background. I don't have much. I suppose I did play the clarinet in the school band for seven years. I suppose I wasn't too bad at it. From taking band I sort of know how music "works."
Steven bought me a keyboard about 5 years ago. The keyboard has little built in tutorials so you can learn the songs in the songbook that came with the keyboard. I was actually able to memorize a number of songs (with both hands - yeah, I know, musical genius) and play them fairly well.
After Christmas I started piano lessons. The girl who was "teaching" me piano was a few years younger than me. I don't know if she is just a really gentle person, or whether she was intimidated by having to teach someone older than her, but I found that I didn't get much out of the lessons. I'd basically pick away at songs at home, learn some stuff, and then go and play it for her. She didn't criticize much of anything or instruct me in ways to get better. She basically just said that yes, I played the song better than I did the week before, and would tell me to concentrate on learning a chunk of a song instead of stumbling through the entire thing.
Lessons were a little too expensive for the amount of instruction I wasn't getting.
I still want to play the piano, even if it takes me weeks to learn a song. Today, I am buying a piano. No, I am not musically fluent - I still have to sit down and hack through songs for a while before it sounds like I actually know how to play them. Should I have bought a piano? I don't know. Am I excited? Heck yes!
Comments
I would love to have one too. I never appreciated the one my parents bought me when I was young. It was an electric piano - will yours be?
Yes, it's a big purchase, but we found a used one on Portageonline for only a few hundred dollars (takes care of the rest of that pesky income tax $$) so we made the splurge. I'm pretty excited about it!
Even if I don't get that good, I'm hoping at least one of my kids will be interested in lessons later!
Steven told me too that I should switch teachers if we weren't compatible, but I just couldn't do it. She was so nice, and it felt so mean! But I should have, lessons are expensive and I don't feel that I got much out of them. Oops.
Oh please, oh please, oh please...