tickling the ivories
i started piano lessons when i was 6 years old. one of my mom's coworkers was offering piano lessons to a few kids from the office and, i believe, my mom asked me if i wanted to learn. considering that my mom played the piano, my grandma played the piano and my great-aunt played the piano, i undoubtedly said yes. the funny thing is, i don't actually remember being asked and/or agreeing to taking lessons. either way, i started taking lessons once a week. we had a piano at home, so i could practice in-between. originally, my teacher was coming to my house and then plans changed and then i was taking my lessons at his house. he had a large family (all girls and all artistically talented) and was needed at home to help. anyway, after the first 1-2 years, he had to quit giving lessons. he was the choir and music director at his church, his family was growing and his children all home-schooled, so yeah, he just didn't have the time to give private lessons. lucky for me, his mother gave piano lessons to a rather large group of children ranging in ages from 8-18 and he thought i was good enough to recommend to her. i don't remember there being a very long gap between his lessons and her lessons, but i continued on. every saturday morning i would have my lessons at 10:15-11/11:15am. my mom usually ran errands during this time, but sometimes would stick around to listen. i also learned theory as well as how to play, which helped develop my site reading abilities. while i can't carry a tune to save my life, i can read music rather well. my friend nicole is the opposite; she's got a great ear and can usually pick out a tune really easily on the piano. anyway, i continued my lessons through elementary school, junior high and all the way through high school. my piano teacher was a wonderful woman and incredibly patient. it wasn't until i got older that i really ENJOYED playing the piano. i loved the music i was learning, even the exercise-stuff, and i was easily putting in 30-40 minutes every day on the piano. playing the piano also got me through some really difficult emotional times when i was younger, too. i took out my frustration and sadness of my grandparent's passing on my mom's piano.
when i went off to college, i actually made sure to pick a dorm which had access to a music room. the one i picked, though, had a pretty rough music room. the piano was old as hell and it sat in a room with paper-thin walls. it received regular abuse by students who would go in and leave nail polish all over the keys. i hated it and i was turned off by the utter disrespect i saw. at the same time, though, i wasn't pushing myself to seek out other ways for me to play. my university had a beautiful music center with practice rooms available, if i REALLY wanted to. they were obviously set aside for music students, which i was not, but could be accessed during the off-hours. i had a fleeting thought of actually working toward a music minor, but it went as easily as it came. i regret that so much now. unfortunately, my desire to keep playing waned and pretty soon my sheet music and books were left at home when i returned my sophomore year of college and remained since.
i miss playing a lot. and every once in a while i get the biggest pangs of wanting to play. i'll find a song that has a strong piano component and i listen to the song on repeat and try to pick it out in my head. alicia keys' "if i ain't got you", which was marshall and my first dance at our wedding, has a piano accompaniment and i even looked at purchasing the sheet music. this same feeling of longing for the piano has resurfaced again with the discovery of the PBS series, downton abbey. it's a fantastic series and it's right up my alley of being a period piece set in britain. its gosford park but longer. it's even written by the same guy! anyway, one of the many things i love about this series is the music. it's gorgeous and i get just moved by the opening sequence. the sweeping strings and the hypnotic rhythm of the piano. it's just gorgeous. the soundtrack is ONLY available through the UK itunes store (i haven't checked amazon, but i'm doubtful) and there are absolutely NO torrents for it.
i was able to find the sheet music, but only through a british retailer. they did have a preview of the first page of the piano solo and i read it, while listening to a copy of the main themes someone put together on their blog. i was sitting here trying to pick out the timing. the left hand is nothing but a repeat of 3 notes in quick succession. i thought i got it at 6/8 time. it just wasn't right, though. when i looked at the sheet music, i found it was 12/8 time, which made sense right away. it's really quick-paced and the reason why the 6/8 seemed to ALMOST fit was that it was fitting for every other beat, rather than counting ever beat. even when i try counting along with the music, i get tongue-tied. i believe i have played something a long time ago in 12/8 time and what my piano teacher advised was simply counting 1-2-3-4-5-6 really fast. once you get beyond 6 it's really hard to keep count. we even did that with 9/8 time, but we would do really quick 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3. it's fast, but at least your mouth can keep up when you're getting the beat down.
anyway, it's times like this when i wish i had a piano. we obviously have no place to put it. i also am not a fan of keyboards. i'm so used to the weight of piano keys that i get thrown by the lightness and hollow feeling of the keyboard keys. but for some reason, while i can easily go to my parents' house to practice, i'm almost nervous about playing again. i'm so incredibly rusty that i'm almost embarrassed. i'm also in a position where i'm re-teaching myself a lot of this and i find that incredibly daunting. whenever we get together as a family, my sister always says something like "oh, michelle, why don't you play some songs on the piano? you took those lessons for so long..." every time she says this it really hurts. i feel guilty for not keeping up with it and even though i want to play, i have HORRIBLE stage-fright and am incredibly shy, even if i'm playing in front of family.
anyway...it's amazing the power of music can have on you.
when i went off to college, i actually made sure to pick a dorm which had access to a music room. the one i picked, though, had a pretty rough music room. the piano was old as hell and it sat in a room with paper-thin walls. it received regular abuse by students who would go in and leave nail polish all over the keys. i hated it and i was turned off by the utter disrespect i saw. at the same time, though, i wasn't pushing myself to seek out other ways for me to play. my university had a beautiful music center with practice rooms available, if i REALLY wanted to. they were obviously set aside for music students, which i was not, but could be accessed during the off-hours. i had a fleeting thought of actually working toward a music minor, but it went as easily as it came. i regret that so much now. unfortunately, my desire to keep playing waned and pretty soon my sheet music and books were left at home when i returned my sophomore year of college and remained since.
i miss playing a lot. and every once in a while i get the biggest pangs of wanting to play. i'll find a song that has a strong piano component and i listen to the song on repeat and try to pick it out in my head. alicia keys' "if i ain't got you", which was marshall and my first dance at our wedding, has a piano accompaniment and i even looked at purchasing the sheet music. this same feeling of longing for the piano has resurfaced again with the discovery of the PBS series, downton abbey. it's a fantastic series and it's right up my alley of being a period piece set in britain. its gosford park but longer. it's even written by the same guy! anyway, one of the many things i love about this series is the music. it's gorgeous and i get just moved by the opening sequence. the sweeping strings and the hypnotic rhythm of the piano. it's just gorgeous. the soundtrack is ONLY available through the UK itunes store (i haven't checked amazon, but i'm doubtful) and there are absolutely NO torrents for it.
i was able to find the sheet music, but only through a british retailer. they did have a preview of the first page of the piano solo and i read it, while listening to a copy of the main themes someone put together on their blog. i was sitting here trying to pick out the timing. the left hand is nothing but a repeat of 3 notes in quick succession. i thought i got it at 6/8 time. it just wasn't right, though. when i looked at the sheet music, i found it was 12/8 time, which made sense right away. it's really quick-paced and the reason why the 6/8 seemed to ALMOST fit was that it was fitting for every other beat, rather than counting ever beat. even when i try counting along with the music, i get tongue-tied. i believe i have played something a long time ago in 12/8 time and what my piano teacher advised was simply counting 1-2-3-4-5-6 really fast. once you get beyond 6 it's really hard to keep count. we even did that with 9/8 time, but we would do really quick 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3. it's fast, but at least your mouth can keep up when you're getting the beat down.
anyway, it's times like this when i wish i had a piano. we obviously have no place to put it. i also am not a fan of keyboards. i'm so used to the weight of piano keys that i get thrown by the lightness and hollow feeling of the keyboard keys. but for some reason, while i can easily go to my parents' house to practice, i'm almost nervous about playing again. i'm so incredibly rusty that i'm almost embarrassed. i'm also in a position where i'm re-teaching myself a lot of this and i find that incredibly daunting. whenever we get together as a family, my sister always says something like "oh, michelle, why don't you play some songs on the piano? you took those lessons for so long..." every time she says this it really hurts. i feel guilty for not keeping up with it and even though i want to play, i have HORRIBLE stage-fright and am incredibly shy, even if i'm playing in front of family.
anyway...it's amazing the power of music can have on you.