so merrily that it was a joy for to hear, and no man should see the craft thereof
I have a question for all you musical (and, hell, non-musical) types. How do I teach myself to play piano?
I've wanted to learn for a very long time, and last summer I got just far enough to realise how much there is to it before college applications intervened and I lost my thread. I'm perfectly willing to put in the time, now that I have enough to go 'round again, but, here's the catch: I can't afford a teacher (my God they're expensive, around here), and the primitive keyboard that I have is absolutely ancient and has only five octaves (and the keys are unweighted, which is the most annoying thing ever). I'm going to see about finding an honest-to-goodness piano to practice on occasionally, but, due to my lack of transportation, my hopes aren't particularly high. (Most Quaker meetings have at least a little spinet; just my luck that mine doesn't.) Is there anything I can do to maximize the usefulness of my tiny pratically-an-antique keyboard?
As far as what I want to learn goes... I'm interested in being versatile, not just playing classical, and doing some improv or my own composition, eventually, which does (I suspect) mean learning the theory behind the music as well. Obviously there are a ton of books and computer programs on this subject: can you recommend any to me? I'd also like to acquire familiarity with the piano and, subsequently, musical structure in general to supplement my voice training (which I plan on starting just as soon as I can drive, dammit.) I know enough to listen to lots of piano music, of course (recommendations would be great, by the way), but other than that... I'm a little stumped. Do I just start trying to play things? Do I attack it from the theory end of things? Scales and chords and the building blocks or what? Concentrate on playing by ear? Please help the n000000b....
I've wanted to learn for a very long time, and last summer I got just far enough to realise how much there is to it before college applications intervened and I lost my thread. I'm perfectly willing to put in the time, now that I have enough to go 'round again, but, here's the catch: I can't afford a teacher (my God they're expensive, around here), and the primitive keyboard that I have is absolutely ancient and has only five octaves (and the keys are unweighted, which is the most annoying thing ever). I'm going to see about finding an honest-to-goodness piano to practice on occasionally, but, due to my lack of transportation, my hopes aren't particularly high. (Most Quaker meetings have at least a little spinet; just my luck that mine doesn't.) Is there anything I can do to maximize the usefulness of my tiny pratically-an-antique keyboard?
As far as what I want to learn goes... I'm interested in being versatile, not just playing classical, and doing some improv or my own composition, eventually, which does (I suspect) mean learning the theory behind the music as well. Obviously there are a ton of books and computer programs on this subject: can you recommend any to me? I'd also like to acquire familiarity with the piano and, subsequently, musical structure in general to supplement my voice training (which I plan on starting just as soon as I can drive, dammit.) I know enough to listen to lots of piano music, of course (recommendations would be great, by the way), but other than that... I'm a little stumped. Do I just start trying to play things? Do I attack it from the theory end of things? Scales and chords and the building blocks or what? Concentrate on playing by ear? Please help the n000000b....