Hi, I'm new. Like many others apparently, I took piano lessons when I was young. My grandparents were both pianists and I inherited their piano and from my grandmother, received my first lessons. Second teacher was an unenthused teenager, then an unenthused older woman and finally, a wonderful vibrant, talented lady that got me hooked! About this time, I heard Vladimir Horowitz playing Beethoven's Pathetique on the Ed Sullivan show (I'm 52) and had never heard anything more beautiful. The next day I bought the music and although it was beyond my abilities, asked my teacher to help me learn it. A few years later, I stopped the lessons but continued to play the Pathetique on my own...through every teenage angst. And terribly. I was only after the immediate "hit" and I never took the time to correct my mistakes. It has always been my favorite and I have continued to play it. Generally speaking though, work, family and other activities took over, and I never played the piano regularly for the next 25 years. Until I found out about stride piano. I loved the LH workout of this style and began playing a little bit more regularly. By chance I found PW forum last week and was totally amazed by everyone's stories. None of my friends are pianists so piano music is never something that I talk about. I have more free evening time now and I find I split my piano time with exercises, stride and classical. I am quite interested in trying Chopin's Revolutionary Etude...slowly (although once again...definitely beyond my abilities). So, thank you to all....I enjoy your comments, your suggestions and your enthusiasm.

Hi Norah,

I'm glad you found us and shared your own story with us and I hope one day we'll get the chance to hear some of that stride technique (perhaps in one of the online recitals?).

I hope you'll also join us in the Revolutionary thread...it's only just started so jump on in & introduce yourself there too. It's going to be a long range and sometimes lonely project for a few of us so you can be sure we'll welcome the additional company.

Welcome to the forum, Norah! Love your enthusiasm.

Hi Norah--I did much the same as you. I fell in love with Christian Sinding's "Rustle of Spring" and played it when it was way beyond me. Every teenage issue was voiced in that piece--loudly and sloppily--but it is still in my memory after all these years. Taking the piano up again meant doing a lot of seemingly nit-picky work to get rid of some bad habits and holes in my training, but it has been a very fun journey.

Please participate in the recitals, and come on over the Revolutionary Etude thread and see how we're fumbling along and leaning on each other for insight!

Nancy

Welcome back to the penano (as my godchild pronounces it...lol)

What I would suggest is making the switch
to digital. As far as instruments go you're
stuck in an Ed Sullivan era time warp.
We are now in the Digital Piano Age.
Digital pianos offer so many advantages
over acoustic pianos that there is simply
no excuse for not playing one today. There
are probably emotional attachments to
your acoustic, but one needs to get with
the times. We no longer use manual
typewriters, or go downtown to a time
share company to use a mainframe computer,
or use horse-drawn carriages to get around,
and so you should use the most modern
equipment available to a pianist.

This is especially true if you want to
play stuff much above your level. Playing
such pieces on an acoustic can be
embarassing, because everyone within
a block can hear all your wrong notes
as you plunk away on them. But with
a digital you can turn the volume down
or use headphones and pound away on
anything and not disturb anyone.

You can get a good, new, weighted-key
digital piano for about $500-$900 (US)
that will be maintenance-free and
play grand piano-like.

So, thank you to all....I enjoy your comments, your good suggestions and your enthusiasm.