Greetings to so many kind people. It was a joy to find this board and hear from adult beginners. Thanks for all the contributions you make!
I grew up with friends whose parents rebuilt and sold player pianos, the old kind that you pumped. Our job as kids was to play all the new rolls when they came in. What fun! The parents and an uncle also had great jam sessions. With all that, I didn't learn to play but always wanted to. High school brought 60s folk guitar but no real music trng. Of course in 5th grade we learned to finger a paper keyboard, but it lacked something...could have been the music! After I left home, my Mom, who had played in her youth, bought a Baldwin spinet, which was shipped to my home on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Md. after her death. She loved music, and we arose each day to her choice of Broadway tunes. Oaklahoma will get anyone up and moving! There the Baldwin sat, awaiting my efforts as I completed a career teaching high school English, Vice principal, principal and a masters in Social Work. Now having been retired and turning 60 I knew time was "a wastin'" and began lessons 2 1/2 years ago. It's been wonderful. When I play pops songs, my man and I play Name that Tune. He always gets it right and claims he recognizes what I play, a good sign. My favorite pursuits require many hands: teaching Motorcycle Safety (I ride a Honda Goldwing), knitting , gardening and greatly enjoying the piano, including my recently acquired U1. I think of it as my tuneful safe ride!

Manyhands, what a wonderful family story. Welcome to the forum.

Hello. I'm Dan, living in Sussex, UK.
I played as a child, reaching grade 6 around age 17. Then university and "other stuff" happened and playing fell by the wayside, although there was a little guitar playing on the way. Four years ago I got the itch to play again and bought a Clavinova, which spares the family the more tedious bits of my practicing! My playing has been a little intermittent, but I'm gradually getting back to "intermediate" pieces again and enjoying my playing on the way. Currently playing Maxwell Davies - Farewell to Stromness, Gade - Scherzo no2 from Aquarelles, Brahms - Waltz in A flat op 39 no 15 and Chopin - Mazurka op7 no 2. A recent first for me was accompanying - my daughter at a beginners violin competition. I'm not sure who practiced most!
As for other stuff - I work with computers, have a family, cycle on and off road but at a fairly leisurely pace (sometimes as a challenge but not to race), take photos.

Accompanying your daughter - what fun. She must have been proud as punch.

Welcome to the ABF. This is a great place.

Cathy

Hi everybody,

I'm Kathy, 22 years old, and started with the acoustic guitar before strapping on a harmonica to my neck a couple years later. Only picked up the piano this year. I own a dinky old keyboard without weighed keys. It barely has volume control and sounds like a beast. Luckily, my friends all own gorgeous-sounding instruments so I hang around them and play on theirs.

Used to work in a music retail, so I know my products pretty well. I'm from North Vancouver, Canada and study psychology/counseling while supporting myself with odd jobs. Nice to meet you all!

Hey Kathy, get yourself a pair of earphones and make your keyboard sound like a 7' grand!

-PCJohnD

Haha awesome, John, I'll rock out with my eyes closed and earphones on tonight.

Hi everyone,

I've been lurking on the forum for a while, so thought I'd sign up and come and say hello.

I'm an adult beginner, and have been taking jazz lessons for almost a year now. I'm completely hooked! :-) I've got a great teacher, and really enjoy spending as much time at the piano as I can. I've got a Clavinova, and hope one day to upgrade to an acoustic (though my neighbour will hate me for it!).

Lots of very knowledgable and helpful people on this forum. I look forward to joining in.

Welcome JCUK!!
Here you are in very good company and I'm looking forward to hear you play.

Thanks CarlosCC!

Not sure I'm ready to play in public for a while yet, but maybe one day.

You can share your music and progress with us. Look at the "Piano Bar" and the "ABF Recital" threads. Both are excelent ways to share your records.

Hello! May 1, 2012 i recieved a very inexpesive digital keyboard and started to familiarize myself with keys & chords. Nine years (to the day) and ten-thousand hours prior i recieved a equally inexpensive violin, on the same sort of impulse. Thirty years prior i used college book money to get of all things, a banjo, and eventually a guitar. So a certain amount of musical foundation has been laid. Last week i was at a county fairgrounds where there were several old pianos, nearly abandon. I had time to meet each one, and of course now the hunt is on for one of my own. i realize my approach isn't orthodox. But my new found joy is genuine. All i want to do is play and sing 2 & 3 chord standards. I find the ability to do so better & better each day. Pure joy! Thanks

Welcome Farmerjones!
Wow, I hope you may transform your enthusiasm in fun!

I am a lawyer, mother of three boys (one in college, one in high school and one finishing middle school next week). I have a combined degree in music and business. At that time my instrument was French horn, but I did take piano for 7 years and played in the jazz band in high school. I recently returned to working in the music industry after being outside of it for 25 years.

I restarted lessons again this year and am enjoying returning to musical study. My 14-year old son was my inspiration. He as a wonderful teacher (who is now also my teacher). He loves piano,has made great progress, and is a better pianist than I will probably ever be. My favorite part of his playing, however, is when he composes. He has played one piano concerto and that was a major undertaking. I believe that if he has the discipline and skill to do that, I can try to master a few pieces a year. He has been very encouraging and occasionally tells me that I am not using proper practicing method (teehee!) He came to my recital on Saturday. I wish I could have verbally dedicated my playing to him. Neither of my other boys play piano. Their interests are diverse and equally interesting, but not piano.

I truly believe that music study is the best way to escape. I love music history and especially music from the 20th century. I often come to piano world forum to discover ways to overcome difficulties in practice for either me or my son, and to learn about repertoire - especially how challenging or fun it is to play. I understand that when it comes to fun or challenging, those words have different meanings to different folks. Still, I love seeing the diverse and sometimes not so diverse responses I get here. I believe that ultimately the study of music should be enjoyable.

Welcome to ABF JessicaB. Although I see you have been around a good long while already it is still nice to know something about each member. Hope to hear more about the music you are playing and your son's progress.

And don't worry, I'm sure nearly everyone will forgive you for being a lawyer .

http://www.noteflight.com/scores/view/ed379f3cb2026e226b3563893850dcd16251c375

I actually created a welcome to forum song. not sure if you can see the link. I also could not put the words. Words run like this:

welcome to the forum. you come to the right place. Tell us about you, your music & piano
I know you have music deep in your heart; let us welcome you let the music begin

Welcome JessicaB! Cool to know that your kid inspired you.

Hi,

Its so great to see many adults here who are on the beginning of piano learning journey . Really, reading your posts gives me lost of motivation. So glad to find my way on this forum.

About myself, I'm a Vietnamese, living in Hanoi city. In case you don't know, Vietnam is a country in South East Asia region ^^. I'm 20, studying economy at the university, and have been learning piano for 2 months. I have an Yamaha U3 and spend about 3 to 4 hours per day on it.

One year later, I will come to Colorado State University to complete my forth year in university through a program between my university in Vietnam and Colorado State Uni. My goal is to able to play Nocture No9.2 of Chopin before the day I leave Vietnam. I know how hard it is, but I will do all I can to make it come true ^^

Hi silverstars and welcome!
I see Chopin is one of your favorite composers. Good choice, you are in great company, here.

Silverstars,

chào mừng và lời chúc tốt nhất

I'm new here. Found PW when i was doing some research on buying a piano.

I'm 51. I played for a year or so as a kid. Then a couple of years of lessons as an adult. Stopped again and picked it up again recently.

I read music very well but I don't have talent. Nevertheless, I'd like to learn to play a bit, just for me. Hoping that I can achieve through persistence since I missed out in the musical talent department. i do many craft things so I'm creative in other ways.

I have a new teacher, I think she's quite good. I just replaced my really old, really awful sounding piano with a used Kawai that sounds so much better that it makes me really look forward to practice. And I just LOVE LOVE that it has a 'silent' pedal so I can practice any time of day or night without bothering anyone. Previously, I used a keyboard for late night practice and that just wasn't really helpful since the touch was so different from a real piano.

I wish I could improvise and jam with friends, but alas, I seem to be restricted to playing notes on a page, if i tried to improvise something or even play something by ear or from memory it would be a complete and total failure.

So, I'm reading here, and learning.

Presently working on:
Hellers Fifty selected studies for the piano, #2 and #3
(why can't they come up with better names?)

Hi

This is actually my first post and I have discovered this forum only some days ago.

I'm 33, have played piano back when I was a child for about 2 years but never was very enthusiastic about it. When I was 23 and studying for my final exams in the library, I picked up a CD with pieces from Rachmaninov and discovered the incredible Prelude In C Sharp Minor which is still one of my favorites today and got me hooked on classical music, especially piano.

Like many of you I've often contemplated on getting a piano and start playing again but living in an apartment made it complicated to get one. Today I have a house but still no piano. I did discover Synthesia though, which made me buy a MIDI controller (M-Audio Keystation 88es). It has the advantage of letting me test whether playing the piano is just some temporary temptation or whether I will take it further from here, without a huge investment.

This was 2 months ago and I'm still hooked on piano. I play every day, sometimes with Synthesia, but mostly without now that sight reading is getting easier. The book I use to learn is The Piano Handbook written by Carl Humphries.
I can play an easy arrangement of the Polovetsian Dances quite fluently but after a tip from a PW post, I'm concentrating on original piano pieces now instead of adaptations and simplified versions. Currently I'm learning Diabelli's Melodic Exercise No. 11 together with my girlfriend, and Purcell's Minuet in A minor which is an exercise from the book mentioned above.

That's it! I sincerely hope that I will stay motivated to learn playing the piano. My life goal of course is to be able to play the Rachmaninov Prelude that got me into classical music in the first place. After that the circle of life is closed and I can die peacefully. Just kidding of course.

Best Regards,

Michael

Welcome to the ABF Oongawa and Michael

I'm sure you both will find that lots of helpful people hang out here. Enjoy your new piano journey.

Jim

Welcome to the forum.

Welcome everybody!!!! (I just felt like hugging everyone in a big welcome hug for no reason...maybe because I'm having a nervous breakdown?? )

Just joined the forum so thought I'd add my entry.

I'm 42 years old living in Kent in the UK and until four weeks ago had never had a piano lesson.

I've been an IT consultant for 20 plus years but won't say any more because the topic asked for interesting things about me

I love listening to music and each year, try to attend as many gigs as possible as well as fitting in at least one festival.

I play league badminton and represent my county and last year I was selected as part of the England squad to play in the Masters World Championships in Canada so had a chance to combine some truly competitive sport with a great holiday. Managed to make the cut again this year so I'm now in training for the European Championships in Bulgaria in September.

I love films, with horror and action being my particular favourites although there aren't many films I don't like.

A few years ago, I also developed a passion for Koi keeping and although circumstances dictate that is not currently possible, it is definitely something I am going to get back into at the earliest opportunity.

I also love puzzles, watching football (or soccer for all our American friends:)), playing table tennis, photography, computer games and cycling and one of my key criteria for holidaying is to ensure that there are plenty of great places to eat because food is one of life's pleasures:)

As I mentioned, I'm four weeks into my piano experience and throughly enjoying it. And in case anyone is interested, the piece of music that inspired me to give it a go was "I Giorni" by Ludivico Einaudi. I heard it being played by a young lady in a restaurant and it was absolutely mesmerising. Being able to play that piece is one of my first piano playing goals.

Thanks for listening...

Hello everybody, I'm Diana and I just joined the forum.

I'm 36 and I live in Verona, in Northern Italy. I am a freelance translator working for pharma companies. Apart from work I spend most of my time in the country taking care of my olive trees.

I've always wanted to play some instrument, I tried with the guitar when I was a child but I hated it. Many many years forward here I am with a Privia PX-135 digital piano, trying to teach myself something about music. I got it 3 months ago and I'm now finishing book 1 of Alfred's Adult All-in-One Course. I'm having a great time and I can't wait to start book 2! I guess being a fast typer is helping me with the piano, but patience is not my thing. My only goal now is to have fun and keep practicing everyday.

See you on the forum!

Ciao, Diana. Welcome to the ABF. You will find all kinds of useful information on this site and lots of helpful members. What kind of music do you eventually want to play?

Jim

Ciao Jim! I'm in love with Cole Porter and musical theater in general.

If you like Porter and other old standards, THIS BOOK is a good one to start out on. It is in "easy piano" format, which you may already know is not all that easy. But if you take your time, someone who has mastered Alfred Adult I should be able to play many of these tunes with a little effort and patience.

(note: if you decide to buy the book be sure it is the "easy piano" one that I linked (marked as such on the cover). There is another nearly identical cover for piano,voice and guitar that I can't vouch for.)