Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum OT, Tell us about yourself

Hi All...My name is Bob and I work in video and film production. I "re" started taking piano lessons just a month ago. I previously had taken them for about three years from 4th to 7th grade. Although I enjoyed playing I ended up quitting because I didn't really practice and would attempt to "cram" before a lesson or recital which led to LOTS of stress...it was a pretty traumatic situation I put myself in! More than 30 years later, I've decided to give it another try, mostly due to encouragement from my neighbor, who is an upright bass player, and another friend who I have recently found out had been a piano major in college who still plays quite a bit.

One friend mentioned this website where I started reading about pianos and digital pianos, and ended up purchasing a Kawai cn43.

I've also found a piano teacher that lives nearby from whom I've taken 4 lessons so far...but she just gave birth! So there will be a little break before I start with her again. But just those 4 lessons have been great. A little theory, a little playing by ear, a little improv...much different than the lessons I had as a child. Very fun and exciting!

I've really been enjoying the forums here, such a great exchange!

Bob

Hiya all. I'm Becca, 37 and live in Canada. Am raising teens (oh joy.) Always wanted to learn piano and finally decided to just do it! Got a little DP, and printed off some "lessons" online about a month ago. I had tried to learn on and off before. I'm currently playing twinkle twinkle little star primer and butchering about 4 other songs right now. LMAO... Just got some real lessons books and hope to improve. I basically have no skills whatsoever at this point. My youngest son is self-teaching himself the fiddle so some interesting sounds coming out of our house! I plan on joining the MOYD thread (actually what prompted me to join, I've been lurking as a guest for weeks.)

Nice to meet you all.

Becca

Hi all! I'm kaz, 23 and live in Australia. I'm sort of returning to piano. I took the classical route when i was young, then stopped and ventured into pop songs, then went overseas so I had no piano. After that I played sporadically at public or semi-public pianos, and maybe learnt one new easy piece a year. Due to doing that for several years, I memorized my entire repertoire of songs (not purposely) so that when I spot a piano, I can have a practice. Now I try to play twice a week, because I've found a baby grand piano which is just awesome (and free for me). Twice a week is not very much but my priority is violin which I've recently started lessons on.

Pieces I'm working on:
Croatian Rhapsody (Tonic Huljic)
Nuvole bianche (Einaudi Ludovico)
Primavera (Einaudi Ludovico)
Adagio,2nd movement, Concerto for Oboe (Bach from Marcello )
Victor's piano solo (Corpse bride)

I found this site because I looked up croatian rhapsody so I'm looking forward to reading that whole thread on the croatian rhapsody study group some time. =) Cheers

Bob, Becca and Kazari: welcome to PW!

Hi everyone,

My name is Mark. My wife and I live in North Adams, Massachusetts. I love listening to piano and lately, I strongly desire learning to play at least a few songs. A friend of mine who has been playing piano most of his life has recently convinced me it is never too late to start. I have some confidence as I used to play guitar---mostly technical speed metal. So it gives me some notion that the type of piano I would like to learn is attainable, even starting at the age of 36. Being I rarely settle for simple and easy, one of the inspiring songs for me is Chopin's Etude 4 Opus 10. Great starter song...eh?

The wife and I have a cat which was a stray and two Akita dogs which are both rescues. For a living I run an automotive transmission repair shop. There are certin things I get fixated on. I have 10 old Mercury cars from years 1958 to 1970. A few 70's Ford trucks and Brockway trucks. Also, other pieces of equipment like bulldozer, excavator, crane and bucket truck.

The past few years we have been fixing up the Victorian style house where we live. With this style house it would be appropriate to find an old Mason & Hamlin or Chickering. We currently have a piano. It is a Gulbransen upright that had come with the house. It is pretty beat up and a bunch of keys don't work. I have not made an attempt to learn anything on this piano. I am not sure if it is fixable. I believe it would be more inspiring to start with a piano that is in better shape. It's probably best to start another thread in the general piano forum asking for opinions on searching for a piano.

thanks,
Mark

Hi ABFers! It just occurred to me that I haven't properly introduced myself, although I've already received great advice from folks here and commiserated with some others. I love this forum! Anyway, just a brief intro:

Mid-30's, living in a music mecca town on the west coast of the US -- sometimes I feel as if I were the only non-musician in this town! :-) Started from zero in the summer of 2010, and after on-and-off classes and practice, finally started regular playing/classes since this June. Currently have a digital piano that I love (Yamaha P-155), but am dreaming of finally buying a house and getting an acoustic! So far I only have one song in my "repertoire" (that I memorize, that is): Vandall's Prelude B Minor (very Moonlight Sonata, but much easier, I gather). Would love to improve on techniques, theory, and sight-reading, and of course, more songs for my repertoire.

I love most types of music, but esp. would like to play classical, New Age, folk, blues, and some pop/rock (not really into broadway tunes though).

So glad to have joined this forum and "met" like-minded people. Happy holidays to you all and I look forward to more sharing and progress in 2012!

Hey guys, my name is Tia! Im 21 years old and I am Junior at Michigan State University. I took piano lessons in High School and I did really well in the 4 years that I played. Unfortunately, I quit freshman year of college because I couldnt find the time or a teacher I started playing again in August with a new teacher and I have been progressing well. I am interested in classical and am open to all composers. Ive been working with my teacher on a few pieces that I hope to perfect.

I dont exactly have reasoning as to why I started piano other than I thought it would be something cool to do after school and it turned out that I spent more time with it than I planned. I have a 18 year old sister who is also taking lessons with this new teacher. I have a 4 year old sister who also wants to play but many teachers have said they want her to wait until she is 6 or 7...so right now, she just watches. Ive taught her the notes and I let her randomly bang on the keys while im practicing so she can feel like shes part of something (lol). I think she is going to be really into it when she starts.

Hello, my name is Fernando. I live in Brazil, in a city called Vitória (which is actually an island). It is in the middle of the country, and usually very hot throughout the year. I'm originally from the south of Brazil, though. I'm 25 years old and work as an engineer in a big company here.

I started playing when I was 11. My first instrument was the keyboard. I switched to piano a few years after, and also started playing the violin. I've been playing the piano on and off, due to many reasons.

Now I'm back after having not played it for about 2 years. I bought a Yamaha P-95 and intend to start having classes again in January. In the mean time, I'm practicing the pieces listed below.

Nice to meet you all, and happy new year!

I have been reading this forum for a couple of years but never posted. I am a 67 year old grandmother and resumed piano lessons about 8 years ago.(I took lessons as a child) I have evolved to an advanced level but have SO much difficulty playing in front of people. I can play for my husband if he is in another room. I live in Montgomery, Alabama and have an excellent young enthusiastic teacher. I am her only adult student. I would love to get involved in a group of adult piano students or just a group of adults interested in music/piano. So far I have not come up with anything. I am a retired critical care nurse. We have 2 Labradors that travel with us everywhere. I have volunteered at a wildlife center and also at a Raptor Center. We are originally from Colorado but would rather not have to shovel our precipitation

CorinneA, welcome. I highly recommend posting to our quarterly recital. You don't have people actually watching you but you get to here everyone's mostly super kind feedbacks. The process of recording and listening to my own performance helped me a lot, strangely, to overcome my fear of performance. Now i came to enjoy playing in front of my dog and husband:) Do you play to your dogs too? I have a very musically gifted Golden Retriever girl. well, "gifted" may be an over statement. She just likes to listen to music and bang on the piano with her paws or nose whenever she has a chance.

Hi Wuxia,

Your story sad but very hopeful. You are not the only one who discovered music as mental help. Music can give us so much. And yes, I agree, this forum is very ok!! There are many here who love pianomusic and know what that does to us. Also many people here who really care about other members.
Welcome here and enjoy the forum and your pianomusic!

Best regards,
Johan B

Hi, I'm Enjru and I've just joined here. I'm in my 40's and I've decided to recommence practising the piano seriously again. I hope to learn and re-learn lots here. Thanks!

Well..this is most beautiful forum for those who are devoted to pianoplaying....

Welcome at PW.

Cheers,
JohanB

Hello,

I'm new here. I've been lurking for a few days reading up on various things and have decided to join as it appears a great and friendly place to be for piano enthusiasts. I live in England, am in my early 30's, and have been teaching myself for about 18 months or so now, but not solidly due to work and commuting leaves me little free time apart from weekends. I did play a tune or two (chopsticks?) when I was about 10, but have never had any lessons of any kind, though that should probably change.

Currenly I live at home with parents and have an upright acoustic to practise on, but am looking at buying a Kawai digital (found this forum looking for reviews and comparisons etc), as am aiming to move out and rent or share a flat nearer work a little later this year. This will be good as I'd have an extra three hours or so a day . Have been learning to sheet read from zero, so I normally chug through it, and over time, a tune goes from being all sheet read, (allbeit slowly) to just from memory.

I probably sound attrocious playing, so am hoping to check myself with said digital piano and recording abilities when I can, and aside from being guilty of near constantly having the sustain pedal depressed, my other problem (not uncommon from what I read), is finding too much I want to learn. For the first few months I only practised two pieces, but now I have about a dozen I'm learning all at once, which is probably way too many. In particular I like stuff by Yanni, Vangelis and Nobuo Uematsu, though I regularly find people I really like on youtube and sometimes buy their sheet music if available. Most things I like are too advanced for me by a long way but I like to look at them and have a go. I've always generally pushed myself hard that way. Youtube has been a fantastic device for inspiration and finding out what's out there.

Sorry if I've written too much!

fractalCarrot - welcome. What an interesting name! You will meet likeminded people in this forum. You must be excited about getting your own flat. You can practice as much as you want AND you can still play your acoustics during the weekend in your parents home if you would like to. Once you start recording, you may want to try uploading the piece to our quarterly recital which I believe is the best part of the forum. Please keep us posted about your piano hunting. Good luck.

Hello, I'm Pete, and I'm a recovering pianoholic.

I took standard lessons from age 10 to 15 from a standard harsh, strict (spinster!) teacher. I stuck with it because I loved music, and for some reason it seemed that playing piano helped my trombone playing abilities (go figure). Then in high school I took two years of jazz lessons from a great teacher and all around nice guy (I should have stuck with him longer!), and I then futzed with guitar a little bit but fell off the piano grid for a long time.

Recently my daughter started singing, and so I've started playing again, mainly to accompany her, and then things started snow-balling. I started playing guitar with a bunch of guys, but we eventually wound up having 6 guys all sitting around playing guitar -- that's about 4 guitars too many, and so I took the plunge and bought a portable digital piano (Casio Privia PX3) and an amp and started playing keyboards with them. Now they've electrified some, the group has whittled down some so we have 2-3 guitarists, a bass player and a drummer, and one guy who has an amazing singing voice (I'm strictly backup vocals).

I comp by mainly banging chords with a few fillers, and I pride myself in having a decent ear, being able to play the chords of most songs after hearing them once or twice, but I'm very short on technique and on more complex playing such as blues, jazz, and improvisation, and that's one reason why I'm here -- to see what other's have done to get over a skill hump and reach the next level. Perhaps you can teach an old dog (I'm 53) new tricks, because with practice I'm finding that I'm doing better all the time. I've recently started playing with Band In A Box to act as my surrogate band when I'n not playing with the other guys, and this way I can slow things down when I want, and then gradually speed things up again.

I'm glad I've found this place and look forward to learning much more from all the great folks who contribute!

Petes1 there are numerous old dogs here as well as not so old dogs and young dogs who are all so affected by piano. My hearty welcome.

Greetings to all,

My name is Dai Phan and I would like to introduce myself to all of you. I am currently a dentist (maxillofacial prosthodontist) working in Columbia, SC and piano is the love of my life. I started taking lessions in August 1985 but lasted only for a year (group lessons) because of the demanding curriculum in engineering school at the time. However during this short period, I was able to identify the notes on the music sheet and started to play easy intrumental pieces as well as composing my own music. Of course the music is very simple with the limited skill that I gained during that short learning period. After my engineering degree, I enrolled in dental school and from 1991 to 2000, I did not take any piano lessons at all because of the hectic study schedule and demanding residency hours but I still try to compose as much as I can. In 1997 and 1998, my two home made CDs were sold at the local Barnes and Noble bookstores and they sold very well as I was told. Now fast forward 12 years later, I am returning to piano lessons again because I want to read music better and be able to compose music with more "complexity". In fact I will have my first piano lesson today after so many years of absence and I am so very excited. Well that's the short story of my "piano" life. DP

Thanks for the welcome FarmGirl, yes I'm very much looking forward to it I'm expecting a call this week from a piano dealer 'to discuss pricing'. Thanks for mentioning about the recitals although I can't imagine submitting anything at this stage, I'll see where I am when it happens. I have come across the piano bar thread which looks interesting.
Hello to the other new users too : )

dr. dai phan - welcome to the forum and what an impressive story you have. I am so glad that you could come back to piano. I look forward to hearing your composition and performance.