I’m taking another run at playing piano. It’s been a while. I tried in-person lessons in 2014. I tried Piano Marvel in 2015, and then again in 2016. The piano has been sitting sort of unloved for a bit, with both kids having moved on from piano lessons. I know that in the past when I was trying to learn and the kids needed to practice, I would let them take the piano. No competition for space now.
Other than my announcement of the end of my in-person lessons, I haven’t really posted about giving up on playing piano in the previous attempts. I wish I had, even if I understand why I didn’t? After all, the ends are often more of a whimper than a bang. I think that I did pretty well with Piano Marvel in the past, but eventually hit lessons where I wasn’t passing them and I got frustrated. I imagine that might happen again this time, but I’ve got a strategy for dealing with that. There is more than one piano teaching site/program, and I think I’ll know better when to jump ship from one to another this time.
Technology has moved along. I can now just plop down a MacBook, plug in the USB-MIDI and audio cables and get playing. No need for a Samsung monitor, keyboard and mouse sitting on the piano all the time. I find it interesting that the piano teaching software itself hasn’t really advanced a ton. I mean, it has and it hasn’t. When I re-activated my account last night all of my old “trophy case” was still there. The look and feel and the method itself hasn’t changed. Some of the rough edges have been smoothed, but not all. Sitting down and picking up at a very basic level it seemed less frustrating to practice. The software didn’t seem to mess up interpreting what keys I’d pressed. Also, setting up the MIDI was a breeze. No effort at all.
What are the goals:
- I also want to get some more hand-dexterity exercise. We’ve noticed the last few years that my shaky hands have been getting worse. Part might just be an unavoidable genetic thing, but I have to think that exercise and use will help.
- I have watched Miranda and Ian each go through 10 years of lessons, and I was amazed at what they could accomplish. I’d like to be able to get to the level of a confident intermediate player.
- I’d like to feel comfortable with some level of improvisation. I’ve never achieved that on the guitar.
Someday, I figure we’ll get rid of the Yamaha digital piano. Either it will just die of old age, or we’ll want the space. There are other keyboards that I think I’d like to have and play but for the learning process, I think what we’ve got is fine.
Updated
And… it petered out again. There’s just something misaligned between what I want and when I want to do it, I think. The times when I want to practice, I don’t have time. Will take another run at it at some point.
