Do you play the piano?

[flipstress]

That is a fabulous, very sensual photo, LG4NB!! Thanks for posting it.

Yes, sensual and elegant at the same time--she had great legs!

Do you have tapes of her playing, LG4NB? Maybe when it is not too sad for you anymore, you can listen to her piano-playing again from those tapes.

 

[Orchidflower]

Boy! Would my son ever be jealous of Maurice...a Bosendorfer. You lucky dog, you!
Me, I am still trying to master the harmonica.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

thanx all for your generous comments. she really was something to know. makes it that much harder to be without her. i was a very lucky kid.

i love that photo. i had a 35mm for a while before it got stolen by so-called "gypsy thieves" (finally replaced it with a digital some 10 or more years later). anyway, i used to experiment with photography. mom never got over how our trip to visit colleges for me turned into a photo safari of me taking pictures of every dumpster we passed. never had lessons but i had some artistic training while studying architecture. my dad had a dark room when i was growing up and, surprise, i've got extended family in very professional photography as well. so maybe it is in my blood because ever since i was a kid i've always gotten nice comments on my photos.

i still remember taking this shot. the dining room, piano area, sitting room & living room is one large space. i was entering the room from the far side and mom was playing. it just struck me, all those legs, the piano legs, the piano seat legs and of course mom always had those great legs. the white house, the white carpet, the white piano, mom's white dress. the copper and those tan legs of mom's. so i grabbed my camera and hit the carpet. one shot. nothing posed. completely candid. not bad for an amateur.

what was amazing about her piano playing was she played with such emotion and grace, but away from the piano, well, i'll just say i don't think anyone ever called my mother graceful.

Yes, sensual and elegant at the same time--she had great legs!

Do you have tapes of her playing, LG4NB? Maybe when it is not too sad for you anymore, you can listen to her piano-playing again from those tapes.

sure wish i had flipstress. thought about it after the fact. though first my dad was into 8mm and then my step-dad was into videography so i have something like 30 or 60 (some duplicates) video tapes to review. am hoping i find her playing on one of those.

 

[W2R]

LG4NB, you are a very talented photographer.

 

[Moemg]

still remember taking this shot. the dining room, piano area, sitting room & living room is one large space. i was entering the room from the far side and mom was playing. it just struck me, all those legs, the piano legs, the piano seat legs and of course mom always had those great legs. the white house, the white carpet, the white piano, mom's white dress. the copper and those tan legs of mom's. so i grabbed my camera and hit the carpet. one shot. nothing posed. completely candid. not bad for an amateur.

Great picture Lazy ! Your Mom sounds amazing !

 

[TromboneAl]

I would have thought that was a professional photo shoot with a professional model, etc. Everything's perfect, leg position, sandals, ankle curvature, drapes, dress, lighting, all white except the two plant leaves, no dust. Great job.

 

[ERD50]

Well, I'm more of a 'keyboard' player than 'piano' player. Had about a year of organ lessons in 8th grade, pop stuff - no classical training. I owe it to Paul Revere and Ray Manzerak.

The obligatory youtube link:

YouTube - The buttercream Gang with guest Ray Manzarek

Incredible, Ray jams with a 16 YO kid at his backyard graduation party - talk about a dream come true!

And here is Ray, bad video/sound, but great solos on Light my Fire...

YouTube - Dead Elvi - Ray Manzarek - 'Light My Fire'

I love music, love playing, but just was never very disciplined about it. When I see someone play well, I regret that I wasn't more serious - but I still have fun with it. I'm even more amazed that I didn't get serious about after retiring - I have the time, why not invest some time in really learning? I can't explain it, but I don't. Maybe someday (this thread did inspire me to get up and bang out a few tunes).

One thing I did get disciplined about - I was mesmerized by the blues at a young age. I spent hours learning various blues runs, and trained myself to play them at high speed. That's part of my problem, I got the 'muscle memory' of those blues runs so infused - it's like riding a bicycle. Even if I don't play for months, I can still do high speed blues runs that would impress people that don't know better. Kinda reinforces not practicing.

Owned an old upright for a while - trained myself to play blues and boogie/stride on that. Not well, but fun enough for me.

I find this very interesting, and I've spent a lot of time thinking about this.

If I don't explicitly set out to memorize something, but play it a lot, the mental process is skipped.

At no point do I picture the notes on the page.

I've only spent a little time thinking about how I memorize stuff. I do know that I absolutely have to work at it. As long as I'm looking at the music, that is my 'cheat sheet' and I probably won't know it from memory. I have to consciously work on getting away from the paper.

I didn't think about until you mentioned it, but on a memorized piece, I don't think about the written notes either - it's a different kind of way of thinking about the music. Notes within the chords/scales, patterns, relationships, the 'physical' layout of the reach of the notes. I can easily 'play' Light My Fire' on a desk, and hear every note in my head. But I haven't looked at the sheet music since 1970.

-ERD50

 

[ERD50]

Another great 'Light my Fire' link. Listen to Ray explain the whole development of the song, the Bach influenced intro, the John Coltrane influenced solos, and the making of the 2:45 single.

Ray Manzarek on 'Light My Fire' : NPR Music

-ERD50

 

[HFWR]

As I recall, The Doors were [-]pretty pissed[/-] unhappy when they heard the radio version of LMF.

Aside, Ray also played the bass lines...

 

[Nanita8140]

I don't play the piano "yet". My uncled ER to Argentina this past year and left me a beautiful piano. I decided I would just keep it as decore. But....., I discovered that on YouTube you can get free piano lessons....oh the joy of You Tube!!......I have always wanted to play the piano, but my parents were always LBYM so it was out of the question.

 

[Radiophilejapan]

This is an old thread but interesting. Maybe other newcomers will be too.
I can only play fake books and just for my fun, I even wear the headphones at my Yamaha CLP-230. Well, with its own amp and speakers, it sounds terrible. I wished I could play like TromboneAl, maybe someday into my ER, I can get to play a Brubeck. By the way, I'll try to practice the "edgy 10th", my big frustration has always been having to roll the open voicings.

 

[freebird5825]

What level player are you, what's your background, what do you like to play, what type of instrument do you have, what are your strengths and weaknesses as a player

Level - currently none
Background - had a player piano in the house as a kid. I loved to load up a roll and watched the keys as the music played. Fascinating!
Oldest sister took formal lessons and taught me the basics. I could read music easily, had the discipline to sit and practice, technique was pretty good, but had no ear or rhythm. Hated the accursed metronome for its perfect timing, as I had very little.
I took real lessons for 1 year in freshman year of HS. Felt like I was expected to follow older sister's footsteps.
Today...
Instrument - Picked up a used violin for next to nothing and have it on my list of ToDos for FIRE. I have played it (not to music) to get the feel of the instrument and see if my hands and wrists can take it. So far, not enough recovery to be able to get going.
My goal is to teach myself how to play fiddle , not classical.

 

[JOHNNIE36]

Just have to chime in with my two cents worth. Took eight years of classical as a kid but never played seriously except for the required recitals. This was just something mom wanted. Started playing clarinet cause the folks found one to buy cheap. Played in the high school band but switched to trombone cause it made more noise and they needed trombone players (cannot have a band with only one trombone). Found it easy to learn. End of high school was the end of my music playing till I married wife #2. We ended up with a spinet piano and an organ. My taking classical taught me to read music but its hard to do playing pop music as a duet with the wife. She taught me to chord and we enjoyed our musical evenings together switching back and forth from piano to organ. Thirty seven years later those days are long gone but we still have a Yamaha Grand keyboard. Never use it so it is destined to go to granddaughter who wants to take piano lessons. Guess those days are gone forever and I still miss it. I really enjoy the new concert pianist Lang-Lang. I think that is the spelling but pronounced like Laung-Laung.

 

[Radiophilejapan]

Great story Johnnie36. I wished my wife got some interest in playing some music instrument with me. Like you, my son took up trombone first, and then trumpet at the high school band. He loved the piano, though, and I had a guitar I had once played quite a bit , so we would jam together for hours after dinner...good old times. Music can bring the family together for sure.

 

[scrabbler1]

I know this is an old thread, one which ended before I joined the forum. But wen I began playing the piano again for the first time since 2004, I did a search for this topic instead of starting a new thread on it.


I took piano lessons twice when I was a kid, once at age 5 and again at age 8-9. Those second lessons were very useful because the piano teacher taught me a lot of musical theory and that has stayed with me all these years.


I have perfect pitch but never was interested in pursuing a musical career. I always liked playing the piano when I was younger. And when I didn't have a piano available to play, I played the guitar.


The peak of my laying days was in the 1980s when I was at college. The dorm had a piano room so I had lots of chances to practice. I began playing ragtime, my favorite music. I loved the movie, "The Sting" which came out in 1973, and my parents bought a book with all the Scott Joplin rags which appeared in the movie. I taught myself most of them initially but I simplified them to make them more playable.


My dad bought two records back then. One is the album with 8 rags played by Joshua Rifkin, an expert pianist. Another is an album of the New England Ragtime Ensemble, led by Gunther Schuller. Listening to songs from both albums helped me to learn how to play my many songs. I also got more sheet music for the songs not in The Sting book.


Later on in the 1980s, I began simplifying the songs less and less, sometimes putting the removed notes back into the songs. I also switched to playing songs by Billy Joel, my favorite contemporary songwriter.


But for a few years, I had no available piano, so I was playing the Billy Joel songs on the guitar, along with some by Simon & Garfunkel. I bought an electric keyboard but the keys felt so strange I couldn't really play it. When I moved to my current apartment in 1989, it came with a piano so I was thrilled to be able to play all my abandoned songs. But the piano was a spinet which had one less octave at each end. This limited some on the songs I could play and forced me to adjust others so they could fit into the 64-key piano.


I was able to resurrect many of my favorite Scott Joplin rags along with many of the Joel songs. I kept that up for a while before losing interest in it. In the mid-1990s, I created a medley of my favorite sections of the Joplin rags and recorded it for my grandfather. He was thrilled.


But I rarely played after that until I got back up to speed before my ladyfriend first visited me from out of town in 2004. Then I stopped until about a month ago. I was considering getting rid of the piano to free up some space until I gave it another chance. Took some time and effort to clean up all the dust and tune it up again (I have a tuning fork and know how to tune it). I also began playing a ragtime CD my ladyfriend bought for me back in 2004.


So I am back. I don't play all the rags I used to play. I tried out most of the 11-13 rags but have whittled that down to my favorite 5, for now. They include:


(1) Gladiolus Rag, my favorite. All the removed notes I put back in decades ago.
(2) Maple Leaf Rag, another favorite. I changed or removed a few notes to get through some rough spots.
(3) Magnetic Rag. It's a slower pace which I like although I have changed a few notes to make it more playable.
(4) Euphonic Sounds. It's a different type of song from the other Joplin rags.
(5) Fig Leaf Rag. I play only the first half of the song which has 2 beautiful sections. It was tough getting the sheet music for this song, though.


It's enough of a challenge getting these 5 up to speed. I don't have the stamina I used to have back in my college days. Maybe I add some of the others if I get these up to a level I am satisfied with. I don't really plan to play the Joel songs.

 

[Katsmeow]

I took piano lessons for about 14 years from when I was 6 until I was 20. I remember thinking that I was a pretty good player. As a younger student (elementary school and junior high) I would always play in the talent show. But, I got shy about it later.

Anyway, in high school I met a classmate who just blew me out of the water and was so good. It disabused me of the notion that I had any real talent. Anyway, I looked him up and he is a music professor so I wasn't wrong in my assessment of him.

After a number of years as an adult, I didn't have a piano until maybe 15 year or so ago when we bought an electronic piano. I thought I would get back in practice and did for awhile but got busy and never did. My son wanted the piano when he moved out and I let him take it. But -- now he is staying with us for awhile and I currently have the piano in my living room. I would be interested in playing again.

But....my sheet music is lost. In someone's move apparently it got misplaced. I had music from even when I took lessons as a child. I don't play by ear and I need music so no playing for me right now (unless I want to get some music...)

 

[Bamaman]

You want to see a piano player, go to YouTube and put in Lola Ashacova. She is absolutely incredible.

My cousin's son was.given a Bosendorfer concert grand piano. The thing is so loud you can hear it 4 houses away. It needed refinishing, and he actually painted it with a paint roller. Not cool.

 

[braumeister]

You want to see a piano player, go to YouTube and put in Lola Ashacova.

You mean Astanova.

But my choice for a great piano player is Bob Milne.

 

[scrabbler1]

Watching a young woman named Kristen Mosca on YouTube play some of my rags was inspiring, too.


Katsmeow, I did keep my sheet music over the years although one page of one song is missing. Fortunately, it has a repeated section but I had to struggle to remember the song's coda on it. Another thing I have struggled with is the uneven way I marked up some songs when I simplified them. Remembering how I did was tough in case I didn't note all the changes.

 

[audreyh1]

Wow - timely resurrection of an old thread!

I just finished setting up my new P45 Yamaha Digital Piano I ordered from Costco. The packaging was well done, so it arrived (UPS) in perfect condition despite being in a giant box weighing 75 pounds. The piano/keyboard itself only weighs 25 pounds, but it also came with a stand and bench plus sturdy packaging that added to the weight.

I haven’t really played piano since about 20, as I had no regular access to one. I grew up playing a lot as my mother was a skilled musician at piano and particularly big church pipe organs. I first learned on a harpsichord at home, my mother starting me at 6.

Later ~10 I took up classical guitar as my main instrument, but still played piano on my own regularly and learned new pieces, even though I no longer took lessons.

A couple of years ago I brought my classical guitar back out of the closet. It had been about 20 years, 30 since regular lessons. Slow progress, but stuck with it enough that it’s finally bearing fruit.

But I’ve also really wanted a weighted full-size piano keyboard to get my fingers back in shape and build up a small repertoire and relearn the base clef.

So - now working on a few Bach two-part inventions to get my reading, finger/hand coordination back in shape. Good thing the piano has a harpsichord sound setting. Sounds pretty darn good!

One fantastic resource these days not available in my younger years, is all the online materials: video lessons, sheet music, just a wealth of material to have at your fingertips.

W2R did you ever get yourself a Yamaha Digital Piano?

 

[audreyh1]

But....my sheet music is lost. In someone's move apparently it got misplaced. I had music from even when I took lessons as a child. I don't play by ear and I need music so no playing for me right now (unless I want to get some music...)

There is plenty of sheet music available online that can be downloaded as PDF and printed. Lots of classics free as it is so old as to be public domain. Usually without the fingering though.

And it’s also easy to order. Even Amazon carries quite a bit.

 

[spncity]

Took lessons when I was a kid - was better at memorizing than sight-reading. Never quite got over the hump to be good enough at sight-reading to make it stick.

Was good enough to help youngest daughter however during the years she took lessons and she, being more talented, progressed beyond me. Then we got her a piano teacher that helped her "get" chord theory - and now she can play and improvise just by knowing what chord the song is in. I think it would be so cool to be able to play like that! She taught herself guitar and now has three guitars that she has purchased with summer job earnings (including a Les Paul Studio guitar).

I've toyed with the idea of taking lessons again. Would love to have a baby grand but I doubt that will happen.

About four years after this post, a friend who was retiring/moving/downsizing gave our daughter his baby grand. But she doesn't have room for it at her place

It looks great in the living room.

 

[steelyman]

I just finished setting up my new P45 Yamaha Digital Piano I ordered from Costco.

Cause for celebration! I still use my Yamaha P80 purchased in 2000 and it’s rock-solid. I use a Roland amp purchased at the same time.

Regardless of what one considers their primary instrument, having a piano/keyboard nearby is never a bad thing.

 

[audreyh1]

Cause for celebration! I still use my Yamaha P80 purchased in 2000 and it’s rock-solid. I use a Roland amp purchased at the same time.

Regardless of what one considers their primary instrument, having a piano/keyboard nearby is never a bad thing.

Right! I’ll be playing both. The keyboard is a nice break when my left hand is worn out from the guitar, and it makes my right hand work a lot harder.

Bringing back my instrument playing is somewhat motivated as an anti-aging strategy. Use of the fingers - to keep up flexibility and strength in the hands and fingers. But also the mental challenge - memorizing pieces. That latter seems much slower compared to when I was a kid, but I’m getting there!

 

[steelyman]

Bringing back my instrument playing is somewhat motivated as an anti-aging strategy. Use of the fingers - to keep up flexibility and strength in the hands and fingers. But also the mental challenge - memorizing pieces. That latter seems much slower compared to when I was a kid, but I’m getting there!

This makes a lot of sense from both the physical (dexterity/flexibility) and mental (memorization) sides.

As others mentioned, there are plenty of sources for sheet music online with varying quality (like most things online). You can also find charts, which are looser but give you the basic changes and you can go from there.