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Instrument players - come and chat!

999 replies

NeverEverAnythingEver · 06/04/2017 23:21

I thought we could have a thread to chat about playing! I play the piano (not as badly as I fear but not as well as I hope) and have recently tried my hand at chamber music. Would love to hear what other people are doing.

CoteDAzur Here's a picture of the instruments they used in Rameau's Dardanus.

OP posts:
NeverEverAnythingEver · 07/04/2017 11:37

I can't seem to attach photos ...

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CeeBeeBee · 07/04/2017 20:04

Grade 7 pianist here but nowhere near as good as I'd like to be or what the grade suggests.

NeverEverAnythingEver · 08/04/2017 08:24

Hi CeeBeeBee!

I had a break of about 25 Shock years before coming back to it. The problems these days is there's never enough time to play! Have you got a piano at home?

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moonlight1705 · 08/04/2017 08:28

I'm also a lapsed grade 7 piano player and grade 5 oboe player. We've moved into a new place with room for my old piano but never seem to have time to practice.

I've bought one of the exam scales books to get me going again with correct technique.

Sleeperandthespindle · 08/04/2017 08:28

I bought a piano last year when I turned 40, after wanting to learn to play all my life. I've found a great teacher and am loving it, despite very little musical experience (grade 3 classical guitar as a child and a bit of choral singing at university).

Coming home after a day at work and practising is lovely. Hard to fit it in though.

NeverEverAnythingEver · 08/04/2017 08:40

I read "Play It Again" by Alan Rusbridger and was inspired to look for a chamber group to play with. Smile Though clearly I'm not going to have Alfred Brendel turning up at parties I go to, or have a new music room/shed thing for my second home, or talk to Murray Perahia about the finer points of bar 177 of the third movement of whatever ... Grin

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treaclesoda · 08/04/2017 08:45

I'm another who has returned to playing after a long break of around 20 years. I was a diploma level pianist at school (although I didn't actually do the exam, but I was about 2 years post grade 8, and had mastered a lot of pieces from the diploma syllabus) by the time I left school.

I joined an amateur orchestra a few years ago (also play violin) and it has been a fantastic experience and encouraged me to get back into playing the piano.

Cagliostro · 08/04/2017 08:56

Hi, great thread idea :)

I play piano, and I tutor kids for casual lessons for a bit of income.

I don't get as much time to play as I'd like now and I have to be careful as due to illness I get pain in my hands. So when I do play I have to limit myself to half an hour. Before that I could easily play for hours and ignore the world! But I keep it short and sweet now.

My lovely mum recently took me to London for a treat day and said choose any shop and I'll buy you something... I think she was expecting me to say a clothes shop but I chose the Yamaha store and got some sheet music. :o :o

Really into Clementi and Kuhlau sonatinas at the moment.

treaclesoda · 08/04/2017 09:15

A wee bit of sheet music is my pay day treat, in the way that some people buy a new lipstick. Smile

MrSlant · 08/04/2017 09:20

I'm nervously awaiting the results of my grade 2 piano exam! Music was my big love in school (god my ABRSM advanced thingy in flute) but I never learned piano properly. Cracking on with new pieces and hoping to take grade 3 ASAP. Was learning the guitar but lessons are expensive (I have to pay for my two children to have weekly lessons in flute/piano so paying for another set for me was prohibitive) and I am managing to teach myself piano.

MrSlant · 08/04/2017 09:21

Got my advanced thingy (is it diploma?) not god obviously.

LooseAtTheSeams · 08/04/2017 09:33

Good luck MrSlant! I am nervously awaiting the results of my grade 4 piano exam. I got off to a thumping start but the rest of the exam is coming back to me in a series of horror flashbacks! I'm hoping to scrape through but I'm really not counting on it!
It doesn't matter what the result is - I've paid for next term's lessons and I'm looking forward to finally playing some new pieces!

BarchesterFlowers · 08/04/2017 10:04

Me, good thread, I have got a few grade 8s but they are 30 years old.

Had a long break despite always having my piano with me.

I did a lot a couple of years ago, had lessons, played daily and was really pleased with what I could do but I moved and my teacher retired and moved in the opposite direction and I have done virtually nothing since.

Lovely to see everyone returning to it though, I don't believe it ever leaves you.

Cagliostro · 08/04/2017 10:34

I had similar with my teacher, I loved my music school and I also worked there on weekends, but then he moved. Emigrated in fact without paying our last wages - I still feel bereft TBH, he was a massive part of my life from 10 to 18. I can't actually imagine starting over with another teacher.

Good luck to those waiting on exam results! It's horrible waiting, DD is currently waiting on a dance result (quickstep :o) although I think I'm more worried than she is.

Inspired to play later today - finding it difficult at the moment though as I'm pregnant and reading is making me feel sick (WTF?!) so music manuscripts are similar. Still looking forward to when I'm past this phase and can play to the bump. Blush :o I never got to do that with my older two as when we first moved out we couldn't fit the piano into our flat.

NeverEverAnythingEver · 08/04/2017 10:41

Am off to music shops now Grin - will catch up later!

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OdinsLoveChild · 08/04/2017 10:50

Grade 5 clarinet player, but no longer own a clarinet Sad Mine got stolen in a burglary and I never replaced it due to being pregnant with my 1st child. I do miss it. I thought I saw it for sale on ebay recently (it had a cosmetic flaw in the wood) but I really wasn't 100% sure so I didn't bid on it, I wish I had now as I can't stop thinking about it. Blush

Dd plays the oboe and took her grade 3 last week. We're anxiously awaiting the results. I wish they arrived quicker. I'm sure when I took mine 40 odd years ago they told you straight away if you passed, you just didn't get your score until a few days later.

I'd love to play the piano though. Grin

CeeBeeBee · 08/04/2017 12:30

Hi NeverEver, I do have a piano at home and I started playing as an adult 5 years ago. I took my grade 7 last summer and passed but I've not had time since increasing my hours at work. Practice is not the same standard as it used to be so I just play for me now rather than my tutor. It is much less stressful but the downside is that I don't have anyone to check my technique with when I'm learning a new piece.

Are you learning anything in particular at the moment?

BarchesterFlowers · 08/04/2017 12:34

I did gr8 oboe Odins and I still have one. I sent it for an overhaul about three years ago but after such a long break find it a very demanding instrument for the amount of time I have available so have sort of parked it again.

I did Gr8 recorder and piano too and find them much easier to dip in and out of.

We have a really old church that is no longer used for services. I sometimes take my recorders to the church and play there because they sound absolutely amazing -
Summer months only Grin.

MrSlant · 08/04/2017 13:06

My proudest certificate is my grade 8 theory. I did it because my friend needed it for her sound engineering degree and wanted someone to do it with her. It means that as I move up the grades I don't ever have to take the theory exam again and my children do Grin.

Good luck to you too Loose my scales were my most confident thing (I really love scales) but when we started and I opted to do scales first to get a feel for the piano could I play? I sat there and placed my fingers on G and, nothing, not a note in my head. I froze completely. Fortunately he was a lovely examiner and let me do my pieces which I fumbled through and then scales were ok. How weird is the aural test when you are an adult though, I felt so self conscious singing!

Inspired now to go and practice my new grade 3 pieces! One of my sons is playing my old flute but I just can't get back into it, I must have done 3-4 hours of music a day as a teenager and I want to be able to play it like that not have to practice my way up to that level, too impatient!

Oh I LOVE the sound of going and playing recorders in the church. My theory test friend played all the different size recorders and she was amazing, the sound just enchanted me.

Helbelle75 · 08/04/2017 13:15

I started off on recorder and piano, then played clarinet at secondary school and throughout university. I always wanted to play the flute though, so bought a cheap one and taught myself to play. Once I got the hang of it, I bought a decent one and have never looked back! I belong to a concert band and love it. I've found music to be a brilliant way of meeting people - find a band, turn up with instrument, play.
I'm also pregnant and baby loves rehearsals. Lots of wiggling!

treaclesoda · 08/04/2017 14:17

As a recorder player do you not weep tears of frustration at the attempts to introduce music in school by way of recorder lessons? Badly implemented recorder lessons are surely one of the things that put children and their parents off music. Sad

BarchesterFlowers · 08/04/2017 14:26

Yes treacle with bells and a fipple on 😀.

I came very close to studying music but did maths instead. A friend of mine went to RCM as a recorder pupil. I find DH frustrating, he thinks it is a toot toot thing even though I play well.

When I decided I couldn't take up the oboe seriously again I bought myself a very nice tulipwood treble, or DH did, despite the price tag he still thinks it is not a serious instrument.

The tenor is my favourite but most classical recorder music is written for the treble so there is much more scope with a treble.

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TheBadgersMadeMeDoIt · 08/04/2017 14:31

Did grade 5 piano as a kid. Paused to focus on my GCSEs and didn't touch a piano again for 25 years. After expressing my regrets a few years ago, DH then bought me a piano for our 10th anniversary!

I don't think I'll ever get to the standard I used to be (and wasn't that good to begin with) but now I just play simple tunes for pleasure, and enjoy learning nursery rhymes and Disney tunes to entertain DD.

AlexandraLeaving · 08/04/2017 14:35

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AlexandraLeaving · 08/04/2017 14:37

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