Does anyone fancy a piano chat thread?

[LemonViolet]

I’m awaiting delivery of a new piano, squeee!!! I haven’t played regularly for 20 years. I got to grade 6 as a teen, failed grade 7, carried on tinkering for a bit but have not really lived anywhere with a piano since age 18 so am well out of practice.

Whilst I hope/plan to put a baby grand in our front room, once it is done up - which may be some time - at the weekend I just realised, what am I waiting for, I want a digital anyways for playing at less sociable hours, so went ahead and ordered myself a nice Kawai digital and it arrives on Friday!!!

There’s a music chat thread on the extracurricular board but that’s more parents discussing their offsprings’ exploits, I have seen on the music board it’s quite pianissimo but there clearly are other grown up women around here playing/learning/relearning piano for our own pleasure, entertainment, therapy etc! So thought I’d post to see if anyone else is interested in hanging out on a piano thread to chat about our piano journeys, successes and failures, pieces we like, what we’re practicing etc?

It could be called the piano bar or the pianist beaker, seeing as this is MN

If there is one I’ve just failed to find, please point me in that direction.

[quote LemonViolet]@CoffeeBeansGalore definitely second the recommendation to do some music theory books. About 12 years ago I taught myself clarinet for a year, then had fortnightly lessons for a few months and passed grade 3, but didn’t keep it up after a house move (and a first lesson with a new teacher who was discouragingly dismissive of what I’d achieved). I did some of Paul Harris “Improve Your Theory” workbooks at that point and found them really helpful. Obviously ABRSM have their own theory books too. But doing the exercises on paper definitely helped me consolidate my understanding of it all. When I learned as a child, my teacher would make me do the theory exam for each grade a term before doing the practical. PITA at the time but in retrospect I am grateful as I have/had a really solid grounding now.

@Undervaluedandsad ha sorry for being a “bad” influence!!!! What I’m most looking forward to about playing this time around is playing what I want to play not what someone sets me to play. Of course we practice things if we are intrinsically motivated to do them for our own enjoyment and sense of achievement rather than someone else telling us to.[/quote]
You’ve just swayed me towards doing something I’ve been thinking about for a while. I’ve worked a lot of extra hours over the last year so this is a treat for myself. Excited!!!

SHE’S HERE!!!!

The box is MASSIVE

DP hasn’t left for his shift yet. He’s not allowed to until he’s helped me move her upstairs :-)

Good luck getting it upstairs. I had to get mine up two flights of stairs into a small flat. Not easy but we managed.

Exciting lemon!

So inspired by this thread I decided to actually try and play piano for a bit before my meeting this morning.

But I stupidly was pressing the pedal when I plugged it in and now, just like the manual warned not to 😭 and now it’s reversed (so it’s sustaining everything unless I press it).

I did the same again as recommended from a Google search, but it didn’t work. And there is no factory reset button.

What do I doooo 😭 (it’s a Yamaha p45)

Actually I only tried it with switching it on rather than plugging it in again so I’ll try that later. Got my meeting now.

I am such a muppet. Really shouldn’t be doing stuff that requires brain function before my meds kick in 🤣😳 (I have adhd)

She’s so beautiful!!! And she sounds and feels just like an acoustic. And apparently I can play the first few bars of Fur Elise, who knew.

I have to drive DP to work now cos I’ve made him too late to get the bus

@LemonViolet: we ARE having a pic, I assume?

@SingToTheSky: good luck. Yamaha have a product support facility I think?

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Looks lovely! I am excited for you. 😂

Are you brave enough to give us a demonstration, @LemonViolet?

Lovely @LemonViolet you lucky thing! And probably worth the slight inconvenience of driving DH to work

Hi everyone. It's heartwarming to see so many people coming back to their music practice after decades without I did just that, returning to the piano +30 years after I last played it as a preteen, when I was stuck home with an injury.

In the 6 years that followed, I entered our local Conservatoire as an adult student for the Harpsichord, an early keyboard instrument, and just passed to 3ème Cycle which I hear is equivalent to 7th or 8th Grade. I now play both the piano and the harpsichord, and I love them both. I also did 3 years of music theory so far, and discovered that I love singing in the 4-part adult choir of the Conservatoire.

Music has brought so much joy into my life Don't give up - you'll see that it soon gets much easier. Practice the music that you love so that it never feels like work.

I'd love to join. Did Grade 6 as a teen, then 30 years later I did grades 7 (got a shock distinction!) and grade 8 in 2019. But I've found it hard to play now I don't have a "goal" , and played very little during the stressful lockdowns with the kids. Definitely here for some inspiration 😊!!

Oh she’s so pretty lemon 🥰

Phew panic over - I left the piano off while I had my meeting and thank goodness it seems to have reset itself! Epic relief!

Although annoyingly I now don’t have enough time to actually play because we are going out. How rude!!! I’ll make sure I play later today.

Another question - sorry if I’ve missed discussion already it seems to be a fast moving thread! How do you clean a digital piano? This one didn’t come with a cover so it’s getting dusty, obviously the surface is easy to clean but I do worry about dust getting in between the keys etc. Any thoughts? Should I actually be covering it with a blanket?!

Beautiful LemonViolet! Hope you have many years making music with her!

So pretty @LemonViolet. Fur Elise will be my test bars as well 😂

Lovely piano you lucky thing, lemon! I currently have a Casio Previa digital piano, weighted keys. It’s pretty good. I rented it during lockdown 2, and I can now buy it at a knockdown price so, inspired by this thread, I think I’m going to do that.

And I am loving the joy people are taking in music. Very heartening.

Thank you for the recommendations. I will look into ABRSM.

@LemonViolet I wish you many years of fun & happiness with your piano!

@lemonviolet that's very exciting ! What does it sound like ?

Can any of you lovely pianistas recommend a sight reading course/app / book please ?

@LemonViolet it look so lovely
@SingToTheSky can you sew? I made a cover following this YouTube video

lemonViolet you are going to have so much fun with your new piano.

I’ve just had a piano lesson - I’m learning Bettina’s Polka by Smetana and ‘December’, a lovely waltz from Tchaikovsky’s ‘The Seasons’.

The polka is harder than it looks but it’s lots of fun.

Been lurking for a while and have NC-ed to join in with the piano chat.

I am like many of you: Grade 8 at school, drifted on and off playing for years. I have a Bechstein I have lugged around different homes and towns.

But I have only been practising daily since lockdown started. Reminding myself of the joy of piano has been by far the biggest (thickest?) silver lining of this entire rubbish year. And practising regularly has made the world of difference to my sight-reading too.

I just wish I could get myself into more of the classics. Beyond my Rach Prelude in C# minor and a piano version of Nimrod, I will admit to mostly playing the soundtracks to The Piano and Phantom of the Opera . My lucky neighbours!

I don't know anyone in real life who plays piano so joining here for some piano chat. With thanks to the OP for starting this.

Does anyone find it really hard to polish pieces? I have so many that I can almost play!