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.

The uke sounds like fun.

@LilaGrace I had absulutely no idea about the relationships between scales, chords and modes until I learned jazz. Then the scales literally fell from my eyes. How the actual F did I not know, after 5 years of learning piano?

Music makes much more sense now.

I remember scales/chords/arpeggios just in that my fingers know where to go and that is sounds right - I’d be hard pushed to quickly write/say the letter names down with all the right sharps/flats/naturals, but, I can play them, one octave each at least. It’s really weird! My plan is to gradually refamiliarise myself with each key in turn by learning pieces I enjoy in each key and focusing on the corresponding scale/arpeggios etc at the same time. Maybe even explore inversions and dominant/diminished sevenths etc a bit - I must have worked on those for grade 7 back in the day but I really can’t remember them - maybe that’s why I failed

I think digital + grand is the dream isn’t it. One for looking/sounding/feeling/being gorgeous, and the other for silent/quiet convenience.

@SingToTheSky I remember enjoying some Clementi, not played any Kuhlau before. Looks like Clementi sonatinas are grade 5+, Kuhlau’s Four Sonatinas op88 are grades 4-6 maybe I’ll look into them when I’m back into the swing of things. Just asked Spotify to play some now and they sound lovely!

I have come across IMSLP but like you @broccolibush I really do just prefer a proper printed book, it seems useful for looking at things to see if I want to play them, but a lot of them are scans of very old editions and just not as nice to read as the modern edited versions.

@Buggerthebotox I know what you mean about jazz- and I like playing some jazz scales too. It's so interesting how that jazz sound can be produced by a certain formula. My teacher did a bit of improvisation with me using a pentatonic scale the other day and it definitely made me want to explore jazz more.
@LemonViolet I never got as far as dominant and diminished sevenths- what exactly are they and when are they used? Arpeggios I find are useful for finger strength and for practising odd finger positions- I try and do them straight after the corresponding scale but mine are definitely not as fast as they need to be for grade 5!
Your digital piano sounds great and I like the fact it has different sounds. Does it feel like a piano to play, in terms of the key weight? I'm slowly talking myself into one, though not sure I can justify a digital, upright and the future grand!

Yup, the weighted keys means it feels ‘real’. I tried it with the weighting switched off and it felt really weird like someone had cut all the strings! I don’t know what the keys are made off but they feel really nice, not plasticky at all.

@LemonViolet: do you have Bluetooth? I think I may have the same model as you, but an older non-Bluetooth version. I love mine too.

Yes, she does have Bluetooth, although I confess I don’t really know what I’d use that for!

Serenissima21, yes, me!

So many that need polishing.

I went back to the piano after too many decades to mention, having only ever passed grade 2 when I was 10, and having hardly touched a piano since.

So I more or less had to start again from scratch, with the help of Carol Barratt’s Classical course for adults.

After a year or so of working on my own, I joined a group class at the local Ed. college. That worked for a few years, during which time I moved from the intermediate group to the advanced - I use the term loosely! We ranged from about G3 standard to G8.

However life, new grandchildren and then COVID intervened. I was playing roughly G5 standard pieces, with the odd G6 if I really liked it and it didn’t look too daunting.

But I’ve been sadly neglectful lately - must get stuck in again, with a duster and the Mr Muscle, so to speak.

I’d started off with a very basic old keyboard, but then my dh, meaning so well but sadly clueless, bought me a very old upright as a present, without asking. The cabinet is very beautiful wood, but the tone was tinny, and the tuner I had to call in straightaway said it was more or less on its last legs.

Since I still loved the look of it, I had it converted to a digital by Vale pianos - they replaced the innards with a good Kawai - from the outside you can’t tell the difference, the tone is miles better, and the new pedals don’t squeak. There’s also the option of playing with headphones, but I’ve found the volume control to be enough.

One piece I love and keep going back to, but have never stuck at long and hard enough, is Schumann’s Von Fremden Landern und Menschen. Maybe this thread will inspire me to get it under my fingers at last.🤞

@LemonViolet which model did you go for?

@LemonViolet a Bluetooth headphone. Then you don’t have to worry about the cable.

Ohhhh. Then I’d have to buy Bluetooth headphones tho

Kdp120 I think? Not high end or anything. But within budget and impressive enough for me.

@LemonViolet thanks
I’ve just googled your piano and there is a deal on gears4music which includes a stool and I could have it by Tuesday! I’ll test my fingers out first then might order it

I def don’t need high end, just playing for my own enjoyment up in my spare bedroom

I have a Yamaha digital piano, but have been wanting to upgrade it for a while (it’s at least 15 years old and sometimes sounds too electronic to me).

I’m interested in the hybrids. Realistically I’m not going to be able to try them out in real life - we don’t live anywhere near a suitable shop.

Are the hybrids all very similar? Which do people recommend? All advice welcome.

(I will have a budget, but not going to say as I’ll look at any suggestions or ideas put forward). Thank you

@fflonkl
Thanks for the 100 day challenge info. 1 Aug seems an auspicious day to start and 100 days should take me just about to my anticipated exam date. This was perfectly timed motivation thanks.

@ChildrenGrowingUpTooFast
Thanks also for the link to the chord playing - really interesting and something clicked a little when reading it. I need to look again with the piano, but this is quite exciting thank you!

@How2Help have you chosen the pieces for the g8 exam yet?

I do like the idea of working towards exams. I can imagine the sense of achievement in getting the grades I didn’t get first time around.

Today at work I had the Bach invention in C major that I’ve been practicing as an earworm

Yep I am doing the old syllabus (should have ended in March but extended to end of 2021 due to covid). This also means I am doing the old scales syllabus which I think is more onerous. I’m determined to do it as I feel it’s truer to the one I never took when I was a teenager. But if I fail I’ll gladly resit using the newer requirements .

I am doing:
Bach Sarabande and Gigue: 4th and 6th movts from English Suite No. 2 in A minor, BWV 807 (normally love playing Bach - find this uninspiring!).

Mozart Rondo (Allegretto): 3rd movt from Sonata in F, K. 533 (it’s ok but not showcase Mozart and it is looong and I struggle a lot).

Mason Lullaby, Op. 10 (love this!)

I like the focus of working towards grade 8 - feels like the last piece of the jigsaw. No idea what I’ll do if I ever pass it!

A Bach invention was the first thing I properly worked on when I started again. There are worse earworms!

@How2Help I just went back and read your earlier posts- when you restarted learning four years ago, did you sit the grade 4 exam? Or start at grade 4 playing level and take exams later? How have you found all the other aspects of the exams- the sight reading, singing etc? And have you taken any theory exams in the last four years- or was your historic grade 5 theory enough to get you through the later grades?
I'm interested to know how you practise and what your teacher focuses on during lessons? And if you feel having lessons has given you push to keep going with exams.
My teacher told me she had a student once who, when asked what he played for fun, said he didn't understand the concept of playing for fun. He played to achieve grade 8 and beyond. While that sounds extreme (!) I recognised some of the feeling of needing the focus and goal of the exam to keep going, especially at times when piano playing is hard to fit in with life. So I'm full of admiration that you've got to grade 8 after a long break- and hope I can do the same.

It’s here! 😊😍💕. I’m definitely just playing for fun as I’m a long way a way from any kind of exam standard. I’ve started again with Grade 1 pieces - at the moment Let it Be and a little bit of right hand playing for Do you want to build a snowman and Can you feel the love. My nieces are coming round at the weekend so I might play with those a bit more. Absolutely loving the piano and I was right to go with it, it will suit my needs perfectly.

Yay! Welcome to the new piano club!

I’m really happy how a little bit each day my fingers are finding their way back to knowing what to do. It’s kinda fascinating exploring the muscle memory.

I couldn’t sleep last night so did some playing at half two in the morning. Yay for digital and headphones! Played a few more pieces from Romantic Sketchbook 2 (g3-4) which spurred me to order some more music by the same composers I was enjoying in that book……why is it so easy to do Amazon orders in the middle of the night!

This thread is so lovely 🥰 I haven’t been able to play today, I’m itching to!

@Undervaluedandsad which piano did you go for in the end?

www.gear4music.com/Keyboards-and-Pianos/DP-6-Digital-Piano-Bench-Pack-by-Gear4music/1UU5

I went for the one I linked to up thread. I don’t think I’ll play enough to justify £800+ and I suspect the piano I had as a child wasn’t that great anyway so I’m not used to practising on quality. It has weighted keys which I love and totally loving the headset. I’m already playing so much better when I know no-one else can hear. No regrets.

I’m already playing so much better when I know no-one else can hear.
Yes! Me too! It gives me extra confidence and then my playing just goes to another level.

@undervaluedandsad Brilliant! I hope it brings you many happy hours of music! 😊

Ha- I totally get that! I always feel really self conscious for the first few minutes of playing until I've warmed up. Not a problem I'd have with a digital piano.....!