Share your piano journey

rogerch · 2024-05-27T04:39:30+00:00

This thread is for getting to know each other by sharing our piano journeys. I'm going to kick it off with a long post and I hope you will share your journey...

Gooseberry

@rogerch thanks for this thread. What beautiful stories!

I don’t have an acoustic piano, and I don’t know if I will ever have one. But here is my piano story.
When I was five I saw a piano and a person playing it at my parents friends’ house. It was a Calisia upright, a Polish piano, now discontinued. Seeing my fascination with the instrument, the pianist was so kind as to let me touch the keys and show me how to play a simple tune. It was a mind-bending experience for me and a love at first sight. Since then, for a long time there was literally nothing I wanted more than to play the piano and I begged my parents to let me.

I remember that at one point my mum took me to a music school. There were entrance exams for six-year-olds. I remember a lady who played some notes on the piano and asked me to repeat the same sounds, first by singing and then by playing them. I don’t remember much more of the exam, only the blissful feeling when I understood that I had been accepted. It ended in nothing though, because I could not have a piano at home to practise - the noise would have been unbearable to my father.

Some fifty years passed, more or less. I had not given up my dreams about playing piano, but there were other priorities in the meantime (family, work, etc.). Accidentally, I read somewhere that there were now high quality digital pianos that you could play silently with headphones on. A digital piano was a solution to my deeply rooted fear of disturbing someone with my practising. So when my husband decided to buy me my very first piano as a birthday present in 2021, I asked him to choose a digital. I know that my Yamaha CLP 735 does not compare to those beautiful grand pianos I have seen on your pictures here, but to me it is a dream come true and the most wonderful thing I have ever owned.

I am a beginner, and will always be, I suppose. I started to learn too late (at almost 60) to become anything else. But I’m fine with it, as the only thing I do care about is the complete happiness that I feel when I sit at the piano, touch the keys, make them sound, learn to play, and immerse myself in this wonderful world to which my piano has the key.

Pallas

Gooseberry I know that my Yamaha CLP 735 does not compare to those beautiful grand pianos I have seen on your pictures here, but to me it is a dream come true and the most wonderful thing I have ever owned.

Comparison is the thief of joy! I have a modest piano too, comparatively speaking, but it has a value far beyond rubies to me. ❤️ I loved reading your story. Thanks for sharing it.

Seeker

Gooseberry I am a beginner, and will always be, I suppose. I started to learn too late (at almost 60) to become anything else.
So sorry to read about the selfishness of your father and the stunting of your early development as a pianist. As for your statement that you will always be a beginner, allow me to disagree politely. If you can study with someone who really knows how to work with people in your situation (returnees after long absences, adult beginners), it is entirely possible, if you work enough at it, to train yourself to be a more than "good enough" pianist. People can and do learn things after childhood. As an example, a former romantic partner of mine had never picked up a paint brush to do anything other than paint a door. At age 30, she enrolled in courses in Chinese Brush Painting with a master. Years later her paintings are in demand and command prices in the thousands of dollars. Keep playing and enjoying that happiness you feel, the more you do it, the better you will get. Offered in a Spirit of Helpfulness and in support of your efforts.

Gooseberry

@Pallas Thank you, I loved reading your story too 💗

Stub

Rubens Bought first house, decided it needed a piano, so bought an old broken baby grand Pease from 1911,

Rubens, I have a photo graph of my grandmother holding me when I was a baby and in the background is her Pease upright.

And thank you all for the kind words. Everyone's piano journey is different, but somehow we all find our way to sitting down at the piano.

Rubens

Stub
Pease pianos are practically all destroyed by the ravages of time, sadly. I remember all the love and care I put into refurbishing mine, only to realize that the proper repairs would cost more than a new piano. But it had character, and a beautiful tone. It was from the Golden age of american piano manufacturing, where dozens (hundreds?) of makers were competing to make the best pianos. I know for sure that had my Pease been maintained properly by its previous owners it would have been a superb instrument to this day.

Cassia

For me, I had always wanted to play the piano from a very young age but I didn't have access to one until I was 7. My mom had an old upright, but it was at her parent's house a state away since our house was supposedly too small. But when I was 7, we moved to a larger house with ample room and so my mom was finally able to retrieve her piano. I was obsessed with it and begged my parents for lessons, but they said no. So I decided to teach myself. I dug through my mom's music books and found some beginner books and learned how to read music, and then I found the music for Für Elise, which I thought was the most beautiful piece ever, and I taught myself how to play it. At that point, my paternal grandmother decided that if my parents weren't going to put me in lessons, she was. She had a friend who was a piano teacher and started me with her. It wasn't a good fit - even though I was a beginner, I was already more advanced than she expected and she couldn't adapt her teaching style to my needs. Finally, my mom realized I was actually serious about playing and so she found another teacher who was a much better fit for me. I stayed with her for years, until she could no longer teach due to her old age. I had two more teachers after her, one was another poor fit and actually kind of killed my love of playing. I took about a year break from lessons at that point, and then found my fourth teacher who brought me back. I stayed with him until I moved out of state.

During this entire time, I played on that old beat up upright of my mother's. It wasn't well maintained (though it did receive regular tunings at least) and was in pretty sorry shape, but I was lucky to have it. I never would have had the opportunity to learn without it. That old Thayer will always have a special place in my heart.

JB_PT

I started guitar lessons when I was nine, but I was very drawn to piano and switched after 6 months or so. All I had at home was a cheap/small keyboard (Casio?) so I couldn't really progress too far...the following year I started learning clarinet at school and that became my focus (I still play, 37 years later).

When I was in the 7th or 8th grade the adult daughter of a family friend was leaving the state to go to law school. Her piano would be stored in a barn unless she found someone to take care of it. My mom volunteered - this is how I ended up with a huge old player piano (with the guts removed) in my bedroom for 4-5 years. I don't recall the make. I started piano lessons again but that only lasted for a year or 2. I did not have the discipline to practice much; I just wanted to play what I liked. This is why I crashed and burned as a freshman in high school when I accompanied the choir. I would procrastinate until there was no hope of learning the music in time for the concerts. It was a humiliating experience (and my own fault of course).

My grandma played piano and ukulele in a professional Dixieland jazz band. At some point in my early 20s I inherited her piano, a Kimball Artist's console from the 70s (I later got the ukulele too). It was a fugly shade of brown that just screamed 1975, but I thought the legs and music desk had a pretty design. I had that piano until 4.5 years ago. I had finally started playing/learning seriously, and I was not pleased with the bright tone or the fact that it took over 3 hours to tune and didn't STAY in tune very long. It was a difficult decision to get rid of it (just because of nostalgia), but I like to think that she would have wanted me to have a healthy instrument. So I bought a new ED Seiler upright that I love. The only issue is that the action needs to be removed and lubed every year or so because it gets creaks/squeaks when I use the sustain pedal. I need to have this done soon; I'm approaching the limit of my tolerance again. 🙉😩

Stub

Rubens
The Pease in the photo with my grandmother and me was an upright and it was a tank. A solid block of a tank. I don't know what happened to it. I have a cousin who lives in the old family home and next time I am there I will ask. Maybe it's still there??

rogerch

brdwyguy I've noticed a 'common' thread in most of the stories
Has anyone else NOTICED that most of us were taught, maybe even slightly 'forced' into playing/learning piano.
And then we all stopped playing, for some, years, for some, even decades - but we all RETURNED to playing once again.?
Just thought I would mention that, and wonder if it gave us a better appreciation/understanding of the piano playing experience. I know for me, I have a true connection with my piano now, even more than I ever have had before.
thoughts?
brdwyguy

Thanks brdwyguy! I've enjoyed reflecting on your post!

In my case I never stopped playing altogether, but I certainly had stretches of time during which I played very little. Since piano is a hobby for me, it sometimes gets set aside for the demands of family, jobs or other interests.

I sometimes wonder where my playing would be if I had continued lessons all these years and played more consistently. But I made the choices I did for good reasons. I will never regret putting piano on the back burner to give me more time and energy to spend raising my kids!

Even when I wasn't playing very much the piano sat there in my living room, patiently waiting for me. When I was too busy to play it was nice to know that one day when I was less busy I would have the piano to occupy my time and keep me learning.

My answer is that I had an appreciation of piano even when I was not playing very much. I am grateful to my parents for supporting my playing when I was a child, and I'm grateful that I've continued playing at least a little bit throughout my life. I look forward to continuing to play!

rogerch

Thank you so much everyone for posting your stories. Even you rokhead! Somehow I managed to stay awake while reading your post 🙂

twocats

brdwyguy I've noticed a 'common' thread in most of the stories
Has anyone else NOTICED that most of us were taught, maybe even slightly 'forced' into playing/learning piano.

Oh gosh. I have a lot to say about this and at one point in my childhood I hated piano so much. Don't be a tiger parent, folks! I'll share the full story some other day, there's a lot to talk about. On one hand my sister and I play well as adults, but on the other hand it really sucked to be us back then. I'm just glad I was able to reclaim piano for myself and start playing chamber music (my true love), where I feel like when you're with musicians who are on the same page and work well as an ensemble, something truly magical happens.

Animisha

When I was a teenager, my parents decided we could all play an instrument. I chose the guitar, and I had lessons that were so bad that the teacher should have paid me instead. After a year of not learning much, I quit.
My sister had chosen the organ (a precursor to a digital piano) and I had taught myself some pieces, the most difficult one was the exposition to the Entertainer. Whenever I saw a piano, I played this piece.

Slowly, slowly, as I moved through middle age, a wish to learn to play the piano started to grow in me. During a Christmas dinner at work, I told a colleague that I would buy a piano when I had retired. -Why wait? she said, and when I told my husband, he immediately went online and found me a Casio Px150. I found Alfred's and started to practise on my own. I didn't think I needed a teacher. I could figure out myself when to play which note! 😉

My work was very stressful, and I was too tired to practise much. Still, I made some progress and gradually, I started to wonder why everything I played sounded so ugly. I understood that I did need a teacher after all, and started with Peery on Artist works, and then with Piano Career Academy. I acquired Pianoteq, Kawai VPC1, new monitors, and I am still very happy with my set-up.

After PCA's curriculum, I wanted to choose my own pieces, and I got a private teacher. I have just changed to a new teacher. I am now early retired, and I practise 1-2 hours most days, except when we go out for a day trip. I am not much bothered about progress as in reaching higher levels, but very much interested in learning to play as beautifully and expressively as I can.

Bellyman

The short version...

Started pickin' out tunes on the piano at around age 5. Started lessons around age 6. Didn't initially like it all that well but someone gave me an old piano book of Mozart and I started pickin' stuff out of that. Teacher caught me doing it and we started into a more classical push. Practiced a lot of hours and it made a difference.

Played in church from about the age of 10 or so. Conservative, hymns mostly. Went to church schools through 12th grade and continued with lessons. Had a piano scholarship if I'd wanted it but declined, had other things I wanted to do. I got bored with classical. I felt like I was playing in a box all of the time and got scolded if I played something differently because I liked a chord with an added 9th or 13th or flat 5 or something else because that's NOT the way they wrote it. Screw that. (Sorry. I just needed more than just verbatim of what someone played 150 years ago and people repeat over and over and over and over and over even today.)

Joined a contemporary gospel band shortly after HS, and one of the names would be known by most everyone. Really just didn't like the music. (Still don't like contemporary gospel.)

Continued to play in church, sometimes piano, sometimes organ, up until about 5 years or so ago when I finally had enough with that particular church (some would say "cult") and have not been a part of church music since. (Long story, not really appropriate for this forum.) Most notable, and the last years of the significant church stuff, was probably a stint in New Orleans where I got to romp on an old Allen organ week after week. The local culture allowed even a conservative atmosphere to approach what might be "roller skating rink music", Cajun style, so long as it was a hymn tune. LOL!! Also got to play along side of a notable piano/organ player (Preservation Hall Jazz Band) numerous times, enjoyed that. He's a nice guy and I appreciated the time spent. A move to TN about 10 years ago put me in a much different atmosphere and I did play some church stuff, along with a band of sorts here but not the same. Much more of a bluegrass bend, which was OK. But that ended when I dumped the church denomination. Never picked up anywhere else church wise as most everyone is Bethel and Hillsong, which as I mentioned, I don't like, it's like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.

Started playing with a jazz group about 2 years ago. Some real sleazy stuff going on behind the scenes and I just didn't wanna be a part of that. Several of that band left at the very beginning of '23 for the same reason including the drummer that is now the head of our current thee piece band. Playin' some jazz now and enjoying it, meeting new people and playing on a few stages that are significant, at least locally, and along side of some people who actually travel in music circles in Nashville. Seeing where it all goes. Still learning new tunes and new riffs as I go.

I sometimes think I'd like to take some more lessons but have not found someone I think could really help me on my journey. I do watch YouTube tutorials and sometimes pick up something interesting. And I'm often asked if I give lessons. Nope. I'd be a lousy teacher. LOL!

rogerch

I found this picture of me playing the piano with my grandmother when I was two!

This may have been the start of my piano journey!

Animisha

This is a lovely thread! I would lose focus if I would read them all at once, so I keep it open, and every once in a while I read someone's story. So interesting. 🙂

SouthPark

brdwyguy I've noticed a 'common' thread in most of the stories
Has anyone else NOTICED that most of us were taught, maybe even slightly 'forced' into playing/learning piano.
And then we all stopped playing, for some, years, for some, even decades - but we all RETURNED to playing once again.?

In general there might be a pattern! For me - a bit different. My folks just wanted to give us a way to develop our brain or something, and maybe build up a bit of self-esteem and confidence. Basically some sort of development. I'm super glad and happy that they did get me to piano lessons with a local teacher, who is no longer 'with us' for quite a while now - but I can say she is an excellent person. Excellent. She was my only piano teacher (as in formal lessons teacher, as I had always said that we also learn from the teachers that wrote books and made video lessons, and wrote/composed music that taught me directly and indirectly - even listening to or looking at compositions had people teaching us something). She started me off with piano. It was great.

And because I just love music - no matter what, and just love pianos of any sort --- I just keep learning and playing. I have never taken a break from playing piano in my whole life. Actually - the only times - which isn't a 'break' as such, is when I'm on holidays - as in traveling - away from home. That's when I don't play any piano. And that's fine, as we have developed to a stage where the music is in us. And we just need the music in us in order to then generate the music whenever we get to hop on a piano next - at any time.

Also .... importantly, people returning to playing piano after a relatively long time ... that is excellent.

Sophia

What a delightful thread! I can't believe I missed it until now. I'm still trying to get used to not having to stay in just the adult kiddie corner any longer 🙂

I guess my story is rather short, because there really isn't much to tell. I grew up in an artistic family. One of my aunts was a ballerina, another a piano/harpsichord teacher, my uncle artist/painter, my dad a clarinettist/teacher/world champion harmonica, my mom violinist/pianist, etc. From a very young age I realized that I could probably never match any of them, so why even bother. I stubbornly refused to learn any instrument seriously - though I did enjoy noodling around at the piano or guitar every now and then.
Of course I was silly enough to marry into a family of artists because why stop at putting up with just my own family being artistic, right? 😹 On my husband's side I could add professional stage and film actors, playwright, opera singer, pipe major/flamenco guitarist, organ builder, famous poet and writer to my list of people I could never live up to.

Now that I'm no longer young and not feeling the need to prove anything to anybody or live up to any expectations, I started to eye up the lovely Clavinova that was doing nothing in the basement. I started playing (again) in January, signed up for another forum to stay motivated (and hopefully motivate others), and now moved across to this one because all my new piano friends did 🙂

The rest, hopefully, is future history! And the story turned out to be longer than I thought 😃

SouthPark

I see a cat pattern here hehe. It looks like a lot have in common ... the wonderful cat(s).

gingercat link

We can set up a different thread for cats and other pets of us piano players! Anybody know if the 'meta' area ... currently says 'anything else' is a place where we can have those threads?

Pallas

SouthPark
I made this thread: https://forum.pianotell.com/d/768-ot-show-us-your-pet-photos

Want to repost your kitty photo there?

thepianoplayer416

At age 5 the family had a Yamaha upright at home. Mom got me & my sister a teacher. After trying lessons for a month, the piano was out of the house. Mom thought that nobody in the family had the talent for music.

At age 11 a cousin who had lessons for at least a year got me to try songs in a beginner book. The hands coordination wasn't there.

In my school years learned violin in strings class with others playing violin, viola, cello & bass. Didn't touch a keyboard until I decided to get one around 35. The first was a Yamaha PSR (61 keys) with a floppy drive. People used to carry floppy disks for storing computer files but not anymore. After a few years the keyboard broke down and I switched to a second hand Roland with 76 keys. The keys was semi-weighted but close to the feel of piano keys. The keyboard lasted for a few years and started to have problems so got a new Yamaha P-125.

For the past decade I started with beginner books without a teacher and eventually got a teacher from a local conservatory.

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