Can anyone play a piano ?

lostexpectation wrote:

thebear is a woman!

If you had seen her in her togs in the full moon party you would have been in no doubt.

https://machinenation.forumakers.com/places-f1/the-changing-hut-please-put-your-togs-on-here-t619.htm

I can 'vamp' but I've never learned to play properly. I tried to get lessons when I lived in Dublin but couldn't find a teacher.

I'd dearly love to try again. Did you find it hard to practice etc, EVM?

The piano really is God's work. I have Rachmaninov's Piano Concertos on my Song Ericsson phone and listen to them pretty much every night before I go to sleep.

seinfeld wrote:

I can 'vamp' but I've never learned to play properly. I tried to get lessons when I lived in Dublin but couldn't find a teacher.

I'd dearly love to try again. Did you find it hard to practice etc, EVM?

The piano really is God's work. I have Rachmaninov's Piano Concertos on my Song Ericsson phone and listen to them pretty much every night before I go to sleep.

I absolutely adore Rachmaninoff.

WBS, it was Elementary Grade, the very first one, which was why I was crapping myself over the exam. I've done loads of academic exams over the years but I'd never felt this kind of nervousness before.

Doing the exam gave me a great boost though, and I'm on the Preliminary syllabus already, with the exam for that in December. Easy Peasy. I do think they mark the beginners easy though so as to engender some motivation.

Seinfeld, practicing was easy enough, even easier now. I'm learning along with one of my daughters and we take turns and peer-review each others playing. She's 7 !
We have a keyboard at home, which makes it a bit weird going to a proper piano at class because the key mechanics are definitely different. What is 'vamp' ?

Cookie, Awesome piece, although it got a bit broken up due to my WiFi being total crap.

And Cactus, did you have to remind me of the togs ?

EvotingMachine0197 wrote:

Cookie, Awesome piece, although it got a bit broken up due to my WiFi being total crap.

Isn't it just!

Congrats EVM and best wishes for the future. It's also wonderful that you're learning along with your daughter.
I did about 3yrs of it when I was 10/11 but had to go next door to a neighbour to practice as we didn't have a piano. Then changed school and gave it up. Funny, it's one of those things that's really niggled me in the intervening years, like "unfinished business". I think your thread here has prompted similar thoughts in a few of us.

Well, not too late for any of us... William Hague did it, Alan Rusbridger (Guardian editor) did it, EVM is doing it ...

Here's Rusbridger talking (I read the Granta article when published and almost bought a piano there and then...have still got same prob as then tho...space/lack of) -

http://www.granta.com/Magazine/76/Mozart-Not

Thanks Atticus.

Granta is wayyyyy ahead of me yet. He said 20 mins per day, I'm doing about 30, but some of that is pissing about, pretending I'm Freddie Mercury and the like !

He sounds bloody good all the same.

EvotingMachine0197 wrote:

What is 'vamp' ?

Its like playing the guitar on the piano. You just play chords at fixed rythm. Commonly heard in pubs at the business end of the evening.

Well done EVM, I hope it will bring you (and your listeners) many hours of enjoyment

cactus flower wrote:

Well done EVM, I hope it will bring you (and your listeners) many hours of enjoyment

HeeHee..listeners. I might do Slane next year.

Fair play to ye EVM - well done and keep it up

I played as a kid and teenager - not to brag but I got up as far as grade 5 before girls and soccer became more of a priority in my eyes.

One of those things on my to-do list to get back playing again in a semi serious way- I can read music and have a half decent ear - but it takes me a bit of practice and quite a few goes to get a piece of music up to a half respectable state suitable to heard outside a lunatic asylum.

My dad, on the other hand, is self taught and can listen to something on the radio and ten minutes later be playing in on the piano, or guitar or one of the squillions of keyboards he has ( my parents front room resembles Kraftwerks studio - Mother has given up and retreated to the den at the back of the house) - fecker - and my brother has inherited the genes from him.

Still - well done mate and fair play for going back as an adult - for kids it literally is childs play as they are still at the stage in their lives where they are soaking up everything without the worries and cares of the adult world.

lostexpectation wrote:

thebear is a woman!

I get that quite a bit. Fortunately, it's not often to my face.

EVM, congrats! I hope you kicked your seven-year old's ass! (not literally, that wouldn't be good)

So how's the piano playing going? Pick up any good tunes recently? Here's a handy one if you could sing too - or is this one a handy one to sing even if you couldn't sing ??

Mr. David Gray
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ekgb5oJSobU

It seems an easy enough one to play - straightforward chords and no twiddly bits.

I've got the music for This Year's Love somewhere or other but haven't really played it much. It's a gorgeous tune.

Now that the family have moved out I can get back to the early morning and late night piano in the dark and I've set up the drumkit again, which I haven't been near in ages and ages. I'm pretty awful but I like it.

Drums ? Must be a great stress reliever to do a drumroll at the top of your decibels... Your man the drummer in that Gray song went a bit mental there in the middle. He's mad as a box of frogs. I saw David Gray in the Olympia or somewhere. I'd like to see tom waits - do you think he'll be back before the grim reaper comes to get him?

Quote :

I'd like to see tom waits - do you think he'll be back before the grim reaper comes to get him?

[img(15,30)][/img]

I hope so - and if he does, I'm getting a ticket for every single night.

Max Weinberg is one of my favourite drummers - really tight and neat. I can't manage anything resembling his style.

Next exam is December.....loads of time.

TheBear wrote:

It's a point of resentment between me and my parents (though they might not be aware of the resentment), as they gave away the piano to stop me from practising. (They gave it to a family friend who was going to use it as more than a bookcase.)

I've been surrounded by more and more music since meeting my boyf, as he's involved in a music school. It's great to see people from the age of four to the age of sixty going forward for the Royal Academy exams that are on at the mo.

TheBear, you must reclaim the keys! For every ten children driven demented by practice torture there is a child who was stopped.

EvotingMachine0197 wrote:

cactus flower wrote:

Well done EVM, I hope it will bring you (and your listeners) many hours of enjoyment

HeeHee..listeners. I might do Slane next year.

How's it going EVM ? Is the auld pianee going good?

Someone just gave me a mandolin ( a modern one ) and that put me in mind of your music. In my head I'm going to just pick it up (the mandolin) and this wonderful music is going to come pouring out (clang clash clang ?).

Ohhhhh.

I can play 5 major scales now. C, G, D, A and E.

Next exam is end of November. Lots to do yet.

I'm thinking of going shopping for a proper piano in town at the weekend - currently using a keyboard . Went to Pianos Plus on M50 last saturday - €5000 minimum. no way.

Anyone got any info on second hands ?

Tynan Pianos in Rathmines sometimes deal in second hands so far as I know. They do Petrofs which are a pretty good piano - johnfás' mother swears by her Petrof!

Beyond that you can get some fairly decently priced Chinese Pianos in Waltons (Georges St) for not too expensive. You would want to sit down and have a tinkle to see what they are like though.

Finally... the absolute best place to pick up a cheap second hand piano is at a house auction. As in a situation where an elderly person had one and the family, following their death, as selling off the contents of the house. It is more a matter of chance whether you come across one of those of course!

A piano is a wonderful thing and a true investment for the rest of your life. The Steinway piano which my mother learned on is now in our possession following the death of my grandparents and it is as good today as it was 50 years ago.

i got to grade 5 before i chucked it in to play rugby. i also chucked in singing in RTEs Cor Na nOg. i regret it now, although i was reasonably successful in rugby and ventured into reffing and coaching for a few years.

we have a petrov, relatively new and the remnants of the piano we learnt on. it had "something & sons, sackville street, dublin" so probably survived independence but it didn't survive my younger brother who at age 5 picked off all the ivory on the keys and wrote in marker the key (a, b, c etc). it was an ironframed upright so with a bit of tuning is as good as it was when i played it (circa 20 years ago).

i must get back into playing, i havent sat at a piano in about 15 years i'd say!

zakalwe wrote:

i got to grade 5 before i chucked it in to play rugby. i also chucked in singing in RTEs Cor Na nOg. i regret it now, although i was reasonably successful in rugby and ventured into reffing and coaching for a few years.

we have a petrov, relatively new and the remnants of the piano we learnt on. it had "something & sons, sackville street, dublin" so probably survived independence but it didn't survive my younger brother who at age 5 picked off all the ivory on the keys and wrote in marker the key (a, b, c etc). it was an ironframed upright so with a bit of tuning is as good as it was when i played it (circa 20 years ago).

i must get back into playing, i havent sat at a piano in about 15 years i'd say!

We also have a good upright piano with keys ruinated by a three year old with a plastic hammer. There must be someone out there who would replace the veneers on the keys. Any suggestions?

I grew up under a baby grand Steinway that had belonged to my grandfather, and that almost completely filled our sitting room. It was a very good playhouse and you could twang the strings with your fingers or a stick from underneath. Men were aristocracy in my grandparents day and whilst the rest of the family lead very basic lives, the grandfather had his baby grand, record collection (classics on 78s), excellent library, good camera and attic dark room. He died before I was born, so all of these things became my playthings.

cactus flower wrote:

zakalwe wrote:

i got to grade 5 before i chucked it in to play rugby. i also chucked in singing in RTEs Cor Na nOg. i regret it now, although i was reasonably successful in rugby and ventured into reffing and coaching for a few years.

we have a petrov, relatively new and the remnants of the piano we learnt on. it had "something & sons, sackville street, dublin" so probably survived independence but it didn't survive my younger brother who at age 5 picked off all the ivory on the keys and wrote in marker the key (a, b, c etc). it was an ironframed upright so with a bit of tuning is as good as it was when i played it (circa 20 years ago).

i must get back into playing, i havent sat at a piano in about 15 years i'd say!

We also have a good upright piano with keys ruinated by a three year old with a plastic hammer. There must be someone out there who would replace the veneers on the keys. Any suggestions?

I grew up under a baby grand Steinway that had belonged to my grandfather, and that almost completely filled our sitting room. It was a very good playhouse and you could twang the strings with your fingers or a stick from underneath. Men were aristocracy in my grandparents day and whilst the rest of the family lead very basic lives, the grandfather had his baby grand, record collection (classics on 78s), excellent library, good camera and attic dark room. He died before I was born, so all of these things became my playthings.

i doubt you'll be able to replace the ivory now though.

i bought and repaired an old music centre (the size of a modern tv but looked like a piece of furniture) from the 1950s when i was about 15. my first time seeing valve technology! thankfully my dad was very experienced with it so lent a huge help. it could play 45s, 78s but not 33s. i have been buying up old 45s and 78s ever since. the sound is great in my opinion although lacks the hiss free digital precision of modern music it has every little nuance of the artists voices and instuments. it is as how it was recorded in the studio, no bits have been spliced out to make a better record.

zakalwe wrote:

cactus flower wrote:

zakalwe wrote:

i got to grade 5 before i chucked it in to play rugby. i also chucked in singing in RTEs Cor Na nOg. i regret it now, although i was reasonably successful in rugby and ventured into reffing and coaching for a few years.

we have a petrov, relatively new and the remnants of the piano we learnt on. it had "something & sons, sackville street, dublin" so probably survived independence but it didn't survive my younger brother who at age 5 picked off all the ivory on the keys and wrote in marker the key (a, b, c etc). it was an ironframed upright so with a bit of tuning is as good as it was when i played it (circa 20 years ago).

i must get back into playing, i havent sat at a piano in about 15 years i'd say!

We also have a good upright piano with keys ruinated by a three year old with a plastic hammer. There must be someone out there who would replace the veneers on the keys. Any suggestions?

I grew up under a baby grand Steinway that had belonged to my grandfather, and that almost completely filled our sitting room. It was a very good playhouse and you could twang the strings with your fingers or a stick from underneath. Men were aristocracy in my grandparents day and whilst the rest of the family lead very basic lives, the grandfather had his baby grand, record collection (classics on 78s), excellent library, good camera and attic dark room. He died before I was born, so all of these things became my playthings.

i doubt you'll be able to replace the ivory now though.

i bought and repaired an old music centre (the size of a modern tv but looked like a piece of furniture) from the 1950s when i was about 15. my first time seeing valve technology! thankfully my dad was very experienced with it so lent a huge help. it could play 45s, 78s but not 33s. i have been buying up old 45s and 78s ever since. the sound is great in my opinion although lacks the hiss free digital precision of modern music it has every little nuance of the artists voices and instuments. it is as how it was recorded in the studio, no bits have been spliced out to make a better record.

There used to be an issue with 78s and the speed they play at. Does your player get over that? I like 78s, apart from the breakability factor , but vinyl is my favourite.

I've heard you can get non-ivory veneers, but don't know who could do it.