Piano. Not “forte”… yet

Late last year I discovered that I have quite a number of hobbies. Coincidence or not, all of them are of the “outdoor” type. And I discovered that during the severe weather conditions – wet / snowy, cold and windy – I’m stuck inside with not much to do. And it annoyed me.

I like music. I like it a lot. I used to listen to a bunch of vinyl records when I was a kid – on an old, tube-based Telefunken radio and record player, something similar to this Mozart FA-1886. (The records are still there, although seldom used these days.) I remember that I was a bit envious on others who could play an instrument, any instrument. And I wished I could play one too. Unfortunately – or, maybe, not… – my parents never thought about putting me up to study an instrument. So I decided that since I know a piano teacher, why not give it a try? Yes, I know, a guitar is lighter than a piano – so you can carry it with you if you like – but I’m not much of a traveler, so piano is equally good. And, more important, I know a piano teacher, not a guitar one. So I decided to ask.

Luckily, I got a positive answer. Irina also helped me make a decision regarding my instrument – it wasn’t much to decide though, given that a decent electronic piano starts at around 500 EUR – and I ended up with a reasonable Thomann SP 5500. I expect it to be enough, at least for a few years, especially since I’m not planning to perform for a living. And I started studying.

Playing blindly by the ear (i.e. hitting imaginary keys, where you think they are, in order to generate the sound you’re listening to) is not a problem. The real problem comes when you try to generate the correct sounds, with the right power, in the right order (remember that a piano is a percussion instrument, so it’s important to hit the keys with the appropriate amount of force, right?). And as simple as some people – like Sergiu – make it seem, it is really hard, and it takes hours and hours of exercise. So I exercise…

One thing I must really agree with is that, regardless of the current trends, where anyone thinks he can learn anything remotely or by self study, learning how to play a musical instrument is best with a teacher. Your teacher will correct your mistakes, like the posture, the hand / fingers movements, playing habits and so on. Ignore these and sooner or later they will backfire at you. And now I understand my parents’ apriori dismissal of this idea: it is a hard work, you need to practice constantly (at least every other day) or you will get nowhere – and they knew that, as a kid, I was not exactly the most sedulous one, so that piling up another task on my list would have had very negative consequences for my other studies. So you cannot imagine my surprise when I asked my father, a couple of months ago, “Why didn’t you put me up to study a musical instrument?” and he replies “Well, I thought you don’t have a musical aptitude.” That one, despite the fact that I sang in a school chorus for a couple of years…

And yes, that was the only space we could fit the piano into. Fortunately it is quite easy to put it aside if we need to make some room in the room. And next to us is the fuselage of my Acromaster electric air model…