So when I was young I took piano lessons. (I have a good mother.) In high school I gave it up for homework, and didn't have the opportunity to practice in college. After that, I didn't have a piano.
I have one again! And I'm learning a few new things. For instance, the reach from G to D in the left hand isn't as far as I thought it was. I guess my hands are bigger now? Surely the keys aren't smaller. Also, when I was young we had a wind-up metronome, the old-fashioned kind with the key on the back. Now I have an electronic one (it came with the piano) and what I thought was the swift winding down of the old metronome turns out to be my own wacky sense of timing. I can go along steadily for a while, but then I want it to speed up - I feel like the same gap of silence lasts longer than it should. Weird.
And finally, I've learned that my piano teachers were right. What chagrine I feel! One of my teachers angrily marked out any fingering notes (the little numbers beneath the musical notes in some places) because I would _always_ stumble at them. My fingering instincts are odd, I guess. Also, I cheated for a while when I was a little kid and didn't read notes, just fingering numbers. I find now that I have to go along and mark out any fingering numbers because they mess me up - even if they're the fingering method I prefer.
That same teacher would snap at me if I glanced down at the keyboard because, she said, I always messed up when I tried to look at the keys instead of the music. I didn't believe her. But here I am today, looking down at the keys to do a difficult part and messing up on it - when I do just fine if I keep looking at the music.
I'm sorry, Ms. Clark, for all the mean things I thought about you and what you were telling me. You knew I'd learn you were right someday.
Books: Maybe tonight I'll finish that chapter....
I have one again! And I'm learning a few new things. For instance, the reach from G to D in the left hand isn't as far as I thought it was. I guess my hands are bigger now? Surely the keys aren't smaller. Also, when I was young we had a wind-up metronome, the old-fashioned kind with the key on the back. Now I have an electronic one (it came with the piano) and what I thought was the swift winding down of the old metronome turns out to be my own wacky sense of timing. I can go along steadily for a while, but then I want it to speed up - I feel like the same gap of silence lasts longer than it should. Weird.
And finally, I've learned that my piano teachers were right. What chagrine I feel! One of my teachers angrily marked out any fingering notes (the little numbers beneath the musical notes in some places) because I would _always_ stumble at them. My fingering instincts are odd, I guess. Also, I cheated for a while when I was a little kid and didn't read notes, just fingering numbers. I find now that I have to go along and mark out any fingering numbers because they mess me up - even if they're the fingering method I prefer.
That same teacher would snap at me if I glanced down at the keyboard because, she said, I always messed up when I tried to look at the keys instead of the music. I didn't believe her. But here I am today, looking down at the keys to do a difficult part and messing up on it - when I do just fine if I keep looking at the music.
I'm sorry, Ms. Clark, for all the mean things I thought about you and what you were telling me. You knew I'd learn you were right someday.
Books: Maybe tonight I'll finish that chapter....
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