Piano Woes

Last week was not a good week for advancing my cause in piano playing. I know this is a building process, one brick at a time a city the size of Rome, but I would like to get some good momentum before coasting.

Two days with nothing, then one night with about 20 to 30 minutes stumbling about, three days off, then another night of 30 minutes or so of bumbling. No sense of progress.

As far as getting instruction, I found a book at our library that focuses on exactly what I am interested in. Maybe. How To Play From A Fake Book by Blake Neely (keyboard edition). So far it is the Dr. Suess of chords. Tunes include Yankee Doodle, Bear Over The Mountain, Yellow Rose Of Texas, Battle Hymn Of The Republic, etc.  But these are no gimme's. Come Back To Sorrento was no picnic. The focus is chords. Covered are majors, minors, inversions, 7ths, alterations such as diminished and augmented chords, 6ths, maj 7ths. The left hand is not given too much to do. Block chords mostly, an alternating bass sometimes, a walking bass line between chords. I will work all the way thru it, or as much as possible before I have to turn it back into the library. Altho it doesn't look like it gets checked out much, and I can probably get it any time needed.

I have found some videos by a fellow named Bill Hilton that appear to be good. I will watch a few before describing them.

But for now, the only way to learn to read music is to read a lot of it, often, on a consistent basis, and use various stuff. Keep moving and don't fall backwards.

Notes To Self

Even with total dedication to daily practice and playing to improve my piano, not much is going to happen unless some sort of instruction is involved. Much like my younger brother learning Spanish, I don't want to spend a bunch of money, or any if I don't have to, so lessons are out for now. Where do I get the info, teaching, or feedback I need to learn?

I have started watching and listening to other pianists play trying to see if I can figure out some bit of technique. For example our church has a jazz pianist playing each Sunday that I've come to know. At a recent retirement party for one of the church staff he played (in combo with a saxophonist) for about an hour. I found a chair behind and to his left to observe and learn. First off his was a remarkable feat of piano playing since during most of it a dozen or more children were playing nearby and batting balloons all around him. But he carried on unaffected and marvelously.

So what did I learn? I saw lots of left handed work that was at times simple, at times complicated, chromatic runs, fingers sliding, steady fluid tempo, and great improvisation. Through it all, melody is the most important element. In short a professional using the tool of his trade.


If this were golf, I have a few thousand practice shots to hit at the practice range.

Learning to play from "Fake Books"

One of my two big piano playing goals is to be able to play from a Fake Book. This is music with simply the melody, usually on a treble clef, chords above - the pianist has to provide his own accompanyment. There's really no other way to learn how to do this other than sitting down and doing it. I have started with a collection of Beatles songs in a paperback. I know the melodies, and they are written in the key that the song is performed in. So these are not boiled down, in the key of C, big note arrangements.

Not so easy either. I enjoyed tinkering with For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite, and there are some rather tricky chords in it. Still, I can only manage blocking the chords in the left hand now.

Sightreading the melody is not such a piece of cake either, and finding the proper finger on each note is not happening with any great ease. This needs a lot of work. I forget what fingers are on what notes, look down to find out, then look back up and can't find where on the page I am playing from.

Nothing smooth, but, a few moments musical! Its like cracking a big drive on the golf course or sinking a long putt, something that makes sense, and the whole reason for doing this exercise seems worthwhile.

Piano Redux, Again

Looming in a room next to our kitchen is my upright piano. I bought it shortly after my 33rd birthday, nearly 19 years ago. I still have the urge to learn to play it. Unfortunately, other things tend to take up my time, and the piano sits largely unused. So now once again, for some reason I can't explain, I find that I want to improve my playing.

There are two simple goals I have set out for myself this time. 1) learn/memorize some short pieces that I like, maybe some I have played before and need to rework, plus new stuff; and 2) learn to play songs from "lead sheets". Its this second goal that I am most interested in.

I am going to plan, analyze, or otherwise think about my methods, successes, and failures here to keep me motivated. I want to stay with it, make progress, and improve. Even tho I am 51, soon to be 52 years of age, this is a skill I have long wanted to attain, and think I can do.