A piano buddy!

Following a successful meeting with proposed piano teacher friend Caroline last week, it turns out I have gained myself a piano buddy instead. We have agreed that the best arrangement for both of us would be to meet every week to play for each other. This way we both get the benefit of a regular session for which we need prepare a piece/or pieces thereby ensuring the establishment of a solid and properly learned repertoire.
I have gained such a lot more confidence from having successfully played for Caroline and also thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity just to talk piano with someone. I was stoked that she took home 2 of the pieces I had played for her as she liked them so much. A really positive step to have taken and and I am so looking forward to this weeks session.

Lessons!

After more than a year of directing my piano journey alone, I have approached a former flautist musical duo partner and colleague from the now defunct Fremantle Music School, Caroline Blumer, to give me some guidance. Interestingly, I found her pic on the Simply Music website. This seems to be a most successful approach to teaching piano and funnily enough mimics, to some degree, the way I have approached it myself over the last year. However, I think I need to be reined in a little to be honest and to get some fundamentals in place. I am a bit nervous to tell the truth and am currently preparing 3 disparate pieces to present to her so she has some basis from which to decide what to do with me. Been such a longtime since I have been a student that although I am looking forward to it, I am also feeling some trepidation. I'll let you know how it goes for sure!

D Scarlatti K 380

One of my favourite Scarlatti Sonatas that I used to play on the guitar and now I am starting to learn to play on the piano.

The Brightcecilia forum

Whilst researching clavichords, I discovered Ryan Layne Whitney had created a video playing Telemann Fantasias on an Epinette.


As I am trying to improve my keyboard sight reading, I am always on the look out for what I call sight reading fodder and the Fantasias looked ideal. So as is my way, I went on a search for them and lo and behold found that a wonderful person known as Philidor on the Brightcecilia forum had been painstakingly re-engraving an original 1923 Urtext publication. You can get the first 12 without joining the forum but if you want to get your grubby little mitts on the rest of them you will have to register.

The Clavichord

I was cruising around on the internet recently when I came across teafruitbat's youtube site. He has created a wonderful array of videos (258) of his playing many of which are on original keyboard instruments. It is the clavichord that particularly caught my interest as it has such a unique sound and is portable.
I would really like to have a non electrified keyboard instrument but a piano is too loud for my current living circumstances so a clavichord fits the bill beautifully as the 61 note version can play all of Mozart's work and Beethoven's up to 1801!
I am particularly fond of Renaissance and Baroque music and on the clavichord it sounds wonderful.

So I am thinking "One could probably build a clavichord so there have got to be plans/kits available?".

Amongst the many fascinating sites I found, my research discovered the Renaissance Workshop Company that sells kits for all manner of original instruments and another that shows step by step pictures of Kenneth Sparr constructing a clavichord at the now discontinued annual instrument building course in Marholmen in Sweden.

Do I have the patience?

It's been a year now.............

........since I made the decision to take a major change of direction musically and learn to play the piano. Never too late as they say! It is not a decision I have regretted for the piano has now become an important part of my daily life. I am pleased with what I have achieved and learnt in this first year and look forward to what I may have accomplished at the end of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th........etc!! Here is a recording I made yesterday of a standard blues piano impro in the key of C using a split keyboard to handle the bass with an onboard drum backing. Apologies for the slightly ropy quality.

'Play as if you could not speak!'