When Summer arrived, all of a sudden there was a lot time less for indoor activities. Because you know.....homesteading, home improvent, lockdowns were lifted and life got in the way. And what is the first activity to drop then? Yup, the one you are not that good in as yet. Because it still needs practise...and a lot!
But here we are again, I got back a little bit on the piano today.
I think it had been literally an a month at least and maybe even two months before I had touched the piano for the last time again. In that phase I was playing some Alan Walker, some Radiohead, and some Nirvana from where I was especially proud of the Radiohead song. I sounds recognisable, you can hear it needed some effort from me, but the end result is hearing a song that you actually know.
A friend of mine said to me...'is that all you know now after half a year?' and it was kind of demoralising. And then Summer came...you know when came next right?
So today I gave the girl a good old swing again for the first time. I didn't even continue in my course as yet, but when back to the basics to get a little bit of the self confidence and the finger movement back in there. Especially the right hand was cramping, and when the left hand needed to play a lead chord...that didn't sound how it supposed to at all.
Back to the practise table again.
Pixabay
The whole thing with piano is just really not only reading the sheet music, but getting the muscle memory in there. Your hands need to know where to go to without too much of an effort of getting the fingers in place. And that is just doing it over and over.
You know how blind typing works on your computer? You don't really think about it, right? Well that is how playing piano should also be, but the reality is that it is just not as yet hahah.
So I went back to playing some all time favorites which were good for the confidence. 'My Way' from Frank Sinatra was the easiest one dropping by, and the cool thing is you can break it don in multiple forms with the 'Simply Piano' app. One has more the focus on the leading hand on the left with chords, and another lesson has more the focus on the the melody on the right. 'Dont know why' from Nora Jones passed by, as well as some Bastille. Even 'the Scientist' from Coldplay was back again, a song that I really want to learn to play in the extended version.
Again I started out in the more simple forms to work back on the confidence, and I was a bit surprised on how easy the fingers went back to the normal spots in some forms, allthough the chords needed really some practise.
Pixabay
I played with open doos and headphones on, which was an eyeopener because I wasn;t that inspired to play with good weather and the doors opened (due to how sucky my practise skills sound), but with the headphones on was actually a really addition.
I would say I found the piano back after a bit, and surely in the near future you will get some decent videos from me again. YAY!
Maybe I should be using my headphones... I have an old acoustic piano and an electronic one. Which one I prefer, changes. When they're both on a wooden floor, I prefer the electronic one, but when it's on carpet I prefer the acoustic. The lockdown has been great for playing but I feel kind of the same, like I haven't learned enough, and yeah, probably because I'm a touch typist so I have big expectations.
Funny how you take the floor as a referation to which one you want to play. I haven't thought about it like that at all in that way :)
I have an accoustic one that I ha a silent system let put in, which is awesome. So all of a sudden headphones is an option, but still it is the classical one when you want to! The lockdown was awesome for these type of things indeed.
Are you such a perfectionist when it comes to this? Any videos online? Im curious hehe
On my acoustic piano, I hear the sound coming from under the piano. On the electronic one, it comes through speakers that are angled back at me but there is still some bouncing of the sound off the hardwood. That's lost with the carpet.
I'm not a perfectionist but I have a goal of playing with others which I have done about a 1/2 dozen times now pre-covid. And I want to sing and play together but it was easier to start by separating them so I also sang about 1/2 dozen times in public. There is one video on Facebook of me playing 'The Girl from Ipanema' as my piano teacher sings it in French.
I am going to take a peek and see if I can find it hahahah.
I get you with the carpet situation which is like the max sound absorber. it does make a big difference. So much to think about still to actually get the sound perfect.
For me that phase is still far away and it is more on getting the keys right and actually playing the song right, versus exactly how the sound is. That is for later heheh
Oh, believe me, I'm still trying to hit the right keys too! lol
I listen piano but never play
You should give it a try honestly! It is fun to do!
Yaah
Yay! 🤗
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