Playing (at) the piano
Oct. 27th, 2003 11:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rscOne of the things I planned on doing when I retired, 5+ years ago, was to get back to playing the piano seriously and regularly. I took piano lessons (classical) from when I was five until partway through college, and I think I got to be pretty good somewhere along there (although I was never anywhere within hail of being able to play professionally). Since then I've kept it up sporadically, but after I started taking voice lessons I found myself playing the piano less and less -- when I had the time and energy for serious musical work I generally put it into singing.
But once I stopped working I figured I'd have time to do both. My piano technique had suffered considerably from neglect, of course, but I decided to start with some of the late Brahms pieces that I'd been playing since my teens and get them back into shape. After that I started to work on a Beethoven sonata (Op. 31, #3, in case you're interested) that I'd kind of stumbled through at various intervals but never really worked on.
Since then it's been both rewarding and frustrating. I'm not quite motivated enough to do any systematic exercises, without which I'll probably never quite get up to the level of some of the pieces I'm working on -- maybe I wouldn't anyway, at my age. A couple of years ago I got the Beethoven up to an almost-acceptable level, and put it aside in favor of the Mozart A minor sonata, which I also learned in my teens but hadn't visited much since then. I chose it in part because I think it's a wonderful piece, and partly because I wanted something that would challenge me without being completely out of reach. I got the challenge, anyway; I'm not sure about the other part.
However, I've gone through a couple of periods since then when I didn't play much, and didn't work at all. And then I always lose ground during the summer, because the piano in Gloucester isn't very good (and therefore isn't much fun to play), and also because between gardening and baseball there's not much time left for the piano anyway.
But I put some money into the Steinway this summer, and I want to enjoy the result (which I hope will be, at the least, that it will hold its tune better than it has recently). So now that I'm back in Cambridge full time, I've been putting in an hour or so every couple of days, and the Mozart is almost good enough to give me real pleasure -- except that there are a few places here and there that I just don't seem to be able to solve, or more likely that are just beyond my current capabilities. I've kept the Brahms up, though, and they give me real pleasure to play, even when they're not perfect.
I'm torn between trying to "finish" the Mozart and starting to learn something new, just to keep from getting bored. I borrowed some Faure pieces from my voice teacher, but I haven't decided if they're quite worth the effort they're going to take. (I think maybe I'll let them wait awhile, since I'm once again singing Faure, and that may be enough Faure for the moment.)
Anyway, I'm having fun with it for the moment, and despite the frustrations I think I'm making some forward progress. Hopefully I'll be able to keep it up (and not lose it all next summer). The tuner is coming this Friday, which should motivate me even more.
But once I stopped working I figured I'd have time to do both. My piano technique had suffered considerably from neglect, of course, but I decided to start with some of the late Brahms pieces that I'd been playing since my teens and get them back into shape. After that I started to work on a Beethoven sonata (Op. 31, #3, in case you're interested) that I'd kind of stumbled through at various intervals but never really worked on.
Since then it's been both rewarding and frustrating. I'm not quite motivated enough to do any systematic exercises, without which I'll probably never quite get up to the level of some of the pieces I'm working on -- maybe I wouldn't anyway, at my age. A couple of years ago I got the Beethoven up to an almost-acceptable level, and put it aside in favor of the Mozart A minor sonata, which I also learned in my teens but hadn't visited much since then. I chose it in part because I think it's a wonderful piece, and partly because I wanted something that would challenge me without being completely out of reach. I got the challenge, anyway; I'm not sure about the other part.
However, I've gone through a couple of periods since then when I didn't play much, and didn't work at all. And then I always lose ground during the summer, because the piano in Gloucester isn't very good (and therefore isn't much fun to play), and also because between gardening and baseball there's not much time left for the piano anyway.
But I put some money into the Steinway this summer, and I want to enjoy the result (which I hope will be, at the least, that it will hold its tune better than it has recently). So now that I'm back in Cambridge full time, I've been putting in an hour or so every couple of days, and the Mozart is almost good enough to give me real pleasure -- except that there are a few places here and there that I just don't seem to be able to solve, or more likely that are just beyond my current capabilities. I've kept the Brahms up, though, and they give me real pleasure to play, even when they're not perfect.
I'm torn between trying to "finish" the Mozart and starting to learn something new, just to keep from getting bored. I borrowed some Faure pieces from my voice teacher, but I haven't decided if they're quite worth the effort they're going to take. (I think maybe I'll let them wait awhile, since I'm once again singing Faure, and that may be enough Faure for the moment.)
Anyway, I'm having fun with it for the moment, and despite the frustrations I think I'm making some forward progress. Hopefully I'll be able to keep it up (and not lose it all next summer). The tuner is coming this Friday, which should motivate me even more.
no subject
Date: 2003-11-02 02:22 am (UTC)