Playing an instrument

...make perfect sense. Playing an instrument can be very relaxing, satisfying and a great antidote to the stresses and strains of modern life. The initial cost of buying an instrument can be considerable, but once you have it, there it is, just waiting for you to make your beautiful music. Beautiful to your own ears at least, even if to no-one else's!

'''JoannaPiano'''
As you will probably guess from my Ciao name, I am a would-be ...
...life. I did enjoy playing music, but gradually I started to dread my lessons. I felt my teacher was pushing me down the classical route when at that time I would have been happy strumming along to my favourite songs. I was rescued when I went into the sixth form at school and could tell my parents I had too much studying to do to be able to manage guitar practice as well. I barely touched my guitar after that. Sadly, when I think back, I really feel ... more

Did anyone see the report on the news last week about the increase in people taking up musical instruments since the credit crunch began? I was surprised by this, but when I thought about it a bit more it did make perfect sense. Playing an instrument can be very relaxing, satisfying and a great antidote to the stresses and strains of modern life. The initial cost of buying an instrument can be considerable, but once you have it, there it is, just waiting for you to make your beautiful music. Beautiful to your own ears at least, even if to no-one else's!

JoannaPiano
As you will probably guess from my Ciao name, I am a would-be pianist. I have only been playing for a year, so I am certainly no expert. I am coming up to the anniversary of when I first took the plunge and began learning. It seems a good time to review my progress so far and tell you a bit about my own experience of taking up the piano at the age of 45 - which is a little later than most people, I would guess.

I was almost JoannaGuitar
The real start of the story is way back in my childhood. I knew several people who owned pianos, including an uncle of mine who was a truly fantastic pianist. I'd have loved to learn, but as we didn't have a piano at home I decided to learn the guitar instead. I had seen the great classical guitarist Segovia perform live, I liked all sorts of music and the guitar appealed to me as being fairly portable and also affordable. My first guitar was a Christmas present when I was about 12, and for a year or so I just messed about with it on my own. Then my parents said if I wanted to learn properly they would pay for lessons once a week. From the age of around 14 - 16 I went one evening a week to the house of a rather creepy guy, who always sat too close to me for comfort! I really didn't like him, but having started on my career as the female Segovia I continued to go for a couple of years. During this time I took exams up to Grade 5, which were utterly nerve wracking and I still remember them as some of the most stressful experiences of my entire life. I did enjoy playing music, but gradually I started to dread my lessons. I felt my teacher was pushing me down the classical route when at that time I would have been happy strumming along to my favourite songs. I was rescued when I went into the sixth form at school and could tell my parents I had too much studying to do to be able to manage guitar practice as well. I barely touched my guitar after that. Sadly, when I think back, I really feel that my weird teacher spoilt the guitar for me. If I'd had a different teacher, would I have carried on playing? Who knows? But this experience does highlight the importance of finding a teacher you feel comfortable with and who understands what you want to achieve.

Mid-life crisis
So having pretty much given up the guitar, what got me started on the piano? Just the passing of time really. When I got to my early 40s I did become conscious of the fact that I am not going to live forever and I began to reflect on what ambitions I had that were still unfulfilled. At this stage some people decide to take up bungee jumping, Harley Davidson motorbikes or affairs with lovers half their age. Maybe I am basically a very boring person, but what I came up with was learning a musical instrument. I didn't want to go back to the guitar for reasons explained above, and I started to investigate keyboards.

The new horizons of modern technology
At the local music shop I made a wonderful discovery. There was now a thing called a digital piano, which sounded much better than a keyboard, could be turned up and down in volume, could record and play back, and (a massive factor) could also be used with headphones. They were more expensive than the average keyboard, but a lot cheaper than acoustic pianos i.e proper pianos with hammers and strings. I thought and agonised and debated with myself. I was looking at a fairly big expense. Did I have the discipline to make myself practice? Would I be able to pick up the skills needed? For 6 weeks I did every bit of overtime going at work and finally bought a Yamaha digital piano. Mine was around £650. You can get them cheaper than this, but the cheaper ones that I tried out didn't have quite as good a sound quality. At the upper end of the price range you can also get the Yamaha Clavinova, an all singing, all dancing model priced £1,000 upwards. For my purposes the piano that I chose seemed to fit with what I was looking for and what I was able to pay. I also bought a good set of headphones, £30.

Oh my god, there's a large instrument in my front room
My piano was delivered a few days after purchase, set up and tested by the men from the music shop. I did rather wonder what I'd done. Was I mad to have spent so much money on an instrument I couldn't play? In one way, spending that money was a thing that motivated me to make a real effort in learning. At the outset I began teaching myself from a book. I have to admit that my guitar days helped me to some extent, as I remembered how to read music and also some of the other basics of the theory side. From April to September last year I worked diligently on getting to know the piano keys and how to cope with two lines of music, i.e one for each hand.

Can I have some help here, please?
Once I had got some of the rudimentary stuff out of the way I began to feel that perhaps I needed a lesson now and again to help me progress. I do know people who have taught themselves to play piano without any lessons at all, and have reached a good standard. But I found there were some things I could not judge for myself, e.g whether my posture was right. A friend at work recommended a piano teacher to me and with much trepidation I went along for my first lesson. I knew when I met the teacher that she was someone I felt comfortable with. She is a highly qualifed musician who has been playing from a very young age but despite this she has a light-hearted approach to teaching. I told her that I didn't really want to do the Grades because I found the exams so stressful when I was learning guitar, and she said this was fine, we could find pieces of music I wanted to play and concentrate on those. Piano lessons are not cheap, I have to say. I pay £11 for a half hour and I go once a fortnight. However I must say that since I have been having lessons they have really benefited me. My teacher points out many things I would not be aware of myself, explains things I am unsure about, and helps me to get the best out of the level of tunes that I am playing.

Positive points from my experience

* If I have been at work I may only manage 20 minutes piano practice in the evening. But during that 20 minutes it is honestly as if I have been in another place, a totally different world. It's not as though I am playing anything particularly brilliant. In fact I may only be playing one tune over and over. Yet when I finish I feel so relaxed that whatever worries or problems I had when I started playing have faded away. This is one of the absolute best things about playing as far as I am concerned.

* I feel I can go in any direction I want to because the range of piano music is so wide. My tastes are very broad and my teacher is quite happy for me to flit from Bach to Andrew Lloyd Webber by way of a few Christmas carols. There is so much to learn and I feel that I will never be bored with it.

* The piano has improved my juggling! I know that must sound strange but I didn't used to be able to juggle with 3 bean bags for more than a few seconds. At work last week I took it into my head to toss some bean bags and found myself juggling with 3 of them for over a minute without any trouble at all. It was like a miracle! I had never juggled for so long and it's not as if I even try to juggle very often. This convinced me that since I've been playing piano it has improved the co-ordination between my left and right hands. I cannot put my sudden ability to juggle down to anything else!

* Playing music has also increased my appreciation of it. When I hear a piece of piano music I find myself listening more keenly and sometimes noticing things I haven't learnt before. When I see someone else playing I have real respect for their skills because I know how many hours of practice it takes to become halfway decent. Music has always been important to me, but playing piano has opened up a whole new dimension.

* Playing music is not only satisfying to one's self, it can entertain others too. As I have mentioned before in reviews on this site I work at a day centre for elderly clients. We have a piano at work - a proper one, not digital - and even though I am still only a beginner I do sometimes bash out a simple tune for everyone to hear how I'm doing. The first time I played anything there I was quite nervous, but the only way to become more confident is to keep making myself do it and already I am less self-conscious when I am playing to a small audience. I think the piano is a very flexible instrument. It is good solo, or with people singing along, or as part of a band or an orchestra if you become that proficient, and then you have the social side to making music too.

Are there any negatives?

* To be fair I must point out that much as I love my piano it can be frustrating at times. When you take up anything new there is a risk that your expectations will be unrealistically high. I am still so far from playing to the standard that I dream of. I find I go through a patch where I seem to barely improve at all. I can feel as if I am standing still, not progressing in any way. But then usually something will just click into place and I find I move on a bit further.

* Sometimes practicing seems like a chore, even though I know I will feel better for doing it. Little and often is the best way to practice. Discipline is essential. So is motivation. I believe that if deep down you genuinely want to do something then you have to find the will to achieve it. Are your best achievements in life the ones that came easily or the ones that you had to work for?

* Cost. Clearly this will depend partly on what instrument you want to play. I have already mentioned the price of lessons. I am not well off financially so buying my piano was a very big investment for me. On the other hand, I could have spent that money on a holiday which would have been over in a week. You have to weigh up what something is worth to you I guess.

''Conclusions'''
So that's the story of JoannaPiano. If you are considering taking up an instrument I hope this may have raised a few points for you to consider. I have enjoyed writing this review as it has made me realise that I cannot imagine life without my piano. When I get frustrated I remind myself that this time last year I literally did not know how to find middle C. Now I am playing tunes that are recognisable! I have a long way to go, but spending time on my piano has become one of the joys of my life.

 

...less