Music my Passion
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Music
Why play music? Why not I ask you!? When I was younger, I'm not really sure exactly how old but i'm assuming roughly around the age of 10, my dad bought me a mini keyboard. Yes, I was very spoilt as a child. See, you have to understand that I grew up as the only child so my parents wanted the very best for me and hey, they could give it to me. And I didn't complain. Seriously! Who would.
Needles to say, just like any other child I tinged and tonged along and enjoyed it very much. It did however get pushed aside into my closet at one stage. Then I got to standard 6, grade 8 as you might understand it to be (schools in South Africa are rather different to those of England and the States) and was thrilled to find that one of the subjects being offered was music.
So out came the mini keyboard and my love of music was reignited! And boy oh boy, I was very dedicated and religious about my practising. One day my teacher came to me saying “You can't practise on a small keyboard every day, you're going to need a piano! Your fingers are simply not going to fit on your small keyboard for long and it's going to hamper your performance!”
So, off I went home and told my parents what my teacher said. My mom could see the passion in my eyes and the talent I had for music, playing the piano and my dedication on my mini keyboard. My dad on the other hand “No, it's expensive to buy a piano and not only that...once her excitement for it wears off it's just going to be like her keyboard and stand there!”
But guess what? My mom and I won this round! So, off to the shops we went and got me a fabulous stand up piano, Kemble from London. Sad story behind this though. We purchased this piano from a lovely man who was inspired by my love and passion for the music. He told me that as soon as I got my first grade in music, to come to him and play him a song. Yes, naturally I went back! Only to find that the poor soul was shot in his own apartment.
All negative feelings aside...
I'm not really sure how happy our neighbours were about us getting a piano. Ha ha, imagine a 14 year old playing the same song over and over and over....you get the point, again! But soon, I had my dad on my side and he was happily singing along. It even got my mother interested and she started practising too.
And here I am years later, still in love with my piano. I have two additional keyboards (Casio and a Triton) and am writing articles on how to play piano. I am no teacher to be honest, but what I do know and understand from my point of view I can share with you. So, I hope that you go through my articles (below!), I hope you stick to it, I hope that my love for it will rub off via internet onto you and that you keep coming back for more...
Articles to help you learn how to play piano
- Part 1: The Basics Of Learning To Play Piano
Is it difficult to play the piano? Learning to play the piano is easier than you think. Really, the hardest part is the initial step is to go and sit behind your piano and be motivated to learn the basics.... - Part 2: Piano: Hand Positioning
When you play the piano or keyboard it is very important to position your hands, fingers, wrist, arm and the whole rest of your body correctly. Following these simple suggestions on positioning... - Part 3: Understanding Your Keyboard
In the previous article, we discussed some important principles that you, the new pianist, needs to keep in mind as you step out to learn the piano. In this article we will build upon those principles and... - Part 4: Basic Piano Chords
The above piano shows which notes are being played for each key There are a huge amount of chords that are possible, but most of them are more complex, and many pianist may never even use these complex... - Part 5: Basic Piano Chords Continue
The piano above shows which notes are being played for each key What we have seen so far This is the 5th article in a series on how to play piano. In the first article we went through some important things...
