Art - Music - Piano

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Table of Contents

• 1. Personal Context
• 2. Overview
• 3. Equipment
• 4. Practice regimen.
  • 4.1. 1 month (May 2013)

1. Personal Context

I'm not particularly fond of piano music, but I figured I ought to give it a try. Also, I needed to play notes to support singing practice.

I tried several times to teach myself, but could not get on track. So started taking lessons from Dorothy Harwood (right after voice lesson).

2. Overview

This page records my progress in learning piano.

3. Equipment

• Yamaha E433 electronic keyboard

• Fischer upright acoustic of uncertain vintage (and untuned for decades)

• Music stand, metronome, tuner (see Music)

• Books

  At first I tried on my own with Alfred's "Basic Adult Piano Course Book 1". Could not make progress. Then started taking lessons, and am going through a dozen or so books at a time. Once this stabilizes, I'll list them.

4. Practice regimen.

4.1. 1 month (May 2013)

Dorothy explained that many adult learners get stuck because they understand the theory long before their fingers can do the moves -- and get discouraged.

So she starts adults with children's books. Lots of easy-skill repetition to build up physical skills. Went through 4 of those immediately and started another set in a couple of weeks.

For me, she is specifically watching for

1. Ergonomic alignment (sitting, elbows, wrists, hand curl, etc.)
2. Ergnonmic action (arm and wrist, not just fingers. roll hand along the keyboard. etc.).
3. Finding keys without looking at keyboard
4. Building sight reading, recognizing patterns

In addition, I've had to learn the bass clef. I'm practicing scales and thumb crossovers. I'm doing practice pieces from 7 different books. I do each piece twice in a practice session, to get the sight reading going but avoid memorizing the piece.