First piano class down...

[telophase]

I'm taking a piano for beginners class through extended education at the university at which I work. Tonight was the first class. I showed up 20 minutes early as I wasn't sure I'd be able to park in the closest lot and I'd never been in the building before. It turned out to be a maze of a building - actually three buildings in one - but I found it.

It's truly a beginner's class, meant for those who have never had music training before. I have, but it was so long ago - middle school for violin and one semester of piano in undergrad - that I need to be refreshed from the start. Which I am all happy with, as one of my biggest problems with learning anything is that I tend to rush through or skip the beginning steps and end up stuck in the middle somewhere, unable to go much further because I'm weak on the basics.

So today we learned the finger numbers - thumbs 1, through pinkies 5 - and plunked out some boringly simple melodies (and if the rest of the class is like me, doing fine on our own but failing miserably when the teacher plays an accompaniment XD).

The classroom is similar to the one I had back in undergrad - each student has a keyboard with headphones that connects to the teacher's, so the teacher can listen to each one individually or all at once, and we can listen only to ourselves, or we can unplug the headphones and lsten to everyone.

My biggest problem is really slow tempos. I can play fine when I'm going faster, but I lose count in the slow ones.

We also have a copy of Amazing Grace with the finger numbers listed out so we can play. The tempo is my biggest problem with this s well - faster, I'm fine, slower and I lose the melody in my head.

myrialux has a basic MIDI keyboard we're going to hook up to my computer this weekend after the move, so I'll have something to practice on.

Comments

[solarbird]

yay! music! ^_^

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Yay for inspiration! :)

We can change the keyboards to different instruments, also. I remember back in undergrad we all promptly put it on Harpsichord and left them. XD My teacher then would also divide the room into two and have us play against each other in contests. She had us name ourselves. I don't remember what the other side was, but my group was "Margo and the Tone-Deafs." It was a lot of fun. :)

I'm looking forward to actually having a keyboard at home to practice on. It's an inexpensive one, but I figure if I get into this as a more serious hobby, I'll invest in a nicer one.

[rayechu.livejournal.com]

Ditto on the slow tempo thing. :)

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I wonder why they start with the slow tempo? Is it to allow people to realize which finger they need to be using? Hm.

[only-spiders.livejournal.com]

Yaaay! You're playing piano! They start with the slow tempo to torture poor unsuspecting students help you develop your sense of tempo, and to help you learn to read music at a consistent pace. When beginners go fast, there's a strong tendency to speed up irregularly without realizing it, then slow down suddenly when they get to a hard part. (Actually, non-beginners do that a lot too, now I think of it. But that's laziness.) Consistency is the key word here. Which is not to say that it ain't a bitcPr

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Good to know there's a reason for it. XD