88 Keys to Success

I ordered a digital piano this week.  After doing several comparisons, I selected the Williams Allegro 2. 

Now…before any piano playing purist pipes up, let me explain.  I understand this isn’t a “real” piano.  I wanted the full eighty-eight key spread, but in a manageable size.  One I could use in the upstairs office while practicing or bring down into the den during the holiday’s so family and friends could sing along while I play as if we all just stepped out of a Norman Rockwell painting.  In anticipation of those quaint evenings, I even ordered the sheet music from “A Charlie Brown Christmas”.

The sheet music is already here, the piano is due to arrive tonight, and then the magic begins, right?  I’ll simply sit down in front of the keyboard and bang out sweet melodies that would make Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart proud.

Hardly.

If you’ve been following along with my 2017 exploits, you’ll know I’ve been taking several classes.  Writing, grammar, mental mathematics, memory, and Spanish.  This past week, one of the other students in my class was expressing her frustration.  She enrolled, she was attending class, but she didn’t feel she was getting better.  I asked how much time she spent outside of class practicing.  Her answer?  None.  I felt she was a little put off by my even asking.  She continued on about how she paid for this class and wasn’t this class supposed to be teaching her?  Thankfully by this point, I had reached my car and was able to make a quick escape.

Years ago, I took organ lessons.

The lessons taught me how to play.  The same way the classes I’m taking now are teaching me – and my fellow students.  After I placed the order for the piano, I hopped onto Amazon and ordered “Teach Yourself to Play Piano” to reacquaint myself with the basics.  I know an organ and piano are two separate beasts, but the basic principles are the same.  I can use this book to tie them both together.  The bass staff, the treble staff, grand staff, quarter notes, and so on.

Here’s the thing – I can’t simply buy “Teach Yourself to Play Piano” and expect after one reading I’ll be off and running.  You have to practice what you are taught.  My fellow student shouldn’t expect that after simply attending classes that she’ll be an expert on the subject if she doesn’t practice.

The classroom offers the way…the road map…for you to get to your destination.  In order to actually make it you, need to do more than simply look at it.

After I practice the piano enough, I’ll post a video of my progress.

What are your thought on the topic this week?  Let me know if the comments section down below.