Setting sail for exploration of something completely new

Skybird · 06-27-22, 01:56 PM

With 55 years I felt the need and interest to start something very new and see how far I could get. Old familiar interests are fading a bit, its all known by now what I did in the past 30 years: chess, photography, martial arts, archery, flight simming, photography, its all getting a bit stale now, the thunder is gone, one starts to feel used, and older, and less interested.

So I decided to pick up some playful toying-around from my youth years, and this time, hopefully, will have the endurance to follow it for longer, and more systematically, than back then.

I got up my lazy back and ordered an electric piano.

I do not play an instrument, my father is the active musician in the family, my mum also knows a lot about music, and I always liked music, though not as exclusively classics only as my parents, my taste is much wider than theirs, but certainly includes classical music. Time to change from the passive to the active side of things.As a teen, I played around a bit with our piano, an accordeon, a flute - and every time when it became difficult, I left... On the other hand, I had little time anyway, I trained a lot in fighting, and played a lot of chess, and had daily meditation with my master additional to training.

The times could be in my favour, because there now is all this modern technology, communication links and so much software helping an anti-social personality like me to bring structure and systematic effort into it without leaving the house and meeting nasty foreign people who could teach - or bite - me.

I got a Roland FP-30X, because it is said to have an excellent action being very close to the hammer action of a real piano, the action is also weighted and has escape, and the white keys have an invory-like coating; it has very good sounds, its affordable, and I can (and must, I do not have that much space) store it away, or get it out for daily practicing easily (which I think is very recommended). Then, it has a line-out, MIDI, double jacks for headphones (small and big plugs), and blutooth. Internet material I could directly feed into the machine, internet software could recognise what I do on the keys. Also, I could secure a very good price on one display piana, but the local - or better: a neighbouring small town's - shop needs to re-order it, the one they had in store had a technical issue. They will sell the replacment for the reduced price although it will be not formt he shop-display, but will be factory-new.

I checked the app and software market, and there is really plenty of stuff to chose from, its hard to know in advance what may suit your taste and what not. I doubt there is the one-solution-for-all-needs. I plan to go first with a very much hyped app named Pianoforall. It definetly does not seem to be "for all", but is limited on certain "target purposes" - but these it seems to approach and teach very well and in an attractive way wo which I immediately connected when seeing it in videos. Its limited in scope and reach, but for a beginner and with my intentions it sounds to be the exactly right thing for launching and reaching L.E.V. (laziness escape velocity). I will see. It also is very cost-economic. If I endure to complete all that material, and see the need, nothing must hinder me to then turn towards another course of different things and targets, in a year, or two, who knows.

My parents, especially my father, are stunned a bit.

Lets see what will come of this. Age can or can not be an issue. Some say its late to learn an instrument, and I would be a fool to expect that in three years I could go onto a stage. But many doctors would say (and neurology supports them) that the brain starts rewiring within days once you start actively playing an instrument, and that you can only benefit from it. My expectations I think are realistic, and reasonable and not too high, and I do not plan for a concert tour any time soon.

Just fooling around a bit, with some more discipline and systematic effort than back then. I once juggled a bit with three and four balls, it took me an eternity to hear the "click" in my head when suddenly it worked and I could let those small sandbags endlessly dance in the air. I think something like this lies ahead of me again, when it comes to playing the keys with both hands sooner or later

So, a toast on the Click-experience - and the path leading there!

Moonlight · 06-27-22, 02:26 PM

You're going through a midlife crisis old boy, I'm surprised your parents haven't sat you down and told you this as well, you're supposed to know something about psychology so why haven't you diagnosed the symptoms yourself and come to that conclusion as well, or are you in denial about it?.

Skybird · 06-27-22, 04:04 PM

I had my midlife crisis already when I completed university and still was not married.

Gerald · 06-27-22, 05:42 PM

Excellent initiativ to improve "the daily routine"...we of course waiting for a musical experience higher than normal..so load up the music and we are all ears, salute!

Skybird · 06-27-22, 07:43 PM

Mind if I do not bore you with one finger keyplay and instead learn - hopefully - to use the other nine as well before I haunt you?

Gerald · 06-27-22, 09:47 PM

You are most welcome. But ya will learn fast and gently!

Gorpet · 07-02-22, 08:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moonlight

You're going through a midlife crisis old boy, I'm surprised your parents haven't sat you down and told you this as well, you're supposed to know something about psychology so why haven't you diagnosed the symptoms yourself and come to that conclusion as well, or are you in denial about it?.

Yep, Well his country is Joe Biden's front line. And his psychology has went out the window.Common sense will always win when it comes to reality.But the Bird had a good run. And i like the Bird. Welcome back Sky.

em2nought · 07-02-22, 10:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gorpet

Yep, Well his country is Joe Biden's front line. And his psychology has went out the window.Common sense will always win when it comes to reality.But the Bird had a good run. And i like the Bird. Welcome back Sky.

That's a scary thought. I'd seriously be looking at a second residency in Paraguay if I was that close to Putin.

I was trying to play "Three Little Birds" on my ukulele last night. Boy I suck, even with a "uke buddy" to cheat with.

Jimbuna · 07-03-22, 01:10 PM

I wish you well Sky and for what it;s worth my late father was self-taught...something I could never quantify as a child.

Skybird · 07-04-22, 11:01 AM

Life has changed dramatically over here, studying has re-structured my day dramatically. I assume its indicating somethign good that time is fleeting and hours are flying by. The installation still is the elephant in the rooom, but I love it, and I am VERY happy with the Roland e-piano model I have choosen, the key action is a stunner, allowing a hilarious wide range of dynamic and feeling so real. So, beside the fascination for the musical aspect and the learning, I am also fascinated by the pure technical aspects. The blutooth music and blutooth MIDI links are pure gold, via app I can unleash the full potential of the machine (not that I can make use of it...). ~370 different voices, including natural sounds like wind, water, leafs on a tree, thunder, but also helicopter, machines and engines, rifles and guns, laser cannons, laughing voices, wind blowings, as well as a full set of different percussions, different drum sets and a full jazz drums combo. I did not count too precisley, but around 280-300 of these 370 sounds are musical instruments, however. My mum this morning, and yesterday my neighbour (a hobby pianist) checked the keyboard, and fell flat on their faces, they say they cannot recognise a difference in how it feels. The Roland simulates a grand piano action, that has one or two details added that an upright furniture and wall piano does not have (escape, for example) Even these tiny, minor, easy-to-miss details are there in the Roland.

Exercising a lot, I can almost feel the neurons in my brain getting rewired by the hour, and I currently have a sign on my forehead that reads "temporarily closed due to construction work". I follow my material in one session per day, do finger exercises in another session, and a third session the day is repetition, and fooling around, trying first simple melodies, and first tries to get both hands in synch. Thats the difficult part, the hand synchronisation. And then the disbelief when at the end, unexpectedly, for one run it clicks and everything falls into the right place and you get the sequence right, as if it was playing itself, all by itself, without your will, easily! Good feeling, a flow-experience. I know that self-teaching like I do and internet assistance and epub media and all that has not only pros, but also cons, and that there are aspects in live tutorong that cannot be compensated for this way, but many of these are more relevant for goals that are not nescessarily my goals, and it also helps that I am aware of these differences, so that I can have nevertheless an eye on this. The material I follow also is aware of this and adresses many of these points all by itself.

Day three. I had a very good start, and apparently made only superb choices so far. Lucky start, better the lift-off could not have taken place! The star gate at Jupiter is still far away, but I am on my way into orbit arond Earth for a beginning. And then step by step, always step by step. I enjoy it, i have fun, and I make progress - I already can - slowly - read simple notes and follow them when playing, and do first, - slow but harmonic improvisations: simple jazzy chords with the left, simple, slow melodies one-note-per-time with the right hand. Thats definitely the direction I want to go at: slow jazzy improvisations, slow bar and cocktail jazz, groovy stuff.

Perfect start, all systems green lights, and I love it!

em2nought · 06-28-22, 02:12 AM

After 57 years, I have this odd desire to go on a python hunt in the Everglades. If you can't bag the real swamp creatures, maybe you can at least dispatch the slithering kind.

If Hannah Barron could go with me to hold my hand that would be even better because I'm not that fond of swamps.

https://www.fox13news.com/news/large...eveloping-eggs

Gerald · 06-28-22, 03:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by em2nought

After 57 years, I have this odd desire to go on a python hunt in the Everglades. If you can't bag the real swamp creatures, maybe you can at least dispatch the slithering kind.

If Hannah Barron could go with me to hold my hand that would be even better because I'm not that fond of swamps.

https://www.fox13news.com/news/large...eveloping-eggs

I think I can handle Hannah but not sure the ONE she carry on her back.

mapuc · 06-28-22, 08:40 AM

This thread reminded me about my good FB-friend I have.

She's blind since birth and one of her side effect from this is that she has absolutely music ears(can't remember the exact English word for it)

She work with piano voice/sound-There must be an English word for this. Well she tuned the strings and other things.

I said to her I wish I could play on piano and create beautiful classic music like Beethoven, Mozart, Liszt, a.s.o

But as I am totally tone deaf....

Markus

u crank · 06-28-22, 09:13 AM

It is a good idea Sky. Go for it. I have been playing guitar since I was 14 years old. It is still a joy and lots of fun.

Skybird · 06-28-22, 10:34 AM

Long-term committment (years, not months) is what is needed, and an attitude of "everyday a bit practice", even if only for short - practically EVERY day. The piano will arrive next week. I bought today the course I intend to run with. Its a steal, and it absolutely connects to me in the way the man leads his students through. For the cost of one lesson with a live tutor I got all the material, in form of 9 ebup books with integrated videos . And very viosually, for me that is important, take the following exmaple. My ftaher once tried to explai8n it to me, in talking, and I wa sleft mostkly unimpressed, and just thoght "Hu...?" But this brief little video, nothing special, made all the difference. Theory goes not first, but second if not third, instead: visual pattern recognition, and curious playing. Many say piano is easier to leanr than amny other instruments, my father also agrees with that. Becasue all tones it cna amke are laid out before youreyes, each toine has one key. A violine, a guitar , worse: wind instruments, you have nothing fixed and visible before you, the tones are "invisible". Try to see the geometry from this video in a - trombone! Its not possible.

There are 200 such video lessons included, and then severla hundred pages of text, with plenty of keyboard illustrations to lead you through. I checked it out and iemdoately knew: this one is my way.

https://pianoforall.com/

However, the aim of this course is what it is, and it is not any different. That is good if your intentions match with the direction the course aims at, and its bad if you have expectations that the course does not care for. The guy in this video expkains it, and leaves no doubt that it does not teach you evertyhing - but he is fair enough to say that what it actually does teach, it probably teaches in a better way than any other. I had a first look at the books, and I am absolutely attracted to the method. I also like that it is not ignorrant of the needed necessity of also knpowing a bit about music theory, but it doe snot kill the mtovaiton in students by pushign it before anythign else and borign people to death, it lets it drip in more playfully, en passant, and always interuroted by plewnty of excersising opportunity. When i think of the music classes at school, I still feel pure horror today! Absolutely thoerteical, abstract, dry and disconnected form - wlel, from usic'S reality when hearing of doing it. How can they kill the curiosity in young people so carelessly?

06-27-22, 01:56 PM	#1
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,501 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	Setting sail for exploration of something completely new With 55 years I felt the need and interest to start something very new and see how far I could get. Old familiar interests are fading a bit, its all known by now what I did in the past 30 years: chess, photography, martial arts, archery, flight simming, photography, its all getting a bit stale now, the thunder is gone, one starts to feel used, and older, and less interested. So I decided to pick up some playful toying-around from my youth years, and this time, hopefully, will have the endurance to follow it for longer, and more systematically, than back then. I got up my lazy back and ordered an electric piano. I do not play an instrument, my father is the active musician in the family, my mum also knows a lot about music, and I always liked music, though not as exclusively classics only as my parents, my taste is much wider than theirs, but certainly includes classical music. Time to change from the passive to the active side of things.As a teen, I played around a bit with our piano, an accordeon, a flute - and every time when it became difficult, I left... On the other hand, I had little time anyway, I trained a lot in fighting, and played a lot of chess, and had daily meditation with my master additional to training. The times could be in my favour, because there now is all this modern technology, communication links and so much software helping an anti-social personality like me to bring structure and systematic effort into it without leaving the house and meeting nasty foreign people who could teach - or bite - me. I got a Roland FP-30X, because it is said to have an excellent action being very close to the hammer action of a real piano, the action is also weighted and has escape, and the white keys have an invory-like coating; it has very good sounds, its affordable, and I can (and must, I do not have that much space) store it away, or get it out for daily practicing easily (which I think is very recommended). Then, it has a line-out, MIDI, double jacks for headphones (small and big plugs), and blutooth. Internet material I could directly feed into the machine, internet software could recognise what I do on the keys. Also, I could secure a very good price on one display piana, but the local - or better: a neighbouring small town's - shop needs to re-order it, the one they had in store had a technical issue. They will sell the replacment for the reduced price although it will be not formt he shop-display, but will be factory-new. I checked the app and software market, and there is really plenty of stuff to chose from, its hard to know in advance what may suit your taste and what not. I doubt there is the one-solution-for-all-needs. I plan to go first with a very much hyped app named Pianoforall. It definetly does not seem to be "for all", but is limited on certain "target purposes" - but these it seems to approach and teach very well and in an attractive way wo which I immediately connected when seeing it in videos. Its limited in scope and reach, but for a beginner and with my intentions it sounds to be the exactly right thing for launching and reaching L.E.V. (laziness escape velocity). I will see. It also is very cost-economic. If I endure to complete all that material, and see the need, nothing must hinder me to then turn towards another course of different things and targets, in a year, or two, who knows. My parents, especially my father, are stunned a bit. Lets see what will come of this. Age can or can not be an issue. Some say its late to learn an instrument, and I would be a fool to expect that in three years I could go onto a stage. But many doctors would say (and neurology supports them) that the brain starts rewiring within days once you start actively playing an instrument, and that you can only benefit from it. My expectations I think are realistic, and reasonable and not too high, and I do not plan for a concert tour any time soon. Just fooling around a bit, with some more discipline and systematic effort than back then. I once juggled a bit with three and four balls, it took me an eternity to hear the "click" in my head when suddenly it worked and I could let those small sandbags endlessly dance in the air. I think something like this lies ahead of me again, when it comes to playing the keys with both hands sooner or later So, a toast on the Click-experience - and the path leading there! __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert. Last edited by Skybird; 06-27-22 at 02:12 PM.

06-27-22, 02:26 PM	#2
Moonlight Admiral Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Fookhall Copse Posts: 2,139 Downloads: 184 Uploads: 0	You're going through a midlife crisis old boy, I'm surprised your parents haven't sat you down and told you this as well, you're supposed to know something about psychology so why haven't you diagnosed the symptoms yourself and come to that conclusion as well, or are you in denial about it?. __________________

06-27-22, 04:04 PM	#3
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,501 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	I had my midlife crisis already when I completed university and still was not married. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

06-27-22, 05:42 PM	#4
Gerald SUBSIM Newsman Join Date: May 2008 Location: Close to sea Posts: 24,223 Downloads: 548 Uploads: 0	Excellent initiativ to improve "the daily routine"...we of course waiting for a musical experience higher than normal..so load up the music and we are all ears, salute! __________________ Nothing in life is to be feard,it is only to be understood. Marie Curie

06-27-22, 07:43 PM	#5
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,501 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	Mind if I do not bore you with one finger keyplay and instead learn - hopefully - to use the other nine as well before I haunt you? __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

06-27-22, 09:47 PM	#6
Gerald SUBSIM Newsman Join Date: May 2008 Location: Close to sea Posts: 24,223 Downloads: 548 Uploads: 0	You are most welcome. But ya will learn fast and gently! __________________ Nothing in life is to be feard,it is only to be understood. Marie Curie

07-03-22, 01:10 PM	#9
Jimbuna Chief of the Boat Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: 250 metres below the surface Posts: 181,225 Downloads: 63 Uploads: 13	I wish you well Sky and for what it;s worth my late father was self-taught...something I could never quantify as a child. __________________ Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something. Oh my God, not again!! GWX3.0 Download Page - Donation/instant access to GWX (Help SubSim)

07-04-22, 11:01 AM	#10
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,501 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	Life has changed dramatically over here, studying has re-structured my day dramatically. I assume its indicating somethign good that time is fleeting and hours are flying by. The installation still is the elephant in the rooom, but I love it, and I am VERY happy with the Roland e-piano model I have choosen, the key action is a stunner, allowing a hilarious wide range of dynamic and feeling so real. So, beside the fascination for the musical aspect and the learning, I am also fascinated by the pure technical aspects. The blutooth music and blutooth MIDI links are pure gold, via app I can unleash the full potential of the machine (not that I can make use of it...). ~370 different voices, including natural sounds like wind, water, leafs on a tree, thunder, but also helicopter, machines and engines, rifles and guns, laser cannons, laughing voices, wind blowings, as well as a full set of different percussions, different drum sets and a full jazz drums combo. I did not count too precisley, but around 280-300 of these 370 sounds are musical instruments, however. My mum this morning, and yesterday my neighbour (a hobby pianist) checked the keyboard, and fell flat on their faces, they say they cannot recognise a difference in how it feels. The Roland simulates a grand piano action, that has one or two details added that an upright furniture and wall piano does not have (escape, for example) Even these tiny, minor, easy-to-miss details are there in the Roland. Exercising a lot, I can almost feel the neurons in my brain getting rewired by the hour, and I currently have a sign on my forehead that reads "temporarily closed due to construction work". I follow my material in one session per day, do finger exercises in another session, and a third session the day is repetition, and fooling around, trying first simple melodies, and first tries to get both hands in synch. Thats the difficult part, the hand synchronisation. And then the disbelief when at the end, unexpectedly, for one run it clicks and everything falls into the right place and you get the sequence right, as if it was playing itself, all by itself, without your will, easily! Good feeling, a flow-experience. I know that self-teaching like I do and internet assistance and epub media and all that has not only pros, but also cons, and that there are aspects in live tutorong that cannot be compensated for this way, but many of these are more relevant for goals that are not nescessarily my goals, and it also helps that I am aware of these differences, so that I can have nevertheless an eye on this. The material I follow also is aware of this and adresses many of these points all by itself. Day three. I had a very good start, and apparently made only superb choices so far. Lucky start, better the lift-off could not have taken place! The star gate at Jupiter is still far away, but I am on my way into orbit arond Earth for a beginning. And then step by step, always step by step. I enjoy it, i have fun, and I make progress - I already can - slowly - read simple notes and follow them when playing, and do first, - slow but harmonic improvisations: simple jazzy chords with the left, simple, slow melodies one-note-per-time with the right hand. Thats definitely the direction I want to go at: slow jazzy improvisations, slow bar and cocktail jazz, groovy stuff. Perfect start, all systems green lights, and I love it! __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

06-28-22, 02:12 AM	#11
em2nought Ocean Warrior Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 3,271 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	After 57 years, I have this odd desire to go on a python hunt in the Everglades. If you can't bag the real swamp creatures, maybe you can at least dispatch the slithering kind. If Hannah Barron could go with me to hold my hand that would be even better because I'm not that fond of swamps. https://www.fox13news.com/news/large...eveloping-eggs __________________ Looks like we need a Lemon Law for Presidents now! DNC sold us a dud, and they knew it. Last edited by em2nought; 06-28-22 at 02:22 AM. Reason: forgot how old I was LOL

06-28-22, 08:40 AM	#13
mapuc Fleet Admiral Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Denmark Posts: 17,894 Downloads: 37 Uploads: 0	This thread reminded me about my good FB-friend I have. She's blind since birth and one of her side effect from this is that she has absolutely music ears(can't remember the exact English word for it) She work with piano voice/sound-There must be an English word for this. Well she tuned the strings and other things. I said to her I wish I could play on piano and create beautiful classic music like Beethoven, Mozart, Liszt, a.s.o But as I am totally tone deaf.... Markus __________________ My little lovely female cat

06-28-22, 09:13 AM	#14
u crank Old enough to know better Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Prince Edward Island Posts: 11,559 Downloads: 136 Uploads: 0	It is a good idea Sky. Go for it. I have been playing guitar since I was 14 years old. It is still a joy and lots of fun. __________________ “Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.” ― Arthur C. Clarke

06-28-22, 10:34 AM	#15
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 40,501 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	Long-term committment (years, not months) is what is needed, and an attitude of "everyday a bit practice", even if only for short - practically EVERY day. The piano will arrive next week. I bought today the course I intend to run with. Its a steal, and it absolutely connects to me in the way the man leads his students through. For the cost of one lesson with a live tutor I got all the material, in form of 9 ebup books with integrated videos . And very viosually, for me that is important, take the following exmaple. My ftaher once tried to explai8n it to me, in talking, and I wa sleft mostkly unimpressed, and just thoght "Hu...?" But this brief little video, nothing special, made all the difference. Theory goes not first, but second if not third, instead: visual pattern recognition, and curious playing. Many say piano is easier to leanr than amny other instruments, my father also agrees with that. Becasue all tones it cna amke are laid out before youreyes, each toine has one key. A violine, a guitar , worse: wind instruments, you have nothing fixed and visible before you, the tones are "invisible". Try to see the geometry from this video in a - trombone! Its not possible. There are 200 such video lessons included, and then severla hundred pages of text, with plenty of keyboard illustrations to lead you through. I checked it out and iemdoately knew: this one is my way. https://pianoforall.com/ However, the aim of this course is what it is, and it is not any different. That is good if your intentions match with the direction the course aims at, and its bad if you have expectations that the course does not care for. The guy in this video expkains it, and leaves no doubt that it does not teach you evertyhing - but he is fair enough to say that what it actually does teach, it probably teaches in a better way than any other. I had a first look at the books, and I am absolutely attracted to the method. I also like that it is not ignorrant of the needed necessity of also knpowing a bit about music theory, but it doe snot kill the mtovaiton in students by pushign it before anythign else and borign people to death, it lets it drip in more playfully, en passant, and always interuroted by plewnty of excersising opportunity. When i think of the music classes at school, I still feel pure horror today! Absolutely thoerteical, abstract, dry and disconnected form - wlel, from usic'S reality when hearing of doing it. How can they kill the curiosity in young people so carelessly? __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.