I Once Was A Pianist
Those whom have known me my entire life will probably be surprised by this but I haven't touched a piano in three years. Those whom have only known me in recent years will probably be surprised by the fact that they had no idea I ever was an accomplished pianist. The truth is that until three years ago, I had accomplished quite a bit as a pianist throughout my life but it was a rather quiet side of my life.
I've performed with many outstanding musicians. I've performed for quite a few dignitaries. I've won many awards. I've performed and competed in the classical music world. I've performed in rock bands. I've performed with the US Air Force. I've performed in concert bands, orchestras and marching bands. I've performed with Top-40 bands. I've performed jazz. I've performed at events, weddings and countless parties. I've performed with some amazing R&B groups. I've even performed with a few choral groups. To be honest, however, the music world has never truly "excited" me... I feel like it is just another job.
Most of the musicians I've performed with truly love music... they live for making music... they get animated and excited just talking about music. I do feel this way about my chosen career (something far removed from music) and others definitely have said they've seen me get animated and excited whenever they see me talk about my chosen career but... music... I truly only feel as though it was a skill I refined and used as a second job... a hobby... an interest... and, since becoming disabled, a form of art therapy.
After I was retired as disabled from my chosen career (one which I found exceptionally exciting), I fell back on my music education and skills and began teaching music and piano. Occasionally, I'm asked whether I still teach piano. I get the impression that those who ask this question are under the assumption that I still do play the piano, albeit wrong.
I've had some great students over the years but I've also had more than my share of frustrated and disillusioned students, equally frustrated and disillusioned parents, and communities completely and terribly ill-informed about the benefits of music education. I have absolutely no desire to ever teach anything associated with any school district ever again and, considering the quality of my health today, I really do not have the energy to teach privately anymore even without these frustrations and obstacles.
I would, however, like to attempt to sit at a piano and play again even if only for the benefit of our grandchildren.
About three years ago, my health had deteriorated enough to cause so much struggle and frustration whenever I sat at the piano that I had to push piano aside for my own sanity. It was causing more frustration than therapeutic value at that point.
What I was able to do fluidly and with fine control for decades was now a frustrating struggle and difficult to accomplish even poorly (in my perfectionistic opinion). The piano had become a source of grief, struggle and frustration. Additionally, the act of playing the piano... something which appears to be very fluid and effortless... I found was draining me of much needed energy. Playing a piano requires much more energy than non-pianists realize! The piano no longer held any therapeutic value for my disabilities so I packed everything into storage and moved on to other artistic interests to use as art therapy.
Now the grandchildren are four years old. I had played for them up until they were about a year old but they no longer remember anything about the piano being in the house back then so I've been toying with the idea of finding room in our cramped home to pull all the piano stuff out of storage so they can at least be exposed to a general music education at Papa and Gee's house... even if only by being exposed to piano and music in general and seeing Papa play some simple pieces for them.
Coincidentally, as I've been toying with this idea of finding room in the house for the piano again, one of my sisters wrote me asking if I have any old recordings online of me playing the piano. I had already been thinking of pulling the piano out of storage again and even wondering about those old recordings myself so I spent some time digging through old hard drives to find recordings. Once I retrieved some old recordings, I then had to learn how to insert an audio file into this cryptic, archaic blogging website. That required an additional couple of days of work to figure out! (It is much more difficult to manage this basic blog than it should be! This Blogger hosting site is so archaic that I've resorted to writing my own HTML5 code to add various features to my blog.)
I don't have all that many recordings to share... and, I think all of these recordings are only short clips taken from full pieces... but I think I'll share the few I have in separate blog entries and write a few words about each recording. Rather than posting all of these clips at once with no explanations, I'll share one every now and then, standing alone, with a brief description of what is being played.
For no significant reason, the first recording I've chosen to share is a recording of one of Robert Schumann's many pieces called "Träumerei" (Dreaming) from his "Scenes from Childhood" series. This single piece is perhaps Schumann's most popular piece.
The "Scenes from Childhood" series is a set of 13 short pieces which are quite playful and romantic. Contrary to what one might think due to their short length and relative simplicity, these pieces are about children rather than for children. I enjoy quite a few of these "scenes" composed by Robert Schumann but "Träumerei" is probably the sweetest of the series.
Again, this is only a short clip which is only a minute and a half long but I feel it is something worth sharing...
I've performed with many outstanding musicians. I've performed for quite a few dignitaries. I've won many awards. I've performed and competed in the classical music world. I've performed in rock bands. I've performed with the US Air Force. I've performed in concert bands, orchestras and marching bands. I've performed with Top-40 bands. I've performed jazz. I've performed at events, weddings and countless parties. I've performed with some amazing R&B groups. I've even performed with a few choral groups. To be honest, however, the music world has never truly "excited" me... I feel like it is just another job.
Most of the musicians I've performed with truly love music... they live for making music... they get animated and excited just talking about music. I do feel this way about my chosen career (something far removed from music) and others definitely have said they've seen me get animated and excited whenever they see me talk about my chosen career but... music... I truly only feel as though it was a skill I refined and used as a second job... a hobby... an interest... and, since becoming disabled, a form of art therapy.
After I was retired as disabled from my chosen career (one which I found exceptionally exciting), I fell back on my music education and skills and began teaching music and piano. Occasionally, I'm asked whether I still teach piano. I get the impression that those who ask this question are under the assumption that I still do play the piano, albeit wrong.
I've had some great students over the years but I've also had more than my share of frustrated and disillusioned students, equally frustrated and disillusioned parents, and communities completely and terribly ill-informed about the benefits of music education. I have absolutely no desire to ever teach anything associated with any school district ever again and, considering the quality of my health today, I really do not have the energy to teach privately anymore even without these frustrations and obstacles.
I would, however, like to attempt to sit at a piano and play again even if only for the benefit of our grandchildren.
About three years ago, my health had deteriorated enough to cause so much struggle and frustration whenever I sat at the piano that I had to push piano aside for my own sanity. It was causing more frustration than therapeutic value at that point.
What I was able to do fluidly and with fine control for decades was now a frustrating struggle and difficult to accomplish even poorly (in my perfectionistic opinion). The piano had become a source of grief, struggle and frustration. Additionally, the act of playing the piano... something which appears to be very fluid and effortless... I found was draining me of much needed energy. Playing a piano requires much more energy than non-pianists realize! The piano no longer held any therapeutic value for my disabilities so I packed everything into storage and moved on to other artistic interests to use as art therapy.
Now the grandchildren are four years old. I had played for them up until they were about a year old but they no longer remember anything about the piano being in the house back then so I've been toying with the idea of finding room in our cramped home to pull all the piano stuff out of storage so they can at least be exposed to a general music education at Papa and Gee's house... even if only by being exposed to piano and music in general and seeing Papa play some simple pieces for them.
Coincidentally, as I've been toying with this idea of finding room in the house for the piano again, one of my sisters wrote me asking if I have any old recordings online of me playing the piano. I had already been thinking of pulling the piano out of storage again and even wondering about those old recordings myself so I spent some time digging through old hard drives to find recordings. Once I retrieved some old recordings, I then had to learn how to insert an audio file into this cryptic, archaic blogging website. That required an additional couple of days of work to figure out! (It is much more difficult to manage this basic blog than it should be! This Blogger hosting site is so archaic that I've resorted to writing my own HTML5 code to add various features to my blog.)
I don't have all that many recordings to share... and, I think all of these recordings are only short clips taken from full pieces... but I think I'll share the few I have in separate blog entries and write a few words about each recording. Rather than posting all of these clips at once with no explanations, I'll share one every now and then, standing alone, with a brief description of what is being played.
For no significant reason, the first recording I've chosen to share is a recording of one of Robert Schumann's many pieces called "Träumerei" (Dreaming) from his "Scenes from Childhood" series. This single piece is perhaps Schumann's most popular piece.
The "Scenes from Childhood" series is a set of 13 short pieces which are quite playful and romantic. Contrary to what one might think due to their short length and relative simplicity, these pieces are about children rather than for children. I enjoy quite a few of these "scenes" composed by Robert Schumann but "Träumerei" is probably the sweetest of the series.
Again, this is only a short clip which is only a minute and a half long but I feel it is something worth sharing...
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| Photo courtesy of Brook Ward |
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