i miss the piano.

you know when i was younger, i used to make up songs on the piano. my first original compositions were made on the piano back at home. i’ve forgotten how it went, but there are still others i can recall, some unfinished ones, and some that still resurface from time to time. i find myself humming the tunes.  now i usually write songs on the guitar, but lately, i’ve really been itching to compose on the piano.

i’m hoping by next year, we can save up for a good piano, also because we want emma to start early on her lessons.  i’m pretty sure by three, it’ll be easier to distinguish patterns, and typically, in the beginning of any instrument, there’s a pattern. sure, it’s a pretty boring pattern- no balloons and creepy animals that talk, but hopefully, she’ll give it a try.

it’s also challenging during christmas seasons when i have to conduct the choir.  i don’t get to practice the pieces before choir practice so i’m left sight reading everything, esp. the timing.  plus, during practices, i like to play the accompaniment while they sing, so i also have to sight read the piece. 

but mostly, i miss just expressing through the piano.

a gigantic thanks really goes to my last piano teacher.  he wasn’t like my first teacher who just played piano like it they were just notes.  some people play the piano like they just know how to read notes, but they just don’t have a connection w/ the piano. some people play like they just studied theory but no expression.  my first two teachers were like that. 

my last piano instructor- joe cuthbert, was really different. mainly because he loved the hymns. you could really tell, if you were his student, that he had such a passion for the hymns.  what i appreciated most about his style of teaching was the importance of chords and chord progression.  by teaching us our chords, it became easier for us to fill in simple songs, particularly hymns and praise songs.  this really helped me play better and understand theory, song manipulation, and even song writing.

because of this, i can expand instead of just playing the notes that are written on the page.