Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Piano - a little louder now


I have been taking piano lessons for about 6 years now. I recently started with a new teacher after a year hiatus and learned that I had a fundamental flaw in my technique. I looked at the keys instead of the music. I have spent the last few months now trying to learn how to keep my fingers on the keyboard. I have given up the more difficult pieces I had learned and am working on more basic pieces. The only problem is that I have no desire to practice anymore. A large part of it is the fact that I have 7 people living in my house (with an eighth on the way and occasional visits from one of the original 4) and the living room houses both the piano and the Bravia. The Bravia is always on CNN or sports. And even if I can get some time to play without television in the background, my 3 year old grandson decides that it is really his turn to play the piano and insists on hopping up with me or crying loudly when I try to keep him at bay. So practicing, which is now more like work because I am trying to fix bad habits, is doubly like work because I have to overcome these obstacles to get "me time" at the piano. I need to set up some rules about times that I have access to the piano and the living room without distraction so I can work on learning how to feel the intervals instead of looking at them. I need to find my voice in this cacophony of a family and stop hiding in my bedroom on my blackberry, at my computer or even worse in front of the TV. Free the Hermosa 88!

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