Pig Sty Avenue

I was musing yesterday on where to go next with the piano , and rather like the man walking home from a good lunch at the pub suddenly realized I'd left The Bairn behind.  What was needed was a bit of lateral thinking and a two-birds-with-one-stone approach. I went through all of the pedagogic materials which came in the piano stool, and they look ok, but they're very dated, the most recent going back to the 60s.  I don't know if music pedagogy has moved on as much as language during that time, but I'd probably regard a 1960s ESL text book as worse than useless. So I've ordered Tunes for Ten Fingers , which looks as if it will be the kind of thing she can play/work with herself.  Me too, of course.  After that we'll move onto Piano Time 1 .  Or maybe jump to 2 , depending on where Tunes for Ten Fingers has left us.  

Of course, it's funny when Tories fall out with one another, but this dispute between Michael Gove's henchmen and some unknown unfortunate called Loughton is hilarious.  The sentence allegedly given to the Spectator by said henchmen smacked me between the eyes this morning, mainly because I'm spending most waking moments editing text.   What's an "incompetent narcissist"?  A very vain person who has mismanaged life so badly they don't have any mirrors at home? Or, stopping to admire their shop-window reflected image, realize their hair is somewhat disarrayed, and...  bugger, they've misplaced the comb.  Narcissists really need to be on the ball, you know.   And we can take some comfort that he's only obsessed with self-promotion, I suppose.  Imagine if he'd been obsessed with something else, too - trainspotting say.  He'd have his work cut out, standing on the end of the station platform, noting down the numbers of trains going by, and...

David the piano man tuned the Kemble and put the saggy keys right as part of the service.  It was interesting to see under the hood, so to speak. The saggy keys were caused by something on the key itself, which he was able to put right easily enough.  And some of the tuning pegs were coming a bit loose from the wrest plank, which problem can be cured with super-glue, apparently.   I also realised that what with the tuning pegs coming loose, and the sound board gradually losing its curve, pianos don't last forever.  Maybe we'll get a new one if Molly or I get past grade 5 or 6 one day.  The Kemble will do for now. I got chatting with David and he's looking to make a move into EFL, divining, as I have, that FE in the UK is buggered and you need to head for the palm trees and the petro-dollars.  I'm beginning to look forward to it now as a new opportunity and adventure, rather than an irksome economic necessity.  The likelihood is that I'll be heading ...

...The fact is, we're not going to get to the UAE for months, and once out there, buying a digital will likely not be top priority as we cope with all the hundred demands of life in a new country, with a new job.  I don't know for sure what the music-shop or online-delivery situation will be.  And anyway, I've realized, especially as I get that tiny bit better at Hanons and scales each day, I really, really enjoy practicing on the Kemble, despite the saggy notes that keep going AWOL.  So I'm going to get in touch with this man tomorrow, see what he can do. On the sight reading, I've got a few apps, but the one that seems to work best is Piano Notes , (actually that one I've linked to looks much more sophisticated than the one I got from the app store...)  I think I've started to internalize the relationship between the notes on the staff (just the treble clef for now) and the keyboard.  The version I'm working on has the treble clef and the bit of the...

Today, -  in the wee moments of reflection I had between editing and writing a load of tests, - I'm thinking, where am I going with this piano playing?  And, indeed, why am I going there?  How am I going to get there...?  There's a social history aspect to this.  I'm fascinated by the idea that since the 1920s, people would go and see a movie, like the songs in it.  Or like the songs they'd heard at a dance hall.  Maybe they'd buy a 78.  But the best bit of that is, they'd buy the sheet music, and at least one person in the family would be able to sit down in the front parlour and play it.  And they could play it at parties, and dance, and sing along to it.  Fifty years later, the young woman who fell in love at one of those parties, could find the music in the piano stool, play it, and remember.   I suppose this went on until the 50s as a common phenomenon, and continued in some households for longer. The music in the piano ...

I had a couple of short practices yesterday, and then a good forty minutes in the evening.  Mrs Kemble is not at her best, and I think I'm going to have to regard her as largely ornamental until she gets tuned and tweaked, whenever that is.  Definitely going out of tune, and more keys are sagging, failing to respond, sticking.  Maybe it's the heat in the flat, or maybe the dealer did just enough tweaking to be able to sell her.  At two hundred quid, I'm not complaining, because even if I've got to spend that much again, or more, I'll have a lovely 1930s upright at the end of it.  But investing cash in Mrs K this year is probably not the best use of resources. So that means back to the Sampson for now.  And "going forward", as we used to say in Shanghai, I'll practice on whatever pianos cross my path, and get a digital in Dubai or wherever.  Going back to the how-I-learned-photography pattern, actually, digital might be the best way for the first coup...

I managed to get half an hour yesterday.  Hanons, mostly.  I did Hanon No.2 two-handed, quite slowly, making sure it was just right.  Same with No.1, but more quickly.  And also single handed No.1s, fast, which was fun.  Also some scales.  I came unstuck trying to do two handed scales, with the RH going 1-2-3-1, and  LH 5-4-3-2-1-3 - it means I'm going onto RH thumb when LH is proceeding merrily through the fingers.  This will need some work. Bad news on the old Kemble though.  Now that I've got my hands working together on the Hanons, hitting the notes one or two octaves apart, with the same velocity and at the same time, it's clear that she's slightly out of tune.  Also, several more keys above middle C are "sagging".  I can get a tuner/technician out of course, but I'm wondering if it's worth it just now.  See, I'm well on the way to working a summer school down south, and then heading off the UAE in late August.  The...

Got about 20 minutes on the Kemble yesterday, and then an hour on the Samson  before  bed. Hanons of course, and doodling clumsily around No.2, which was interesting. Finished by starting the first bar of Star Dust, which brought me up against A fingering problem for the first time.  Almost no practice today, a bloody work day, likely to be the first difficult day of a fortnight of them, as I go hell for leather to finish what's likely to be my last meaningful project before I start working notice and getting ready for something else. Hoping that the next workplace, whichever one of the current contenders it turns out to be, has an auld Joanna to hand. Which thought made me wonder why we pronounce it to rhyme with that lady's name in Geordie?

Obviously. I realised today that I'd been playing Hanon No.2 in quite a musical way. In C major, it's C-E-A-G-F-G-F-E-D, and I'd been playing the G-F as (roughly speaking) eighths, and the others as quarter notes, that is playing the two pairs of notes as a little shimmy, and the others drawn out, quite a simple little melody.  I'm learning to get them all the same length now, and it sounds quite different. So I was doing Hanons today, and Dorian in D, and C major scales, one handed, but changing the fingering as I went, and trying to keep the notes all the same despite sometimes getting back to the D or the C with a finger short, or a finger over.  That was fun.  My pleasure was diminished somewhat when I realised that the B next door to middle C on the Kemble is a bit poorly - not 100% responsive.  Saggy.  I'm sure this can be sorted, and it would benefit from some tweaking of strings and hammers and I-don't-know-what, but ought to hold back on any more pi...

Most educational institutions have a piano. For those long Friday afternoons, however, hiding from the desert sun, the Samson would be ok, but this is more like it .

Will want a pair of bins to go with this .

Cisse and Ben Arfa posters. 

I was listening to The Cure on the gummies tonight, and it got me thinking, I want to be able to improvise this, bit slower, bit bluesy, keep the singing.  I could hear it in my head.  Now, this is very nice , but it's not the way I'd want to do it.  So that's what I'm aiming for, really, to read music and to be able to improvise around almost any melody.

Over an hour on Hanons on the Samson last night.  And then again on the piano this lunchtime. Hanon No.1 is coming along nicely with the two hands, each note sounding in synch with its pal, and all being the same length, so that it's getting a kind of marching rhythm to it.  No.2 still has some way to go.  Last night, with the headphones on, I practiced knocking the hell out of the keyboard, hitting the keys with full force.  And after a lot of that, going gentler.  Same again today on the piano. After half an hour of more of the Hanons, I started on the scales from the Jazz Piano Scale book: Dorian on D.  It took me a few minutes to work out the pattern of the fingering - which is actually pretty simple, 1-2-3, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3, 1-2-3-4-5, and away you go back down again.  Beautiful.  I did both hands separately, which is all you need for Grade 1.  Hanon, Hanon, scales and Hanon. So the headlines the last 24 hours, apart from the new Pope,...

Also check out "Don't Get Weary" , (children) - it's a peach.

This from Piano Clues will be helpful when I move on from Hanon 1 and 2.

Got this last night -  £13.99, - and had a go before I went to bed.  It's pretty straightforward: eight "acoustic" pianos, plus metronome if you want it, and some other tweaks on volume, "ambience" etc.  The sound, with headphones, is very impressive.  The sound from the app, that is, I'm still with room for improvement: single handed Hanons are ok, velocity is getting more even across the the five fingers.   But the two hands are not synching exactly, and it can sound awful.  The good thing about using the Samson with the app and headphones is that you can hear the notes with merciless clarity.  So that's cool.  The Samson had been gathering dust for a week since the Kemble arrived, but it's definitely got a role (apart from travelling) in checking precision.  The weight is quite different, the keys feel very springy after the Kemble - but that's ok, I want to get used to as wide a variety of keyboards as possible.   That merciless ...

I had a couple of wee two handed Hanon 2s during the day.  Then sat down this evening for a proper practice.  Went very slow with two hands on Hanon 2, and made less mistakes, but it didn't always sound right.  Then I went alternate hands on Hanon 1 and then 2, left pedal, striking the keys as quietly, but as consistently as possible. It took a lot of concentration - what I noticed was that because you've got to work fingers 3&4, the one which follows be it 2 or 5, will strike the key too hard.  Also, maybe Mrs Kemble isn't the most sensitive of pianos - though I don't know that, being almost a real piano virgin until she arrived in my life.  I'll have to saunter into a piano shop and give a Steinway the benefit of my Hanon exercises when I get the chance, see how something expensive feels by comparison. Anyway, after half an hour, and I don't know how many trips up and down the keyboard, I was kind of getting there, each not being about the same velocit...

Thought I knew this, but, not really - okay-ish with pitch, but time and that...  Anyways, here's a link http://readsheetmusic.info/readingmusic.shtml Did some more Hanon 1s and 2s today.  2 is easier descending, and 1 is easier ascending - what's all that about?  Still slow and clumsy, but slight improvement. ABRSM Jazz Piano stuff arrived this afternoon.  It does look do-able in 12 months, but I need to spend the next month or so on the Hanons AND on getting up to speed with musical terminology in general and jazz in particular. I got the music for Hot Cross Buns via google, and taught The Bairn it.  A first (tiny) baby step in the knowledge transfer aspect of this.

Trying to post links and what-not, late at night, a bit "tired", from an iPad, is not recommended. This was on a Radio 3 jazz programme I listened to last night, though I must have heard it many times before, because I seem to know every note: what an ear-worm.  Went to sleep, with it, woke in the night with it, woke up this morning with it. Albert Ammons, on Wikipedia, here .  And the Boogie Woogie Stomp sheet music is here . This sounds really difficult to me.  It could be my equivalent of Rusbridger's Ballade . In any event, I suspect it's several years away.

This looks as if it'll do the job:  http://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_key_bag_492.htm

I finished Play It Again this afternoon, (that's three weeks or so, which shows how much time I have for reading these days).  It became really very engrossing.  There are some parallels - Chopin's Ballade No1/complete jazz piano beginner in one's fiftiess are perhaps on a par in terms of ambition.  And there's the business of fitting it all into a busy day, though naturally, Head of Assessment is far less onerous than Editor in Chief in terms of hours. The talks he had with the neurologists were the most interesting - that your brain is more plastic when you're young, but it still is in middle age, and will grow new links and branches to enhance new product memories.  It also made me realize that as much as I love classical/romantic music, I love folk, blues and jazz much, much more.  To oversimplify it somewhat,  I'm happier in a bar than in a concert hall, though I'm pretty happy in both places. I had an hour with M Hanon this afternoon.  ...

I've had a good couple of hours practice this afternoon.  It seems unreal that it's only a week since we went to look at the Kemble, and that it only arrived on Wednesday, it's like a member of the family already. Anyway, I warmed up on Hanon No.1, and then gave 2 a try.  I had a look at Mr Ron's video on it , but didn't find him very clear on the turn-around to go back down the keyboard.  The man at pianoclubhouse.com was much more translucent .  I eventually got to playing it up and down, with both hands, albeit slowly.  I'm picking up speed on No.1, and getting more precise. In the sheet music which came with the piano stool there's a kids' piano beginner book, and The Bairn fastened onto "A Scottish Dance", so I gave it a go as my first sight reading exercise, as it was a tune which I didn't know from the title.  I did it bar by bar, RH first and then LH. After five bars, I was able to put it together and - woohoo! - a wee tune th...

One of the big pluses of being a beginner, is that potential for a really good rate of progress.  Yesterday, I tried the Hanon Ex1 in C major with both hands, an octave apart.  It was awful. Like patting your head and rubbing your belly, (or is it the other way around?  See?)  And then first thing this morning, I had five minutes at it, and...  Woohoo! Slowly mind.  I used my morning break from test task designing to have an hour of practice just now, and spent most of that on two handed Ex1 all in C major, going up and down, an octave apart, sometimes two, eventually turning around without pausing.  Still can't go very quickly, and sometimes miss out a finger on the left hand, but it's getting there. I'm concentrating on hitting the LH and RH notes precisely at the same time, and at the same velocity. So I'll stick with this for as long as it takes to get quite nimble with the two hands, then move on to the other keys, and then to Hanon ...

IMAG0171 , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue . It arrived without fuss up two flights of stairs, (if you ever want a piano moved in Glasgow and Environs, let me know and I'll give you William Kerr's number, a no-fuss piano mover). I hadn't realized there was a piano stool included, (with some old music, too), which was very welcome. Today I've been doing Hanon in C major, as discussed. Both hands separately, and latterly both working together, slowly and clumsily. So I'm going to be doing two significant things over the next few days: getting the hands working together, and getting the feel of the keys - which is quite different to the midi keyboard, of course, difficult now to get any kind of expression there. But it's wonderful to play on a real old acoustic piano in my own home. Midi keyboards and digital are all ok, but nothing compares to the sensation (I choose that word carefully) of sitting there with this great beast of mahogany, wire, iron, e...

Our ABRSM Jazz Piano starter pack is in the post: Items Despatched Qty Price (£) ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------ JAZZ PIANO AURAL TESTS Grades     1    7.25 1-3 ABRSM JAZZ PIANO PIECES Grade 1     1    5.95 ABRSM* JAZZ PIANO QUICK STUDIES     1    5.95 Grades 1-5 ABRSM* JAZZ PIANO SCALES Grades 1-5     1    4.75 ABRSM* Delivery    3.95 ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------ Total of Despatched Items   27.85 ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------ Straight from their own shop. The pieces are cheaper on Ama-tax-dodger, but that's obviously some kind of loss leader because everything else was the same or cheaper on the ABRSM site. 

It's all here . And here's a photo of  Charles Louis Hanon .  God bless him. Twenty exercises (and that's just for starters), in all the keys, which I'll also get to learn - they're a very hazy concept beyond C Major just now.  And make a start on sight reading. Most importantly, though, get the two hands working together.  I don't know how long I'm going to spend almost exclusively on Hanon: it's like digging over the earth before starting to plant out, and it'll take as long as it takes. We're going to need a metronome. I feel a bit intimidated about getting the rhythm right.  Also, playing with two hands.  But both will come, with the help of M Hanon. And a piano stool, incidentally.  I recall seeing them in charity shops, and would like to get something a bit stylish - on eBay they're either very unappealing as furniture, or expensive.  The Bairn's got a big exercise ball which will function as a stool for now.

The Kemble's due to arrive Wednesday, late morning.  It occurred this evening that a tablet device is almost designed to help the piano-learner, fitting so nicely as I'm sure it will on the music stand.  But, whilst waiting for the music stand and its attached piano to arrive, this evening I went in search of some online advice about exercises.  How had I forgotten Hanon?  I'm grateful to Mr Ron for the reintroduction . I had considered earlier doing no more practice on the Samson, as the dear old Mrs Kemble is due to arrive day after tomorrow, but I couldn't resist half an hour of Hanon's in C major.  Half an hour?  Maybe starting Wednesday I should have a month of them; a week, anyhow.

Last night I bought the music from the ABRSM of the pieces for the Jazz Piano Grade 1 .  Also, the scales and quick studies.  At the moment, I plan to sit down at the Kemble and puzzle out the music with the help of YouTube, my ear, and a little help from mnemonical FACE and Every Good Boy...  I need to learn three pieces, and I'm planning on a month per piece.  Assuming work and travel don't interfere too much, November this year still feels like something to reach for.

I notice this was news a couple of weeks ago , but Newsnight did a piece on it on Friday. We heard briefly from Jools Holland who pointed out that you buy consumer goods these days, (car, fridge, three piece suite) with the expectation it'll last a few years.  A piano, on the other hand, is for life.  In that respect, the Kemble is like the Nikon F:use it, look after it, pay someone to CLA it, and then pass it on. What is the piano equivalent of a CLA, I wonder?  New felt on the hammers, that kind of thing.  Cleaned, Tuned and Adjusted?

It felt a bit lower than it ought to.  Perhaps because I'm used to playing midi keyboards off of tables.  We can sort that with a adjustable piano stool.  I went right through the keyboard, and it all seemed to be in tune.  The very top E at the far right hand end seemed a bit reluctant, but maybe that was just me, at the end of a stretch with wee finger 5.  The action on the keys is so much easier than on a midi keyboard, which has a kind of springy, squashy feel, whereas a real piano like this has a counter-balanced, see-saw kind of feel.  It's going to be quite a different feeling - easier. I told the seller, a young man called Steven, of the plan to do the grade exams, and he said, "So you want it to practice on?"  I said, yes, that I needed it for that and because...  I couldn't find the words, and he supplied them: "And it's much more fun."  The good old F word, which always came to mind when trying to explain to a digital native the ...

Skype chatting with Boy the other day, and he seemed to think Grade 2 would be do-able by end of this year. But that's the impetuosity of youth for you, (that off-colour joke about the old bull, and the young bull...).  So Grade 1 in November it shall be , and I believe that if I'm relocating somewhere longish-term for work, (of which least-said-soonest-mended at this stage of the game), one can do ABRSM exams anywhere in the world. Anyways, "Oh Lord Don't Let Them..." is one of the pieces in the syllabus.  I've been through several of the others, and they all seem like fun - which they'll need to be.  The quick study looks a bit daunting just now, though.  I'll have work on sight reading somewhat.  But, it's cool - an hour a day and a grade a year.  I'm so looking forward to seeing this Kemble tomorrow.

Last night was the C, F and G chords in C major, and inverting them.  And trying similar things with LH. And then, because I'm looking at that Kemble, Saturday, I spent time going up and down the keyboard, up and down, up and down...  And at different velocities. And wondering how all of this will go on a proper piano.  It was very interesting, and encouraging, that the practicing I'd done back in 2010 had not been wasted: I mean, I felt able to find my way about the keyboard, for example doing a scale with fingers 1-2-3-4-5... and bringing the thumb underneath to finish the octave almost seamlessly ...1-2-3. Couple of things: I've always worried that playing LH and RH together would be near impossible for a recovering dyspraxic, but playing the C major chords, the LH found the root apparently of its own accord.  The other thing, is that it looks likely now that this is going to be a much more analog process than I'd envisaged, with most of the learning done on the...