First time you made music at the piano ?

[m19834]

I would like to know what those circumstances were, if you remember them.  For example, was anybody else there ?  Was it in a lesson ?  How did you know you made music ? 

I had been thinking originally about asking what the circumstances were when you first touched the piano (in a lesson, at home, in a bar, etc.), and you can answer that, too, if you wish.  But, I am curious if you can remember when the first time was that you know you actually made music at the instrument, in any form (written music, improvised, composed, etc.).  So, when was it no longer just pressing the right keys at the right time, or when was it no longer just kind of banging away at the instrument -- though maybe it was never "about" that for some people.  At what point and in what circumstances did it become musical. 

Please be as detailed in your response as you would like.

Thanks .

[thalbergmad]

According to my mum, I was three years old when after listening to an episode of Z Cars, i toddled up to our recently delivered piano and gradually picked out the theme.

I do not remember doing this, but that is when my parents decided to send me to piano lessons the following year.

Thal

[shortyshort]

I am still waiting. 

[ahinton]

According to my mum, I was three years old when after listening to an episode of Z Cars, i toddled up to our recently delivered piano and gradually picked out the theme.

I do not remember doing this, but that is when my parents decided to send me to piano lessons the following year.

Thal

And I'm sure that you've never looked back since, banjo or no five-stringed tenor banjo. As to me, well, I suppose that I, like "shortyshort", am still waiting. The only music I've ever made "at" the piano is that which I have composed for this most wonderful and indispensible of instruments and, since I have never gone to the piano to try to find what I might want to write for it and rarely even gone to one to try out what I have written for it, I have to admit that my entire relationship with the piano is very much at what lawyers might call "arm's length" (a position which, in practical terms, is self-evidently pretty useless for actual players of it). That said, I have never completely regretted anything that I have tried to write for the piano...

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

five-stringed tenor banjo.

No such instrument exists.

Thal

[richard black]

No such instrument exists.

Thal

Indeed, Monsieur Hinton is putting the finishing touches to the prototype as I write.

[javacisnotrecognized]

The first time I made music was when I managed to wrap my head around rhythm

[m19834]

The first time I made music was when I managed to wrap my head around rhythm

Do you recall what the circumstances of that were ?  Was it in a lesson ?  Was it by yourself ?  Do you mind saying around what age that was ?  And, how did you finally get to where you "wrapped your head around rhythm" ?

Maybe this thread seems like merely a musing of mine, but it's not.  I would really like to know if people generally discover how to make music while they are actually with their teachers, or somebody else, or alone, or whatever ! 

Thanks .

[ahinton]

No such instrument exists.

I know that, Thal. I was merely winding you up. And it seems as though I succeeded. No offence intended, however.

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

Indeed, Monsieur Hinton is putting the finishing touches to the prototype as I write.

Oh, no he ain't! (see my previous message in this thread); I know better than to mess around with banjo design especially when we have our own self-confessed (and wouldn't he have to be just that?) resident banjolier here...

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

Do you recall what the circumstances of that were ?  Was it in a lesson ?  Was it by yourself ?  Do you mind saying around what age that was ?  And, how did you finally get to where you "wrapped your head around rhythm" ?

Maybe this thread seems like merely a musing of mine, but it's not.  I would really like to know if people generally discover how to make music while they are actually with their teachers, or somebody else, or alone, or whatever ! 

Thanks .

Well, completely alone in my case.

Best,

Alistair

[javacisnotrecognized]

It was debussys arabesque (sp?) #1. There are alot of places in there where one hand is playing triplets against eighth notes in the other hand, and I couldn't play those parts without terrible syncopations and uneveness, etc. My teacher had taken me through it a few times and explained which notes to accent, where they go in relation to time, etc. She had my clapping the 3 against 2 rhythm for awhile.

Eventually I realized that if I played the measure (Measure 6 in this case) really fast, I could get it. And then I realized that it was because on each beat of the measure, both hands played a note at the same time. So I tried slowing it down while trying to focus all my attention on the 3 places where the hands played together (Accenting them so that  they were the only ones that could be heard prominently).
So from there, I realized those notes (Plus a note at the beginning of the bar) are all the beats in the measure! And there were 4 of them! Could this be the 4 in the time signature ?? I looked at some other pieces, and it turned out to be true: The number of beats in each measure was the same number indicated by the time signature. (I had until then considered the time signature "Just another of those inexplicable symbols on my music paper") Suddenly, stuff I had learned years ago and stuff I had learned yesterday all came together to somehow make sense. I had, up untill that point, been playing everything as if every beat in the measure was a downbeat, and each note was a beat. (For example, if I was playing 16th notes in a piece in 3/4 time, each 4th 16 note would get an equal accent, and some notes would randomly get accented for whatever reason).

This was all about a year or two ago - I subsequently looked through all my pieces (All 5 of them, lol!) and checked out the rhythm, only to find it was some horrible mess, except in degenerate cases. [Joplin rags usually have simple rhythm, for example; and it's kept in check by the continual LH oom-pah. (But this rhythm is simple only on the surface - the RH is going through all kinds of sycopated rhythmic contortions. I'm rediscovering the joy of ragtime)]

So now I consider anything with a haphazard rhythm to be glorified noise.

[pianochick93]

I wouldn't call it music, but we have a video of me when I was about 2 playing 'Twinkle Twinkle'
I was basically just pressing random groups of keys with my fists, going up and down the piano as I pleased.

[javacisnotrecognized]

I wouldn't call it music, but we have a video of me when I was about 2 playing 'Twinkle Twinkle'
I was basically just pressing random groups of keys with my fists, going up and down the piano as I pleased.

Can you upload this video somewhere? I'm actually quite interested in young videos of people who've later developed an interest in piano music. I suspect there is method the banging.

[pianochick93]

It's actually video video - I'm not sure how to get it from the tape onto a computer. I am somewhat technologically illiterate.

[dana_minmin]

I was like 4 or 5 when I was in kindergarten. I had a toy piano at home with bottons, not keys, of 2 and a half octaves. I played pieces I learnt/sung in class and we have the scores with numbers on, then I play it on that toy piano.

2 or 3 years later I got a teacher.

[mrba1979]

It was around age four or five when I was able to start picking out simple melodies.  Around six I was able to play by ear with moderate amount of decency what I liked to call the rock an roll song which my sister and I would dance along with when my dad played.  Unfortunately we had to move into another state, and could not take the piano because of space restrictions.  i.e. moving from  a house to an apartment. It was not until my sixth grade year when my family would have a piano and the money to pay for piano lessons.  Aside from that I do not remember any more details.
Though I should say I do remember I was always interested piano and fascinated with those who could play the instrument.

Oh, right almost forgot.  I started played my first instrument in fourth grade.  It was a bass clarinet so I already had some understanding of music when I started piano.     

[mrba1979]

Oh, right almost forgot.  I started played my first instrument in fourth grade.  It was a bass clarinet so I already had some understanding of music when I started piano.    

Apparently more comfortable than with current grammar!