In need of a bit of inspiration.....

[sharpsfallflat]

Hello all...I've been away from the ivories well over 25 years,but I gotten a bit of a burn to go back at it. The basics have stuck with me forever,but it was the type of music that just didn't encourage me to continue pursuit of this precious skill. I've dug into the INTERNET and see items that have re-lit the flame a bit.I was taught strictly classical,waltz,competition,and theory and to a kid under 15,it was more so "forced". I don't regret it b/c not everyone can do it,but would it be a waste of learned talent to want to "re-learn" to play by chords. I really don't want to go back to standardized lessons,but I don't want to feel as though I'm cheating myself by not adding onto what I've learned(from a theory standpoint)....Plus the chord way seems a bit easier and the music seems fun to play.....Any advice from those deep into the field? And thanks..........

[hfmadopter]

I think the first step is getting yourself warmed up and just playing initially ( that's why I'm here too !). But I have to say, that if classical isn't really your thing you can't force it to be your thing. For the moment that's what you know. Also, don't rule out that all music is built from cords and all music has a pulse. In that vein your classical structure will go with you into any music you want to play to an extent.

That said, my teacher ran me through a strict program of classical but she also let her students breath with something else they may want to do. I knew for instance I liked Movie theme songs and some Broadway hits and classics as well  ( I was an adult student with her, as a kid I was given accordian lessons). Meanwhile there was a local piano entertainer who also happened do be the director of Music at a Music college in Boston, classical background who played my secondary kind of music with a Chopin flare you might say. Chariots Of Fire , Chopinesque, if you will ! About 7 years into my learning, a summer class came up to do with broadening your chords and the theme was to take a simple melody line and now start to fill that out with different kinds of cords, from open with 7ths to closed but strong etc.. But it worked, you could take a simple melody line and fill the keyboard with music and do that in various themes. For that class I took the theme to the Three Stooges and made a bigger thing out of it than it was ( part of this course was not just written music but to create something you've heard not read off a sheet). And I took from the book the couple of lines of passage from Shenedoa and did the same thing.

 I know this is getting long. While I could not do what  that piano guy I liked did, I could now fill out the key board based from a simple melody. I did take Chariots Of Fire , I think in a simple G Major beginners sheet I had and made a keyboard full of music out of it with a pulse and a build up to a big strong run near the end trailing off to a final ending. If you know Chariots Of fire, then you know the pulse that runs all through it. It was a hit with everyone and I ended up using it in a recital along side my classical music.

I guess I'm saying go for it, go for your dream music. Don't forget that classical stuff is still underlying. And if you play classical, play classical in it's true form, it will help everything else you do ( my teachers words not mine).       

[sharpsfallflat]

I think the first step is getting yourself warmed up and just playing initially ( that's why I'm here too !). But I have to say, that if classical isn't really your thing you can't force it to be your thing. For the moment that's what you know. Also, don't rule out that all music is built from cords and all music has a pulse. In that vein your classical structure will go with you into any music you want to play to an extent.

That said, my teacher ran me through a strict program of classical but she also let her students breath with something else they may want to do. I knew for instance I liked Movie theme songs and some Broadway hits and classics as well  ( I was an adult student with her, as a kid I was given accordian lessons). Meanwhile there was a local piano entertainer who also happened do be the director of Music at a Music college in Boston, classical background who played my secondary kind of music with a Chopin flare you might say. Chariots Of Fire , Chopinesque, if you will ! About 7 years into my learning, a summer class came up to do with broadening your chords and the theme was to take a simple melody line and now start to fill that out with different kinds of cords, from open with 7ths to closed but strong etc.. But it worked, you could take a simple melody line and fill the keyboard with music and do that in various themes. For that class I took the theme to the Three Stooges and made a bigger thing out of it than it was ( part of this course was not just written music but to create something you've heard not read off a sheet). And I took from the book the couple of lines of passage from Shenedoa and did the same thing.

 I know this is getting long. While I could not do what  that piano guy I liked did, I could now fill out the key board based from a simple melody. I did take Chariots Of Fire , I think in a simple G Major beginners sheet I had and made a keyboard full of music out of it with a pulse and a build up to a big strong run near the end trailing off to a final ending. If you know Chariots Of fire, then you know the pulse that runs all through it. It was a hit with everyone and I ended up using it in a recital along side my classical music.

I guess I'm saying go for it, go for your dream music. Don't forget that classical stuff is still underlying. And if you play classical, play classical in it's true form, it will help everything else you do ( my teachers words not mine).       

Thanks for the well worded advice......My teacher was an awesome lady who knew her stuff.She instilled confidence in me enough to win a couple of Sonata contest and competition guilds,so I'm greatful for that.It's just that I lost interest after getting older and now I look back at what could have been(lol).......Oh well,onward to chords,scales,metronomes,and practice


Thanks again.......

[hfmadopter]

Sure thing.
Hat's off to the sonata wins ! I never entered competitions but did play out in the community a bit with help from my teacher. And put on one serious recital. Then the meds kicked in and set me back, that was my turn off point. It was enough work already to learn then that. My largest performance was in front of 150 people. I felt severely below that level but there I was and it went very well ( big thank you to Mrs. Allen where aver you are !).

All I can say is go on from here, draw on what's positive from your past experience and  guardedly put aside the negative. Maybe find another kind of music that interests you as a secondary outlet, or primary if that be the case..