What promoted you to learn piano? I’d be interested to hear your stories of why you’ve decided to pick it up (not literally of course) as an adult.

In my case, I’ve never really played an instrument. As a teenager, I held a guitar and managed to learn the opening notes of Stairway to Heaven, and learn a few bar chords. When I figured that the odds of me making rock star were pretty slim, I gave up. Roll forward 20 years and I now have a two year old son. Before Christmas, we would go into ELC and he would often head for the toy piano (£30, 20 keys, only two of which can be played at the same time, and then only if they’re within five notes of each other. It also comes with a mic attachment, which is great for singing Ten Green Bottles). So, we bought the piano for Christmas, at which point, my son was no longer interested. In part, this may be due to the fact that dad wouldn’t let him on it. I then spent the next three weeks hammering out a few melodies, before I decided I should maybe upgrade and add a few more keys. The clincher was when I relaised that I couldn't get past the first bar of Song of Erin.

As with all skills, adults often say they wished they’d learned as a kid. I guess you hear this with piano probably more than anything else? One side-effect is that my son is now very keen to ‘play’, I guess becaused he sees dad play. I can suggest playing piano anytime and he’ll be keen – we plug in my proper piano and he pulls up his little red piano and we play ‘music’ together. He then gets a bit bored and insists we play around with the pre-programmed tunes on my piano; currently, Camptown Races is a favourite, or as he calls it, the Doo-Dah Song.

That’s my story. What’s yours?

Hello David,
I just always wanted to play, but there was no money for lessons when I was little.
Then fully intended to when I got more time, and realized that there would never be more time, so took the plunge 2 years ago, and am about to take Grade 3.
Beverley.

My story is very similar to Bevs, always wanted to learn but there was no money. So I took it up when I was approaching 50 and have never looked back. I have just done my Grade 4, when I first started to play I never imagined that I would do an exam.

I am now contemplating having a go at playing in church, one of the ladies there that plays the piano advised me that she was working on Grade 4 when she first started playing and she never actually got round to taking the exam. She said that it has improved her confidence enormously. I think she is going to put plans into place before I get a chance to change my mind. I would be a second pianist so if I couldn't play some notes it would hopefully go unnoticed!

ET

What prompted me to learn in the first place? My parents had one, I could make a cheerful noise on it when I was 5 or less and I liked music. Alas, I was clueless about practicing so made slow progress until I was 13 with a bare pass at grade 5. After that I gave up lessons and then almost gave up playing so slowly deteriorated until 2 years ago. Then I started again and started learning and practicing in earnest, since when I have made rapid progress.

Why did I start again? I had always vaguely told myself that one day I would take up the piano again and this time do it properly, but I had never got round to it. Then I met MadTom (through playing chess). Then 2 years ago I got appendicitis. While I was recovering I started to play again and Tom inspired me to take "one day" and make it "starting now", with full understanding of the commitment of time and effort over several years that would be involved.

My ambition was and is to play the Chopin studies, the Chopin Ballades, Liszt's La Campanella and the Symphonic Studies by Schumann. I may never achieve that level of virtuosity, but if I don't try then failure is a certainty. It certainly seems a lot less outrageously ambitious than it did 2 years ago.

In the meantime I still sing, play guitar and bass guitar and have taken up the flute, while continuing to play chess (and going to work). If I just concentrated on one I might get good at it, but I would miss out on the fun of all the others!

Hi Beverley

Likewise, there was no money in our house for piano lessons. Also, I daresay my parents would have lapsed into a bit of inverted snobbery - "Piano Lessons! Getting above your station young man, get back up that chimney.....piano lessons are for them they're rich folk".

Good point about time. There's no such thing as not enough time, it's all just a question of how you prioritise. Saying you've not enough time is just an excuse.

I like your thinking here. On the other hand, if you don't try you can always delude yourself into thinking that you could be successful if only.....
Whereas, if you try and fail, there is no doubt.

As a great man (or was it Marlon Brando?) once said: I could've been a contender

I've always had a keyboard of some form but never really taken it seriously, just using it to mess around or make cheesy dance tracks on the computer instead. A few months ago I decided to find a teacher and am now hoping to work my way up through the grades.

I love it as my sight reading is improving quite nicely and I'm actually picking up bits of music that I wouldn't even contemplate trying to read before. Much better than trial and error.

I took up piano last summer. I'd never had any desire to play the piano, either as a child or as an adult, and even when I took up music (clarinet and theory) a few years ago and started thinking about piano, I assumed I wouldn't be able to play because of the co-ordination required. Then last year I got Grade 5 theory and wanted to start working for Grade 6 theory, and I thought I would find it useful if I had a piano to use for learning the harmony and composition aspects of theory. So I got a cheap-but-nice portable digital piano, set it up, tentatively pressed a key - and sort-of gasped with astonishment at the lovely sound it made... And the feel of the keys under my fingers - I can't describe it I couldn't wait to have lessons after that, and although I'd only been going to take piano lessons in order to learn about harmony, the first thing I told my teacher was that I'd changed my mind and I wanted to learn "properly". I love it

I had lessons for about a year when I was 12 years of age. I gave up though due to schoolwork and not being interested enough to practice at that time. My parents eventually got rid of the piano because no-one was playing it. I have always enjoyed listening to piano music and hoped that I would take up playing again one day.

(My father died in 1983, and my mother re-married in 1988).

My step-father had a piano and when I was fast approaching 40 (in 2002!) I asked my step-father if he would mind me using his piano for practice and lessons. He was more than happy for me to use it, so I started again. I'm now at Grade 7 piano, Grade 5 singing, hold a Diploma in Music with the OU and am working towards a BA Hons. I have a small teaching practice too.

I still have a lot to learn, and a long way to go, but I enjoy playing.

I started piano lessons when I was about 7, as we had a piano in our dining room that we had inherited from my grandmother. I struggled with playing until I was 13, when I scraped Grade 3. I then gave up, but started again a couple of years ago after a 30 year gap; mainly due to the encouragement of people on this forum, but also because my son plays instruments. I'm now about to do Grade 5.

I wanted to learn to play in order to support my singing, ie learn new pieces more quickly without the help of a pianist friend. Then I got divorced and didn't get custody of the piano so gave up for a number of years. But now I am on the lookout for a local teacher with endless patience, sympathetic nature etc etc who can put me back on the right track.

As Skylark said above, there's something special about the feel of the keys and the wonderful sounds that can be produced.

At 52, it's nice to look back along the way ...
In the face of overt opposition from my parents - mostly my father ... or only my father perhaps - I had some piano classes when I was about 7 and was not constant enough to go any further than 2 or 3 months, so stopped.
I resumed the piano when I was 14 and I wasn't constant enough to go any further than a few weeks so stopped.
I then took up the violin at about 15 years of age, did about 4 years with a private teacher, enjoyed it a lot and did one year at Buenos Aires Conservatoire but had to choose a university career as it was quite clear I'd have to earn my own living.
I lived on, did some music in the meantime (singing, the recorder, etc.), got married to a wonderful wife, had two wonderful (very musical) children and my daughter took her first ABRSM exam in piano (Grade 2) some 4 years ago. She was very enthusiastic, we bought a piano for her to practise, and she sort of suggested that being so musical I, too, could take exams like her (and with with her) ... then one day, it suddenly dawned on me that I could try and see what I remembered and then ... why not give it another try, from a different perspective, that of a grown-up, with a little more discipline than a teenager, etc. etc. I took Grade 3 piano in 2006 (Distinction) and Grade 3 theory (Distinction), then Grade 4 last year (Distinction) and Grade 5 theory (Distinction) and am taking Grade 5 in about 20 days.... What a story! It seems quite incredible even to myself!
It's never too late, is it?
I'm happy I became reunited with my musical streak, sort of, and hope never to let go now.
I do a lot of practice every day (2 hours and over) and am enjoying the journery a lot.
For those of you out there, any age, who are toying with the idea of learning a musical instrument and maybe dithering because you're no longer in your teens (to put it mildly ...) do take the plunge and enjoy it to the full. It is well worth it.

Great story Juan Carlos

I particularly like the piece about your daughter. I don't think we need a scientific study to tell us that if you play an instrument, your child is also more likely to. This of course applies for many activities, behaviour etc. It's nice to hear your daughter prodded you, rather than the other way about. I'm sure I'm not alone in knowing one or two parents who loved the idea of little johnny playing piano, in part because it's maybe something they always wanted to do, but for whatever reason don't take it up now. When little johnny is pushed into lessons he doesn't want, you can hardly blame him for giving up when his parents are not practicising what they preach.

I can't imagine not playing the piano. It is so long ago that I started I can no longer remember what was so fascinating. But here is my story ...

Age 7 or 8. Whenever we visited my grandparents (2 or 3 times a week) my grandmother showed me something new. At first it was just finger pattens. Then learning to pick out the melodies of popular songes. Then to add a LH accompaniment (based on I IV V V7 with the occasional IIb and VI - though I didn't know such things then). Later we learned, by rote/ear/imitiation some Chopin preludes and a nocturne by Field. (The easy one).

Age 12. Visiting friends of my parents. There was a piano. The friend used to play. Everyone was surprised that I could play the thing, especially as we had no piano at home for regular practice. He gave us the piano.

Age 12-17. Started formal lessons. Learned to read scores as well as play by ear. Play a lot in festivals and school concerts (but in the shadow of a near-genius pianist a year older). Love it. We buy a better piano. (It finally expired - uneconomic to repair - just a few months ago). Practice every day, as much time as I can find between swimming training and school work, and paper round, and within the limitations of living in a small terraced house. Race through (selective) Grades 1-8. Very lucky that the local library has a great piano music section (now - sadly - broken up and scattered throughout the county). Revere Beethoven and love all his music - especially Liszt's arrangement of the sixth symphony, but Rock and Motown covers make me more popular at school and on nights out! More likely to have to be dragged away from the keyboard by my parents (or teachers) than forced to practice.

Age 18. Decided to study Ecology instead of music (or maths or medicine) so that I could save the world from ecological disaster. Play piano in pubs, clubs and restaurants to supplement my student grant.

Age 21. Realize that we have known for centuries everything we need to about Ecology, but that we have a stupid political system that stops us from using that knowledge to live in harmony with the rest of the natural world. But I am not interested in going into politics to save the world, nor in doing research for a drug company or biomedical concern. Drift from job to job.

Age 26. Go back to college for a year to get a PGCE specializing as a music teacher. Begin studying with brilliant concert pianist (continues for almost 4 years). Play occasional recitals and act as operatic accompanist around Liverpool/Southport/Preston. Teach for a few years.

Age 29. Change careers. Move South. Gradually play less and less. Do the occasional turn at dinner parties, work's outings, children's parties, accompanist at rehearsals for amateur theatre groups etc. But mainly just play a few hours a week for my own enjoyment and education. Work my way through masses of the standard repertoire - getting familiar with it, but not to a performable level.

Age 51. After many adventures, return to my home town. Meet Robodoc at the local chess club. Start to help him at his children's chess coaching sessions. After the chess sessions mess about on his old upright. Think: What have I been doing all these years? This is the one thing for which I am blessed with more than average "talent", that I am already pretty good at, could happily spend every waking hour doing, satisfies me in every way ... physically, intellectually, emotionally ... and has the bonus that occasionally it can even give pleasure to others. Resolve to start studying again with an LRSM as the motivational goal. Incidentally, persuade (inspire?) Robodoc to take up piano seriously after an even longer and more complete break than my own Buy an electronic piano to do extra practice at anti-social hours. Start to practice with real seriousness for the first time in years.

Age 52. Move to Utrecht to work, after the failure of a business venture, and in view of lack of opportunities in the UK. Discover a thriving classical musical culture, but suffer withdrawal symptoms with nowhere to play and practice while staying in hotels and hostels. Then discover wonderful practice facilities, where for a modest annual fee I can practice several hours a day every day (except academic holidays). By another stroke of luck take lodgings in the home a pair of professional musicians that introduce me to lots of inspriational musicians, and to the local Conservatoire, where I enroll for (remedial!) classes in harmony and counterpoint. Find a wonderful, patient teacher who does not scoff at my ambition to reach the standard of a professional recitalist before I reach the age of 60.

Age 53. Start playing in public again. Realize what a monumental task I have taken on. Move permanently to the Netherlands. Carefully plan the development of a good "classical" repertoire. Enter some competeitions. Hook up with a singer and a violinist for chamber music and another pianist from the Conservatoire (almost young enough to be my grandson!) for 4-hands stuff. Increase practice to 4+ hours daily.

What a story

Did I forget to mention the physical setbacks!

Age 10; Messing with hunting knife (whittling an old piece of wood) do my best to sever my left thumb. Repaired with 7 stitches.

Age 14: A week before my Grade 5 exam. Flip bike over on gravel road. Skid 15 metres with RH trapped between handlebars and road. FLesh ripped from all fingers. Visible bone in one of them. Protest at hospital about bandaging the whole hand. Insist on each finger being done separately. "I have a piano exam to take". They laugh "You won't be playing piano for a while young man", but they humour me and bandage it as I asked. Take the exam on schedule (and pass) with RH still bandaged like an Egyptian mummy

Age 17: Just before Grade 8 exam. Sprain my wrist in a basketball game. Take exam anyway. Very painful.

Age 35: larking about in a swimming pool, hit the water sideways and damaged my eardrum - now impaired hearing on one side.

Age 53. Dislocate two fingers in a cycling accident. Fear that my piano playing career is over before it is begun. Practice LH only for a week, then cautiously start to use RH again. Eight months on still some pain and stiffness, but hopeful of a full recovery. At least I am now a much more cautious and careful cyclist
...

If I were you, I'd have given up cycling at 14

Great stuff Tom.

Tom - maybe you should retake that 1965 Cycling Proficiency?
Just a thought....

Perhaps it is just more proof that certification is not all it is cracked up to be.

But then again (goes off at related tangent) did you know that by learning to swim you increase your risk of drowning?

I began learning violin at 9. A year or two later I asked for a piano. Request refused with the reason: "You haven't really mastered violin yet". Unhappy child; lots of my friends were learning two instruments! But my mother and stepfather would not be swayed, and I had to wait until adulthood, when my father, on passing away, left me some money.

I have always felt slightly aggrieved over not being allowed to learn as a child. I am sure if I had been able to, I would be more "comfortable" at the piano, just as I am with violin, but such is life.

Beg parding?

Is this because you're more likely to try and dive in to save someone in trouble and end up in a bad situation with undercurrents and the like?

In part. You are also likely to go open-water swimming, sailing, power boating, canoeing, surfing, SCUBA diving, high diving, fishing in waders, and a hundred other potentially lethal water-based pursuits, and generally take more risks around water because you feel more confident.

I get over to Utrecht now and then for work. It's not a bad place Gaucho's is lovely by the canal

You don't drink in the Guardian do you?

Unless WALNUT and I have identical life histories (perhaps we do, hence the extended quote) I think I said that.

Last Thursday of every month - Departmental drinks night!

Ooops I messed up editing the quote, sorry!



Haha, how did I guess! The one thing that annoys me with some of the pubs out there is that they always give you a new glass that's just been dipped in soapy water so if they don't rinse it properly you get a horrible taste of washing up liquid in your mouth the next morning

What do you do for a living now by the way?

Computer programmer.

Ah cool. Interesting, there isn't much to attract people to Utrecht really though from what I see. Most of the big pay and big technology companies are in Amsterdam. I think the company I work for must be one of the bigger employers in Utrecht from what I can make of it.. it's all a bit strange!

And here is the one single statement in the entire universe that Mad Tom and I agree on

Maledictis in agreeing with someone on the same planet shocker

If you aspire to excellence and fail you're (usually) still pretty good. If you aspire to mediocrity and fail . . .

Having said which there are things I know there is no point my aspiring to be good at because, for me, mediocrity would be quite an achievement. The day one of my school friends ran 100 metres faster than me, whilst he was running backwards and saying "come on Rob, you can do it" was the day I realized there is no point in me trying to be a great runner! Similarly, there was the time that I was doing lengths in the pool. In the next lane were a mother and adult daughter couple swimming along, chatting away without the remotest suggestion of breathlessness, not disturbing their hair or their make up . . . and overtaking me!

However, after all is said and done, I like the Chorus of the song of the Sloth (or Bradypus), by Flanders and Swan:

"I could climb the very highest Himalayas,
Be among the greatest ever tennis players,
Always win at chess or marry a Princess or
Study hard and be an eminent professor.
I could be a millionaire, play the clarinet,
Travel everywhere,
Learn to cook, catch a crook,
Win a war then write a book about it.
I could paint a Mona Lisa,
I could be another Caesar.
I could write an oratorio that was sublime.
The door's not shut on my genius but
I just don't have the time!"

I started wanting to learn the piano at school after I'd learnt to read music (through clarinet lessons).
Especially when I did GCSE music and started composing.

I taught myself a bit, I had a keyboard and used to use the pianos at school to practice on. But there's only so far you can get without a teacher or a piano and there was no chance of either.

So 20 years on, I have acquired both and am learning. I hope to start composing a bit again and hopefully something a bit more complicated as my piano playing improves.

The years of messing on pianos and keyboards did give me a good base for my teacher to start on, we've skipped to around gd3 so I'm straight in with decent sounding stuff which is nice. Hurray for Top Cat!!

You need to look a bit harder!

As Low an unemployment rate as anywhere in the country
Attractive old city with an extensive network of well maintained historic canals
Attractive landscaped canalside walks
Huge boulevards with avenues of mature trees
Great architecture
Interesting statues all over the place
A University (and numerous colleges)
A Conservatoire
A Concert hall
The Liszt Piano Competition
The International Students Piano Competition for Amateurs
Inexpensive practice facilities for musicians
Many opportunities for amateur music making in church halls, private houses, care homes etc.
Two large theaters and many smaller ones
At least seven cinemas
A top-division football team
A cricket team !!!!
Four swimming pools (including a complex with a fun pool, a teaching pool, a training pool, and a lane-swimming pool)
Extensive facilites for soccer, hockey, tennis, athletics ...
A golf club
A rowing club
One of the world's biggest and strongest chess clubs
... a club for <name your interest here>
A good library (with large English and Music sections)
Countless great shops including about every specialism you can think of
... and countless restaurants
Street markets
Small enough to go anywhere in town by bike
Several well equipped, well run, immaculately clean hospitals
Many fine museums, including the national museums of railways, and of clocks/mechanical musical devices
Some beautiful parks (Oog in al, Wilhelmina Park, ...)
Dozens of small children's playgrounds
Lovely botanical gardens
The oldest observatory in the Netherlands
is the centre of the Dutch rail network - fast links to everywhere
Non stop succession of festivals and special events (film - early music - dance - drama ... )
A rock/goth/pop music venue (Tivoli)
A national exhibition centre (like Birmingham's NEC, but easier to get to)

... I could go on forever

If that is not enough Amsterdam and Schiphol are a quick and easy train journey away

[Edit: Apologies to the OP - we seem to have wandered a little off-topic! However - if you want to polay piano - this is a good place to be]

It's even more shocking when it's MT - we hardly ever agree on anything...

I must admit I've only wandered around as I've been there on work assignment each time I've visited. I knew about the University, and it is quite nice aesthetically as a city.

Might have to look into that list next time I'm over

What's the weather like over there at the moment? Almost every time I've been there it's been overcast or raining