re-learning piano

With all the free time I have I decided to tickle the ivories on our old piano in the living room. It was nostalgic playing all the pieces I spend days practicing as a kid. Mozart is always elegant, Beethoven moody and Chopin a convoluted barrage of 16th notes. It felt like I was reconnecting neurons in my brain. Revisiting muscle-brain connections I haven't used in years. It amazes me how easily you remember all the mechanical movements to a Brahm's piece or to any of the numbered concertos by Schubert. I can liken it to an "out-of-body" experience watching your fingers fly over an arrangement you literally burned onto your brain lest you suffer the nasty whack of your piano teacher's stick. Piano lesson were a chore, a pseudo pre-pubescent "rite of passage" I had to suffer to make myself worthy of my parent's bragging rights to neighbors and relatives. I guess "suffer" is an exaggeration but for a kid, it comes really close. In retrospect, it was worth the "suffering." Learning other intruments is a breeze if you know your way around 'em 88 keys. I needed to be cool in highschool so I learned guitar. I needed a scholarship in college so I learned bass. I guess everything fell into place.

Now, I'm playing the piano again. Mainly for myself and for my girlfriend. I may not be a hack at it but I do manage to get past most of the stuff Tchaikovsky throws my way.

Thanks to all my past piano and music teachers for the gift of music.

By the way, You can find anything on the internet these days. I don't even have to buy sheet music anymore 'coz it's all over the net.