cheechako
Well-Known Member
I was going to post this in the music section, but it really isn't limited to music. Perhaps this thread could be titled, "The Official Older-Adult Beginner Artist Club", but that's more up to any participation in this thread than a title I come up with.
That's my point, though. I'm 52. You don't have to be that old to be here, but at some point in life, you seem more likely to run into the notion of "you're too old for that". At some point, you also need to admit that you're at least too old to get far, but that doesn't have to be the goal of creativity or art or any similar hobby.
I started self-teaching myself the piano when I was 49. Midlife crisis? Perhaps. Now we can argue about creativity in playing the works of others, but let's not do that here.
If you've bumped into me here, you probably know how much I enjoy music. However, I only made a brief foray into any attempt at playing - and that was back when I was 19. I finally decided to buy a cheap Yamaha portable 61-key keyboard on an after-Christmas clearance sale. Here's a tip to anyone interested in piano music - get a digital piano right from the get-go.
I traded up last year to a Casio PX-330. I have plenty of sounds to play with (pardon the pun), but I have a weighted keyboard, and piano is a very tactile instrument. Mine was cheap - $500 for a refurbished unit. It doesn't compete with a DP that costs four times as much nor a well-maintained acoustic piano. I like solo works - if I liked sing-alongs, perhaps that cheaper "touch sensitive" keyboard would suffice.
I have stuck with it even though live keeps getting in the way while we work on that crap. I have collected a bunch of sheet music - some out of print - that is still beyond me. I am slowly working my way through the first Alfred's book. I also have computer aided teaching software. This is relatively modern and really changes the possibilities for self-education. Unlike video teaching or acoustic instruments, my digital piano can hook up via USB/MIDI to the computer, and the computer can monitor my progress, show me the next keys, and so on. I have a program (Midi Illustrator Maestro) that will do this with any score, but I have to enter it from the sheet music. However, I think the more I do this, the better I get at reading music, especially when I use the musical keyboard instead of my QWERTY keyboard to enter it into the computer.
Perhaps once our life settles, I will try to find an instructor. I don't expect to perform - not even a recital. I'm just having a fun journey. I'm not at all wondering about yield - I'm just learning to grow!
That's my point, though. I'm 52. You don't have to be that old to be here, but at some point in life, you seem more likely to run into the notion of "you're too old for that". At some point, you also need to admit that you're at least too old to get far, but that doesn't have to be the goal of creativity or art or any similar hobby.
I started self-teaching myself the piano when I was 49. Midlife crisis? Perhaps. Now we can argue about creativity in playing the works of others, but let's not do that here.
If you've bumped into me here, you probably know how much I enjoy music. However, I only made a brief foray into any attempt at playing - and that was back when I was 19. I finally decided to buy a cheap Yamaha portable 61-key keyboard on an after-Christmas clearance sale. Here's a tip to anyone interested in piano music - get a digital piano right from the get-go.
I traded up last year to a Casio PX-330. I have plenty of sounds to play with (pardon the pun), but I have a weighted keyboard, and piano is a very tactile instrument. Mine was cheap - $500 for a refurbished unit. It doesn't compete with a DP that costs four times as much nor a well-maintained acoustic piano. I like solo works - if I liked sing-alongs, perhaps that cheaper "touch sensitive" keyboard would suffice.
I have stuck with it even though live keeps getting in the way while we work on that crap. I have collected a bunch of sheet music - some out of print - that is still beyond me. I am slowly working my way through the first Alfred's book. I also have computer aided teaching software. This is relatively modern and really changes the possibilities for self-education. Unlike video teaching or acoustic instruments, my digital piano can hook up via USB/MIDI to the computer, and the computer can monitor my progress, show me the next keys, and so on. I have a program (Midi Illustrator Maestro) that will do this with any score, but I have to enter it from the sheet music. However, I think the more I do this, the better I get at reading music, especially when I use the musical keyboard instead of my QWERTY keyboard to enter it into the computer.
Perhaps once our life settles, I will try to find an instructor. I don't expect to perform - not even a recital. I'm just having a fun journey. I'm not at all wondering about yield - I'm just learning to grow!
