I learned to play piano when I was younger, sometime around age seven, sticking with it for a few years and then eventually leaving it. I learned the basics back then, practicing and performing both classical and modern music.
I was lucky to have a local teacher. The story goes that a neighbor and schoolmate of mine, Frankie, started playing piano, and I heard about it and brought it up with Mom, who reached out to her parents and found who the local teacher was to get me involved. I remember her house - a centuries old place built like a castle, with two grand pianos side by side and the greatest self-cooling in the summer I’ve ever experienced.
Years later, when I was in Boston, I found a map in the Library of Congress Archives of my hometown from the 1800’s, and low and behold, that house was on there, well before my parents' house was built.
My parents were very supportive and bought me first a keyboard, then an upright Yamaha piano, which I practiced almost every single day. My brother also learned to play a bit. The local piano teacher was always very proud of me; I got the hang of the art rather quickly. If I practiced at least 10 minutes every day, she would give me a sticker, and “piano money”, which I could redeem to buy cool things at my next performance. What a great teacher!
For a decade, I rarely thought of piano, and never touched it. Then I bought a keyboard while I was in college years later but barely re-learned a thing before losing interest again amongst the busyness of my life, and sold it.
Another 5 years or so passed, and I moved to the Netherlands into a small studio that I knew I would need something to do to keep me sane when I was not working. Piano was one idea, and I visited a small music shop in town. I not only bought a used keyboard to put in my studio, but I also had access to numerous pianos in the train stations of the Netherlands, and this old upright below - literally on the bottom floor of my workplace!
Me playing rock on a 100-year-old piano. Right: me at home with my family’s Yamaha that I learned on as a kid.
The greatest inspiration for me to really stick with it again was Viktoriya Yermolyeva (“Vika” - vkgoeswild), who is a classical pianist and famous for her rock covers. I found her videos and these rock covers really connected with me - and I think I remember watching one of her videos when I was very young and exploring YouTube. Her cover of “Guns N Roses - Knocking on Heavens Door” was the song that I wanted to learn to play, and I was willing to learn to play the piano again to make it happen. And I did!
I was surprised how much I was able to re-learn in a few short months, keeping an eye on my form to not overwork my fingers. It is nice now to have larger hands than when I learned, so I can span a full octave and play full chords.
My absolute favorite piece is Canon in D. I love to switch around the octaves, play it fast and slow, shift up the rhythm. I love the sound of the piano, and I love opening up the top and really hearing the music. With the right acoustics in the area, it’s beautiful to clearly hear the vibrations of the strings.
My repertoire is not that large as I am building it back up slowly. The real success factor in piano is consistency. When I practice regularly, subtle improvements are initially hard to pick up on, but over time they compound. I look forward to learning more and fine-tuning my skills.
Cheers,
Daniel