Search found 48 matches

by Gooday
10 Apr 2014, 15:38
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Breakthrough with sight reading
Replies: 4
Views: 9139

Re: Breakthrough with sight reading

Hi Dave, It's good to have you back on the forum. You've got me thinking re - " If Baroque 'expresses' anything, it''s grandiose and sheer opulence, usually." I think the majority isn't opulent and grandiose - that it might be seen as such is probably the fault of the way it was played in ...
by Gooday
08 Apr 2014, 15:50
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Breakthrough with sight reading
Replies: 4
Views: 9139

Re: Breakthrough with sight reading

well done with the sight-reading progress. I find that tricky still, too. I'm sure I'd learn pieces faster If I devoted more time to it. I currently spending a lot of time with shorter pieces (or pieces of longer pieces!) in different keys, that seems to be helping a little. Schumann's Kinderszenan ...
by Gooday
08 Jan 2013, 18:19
Forum: Piano Advice
Topic: It's a bit chilly in here ...
Replies: 3
Views: 5988

Re: It's a bit chilly in here ...

thanks
by Gooday
04 Jan 2013, 17:31
Forum: Piano Advice
Topic: It's a bit chilly in here ...
Replies: 3
Views: 5988

It's a bit chilly in here ...

Had my new piano for a few months now - I really like it and am unlikely ever to change it, so I'm really keen not to damage it in anyway. So I've turned the radiators in the room that contains it (and not much else) :) to very low - got a bit chilly for the few months before Christmas. Seems to be ...
by Gooday
22 Oct 2012, 14:09
Forum: Piano Advice
Topic: Car Salesmen?
Replies: 6
Views: 10093

Re: Car Salesmen?

Ha ha - I remember this! Just been reading my old posts. To be fair on this particular dealership, their practice rooms really are excellent. Nethertheless, having finally bought a new Rx-2, 3 guesses for where I didn't buy it from!
by Gooday
09 Feb 2010, 18:14
Forum: Piano Advice
Topic: Yamaha b1 silent. Any opinion?
Replies: 2
Views: 9770

Re: Yamaha b1 silent. Any opinion?

Hello, I did something very similar. Had a P120 for a number of years, then got a B1 (and took grade 5). Nearly, 4 years later and given the same limitations (space primarily), I'd do the same again. There is just no comparison between a digital and even this budget acoustic. The touch of digitals s...
by Gooday
26 Oct 2009, 15:34
Forum: Piano Advice
Topic: Duvets
Replies: 5
Views: 8191

Duvets

I've had a yamaha B1 for a while now. It lives in a very small room and is tuned regularly. I've grown to really dislike the harsh tone from the middle of the keyboard down, perhaps something you'd expect as I've become accustomed to Kawai RX3s, a concert Steinway and Yamaha C3s (from renting practi...
by Gooday
21 Sep 2009, 16:58
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Chopin - fantasie impromptu, any tips?
Replies: 4
Views: 10266

Re: Chopin - fantasie impromptu, any tips?

I don't know - bars 37-41 seem fairly comfortable even at speed, but I've got longish fingers so maybe that helps. Worst so far are 17-22 where I keep finding notes that shouldn't line up, lining up but getting there. Maybe if i ever finish it I'll put it on youtube and show the steps taken.Actually...
by Gooday
07 Sep 2009, 12:04
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Chopin - fantasie impromptu, any tips?
Replies: 4
Views: 10266

Re: Chopin - fantasie impromptu, any tips?

Thanks Stuart. Spent another hour or so on the piece this weekend and things are beginning to click. Occassionally I can get through to bar 13 at third speed with hands to gether and it's sounds okay which is great because I'll be able to speed up gradually. I'm also putting in some occasional highe...
by Gooday
04 Sep 2009, 16:54
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Chopin - fantasie impromptu, any tips?
Replies: 4
Views: 10266

Re: Chopin - fantasie impromptu, any tips?

rhythm hasn't lined up properly, that's LH on 1,5,9 and RH 1,4,7,10
by Gooday
04 Sep 2009, 16:49
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Chopin - fantasie impromptu, any tips?
Replies: 4
Views: 10266

Chopin - fantasie impromptu, any tips?

Started having a look at this. I don't seriously expect to play the whole piece any time soon, but it looks like good practice for 4 against 3 patterns. So, any tips? I'm trying a few approaches but things are still sounding a bit lumpy. First approach, tapping out the rhythm and trying to 'program'...
by Gooday
03 Aug 2009, 15:48
Forum: Piano Advice
Topic: Haynes Piano Manual
Replies: 5
Views: 9586

Haynes Piano Manual

Just read most of the new Haynes piano manual. Must admit, bought this expecting it to be a bit of a gimmick but actually seems pretty good to me. I might not be tempted to give my piano a full tune :wink: , but I now know much more about my piano in general. Will definitely be useful when finally g...
by Gooday
09 Jul 2009, 14:52
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Enrolled for Evening Classes!
Replies: 14
Views: 19868

Re: Enrolled for Evening Classes!

Well, having completed a year's worth of evening classes, I can thoroughly recommend it. I've learnt loads, am now almost comfortable playing to an audience (huge leap that) and have already re-enrolled for next year. One surprising aspect was that I picked up a fair amount of theory, though not eno...
by Gooday
03 Mar 2009, 16:53
Forum: Piano Showcase
Topic: Grade 1 exam pieces
Replies: 8
Views: 12880

Re: Grade 1 exam pieces

Nice work! 3 months? Impressive.
by Gooday
03 Mar 2009, 16:36
Forum: Piano Showcase
Topic: Haydn - Sonata Hob. XV1:41 Allegro de Molto
Replies: 1
Views: 5462

Haydn - Sonata Hob. XV1:41 Allegro de Molto

I think the piano showcase is a great idea, so I thought I'd better post something. Unfortunately, I had my Chopin evening class recital effort taped over (**#!** college IT department), so here's the only other recording of my efforts. This is from BEFORE my evening classes started last year and al...
by Gooday
25 Feb 2009, 18:05
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: New Piano Showcase category and forums!
Replies: 11
Views: 14944

Re: New Piano Showcase category and forums!

For acoustics, the dynamic range of the piano causes some problems as catching the quiet bits can mean the loud bits are distorted, but I've been able to record something recognisable on a cheapish point and click digital camera (canon) without too much distortion, though it's far from cd quality. J...
by Gooday
24 Feb 2009, 14:41
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: grade exams -- what's the point
Replies: 23
Views: 28301

Re: grade exams -- what's the point

Re "Gooday wrote: I think there is a need a new frame work which provides structured learning and objective assessment that is suited to the 21st century and adresses the need of those interested in a range of music types - including classical." No I didn't! I was saying the opposite. Let'...
by Gooday
23 Feb 2009, 18:49
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: grade exams -- what's the point
Replies: 23
Views: 28301

Re: grade exams -- what's the point

I think it would generally agreed that having grade 8 doesn't mean you're a well rounded musician or indicate you have a diverse repetoire, but I don't understand why the G8 exam (in particular) seems to consistently receive negative comments on this forum. There's going to be a degree of subjectivi...
by Gooday
17 Feb 2009, 18:41
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Adult Learners: What stage are you at and after how long?
Replies: 10
Views: 13105

Re: Adult Learners: What stage are you at and after how long?

Hello Droo, I hope you continue to find the piano rewarding! I started playing in summer 2002, having bought a weighted keyboard (yamaha P120.) I could read the treble cleff fairly well (one note at the time) and slowly interpret a bass clef, plus play a few chords on the guitar so not a complete be...
by Gooday
15 Jan 2009, 15:41
Forum: Piano Advice
Topic: New Look
Replies: 7
Views: 11643

Re: New Look

I'm not sure search is working. I get the improbable response,

"Information
No posts were found because the word yamaha is not contained in any post."

when searching for 'yamaha'
by Gooday
11 Dec 2008, 18:17
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Enrolled for Evening Classes!
Replies: 14
Views: 19868

went well I think. :) Pleased with myself as I've been struggling with nerves all term. At one point I had no idea where I was in the piece but my fingers kept on moving.

Will try to post a link to the video if I can get hold of a copy and edit to just my bit.
by Gooday
11 Dec 2008, 18:06
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Exams or not?
Replies: 43
Views: 34942

But surely you can't pass the sight reading on grade 8 without being able to play a good few bars of a grade 6 piece at sight? And if you can do that, there are lots of pieces you can play without much effort. Or does sight reading not get any more demanding after grade 5? I don't think it's healthy...
by Gooday
11 Dec 2008, 17:40
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Piano related tv programs or radio, notice board
Replies: 68
Views: 47815

Watched "The Beat my Heart Skipped", Definitely in French. Wasn't bad. Violent in places, but in a French way involving cooking utensils. Just wondering where the piano was (30 minutes in) when it suddenly appears. Our, er anti hero, then struggles with some Haydn and Bach (I think) in ord...
by Gooday
03 Dec 2008, 16:05
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Enrolled for Evening Classes!
Replies: 14
Views: 19868

That's right, Eb major. Good luck with Grade 1!
by Gooday
02 Dec 2008, 18:12
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Exams or not?
Replies: 43
Views: 34942

- Gill, "only24 pieces"... at exam standard? That's not so bad!

I've got some way to go before I get to that point. :(
by Gooday
02 Dec 2008, 17:31
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Enrolled for Evening Classes!
Replies: 14
Views: 19868

Thanks Moonlight,

I'm going play Chopin Nocturne Op.9 No.2.
by Gooday
01 Dec 2008, 15:22
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Enrolled for Evening Classes!
Replies: 14
Views: 19868

End of term concert this Thursday! Going to try to play from memory. Wish me luck...
by Gooday
11 Nov 2008, 17:15
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Enrolled for Evening Classes!
Replies: 14
Views: 19868

Hello Moonlight, I found the course via a google search. City Lit and Morley were the colleges with courses in London. The course lasts a school year, complete with holidays such as half term a week or so ago and costs around £370, although concessions are available. Per lesson, that is ac...
by Gooday
21 Oct 2008, 16:41
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Enrolled for Evening Classes!
Replies: 14
Views: 19868

Week 4... A little bit thrown by the high standards of everyone else on the course at first and the structure being completely different from private lessons, but beginning to really enjoy the workshops. I'm practicing with real purpose - there's nothing like knowing you're going to play infront of ...
by Gooday
10 Oct 2008, 10:15
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Piano related tv programs or radio, notice board
Replies: 68
Views: 47815

http://www.guardianmarketing.co.uk/play ... y&link=MPU

Looks like a beginner's guide in this weekend's Guardian/Observer.
by Gooday
29 Sep 2008, 16:05
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Enrolled for Evening Classes!
Replies: 14
Views: 19868

Attended the first session last Thursday. I'm off to a bit of a shakey start - there was no welcome pack to say we'd be playing Chopin this term and my brain went to mush as I blundered through some Haydn. Nice to play a Steinway though. The standard seems high and I'm going to struggle to keep up. ...
by Gooday
18 Aug 2008, 16:48
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: What are we all learning to play at the moment?
Replies: 50
Views: 41884

Making some progress on a couple of the new grade 7 pieces (A2 - Haydn_Allegro_di_molto and B1 Faure_Andante_Moderato) Struggling with C1, the blues piece though. Isn't flight of the bumblebee, at least the version I heard from 'Shine' well past grade 8 at the speed it needs to be played? Not seen t...
by Gooday
06 Aug 2008, 16:35
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Piano nerves
Replies: 14
Views: 17523

Hello, Did you keep going on the pieces you made mistakes on or grind to a halt? I'm working under the assumption that if you keep going then you're probably okay in the exam, but if that's not the case it would be good to know. Maybe I have the same sort of issue to a degree in that I play pieces m...
by Gooday
15 Jul 2008, 11:53
Forum: Piano Advice
Topic: Buying advice...new upright
Replies: 11
Views: 14905

Had my B1 for 2 years now. I bought it at discount price off of the internet, unplayed. Sounded very harsh in the middle register when it arrived, but after some careful voicing and regular tuning it sounds really very good considering its cost and I'm definitely happy with it. I've played a lot of ...
by Gooday
15 Jul 2008, 11:41
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Enrolled for Evening Classes!
Replies: 14
Views: 19868

Enrolled for Evening Classes!

I've given up trying to find classes for grade 5 theory (for now), but I did manage to audition successfully for an evening class, "Level 7 piano workshop" at City Lit after a fairly shakey half a Handel Gigue some scrambled E minor scales. It was good to meet other Adult learner pianists ...
by Gooday
11 Jul 2008, 14:38
Forum: Piano Advice
Topic: Fazioli
Replies: 20
Views: 23360

If anyone manages to play the Fazlolis at JS on the ground floor without 'an alarm going off and being dragged out of the shop backwards' I'd be interested to know. I'd formed the opinion, based on my experience depressing keys on a Steinway O in the basement, that this would be the likely result. A...
by Gooday
09 Jul 2008, 15:08
Forum: Piano Advice
Topic: Car Salesmen?
Replies: 6
Views: 10093

Re: Car Salesmen?

PianoGuy wrote: I hope the dealer's slapping himself with his own stale baguette, and that Carhart can now afford the Faz that he obviously wants.
Haha - :D Not sure he sold enough copies.
by Gooday
07 Jul 2008, 16:44
Forum: Piano Advice
Topic: Car Salesmen?
Replies: 6
Views: 10093

Car Salesmen?

Had a bad experience with a salesman on Saturday. I was in a well known and well respected piano shop in central London. I'd just spent 2 hours and £20 murdering some grade 6 pieces on a grand piano in their practice room and dared wander out after my session to have a look at the pianos f...
by Gooday
23 Jun 2008, 14:00
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Piano practise from hell
Replies: 41
Views: 28084

Same thing happens to me every time I sit in a piano shop. There's a shiny Rx3 or something sitting there, and I the desire to play it somehow overcomes any worries about how bad I'll sound, then I sit down and can only really play a few bars badly before forgetting it all. The thing is, does it mat...
by Gooday
18 Jun 2008, 13:51
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: new to the piano
Replies: 9
Views: 7936

Hello L, Having started just before 29, I definitely qualify as an adult learner. Unlike you, I bought a digital piano and pottered around with this for a number of years, before buying a yamaha B1 2 years ago. Then I really started taking things seriously. A real piano is definitely the way to go. ...
by Gooday
26 May 2008, 22:00
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Grade V - Music Theory, Any Courses?
Replies: 6
Views: 9946

Thanks Mark, Genaa, I'm looking to do grade 5 theory only because this is the minimum requirement to progressing to later practical exams (having managed to pass 5 in November last year). I have theory books, including the first by Eric Taylor, but faced between spending some time on theory and time...
by Gooday
08 May 2008, 15:12
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Grade V - Music Theory, Any Courses?
Replies: 6
Views: 9946

Thanks Gill, But my piano teacher isn't really that organised (seems to be part of being artistic) and I'm just one of many students. I really need a course or set of very organised structured lessons. And I definitely need to be away from my piano or I'll just start steering the less on back to pra...
by Gooday
08 May 2008, 14:15
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Grade V - Music Theory, Any Courses?
Replies: 6
Views: 9946

Grade V - Music Theory, Any Courses?

Hello, As an adult learner, I've tried, but after working all day I just end up playing the piano instead of working on anything theory related. I think the only thing that would work would be a theory course/evening class where I'd sit down and learn this stuff each week. Are there any places in Lo...
by Gooday
08 May 2008, 11:48
Forum: Piano Advice
Topic: Chappells Piano Hall
Replies: 11
Views: 13670

Not the DVD! - live concert at the Royal Festival hall. She didn't speak in either recital (WTC bk1 and 2) but she did drink a lot of water (6 pints per concert?!). Anyway, live the Fazioli definitely sounded good...
by Gooday
07 May 2008, 16:58
Forum: Piano Advice
Topic: Chappells Piano Hall
Replies: 11
Views: 13670

Thanks to the series of free lunch time concerts (Wednesday's at Chappells - you can get something for free!) I've heard somebody who knew what they were doing playing the S6 at Chappels. I'm probably in a very small minority, but I thought the S6 I heard sounded really really plain. Maybe it's just...
by Gooday
07 Dec 2007, 10:36
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Doing Grade Exams
Replies: 10
Views: 15665

Doing Grade Exams

I passed!
by Gooday
30 Nov 2007, 12:44
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Doing Grade Exams
Replies: 10
Views: 15665

Thanks Gill, "having done it means you can speak with authority", well maybe, if I pass! Nervous? Yep! even though nothing rides on the result, so made some mistakes (but kept going, another thing you just don't do unless you have a teacher to keep telling you every week) When I bought the...
by Gooday
29 Nov 2007, 18:30
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Doing Grade Exams
Replies: 10
Views: 15665

Doing Grade Exams

Started the piano at 29 - bought a digital piano (Yamaha P120) before finally getting hold of a real piano (Yamaha B1, only piano that fitted up the stairs.) about a year or so ago. Began playing a lot, and decided to get a teacher. At this point I'd been working almost systematically through the pr...