Introduction

[lilacsigil]

Hi! I used to play piano and then took up the cello at age 12 so that I could play in ensembles, which I loved. Unfortunately psoriatic arthritis means I can't play the cello and had to take a very long break from piano. I've recently started playing piano again after almost 20 years not playing and it's a hard slog but it's so great to be making music again.

My favorite composers are Chopin and Bach, for a bit of variety, but I also love Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert.

Comments

[ghostwire]

hi! thanks for posting. i'm sorry to hear about your experience with psoriatic arthritis, but i'm glad you're able to play the piano. i played piano for ten years before i quit. i really regret this in hindsight.

[espresso_addict]

I've recently (6 weeks ago) taken up the piano again, after more than 30 years largely absent. I too am finding it's very hard work! Bach and Mozart are among my favourites; I've been trying Little Preludes & an easy Invention from the former and the Sonata Facile K545 from the latter but finding it far from facile. Looking for a sympathetic teacher at the moment.

[lilacsigil]

I see our posts and replies overlapped! I'm also using Mozart and the simpler of the Bach Inventions to get back into things, but it's hard! I live in a very small town with no music teachers, so a teacher isn't an option for me. I'd love to hear how you go, though!

[espresso_addict]

Indeed! Which Mozart/Inventions are you playing? I'm trying to resuscitate no. 14 at the moment, which I played as a child: great fun and much easier than it looks on the page.

We live in the middle of nowhere (fairly literally -- a lone house on a Scottish island). We're so remote there's no wired broadband, so we can't even Skype at the moment! I was hoping to send a teacher who does international Skype a video, but my techie OH & I are still working out the glitches on recording myself at high enough definition for her to comment. Are you sure there are no piano teachers local to you? Apparently there are two piano teachers on the island (total out-of-season population under 3000), which surprised me greatly.

[lilacsigil]

800 people where I live! There is a piano teacher who comes to the school but unfortunately that coincides with my work hours. Skype might be an idea, though - we've recently had our local internet upgraded to wireless broadband, which is good when it works.

I'm currently playing Invention No. 1 and No. 14!

[espresso_addict]

Skype certainly seems the way to go for rural areas. There seem to be a lot of teachers who offer it internationally advertising on the internet, but of course you might encounter time-zone incompatibilities. We've been waiting for microwave broadband since before we moved here, but as yet it's still vapourware.

Those are the two I played in the past! I wonder which of the others are the easiest? When I've got no 14 back, I'd quite like to try something I haven't tried before.