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Have you ever been forbidden to play piano?


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I don't understand why, but a few times when I was growing up, I had some great compositional ideas that I wanted to try out on our piano in the living room, but for some reason -- maybe it was because I was in pajamas and my parents had company -- I was not allowed to work out my creative inspiration.

 

There was also that time at the Pentecostal church when they objected to me leading worship from anything but the Hammond Organ. (I eventually did manage to change that aspect of their culture.)

-Tom Williams

{First Name} {at} AirNetworking {dot} com

PC4-7, PX-5S, AX-Edge, PC361

 

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....There was also that time at the Pentecostal church when they objected to me leading worship from anything but the Hammond Organ. (I eventually did manage to change that aspect of their culture.)

 

This was a post from a Church music director in a Facebook music group. I can't remember which denomination. He buys a Kronos for the Church but the senior pastor doesn't agree with it, because it LOOKS "worldly". Then, they build an Organ looking shell to block the view!!! We had a lot of fun with that post. Another user suggested to return the Kronos and buy the 'Kross' instead! I thought that was hilarious.

 

On a serious note, there was a time when I was doing unhealthy 8 to 10 hours of piano daily. Due to the most popular advice globally - 'he'll never be able to have a music career...etc', I was eventually asked to cut down to fewer hours or else the piano was gonna leave the house permanently. I was doing really good at school, so I got creative and visited the local rehearsal studio regularly. Both my parents worked so I got a way with it for a long time. I was totally obsessed with the idea. A trip down teenage years memory lane I guess! Can't believe how all these people were wrong after all. I did not pursue piano performance, but did become a full time musician.

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On a serious note, there was a time when I was doing unhealthy 8 to 10 hours of piano daily. Due to the most popular advice globally - 'he'll never be able to have a music career...etc', I was eventually asked to cut down to fewer hours or else the piano was gonna leave the house permanently.

 

My problem, as a kid, was the exact opposite. I got home from school about 3:30 or 4:00 and had until exactly 5:30 to practice before my dad got home. The piano was in the same room with the TV and once he got home, the TV became the priority. Of course if I did anything else or made any other stops after school practice time was cut considerably.

 

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My problem, as a kid, was the exact opposite. I got home from school about 3:30 or 4:00 and had until exactly 5:30 to practice before my dad got home. The piano was in the same room with the TV and once he got home, the TV became the priority. Of course if I did anything else or made any other stops after school practice time was cut considerably.

 

You still managed nonetheless. We had an older neighbor that would religiously keep track of my practice schedule, so i had to split my practice routine in multiple locations to make it look like I was only doing few hours. I made sure to keep the worst part of my practice at home...the most unpleasant sounding techniques, modern atonal and other brutal stuff...etc. I made sure she receives a good dose of all that for snitching on me.

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One time I should have been forbidden but surprisingly was not.

 

Back in Oct of '78 I volunteered as house stage-crew for tear-down/load-out at a Billy Joel concert in Toledo. After the show I inquired several times if there was anything I could help with, but the artist's crew assured me they had this. After wandering about I found myself casually seated at his grand piano (that was still on stage) playing Elton John tunes. Nobody asked me to stop until the guys came to remove the legs/pedals and pack it up a few minutes later.

 

~ vonnor

Gear:

Hardware: Nord Stage3, Korg Kronos 2, Novation Summit

Software: Cantabile 3, Halion Sonic 3 and assorted VST plug-ins.

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I don't understand why, but a few times when I was growing up, I had some great compositional ideas that I wanted to try out on our piano in the living room, but for some reason -- maybe it was because I was in pajamas and my parents had company -- I was not allowed to work out my creative inspiration.

 

There was also that time at the Pentecostal church when they objected to me leading worship from anything but the Hammond Organ. (I eventually did manage to change that aspect of their culture.)

 

The only time I run into " turn it down " is when the priority of folks is their conversation. I can bang on piano so it will carry and might interfere with nearby conversation. I make an effort to play lightly when possible.

Why fit in, when you were born to stand out ?

My Soundcloud with many originals:

[70's Songwriter]

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Not really, different thing entirely but I remember trying to play a Jane's Addiction tune (Pigs in Zen) back in 1989 or so with my E-mu Proteus...guitarist kind of tentatively looked over and said something like "do you think maybe you could not play on this song?" LOL! He was absolutely right, that Proteus organ wasn't cutting it. Hey, here's an idea: let's pick songs that DO work with keyboards (!)
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...After wandering about I found myself casually seated at his grand piano (that was still on stage) playing Elton John tunes...

I say that took some cojones... both for playing that piano in the first place and for the song selections. :keys:

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Mmmm, piano.... I've been shooed away more than once, like the rest of ya, often when I was In The Zone. Once I had an Ensoniq Mirage, the freedom of even that grainy 8-bitter piano & modest keybed was a revelation. It was yuge! I find it beyond surreal to now live in a digital world where I can have a Yamaha grand in a box at will, 24/7. It'll never touch playing the real deal in a nice hall, but its light-years past having nuttin'. One big plus: if anyone tries to shoo me away from this one, I can legally shoot them in the arse with a load of rock salt. Don't test me, bitches, I'm makin' ART here! :taz:

 "I want to be an intellectual, but I don't have the brainpower.
  The absent-mindedness, I've got that licked."
        ~ John Cleese

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Yeah, I try to stay away from family get-togethers.

 

"It's so loud! Hey, you can put the 'soft' aka una corda pedal down! That means good, right?"

 

No, dumbsh**, that means your piano is too loud for the room and it also sounds like sh** on melted ice.

 

I may be a raging jerk, but I just don't play on peoples "home" pianos. It sounds like a** 99% of the time, and there's no benefit to me. I love Jerry Lee to death as a player, but I don't need to pick up some first cousin trim.

 

ETA, no, if there's a piano at a bar and I know the people behind the bar, you're god****** right I'll be playing that mo***********. It's all good until somebody brings an acoustic guitar over and wants to "jam." F*** that. You can sing, or you can trade instrumental tunes with me, but ain't now way I'm having some hippie jam session.

 

With rare exceptions.

 

 

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Yeah, I try to stay away from family get-togethers.

 

"It's so loud! Hey, you can put the 'soft' aka una corda pedal down! That means good, right?"

 

No, dumbsh**, that means your piano is too loud for the room and it also sounds like sh** on melted ice.

 

I may be a raging jerk, but I just don't play on peoples "home" pianos. It sounds like a** 99% of the time, and there's no benefit to me. I love Jerry Lee to death as a player, but I don't need to pick up some first cousin trim.

 

 

You're a perverted misanthrope. I'd probably enjoy drinking with you.

 

Gigging: Crumar Mojo 61, Hammond SKPro

Home: Vintage Vibe 64

 

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You're a perverted misanthrope. I'd probably enjoy drinking with you.

 

Thank you!

 

No, I don't drink. Well, not on weekends, and not during Lent, not Advent. Cause of this new diet thing.

 

Fortunately beer only counts a little bit, and it's not Lent, so I've got a few months to fatten up.

 

Wait, that's not right.

 

Well,there were plenty of hot-sh** pianists who were plenty large!

 

Besides, what's a beer-gut among musicians?! Mark of pride!

 

Or something.

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I play sometimes on the grand piano at the nursing home where my mother is a resident. The ladies there aren't too picky, but they generally like "pretty" songs. Come Sail Away, Love of My Life by Queen, Summer Breeze by Seals and Croft, Let it Grow by Eric Clapton, etc, etc... One day I opened with a Green Day tune I had learned, and one of the old ladies got up, hobbled over and asked me not to play because she was trying to sleep! Made me laugh; maybe she just doesn't like Green Day!
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...After wandering about I found myself casually seated at his grand piano (that was still on stage) playing Elton John tunes...

I say that took some cojones... both for playing that piano in the first place and for the song selections. :keys:

 

Hey, I was 20. I just put my head down like Schroeder and prayed I didn't get in trouble. I must have not sucked too bad. :)

 

Gear:

Hardware: Nord Stage3, Korg Kronos 2, Novation Summit

Software: Cantabile 3, Halion Sonic 3 and assorted VST plug-ins.

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When I was a kid it was the opposite - my mom wanted me to play for the guests. Usually she wanted me to play "Alley Cat" or "Tonight We Love." There's 8mm film of me doing just that in 1969 that I still have.

"The devil take the poets who dare to sing the pleasures of an artist's life." - Gottschalk

 

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OK, so it's load the form up with forbidden crap time.

Triton Extreme 76, Kawai ES3, GEM-RPX, HX3/Drawbar control, MSI Z97

MPower/4790K, Lynx Aurora 8/MADI/AES16e, OP-X PRO, Ptec, Komplete.

Ashley MX-206. future MOTU M64 RME Digiface Dante for Mon./net

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OK, so it's load the form up with forbidden crap time.
Nope. People post information about church gigs all the time here,

 

I don't see any posts (including, he said defensively, any of mine) that pushed nor ridiculed any particular theology; the closest may have been the Korg Kross posting, but I took that as a chuckle at a particular individual customer -- I could not tell from that posting whether the author was theist, atheist, Christian, Jewish, Islamic, or the currently most popular western religion, "Other."

-Tom Williams

{First Name} {at} AirNetworking {dot} com

PC4-7, PX-5S, AX-Edge, PC361

 

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Tom - I think Throbert was referring to all the threads with the word "forbidden" in the title, not discussion of religion.
You are correct sir, I don't care how or who you believe in, freedom.

 

Triton Extreme 76, Kawai ES3, GEM-RPX, HX3/Drawbar control, MSI Z97

MPower/4790K, Lynx Aurora 8/MADI/AES16e, OP-X PRO, Ptec, Komplete.

Ashley MX-206. future MOTU M64 RME Digiface Dante for Mon./net

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On a serious note, there was a time when I was doing unhealthy 8 to 10 hours of piano daily. Due to the most popular advice globally - 'he'll never be able to have a music career...etc', I was eventually asked to cut down to fewer hours or else the piano was gonna leave the house permanently.

Curious though, how many very successful professional musicians I know who don't practice regularly. Yes, many of them are "doing music" for hours on end, but usually working, not shedding. The most successful fiddle player I know, who jointly won a Tony last year on her work with a broadway musical, touring the world, playing on talk shows weekly. I played in a band with her teacher for many years. Teacher always lamented that she could never get said musician to practice, and she still doesn't regularly, to my knowledge.

 

And for the record, no, I don't really have a regular practice regiment, but I practice my ass off when I'm learning something new or have a big difficult concert coming up. That said, I'm kind of a jazzer in that I put a lot of stock in "learning a song on stage". I have a saying, "learn it on the 1, play it on the 2". I've played countless gigs with rock bands, folk, bluegrass, etc. where I just lay back a bit and follow the bass player on the up beat until I've got the structure nailed down. Probably some of the best practice I've ever gotten!

Puck Funk! :)

 

Equipment: Laptop running lots of nerdy software, some keyboards, noise makersâ¦yada yada yadaâ¦maybe a cat?

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Tom - I think Throbert was referring to all the threads with the word "forbidden" in the title, not discussion of religion.
You are correct sir, I don't care how or who you believe in, freedom.

Oops -- glad to hear it, and please accept my apology.

-Tom Williams

{First Name} {at} AirNetworking {dot} com

PC4-7, PX-5S, AX-Edge, PC361

 

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On a serious note, there was a time when I was doing unhealthy 8 to 10 hours of piano daily. Due to the most popular advice globally - 'he'll never be able to have a music career...etc', I was eventually asked to cut down to fewer hours or else the piano was gonna leave the house permanently.

Curious though, how many very successful professional musicians I know who don't practice regularly. Yes, many of them are "doing music" for hours on end, but usually working, not shedding. The most successful fiddle player I know, who jointly won a Tony last year on her work with a broadway musical, touring the world, playing on talk shows weekly. I played in a band with her teacher for many years. Teacher always lamented that she could never get said musician to practice, and she still doesn't regularly, to my knowledge.

 

And for the record, no, I don't really have a regular practice regiment, but I practice my ass off when I'm learning something new or have a big difficult concert coming up. That said, I'm kind of a jazzer in that I put a lot of stock in "learning a song on stage". I have a saying, "learn it on the 1, play it on the 2". I've played countless gigs with rock bands, folk, bluegrass, etc. where I just lay back a bit and follow the bass player on the up beat until I've got the structure nailed down. Probably some of the best practice I've ever gotten!

 

I was dead set on going to study performance in a conservatory in Germany or the US and I knew how good their applicants were. You have to be ridiculously good to get into some of those programs. You can't just sit on your hands and/or practice whatever...whenever. The key is to practice smart but with challenging goals come challenging practice routines. That's a whole different ballgame. I haven't had a solid practice routine in about 10 years, so I'm extremely out of shape, but still I can hold my own. With minimum practice, I'll be able to handle shows, sessions or whatever. That's what most working pianists/keyboardists (not top notch concert pianists) probably do as well. They're pretty much feeding off of whatever skills they developed in the past.

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I'd argue the lack of "practice time" amongst professionals is a universal theme, much broader than music. You build a foundation in your youth, maybe the foundation-building extends into your early 20's. After that, the luxury of being able to isolate yourself and focus on fundamentals gets crowded out by the pressure of making a living. This isn't true for everyone, but it's true for most. But now I'm contributing to topic drift. This isn't so much about being forbidden as it is about leaving the keyboard to get some sleep.

Gigging: Crumar Mojo 61, Hammond SKPro

Home: Vintage Vibe 64

 

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...the luxury of being able to isolate yourself and focus on fundamentals gets crowded out by the pressure of making a living...

Too true. :(

 

Gear:

Hardware: Nord Stage3, Korg Kronos 2, Novation Summit

Software: Cantabile 3, Halion Sonic 3 and assorted VST plug-ins.

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As a teenager, I was working on the solo piano version of "Rhapsody in Blue." My father, who was a graduate of the "Fame" NY High School of the Performing Arts, would yell at me for making mistakes while practicing. Nice, huh?

 

Years later, I have an acoustic grand piano at home, but my wife (who is a journalist) works just a few feet away, and I can't disturb her especially when she is on deadline. It's really a major crime how little I play it these days...

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Competing priorities is what you guys are talking about. A few years ago at age 49 I went back to take lessons. It's a bitch to practice when you have other things pulling at you. At Hochstein Music school it's good they take the summer off as I get the most work then for the band.

"Danny, ci manchi a tutti. La E-Street Band non e' la stessa senza di te. Riposa in pace, fratello"

 

 

noblevibes.com

 

 

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Man, I could never imagine being forbidden to practice. My mom has always loved when I'm playing, even if it's just shedding stuff, my dad too (our piano is in his office and it doesn't bother him at all). But of course, they're my parents haha...I imagine neighbors and strangers would be a different story...

"...and that TV channel at the hotel that's, like, ABOUT the hotel?"

 

Yamaha CP 73 / Numa Organ 2 / Korg Prologue 8

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