Well, we have embarked on a new frontier - the first "extracurricular" activity for one of the chidren.
Yesterday afternoon, Miss E began piano lessons. She will be taking lessons every week for 30 mn. from a sweet homeschool mom that doesn't live too far away from us.
She declared Miss E "very bright" yesterday during her lesson. I knew this, of course, and sat quietly watching and listening thanks to the quiet that surrounded us since the other children were with a friend during lesson time.
Miss E is practicing 3 "songs" this week before her first lesson on a "paper piano" that her teacher provided. Why a paper piano, you ask? Because we don't own a piano! It'd be nice to have one, but they take up a good deal of space and moving them, well, not something we want to do right now (or when we do move, which could be w/in the year, who knows). So, we're looking at getting a keyboard, but haven't decided on one as of yet. Her teacher assures us it won't be a problem if we don't have one right away since what she's starting out with is pretty simple.
So, maybe someone reading this can clue us in on the importance of a keyboard with weighted keys or not. That seems to be the sticking point we haven't decided on. For a beginner, would this matter so much? If not, for how long would it not be an issue before it might be more important to have the "weighted" feel of a grand piano behind each keystroke? (is it called a keystroke? anyway...).
It was important to me to be able to sit and listen in on the first lesson at the very least because of my lack of piano knowledge/training. My background is in violin and in order to be able to supervise and assist Miss E in her practice, I wanted to learn as much as I could on that first lesson. On subsequent lessons, the rest of the crew will be with me and I'll be focused on keeping Mr. A quiet, as well as Miss A and Mr. E, but mainly Mr. A :)
So, we embark on a new journey and soon, we hope, the sound of music will fill our home.
On a funny note - last night at bedtime Miss A said she didn't think she wanted to learn piano like Miss E, after all, but instead she'd like to take kazoo lessons. I tried to hide my smile and asked "Kazoo?" and she replied, "Yes, like what Grandpa has."
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2 comments:
Hi! I took piano for several years when I was growing up and also in college when I was a music major. I have never had a real piano, even though I would absolutely love one! Anyway, we had a keyboard that was "touch sensitive" and when you played harder on the keys, it sounded louder. I've never really had a problem going from a keyboard to a real piano, even without weighted keys. But of course, weighted keys are more like a real piano and nothing beats playing on a real piano!!! Hope this makes sense and helps!
That is fantastic! We plan on getting Naomi piano lessons too! Not sure about your questions but I will ask around from some of my piano buddies and ask them. When you come visit in October, Miss E. can play our piano - we will try and get it tuned before then :-)
Keep us up to date as to her progress.
Is she going to do Suzuki piano?
I think Miss A. is hiliarious!
Harmonica would be GREAT!
Mr. E would enjoy the drums I am sure!!!!
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