First pieces, favourite pieces and nostalgia...

I can recall parts of my very first piano lesson, aged about eleven. This is a crotchet, this is a stave and this is how the notes are arranged on the stave. I can picture my very first book of simple piano pieces but since that book disappeared many years ago none of the pieces. I still have my grade one piano exam pieces.

When I returned to having a piano teacher at the age of forty she started me on abridged piano concertos which were far too hard for me at the time although I soldiered on learning them. One was of Rachs 2nd piano concerto. I keep the second movement under my fingers and I've previously posted a recording in Critique's Corner. It could do with re-doing because it was made on a mobile phone whereas nowadays I have a microphone to achieve better sound. Because it is Rachmaninov's 150year anniversary I am thinking about revising the first and third movements.

Another great favourite is the Beethoven Fourth piano concerto which I also have in abridged solo piano arrangement. Haven't played this for many a year so should I put it on the revision list?

Only the melody from the third piece which I can still more or less reproduce the right hand part without music. It is just a G major arpeggio with a few added notes at the end of each run. However I still have the exam book and my report sheet so these are the pieces I played.

Study in A minor by Bertini, Op137 no.8
The First Snowdrop by Franz Reizenstein
Stepping Stones by Marjorie Helyer

I remember being taken to the examination centre by my piano teacher, a two bus journey into leafy suburban Leeds and going into that exam room. It was a few days after my twelfth birthday. Next time I have the microphone in operation I might try to record all three pieces and post.

docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRGmQC4xLZ9VYFqouAFn-KO6BksoI65Q2CBTYNVTNyCLMXGFVnkkR3adBe7rSnBUXAA5UNBTvVatQjk/pub


This photograph was taken in 1908 and shows the road that some fifty years later I would walk along to school. The school building can just be made out right of centre in the background. The square building is a Methodist chapel and the chapel hall is shown being built between it and the road.
The house on the left partially eclipsing the chapel was where my childhood piano teacher lived and it looked very much the same in the 1950's as it did in 1908. On my way to lessons with Miss Nora Clough one first had to pass a brass plate attached to the house wall listing her piano qualifications. At that time the convention was to knock and enter through the back door, be ushered through a kitchen before reaching the front room which housed an upright piano for teaching and a grand piano for Miss Clough's personal use. The grand was often covered in various Schirmer editions. Sometimes some of these books were left open. The music looked unbelievably difficult.

By the time I was eight or nine I would have walked to school alone or with my younger brother after mother saw us across a road just out of picture. Certainly perceived as a much safer time. Parting words from mum were usually "go try your best".

At the time of taking that grade 1 exam I can't quite remember if we had a piano in the family house. I usually practised on grandparent's ancient piano but we had recently moved to a new build facing onto that primary school in the picture. It wasn't long before dad turned up with his employer's lorry with an old public house piano on the back. It seemed ok at the time but I don't think it occurred to anyone to have it tuned.

I think I may still have the music that I played in a festival at Pontefract town hall. Piano teacher had arranged this and she took another , more gifted pupil and I on yet another omnibus adventure. She treated us to a late breakfast in a town centre cafe, my choice being Welsh Rarebit.

We arrived at the town hall and had to walk through the main hall with a grand piano positioned on the stage. I was relieved when it was known that my venue was in a smaller room, still relatively large but with a grand piano on the same level as the audience.

Did well enough to get a certificate which must have been lost many years ago.

Can only remember playing a grand on three occasions whilst learning as a child; for the grade 1 exam, at Pontefract and at school for a House competition. In those days playing a grand didn't make any difference because I could play from memory, if I had to, so all I saw was the keyboard.

My long term goal has been to improve sight reading ability so spend little time trying to memorise. The pieces I play today are very different from my childhood years and to memorise properly would take a great deal of additional time. The disadvantage with my approach is that I have very little I can play if I do not have music with me. The advantage is getting through more pieces more quickly.

These days I do find playing a grand more difficult, simply caused by the fact I am accustomed to playing my little upright. The music stand on grands is much higher above the keyboard and this needs some getting used to from the point of view of looking down at hands and fingers. This shouldn't be a problem if you know the music inside out but I tend not to keep on with the same piece long enough for this to be so. The music stand on my upright is relatively low and fingers can be seen whilst reading the music even if you do not want to see them. Like everything else it is just a matter of practise.

Besides the theoretical better sound quality the advantage of a grand is the key action which usually has a faster repetition rate which makes playing things like trills more easy. I have said theoretical sound quality because I have heard so many old or out of tune grands that they do not always sound better than my little upright. With full size uprights the sound quality equals or betters most family sized grands.