The Grand Piano: March 2019

Friday, March 15, 2019

Sophia and Piano

Last night I was over to my sister in laws and showed my niece how to play a super easy beginner song on her piano. She did pretty well, but after we were done she told her mom, while I was still in the room...gotta love kids and being super honest......"Aunt Carolyn is a good teacher, but I still want Mr. Jenkins." LOL! Her wish will be granted since he has so kindly agreed to teach Sophia already. She will have one of the best!

Piano is Exercise

Why piano is so hard: You are reading both treble and bass clef at the same time verses most other instruments where you read only one clef at a time. Yes, that is why I always did better on the flute. Then, your right foot is pumping the damper pedal, and your left foot is pumping the soft petal, and the poor middle and often forgotten sostenuto pedal, usually the quiet more balanced one, but when you get into more advanced lessons you sometimes have to pump the middle sustenuto pedal too but you only have two legs so OH NO....that means you have to move one of the legs that you have over to pump that one! :-) Also, if you use fitness apps, you can see that you burn a lot of calories playing the piano. Both hands/arms are constantly moving, your eyes are keeping up with the music which means your brain is constantly active; and if you're playing from memory you are totally depending on brain power as well as muscle memory. Also, your feet/legs are constantly moving in pumping the pedals. Who needs the gym if you play piano! :-)