Welcome! Come here to introduce yourself.

[Katerina, Just realized she has a mod title. Yay!]

This is where everyone can introduce themselves.
Somethings that might be worth mentioning are how many years you've played piano, classical or contemporary, and if you play piano. You don't have to give any information you don't want to.

[Jeanne]

Hi Katerina,

I'm Jeanne. When I was a little girl, I loved hearing my mother play classical pieces on our piano. She usually practiced right after she put us kids to bed and it was so pleasant to listen as we were falling asleep.

When I was seven, I asked to take lessons, but my parents said I wasn't old enough. I finally got to start lessons at age nine. Since I had to wait a long time, I was a serious student and my parents didn't have to remind me to practice.

Now I am a grandmother and I still play, but just for my own enjoyment. Maybe other members here will tell us how they happened to begin piano lessons.

[Katerina, Just realized she has a mod title. Yay!]

Hi, Jeanne. I'm glad you finally learned to play!

[Ella]

Hi, my name is Swimmergirl, and I have been playing piano for 7 years.

[Katerina, Just realized she has a mod title. Yay!]

Hi, Swimmergirl. I'm so glad you could join. How'd did you find the group?

[Ella]

on Piano Players

[Katerina, Just realized she has a mod title. Yay!]

yay! so people still look at that group? I was getting the sense that me and Jeanne were the only people there!

[Ella]

I have been looking at it, I just haven't had anything to say...

[Petunia]

Hey I'm Ti. I just joined piano players but was so disappointed that there is no activity. Im hoping this group will have more action!

[Katerina, Just realized she has a mod title. Yay!]

I'll do my best! if you have any ideas, please post them!

[Katerina, Just realized she has a mod title. Yay!]

I'll be changing my "name" from Katerina to Klymene, for safetly purposes, so just know that Katerina and Klymene are one and the same. :-)
I'll be deleting this in 24 hours

[Honey Hawthorne]

Hi everyone!

Call me Honey. I have been playing piano for maybe five years now. My brother also plays piano but he has been playing for maybe 8 years. I love to play contemporary, but I am FORCED to mostly play classical. I am currently learning Chopin's Waltz in A MInor and a duet called Balikilakila or something of the sort.......The waltz is much nicer.

[Katerina, Just realized she has a mod title. Yay!]

lol for the name of the duet. The classical peices can get boring, but once you master them, I think they are alot more fun to play. The waltz is gorgeous. I'm playing a nocturne by Chopin. He's a great composer, but it's like his hands could stretch miles, his ranges are so massive!

[Jeanne]

Hi Honey! The name of one of my main characters in a story I'm writing is "Marie Honeybee". I like your photo> ;-)

[Jeanne]

Hi Ti and Swimmergirl. I love the pictures of the sprinting kitten and the reading kitten. Here's a youtube performance of "Kitten on the Keys" for your listening pleasure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkKLL1...

[Katerina, Just realized she has a mod title. Yay!]

I love that video! My band teacher showed it to me last year

[Honey Hawthorne]

Jeanne wrote: "Hi Honey! The name of one of my main characters in a story I'm writing is "Marie Honeybee". I like your photo> ;-)"

Awww thanks! *blushes*

[Jeanne]

Klymene,

What instrument do you play in band? I played flute in concert band and glockenspiel in marching band.

[Katerina, Just realized she has a mod title. Yay!]

I play the Clarinet. I don't do marching band, the activity fee was massively high

[Jeanne]

It sounds like they expected the members of the marching band to pay for their uniforms. What a shame.

[Katerina, Just realized she has a mod title. Yay!]

No, they just did a bunch of expensive competitions. The uniforms are hand-me-downs (my friend does marching band)

[Rose]

Hey! I'm Rose, I'm 11. I play piano, clarinet, guitar, and bass guitar, but mostly piano. I've been playing since second grade, and I have had two teachers, one of them went to college and suggested my current teacher. I play classical, but I'm playing around in contempary. I have a stand up piano, but I also have a keyboard in my room. Can't wait to join in!

[Jeanne]

Welcome, Rose, it's great to see you here! You are lucky to get a good start in music when you're young. Piano study is so wonderful and it also gives you a base for learning other instruments and for understanding music theory.

[Rose]

Yeah, it really helped me with the rest of my music. I'm best in my school band now.

[Katerina, Just realized she has a mod title. Yay!]

Yes! i love being the best in the band, and I miss it. I loved getting all the fun parts... *sigh*. I hope you enjoy this group

[Katerina, Just realized she has a mod title. Yay!]

hey! I play Clarinet too!

[Jeanne]

I love clarinet! Mozart's clarinet concerto and clarinet quartet are some of my favorite compositions.

[Rose]

Klymene wrote: "hey! I play Clarinet too!"

cool!

[Katerina, Just realized she has a mod title. Yay!]

Isn't it amazing, being 1st chair?! *sigh* I miss those days. When you are competing against people 3 grades ahead of you, it's hard to get the first chair

[Jeanne]

Keep trying, Klymene. I think you will be first chair again. I didn't get to be first-chair flute until someone older graduated, but I did get to go to All Northwest Band and I was the only flutist selected.

[Michelle]

Hi, I'm Michelle, and I don't know how long I've been playing piano (don't remember), but I think it's been like four or five years. Duets are some of my favorite things to play.

[Jeanne]

I loved playing duets when I took lessons. Even more, I loved two-piano pieces. I practiced my part a lot and when I got to hear how it fit with the other player's part, it sounded perfectly wonderful to me.

[Katerina, Just realized she has a mod title. Yay!]

Hi, Michelle! I'm so glad you joined! Just wondering, have you ever tried sight-reading a duet with your teacher? It's really, really fun, but kinda hard. And it's great practice for the Piano exams, if you take those.

[Jeanne]

Welcome, Michelle! Do you have particular duets that are your favorites? Do you play them with other students from your teacher's studio?

[Michelle]

Yeah, I play duets with my best friend. One of my favorites is Celebration Overture by Catherine Rollins.

[Jeanne]

This one? Nice!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGk2t8...

[Katerina, Just realized she has a mod title. Yay!]

Fun. That's an awesome song (I looked it up on youtube). Catherine Rollins sounds familiar, what other songs has she written?

[Michelle]

Yep, that's it! I'm not sure which other songs she's written. That's the only song I've ever played by her.

[Katerina, Just realized she has a mod title. Yay!]

I think she wrote a book on spanish songs that I played from once. I'll check.

[[deleted user]]

Hi! So glad I found this group! I'm krose and I LOVE playing the piano! I'm actually self-taught and I started learning piano because I'm in choir at school and I liked singing our songs with the accompianment. I think I'm going to like it here! :D

[Petunia]

Hi krose240!! Welcome. I started piano for exactly the same reason!!

[Katerina, Just realized she has a mod title. Yay!]

Hi! I'm so glad you found this group, too! Congrats on learning piano by yourself!

[Hannah]

Hiya. I'm Hannah. Klymene told me about this group. :D So I have been playing Piano for about 6-7 years now. Glad to join with fellow pianists!

[Katerina, Just realized she has a mod title. Yay!]

Yay! Hannah, you joined! I'm so happy! This'll be fun! spread the word!

[Jeanne]

Hi Hannah, Ti, krose240, Michelle, Rose, Honey, and Swimmergirl!!!Wow, we have some fantastic young musicians here! I'm so happy to meet you all. You're like charter members in this new group. I've just invited some other goodreads members to join us. Please help us to engage them in conversation when they arrive.

[Holly]

Hello. My name is Holly Weiss. I know Jeanne here on Goodreads because we are both authors. However, I teach private voice and accompany my students on the piano. (Mozart, Schubert, Handel, Faure, etc.) I may not be able to participate in discussions about solo piano works, but I have been playing for 52 years (we'll skip the year my mother made me quit lessons because I didn't practice).

[Jeanne]

Hi Holly!

It's wonderful to see you here. Wow, you had your lessons taken away for a whole year? I'm glad to know that you loved music so much that you somehow got the lessons back. Can you tell us about this?

Just think how awful it would be if you had to hire an accompanist for all of your students' rehearsals and performances.

[Katerina, Just realized she has a mod title. Yay!]

Hi, Holly
So happy to have you here!

[Harvey]

I thank you for the invitation. I am sadly not a pianist; however I do love and enjoy, indeed over many decades this glorious instrument. My favourite pianist is Brendel... of course it is not so simple as Arrau (when he did not cancel) was sublime. Vladimir Ashkenazy I heard live in the Royal Albert Hall some years ago. I am an enthusiast and passionate listener. I wish I were more competent at making music. I remain, or have to to appreciate what the masters do. I can say that Ramzi Yasser, the director of Cairo Opera House, and a pianist in his own right played some of Beethoven's op. 80 for me after a rehearsal in Kuwait, just for me. A moving and proud moment.

[Jeanne]

Oh, Harvey, to be an audience of one for Ramzi Yasser playing Beethoven --it must have been sublime. I would always prefer to listen to piano performance in a living room or small concert hall. Recitals in music schools are lovely, too, and I love to watch master classes when possible.
Welcome, Harvey. Listening is an art, and you are an enthusiastic and sophisticated listener. Any performer would appreciate knowing that you are in the audience.