Hello from New York City

by lomtevas Mon May 04, 2009 10:44 pm

I'm Peter from the borough of Queens.

I am thrilled to associate with Andy and all of you fine musicians in this forum.

That's because I took a huge break from playing piano for two main reasons. I served on active duty with the U.S. army for 11 years and then studied law and took up a law practice for 9 years. I raised five children as well. I was tied up the whole time.

Things settled down and even one of my children reached adulthood and moved into her own apartment in Manhattan to finish college. Time was on my hands.

After I saw Andy's YouTube videos, the memories of Chopin, Strauss and Joplin came rushing back and I found myself playing the old pieces once again. Also, Andy's easy going approach to teaching music accelerated my re-understanding of all I learned so many years ago. I now practice at least two hours every day.

I forgot everything I used to know. I am re-memorizing everything. I left off with Rachmaninoff, Debussy, Gershwin and Chopin. Prior to that, in the 70's, there was a rebirth of ragtime and a rediscovery of Liberace. So, I played Scott Joplin's rags and stylized my pop pieces a la Liberace with the jumps, arpeggios and that chord rich right hand. Then I graduated college and went on active duty.

I played a few concerts in the army: one at the infantry school in Georgia. That was it.

With the internet, I am positive I'll catch back up, get the fingers speedy again and post my piano playing on YouTube. I have two excerpt videos on there now: one is Joplin's Stop Time rag and Liberace's (Bo Ayers) stylized version of the Chopsticks Waltz. I hope you enjoy it.