Episode 10 - Six Months Later

welcome to show number 10 . Thank you for joining me . It's nice to get to double figures . We've still got a long way to go to get past my previous podcast , though . It got to episode 182 . Got a long way to go to get past my previous podcast , though . It got to episode 182 . This week's big news is the repair of the Kawaii NV10 .

I was able to arrange with Stan , the technician , for him to visit on Thursday afternoon after work and , true to his word , he arrived right on time . I was interested to see the inside of the piano , as I had resisted the urge to take it apart myself , so I was able to watch Stan as he worked . Getting to the Kawhi's electronics is pretty simple .

There's a wooden panel on the back that is held on with a few screws . I had positioned the piano facing away from the wall , so nothing needed to be moved to access the panel and there was plenty of room to work . Stan had said he was pretty sure the problem would be the first of the power boards .

He tested it and it was mostly showing the correct voltages , although not initially , without doing anything more than checking . The piano started working again . Just to be sure , stan replaced the resistor on the power board that often gives trouble with a higher wattage one . He reinstalled the board and everything was working .

We were both still puzzled by what had caused the problem , which had mysteriously disappeared . Being thorough , stan cycled the power a few times and just as he was about to put the cover back in place , the piano failed again . See , I wasn't imagining it . It was not obvious what was causing the problem . It wasn't the switch .

All the voltages were correct and there was no fried electronic smell . Stan wasn't the switch . All the voltages were correct and there was no fried electronic smell . Stan cleaned all the connectors between the logic boards , recycled the system quite a few more times and all seemed to be working . With the back cover back in place , the piano could return to use .

The piano is still working fine . In fact , I think it sounds a bit better on some of the settings . Also , I don't remember being able to feel vibrations through the floor before , but I certainly can now . Overall , I'm really pleased with the piano and the service I've received has been outstanding .

Stan contacted me again the next day to make sure it was still going so far . It is In this week's show . I'm going to look back over the past six months of my piano learning . Reviews and YouTube suggestions will return next week .

The end of July , marks six months since I brought my first piano home , so it's probably a good time to review what's happened over that time . I've wanted to play the piano for a long time , and after last Christmas , I decided it was finally time .

Before getting the piano , though , I needed to have somewhere to put it where it couldn't be ignored , so the first job was to rearrange some furniture and do a general tidy up . Youtube has been invaluable at all stages of buying things for my piano learning .

There is so much high quality content available , and most of it seems to be out there because the creator felt the need to share rather than to get you to spend some money with them . I also watch a fair bit of model making content on YouTube , and the lack of commercialism in the piano channels is refreshing .

Watching lots of advice channels and reviews meant that I knew what I was looking for when I drove past a piano shop in January , went in and ended up buying the Roland FP-30X that they had in a bundle .

As I've mentioned before , that first keyboard was bought with the thought that if I didn't enjoy learning the piano , or if it turned out I just wasn't any good , I could pass it on to Nixon , halley and Ace . If I did enjoy it , I would pass it on at the end of the year and buy something a bit more substantial for myself .

Well , as you know , it turned out that I do like learning and , though I wouldn't yet describe myself as very good , I'm making progress . I went back to YouTube to look at instruments to upgrade to at the end of the year .

I had decided to stay electronic , mostly because electronic instruments require much less maintenance and , realistically , I can't hear the difference between a really good simulation and the real thing . Various YouTubers mentioned the Kawaii Novus hybrid pianos and the fact that they have a full grand or upright piano action , so it feels the same as an acoustic piano .

I decided that that was worth checking out . I found a Kawai dealer in Sydney with an NV10 on display and thought I'd look into it later in the year . A week or two later , though , I was driving on another errand and went past the shop with the piano . I might just pop in and see what it's like . I thought .

Bear in mind I'd been playing for about two months at this stage , so I was not in a position to do anything spectacular on a piano . But the salesman gave me a proper demo and I got to get a feel for the keys . I left with something to think about and a week later the shop offered me a very good deal on the demonstration instrument , so I bought it .

Before I could take delivery of the NV-10 , I needed to make a lot more space available . After all , it's a bigger instrument and would benefit from a larger space , so rearranging the lounge room was a solution . It also led to a bit of redecorating and getting a matching bookcase from Ikea for all the books and piano music that I'd already managed to collect .

As far as pianos go , the Kawaii wasn't my last purchase . As you heard in the previous episode , the NV-10 stopped working , so I needed another instrument to fill in the time while it was being fixed . As I had been so pleased with my original Roland keyboard , I bought an FP-90X as the backup . It's a great keyboard too . I've put the new Roland where .

I walk past it quite often , unless you think that it's not going to get a lot of use . Put your mind at ease . I've discovered something you can do with it . That's a lot of fun and even helps with practice . More on that in upcoming episodes . Getting a piano is only the first part of a long journey . Learning is next .

I've taught myself many things , so I thought I'd try learning using just books and online resources . I'm sure that learning this way is possible . There are adult method books with online teaching , online beginner music courses and lots of standalone YouTube videos . I gave these a try and I'll review many of them in upcoming episodes .

But I found that I really needed someone to ask questions to , and learning alone makes that quite difficult . I started looking locally for a piano teacher .

Where I live , to the west of Sydney , there is quite a musical scene , with annual music festivals and quite a number of well-known musicians living in the area , so I thought finding a teacher would be relatively easy . It wasn't . Music up here is popular and all the teachers' bookings were taken .

I put my name onto my first choice's waiting list and looked elsewhere . Between work and home , if I take a slight detour , is the Penrith Conservatorium of Music , which offers a wide range of music programs and individual instruction in many different instruments . Luckily , there was an opening with Finn Purcell , one of the piano teachers I booked in .

I was right Learning with a teacher suited my learning style much better than trying to do everything myself . Finn got me started with Dennis Agay's the Joy of First Year Piano learning simple pieces to get used to the keyboard and translating printed music into sounds .

At the same time , I was using my physics and maths knowledge to get started to the keyboard and translating printed music into sounds . At the same time , I was using my physics and maths knowledge to get started on music theory and took the AMEB Level 1 and 2 theory exams . I passed both of those with scores of 100% .

I also spoke with Finn about the next levels and while I think I can handle them , I don't think the run of 100%s will continue . Due to changes to my weekly schedule , I'm not able to get to lessons at the conservatorium after work on Mondays anymore , so I've had to stop the lessons there .

Fortunately , the music teacher whose waiting list I was on had a spot open up , so I've been learning with her for a couple of months . Lessons each week are 45 minutes long and I think I'm making progress , as perhaps you have been able to hear . So what have I learned in the past six months ? In the beginning I knew the layout of the piano keyboard .

I could name all the notes and read music on a treble staff . I knew about chords from playing the guitar all those years ago , but not much more From reading Gödel , escher , bach and doing maths and physics . I knew the theory behind equal temperament tuning , but I had no idea how you turn the numbers into something that sounds pleasant For technique .

I could play a C major scale using the wrong fingers and follow along a simple melody on the treble staff if it was mainly steps and skips , and in C major . After six months I can play a C major scale with both hands over two or more octaves ascending and descending .

I'm using this as a milestone because just recently I found I can do it almost automatically unless I start thinking about what I'm doing . Then it falls apart . I can play the first dozen or so pieces from the Joy of First Year Piano at the correct tempo and the Samuel Arnard Gig , though not at speed , and I'm working on dynamics .

I'm happy with where I've got to . There is still a very long way to go before I can confidently play musically in public , but I can see that there is a way to get there . I don't need to get there super fast . Enjoying the journey is more important and so far it's been really enjoyable .

If another older adult asked me if they should give learning a musical instrument a go , I'd recommend it without hesitation .

Well , that's it for this week . If you'd like to contact me , email is the best way . You'll find me at david at pianofinelyshow and the website at wwwpianofinelyshow . In both cases , pianof Finally is all one word . The show is also on Facebook , instagram and Threads .

You can subscribe via any popular iOS or Android podcast application or from directories such as Apple Podcasts , spotify or YouTube Podcasts . The show notes for this episode are on the website and include a text me link which will let you send me a message . So until the next episode , I hope your piano stays in tune and you enjoy your time at the Keys .

I'm still working on the Samuel Arnold Gigue , with piano lessons starting again . This past week I was able to show my piano teacher how I've been progressing From memory . I can now play the entire piece at regular pace , though still slow .

My teacher has suggested that I now work on getting the dynamics working properly before starting to increase speed to what is indicated . I'm at about half tempo now , so piano , forte , mezzo-forte and a crescendo are coming up . I won't put jig in this week's show you've heard it enough but I'll put it back in when it's performance ready this week .

Instead , I'll play the first bits of the new piece I've chosen . I think this is a bit more challenging . It's more than twice as long , but I showed it to my piano teacher and she thinks it's possible . We spent a good deal of the last lesson working on the fingering for the first half of the piece .

The piece is an arrangement of Nico Rota's A Time For Us , which is the love theme from Franco Zeffirelli's movie Romeo and Juliet . I've liked the piece since I first heard it in the movie sometime in the 1970s and stumbled upon it while I was looking through Sheet Music Plus .

I'm currently working on the beginning of the piece , learning the notes for each hand . They're not working together yet , but I can play them at a constant tempo , mainly because it's a slow piece . So here's the first installment of me learning to play one of my favourite movie themes . Thank you .