the long and short of my exp w classical music

being trained in classical music and exposed to playing pop style in church, i grew up to be competent in both. Not super competent, decently competent.

hated going for piano lessons in the past. peeps may find it hard to believe seeing my love for music. going to my piano tr's house was likened to going to 'hell'. as i walk to her place a few blocks away, i'd literally imagine myself walking into a place devoid of life... there'd be a particular curb (which is no longer there, with all the devt taking place) i'll step onto, imagine the 'hell's gates' opening. and in i go for piano lesson,getting scolded is a norm. 'how many times must i tell you to curve in your fingers?....' the moments i step out of my tr's place is a relief. on my way home, there'll be another curb (non-existent as well) which when i step onto i'll imagine the door to life open for me to get out. and the moment i 'cross over the threshold', in my mind will be this little melodic tune tt goes 'run, run as fast as u can.. run run like u've neva run before'....

dun get me wrong. i enjoy classical music. (i like jazz more. ha ha). the training just aint easy. no wonder so many pple drop out of classical piano. and because of the pressure to do well for exams, many teachers (not all) only drill students on the exam pieces. it is not uncommon to hear peeps saying they only learn 3/4 pieces each year - d exam pieces.and no wonder many complain that even tho they hv achieved high grades in classical piano, they cannot improvise / 'play by ear'.

so is classical piano that bad? having not played piano for close to a decade after i completed my grade 8, i realized, that classical piano is a good foundation block into other genres such as pop and jazz.

first, there's the touch that you are trained to achieve from the discipline required of classical piano. after resuming classical for a couple of months, my touch for pop and jazz improved as well.

second, much to peep's surprise, classical music provides the scales / modes for improvisation. the chord progressions and extensions as well as runs on classical pieces could so easily be integrated into other genres and sound brilliant!

while it sounds great... there is one prob i'm starting to face even tho classical supposedly helps in my other genres. after playing classical, my brain is starting to become LAZY!!! classical can possibly be 'spoon feeding' as one simply nids to read scores and less mental activity in the area of creation is required. now i'm so lazy when i get to prac piano, the easy way out - pick out a classical piece. just follow the score. no nid to think. no nid to improvise... EEKS!!

so here's the long and short of my exp w classical music. i guess i just nid to be more disciplined in prac the different genres.. ha ha... but the weather's too warm for me to prac.... ha ha ha....