Members Geoff Grace Posted December 7, 2015 Members Share Posted December 7, 2015 Fifty years ago today, on December 7th, 1965, I had my first piano lesson. It was the beginning of a great variety of musical experiences and wondrous paths I wound up taking as a professional musician. Music is so interwoven into the fabric of my existence that I can't imagine my life without it. I wouldn't have discovered or joined this forum without that event a half-century ago. It's a great pleasure to share the joy of music with you all. Best, Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1001gear Posted December 7, 2015 Members Share Posted December 7, 2015 Awesome. I wish I had been able to pursue mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark L Posted December 7, 2015 Members Share Posted December 7, 2015 Happy anniversary, Geoff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ernest Buckley Posted December 7, 2015 Members Share Posted December 7, 2015 Thats pretty amazing Geoff, the fact that you remembered the exact date. Congrats on the anniversary. I think I`m going on 26 years or 27… but I`m not sure of the month or the year to be honest…. 87? 88? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Folder Posted December 7, 2015 Members Share Posted December 7, 2015 Well for me it was sometime in the late sixties. When I was child my mother would drop my brother and I off at my grandparents house when she went to work. They had an old Sterling upright piano that I apparently liked to bang on. One day the piano mysteriously showed up at our house. The story I always heard was that I had talent so they asked me if I wanted to take piano lessons and I said yes. Recently I found out that the real reason we got the piano was that my grandfather couldn't take the banging anymore so he had it delivered to our house. Later in high school I took piano lessons again. Another thing I found out recently is that Mark David Chapman grew up in a house a couple of streets over from the house that I had piano lessons in. Although I was aware that he went to the high school around the corner, it wasn't until I saw his house on the internet that I realized his house was about two hundred yards from my piano lesson house. http://atlantatimemachine.com/houses_apts/chapman.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members onelife Posted December 7, 2015 Members Share Posted December 7, 2015 Right now I have twenty music students. I teach because there were people who helped me along the way and I feel like I am now in a position to be able to give back. Posts like the OP help me see the value in what I do since I won't be around in fifty years to see it for myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted December 7, 2015 Share Posted December 7, 2015 Happy musical anniversary Geoff! Here's to the next 50 years! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Geoff Grace Posted December 8, 2015 Author Members Share Posted December 8, 2015 Thanks, guys, for helping me celebrate this special day. It's satisfying to share this with people who also have a passion for making music. Thats pretty amazing Geoff, the fact that you remembered the exact date. The fact that it was also Pearl Harbor Day helped cement the date in my mind, so it's perhaps a little less amazing when considering I've had a yearly reminder from that annual public remembrance. Posts like the OP help me see the value in what I do since I won't be around in fifty years to see it for myself. I was raised by teachers, and I've given piano lessons at various points as well; so I greatly appreciate what you do. Best, Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted December 8, 2015 Members Share Posted December 8, 2015 Congrats, Geoff! I don't know what would have become of me, had I not finally been able to cross the seemingly deep and treacherous chasm separating me and the ability to make vaguely coherent musical sounds. Like Folder, I banged on just about every musical instrument I could find as a kid, and I could feel music that wanted to come out -- but, as was pointed out to me (or my folks) by two different music teachers, I had substantial challenges in that regard. (Well, they each, separately, said I had no musical talent whatsoever, but I figured that was just the typical hysteric exaggeration of high strung creative types.) As it was, it was through something akin to sheer force of will that I persevered -- at the ripe old age of 20 -- through many months of patient but perversely unmusical plodding playing two chords, over and over, looking for that strange and elusive key to music... rhythm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted December 8, 2015 Members Share Posted December 8, 2015 That's really quite cool, Geoff. I don't remember when I had my first lesson, but I remember when I wanted to learn guitar: I saw Andres Segovia in concert as a child and right then and there, without a moment's hesitation, decided I was going to become a guitarist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mats Nermark Posted December 9, 2015 Members Share Posted December 9, 2015 Congratulations Geoff! I started playing the guitar in January 45 years ago and I remember it very clearly.Without music I would not have led half as interesting life as I have. And still do! And it gets better and better!!!! Cheers, Mats N Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members onelife Posted December 9, 2015 Members Share Posted December 9, 2015 That's really quite cool, Geoff. I don't remember when I had my first lesson, but I remember when I wanted to learn guitar: I saw Andres Segovia in concert as a child and right then and there, without a moment's hesitation, decided I was going to become a guitarist. My father saw Segovia play and I grew up listening to Les Paul and Chet Atkins as a result. My mother took me to a Glenn Gould concert shortly after I learned how to walk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members davd_indigo Posted December 10, 2015 Members Share Posted December 10, 2015 I took my first piano lesson at age 8. I remember the early Saturday afternoon (not the date) on what would've been 1961. It seems to have been almost a standard childhood rite of passage for all my cousins at the time. I think it was maybe a baby boomer convention at the time. I've wondered if it was a holdover from the old piano in the parlor days. I've also wondered if it's as common today as back then. Probably not. Like sports played by kids - no longer just baseball and football - I think there are many other options for kids today. Things like gymnastics, soccer and lacrosse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mandolin Picker Posted December 10, 2015 Members Share Posted December 10, 2015 I was 9 years old when I started taking guitar lessons at Froilecks Music Store. Mr. Julius Baleak was my teacher. Took lessons with him till I graduated high school when I was 17. Along the way he also helped me to learn the saxophone and flute. When I graduated high school, he gave me his flute as a graduation present. Later, when I had kids, my oldest daughter took a liking to flute and she used it. Now my oldest granddaughter is playing the same instrument. That's one of the things I love about music. It links generations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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