It’s not quite like the old song “If Only I Could Play the Piano,” but for someone who never even finished Beyer, there wasn’t much I could do.
To make matters worse, the piano I used to tinker with from time to time had to be given away when I moved.
Even so, I kept thinking — if only I could play Beethoven’s piano sonatas…
Then it hit me: maybe with DTM, I could really play the piano properly!
So after retiring, I decided to give it a serious try and started learning MIDI programming from scratch.
It’s been quite a struggle, but time has passed, and little by little I’ve managed to make some sounds that resemble music.
I’ve never taken formal lessons — it’s all been self-taught — but lately, I’ve been trying hard to reach a level where I can share performances that sound the way I would like to play them.
Beethoven — can you believe it!
And not just any sonata — maybe even the Hammerklavier!
And who knows — maybe someday I could play live cello with a MIDI piano accompaniment!
Perhaps a live cello could be played with MIDI piano accompaniment!
Thankfully, a former colleague of mine, a pianist, has been giving me remote lessons.
We exchange audio files through the cloud, and sometimes on Skype (now Discord) he even shows me his actual fingering on a real piano.
I was amazed — the attack changes so much between the back and front of the keys!
As I lament my utter lack of musicianship, he keeps giving me his firm, honest “Type-B” critiques — and I can’t help but think how incredible properly trained musicians truly are.
For now, I’ll be uploading my programmed performances one by one as they’re ready.