Teaching Myself Piano

I apologize for being away so long. I haven't done much, if any, stitching. We've had some sickness for a few weeks, and I've been in a bit of a funk.

Funk and sickness or no, I have to practice the piano, to avoid embarrassment at church.

You may be thinking that I already know how to play the piano. After all, I had lessons starting when I was eight, and I've been playing at church for almost 2 1/2 years. But no, I really don't know how to play the piano. I know how to read music and find the notes.

I had suspected this for quite some time, but it was made clear when I saw a teen at a church talent show playing. Watching her play, and knowing that just a few months ago she couldn't play well at all, I realized that I know nothing. Although she was not perfect, she had the piece memorized, and played with panache. I was impressed and decided to get serious about learning.

But because of lack of teachers, money and time, I'm not really in a position to get lessons. I hope to go to the community college in SLC eventually, but there again, I don't have the money or time (meaning my schedule conflicts with the available classes), and I don't even know if the teachers are any good. Still, it would be good to have someone objective evaluate my playing, technique and posture and give feedback.

So I went to the internet. After not too much searching, I found the following two sources, which I recommend:
http://www.gmajormusictheory.org/
http://www.pianofundamentals.com/

My Goodreads friends can see which books I'm reading as I add them to my list.

I get most of the music that I will mention from the first site. And while reading the book from the second site, I learned that overuse of the pedal is a sign of a "rank amateur." I'm getting ahead of myself here, but I had suspected this, at least in myself. My pedaling was a source of constant disappointment to me. Everyone I've ever seen play at church uses the pedal, but they all sounded better than I do. When I first started playing at church, I didn't use the pedal at all. This was because my piano at the time was just crap: it was out of tune, it had flat keys, thunky keys, keys that played the note next to the one pressed--and the pedals didn't work. It didn't take me too long to realize that I did need to start pedaling, so I would practice with the nonfunctional pedals but would not know how the song would sound till I was actually playing it at church. I would just lift the pedal every measure, which is how I thought they were to be played. But my music sounded really muddy and unpleasant to me. Even when it wasn't muddy, it sounded like Phil Spector's "wall of sound." That is certainly a good sound when used properly, but not in this context. I went to the other pianists at church and learned that I was supposed to pedal at accidentals (that's when you see a sharp or flat sign) and "key changes." Hmmm. I didn't know what key changes were. Still, this bit of information improved my playing somewhat so I was happy. I have since learned that I'm also supposed to pedal at harmonic or chord changes (that *really* improved the sound) and I'm learning how to recognize key changes. I suspect these are related, if not the same thing.

OK, back to the beginning, which is where I went. I learned that scales are important, so I learned all the major scales and am in the process of learning the minor scales. The harmonic minor scales, that is, right now. There are also melodic and natural minor scales. Believe it or not, scales had never been part of my musical training. I started with C major, hands separately, then together, and built up speed. But wait! I then learned that I need to memorize the scales so that I could work on perfect finger technique, including fingering (which finger plays which key), striking the key, volume and tone control. Maybe other stuff, but that's all I know so far. It's actually easy to memorize the scales, but I have to work harder at the fingering. Also, playing with my hands together at this point doesn't allow me to clearly hear the tone, so it's hands separate for now.

Then I downloaded some pieces: Hot Cross Buns; Mary Had a Little Lamb; Rain, Rain, Go Away; Jingle Bells; Aura Lee (aka Love Me Tender); and A Tisket A Tasket. Very easy stuff, I know. But the point was that I could *memorize* these, as that was another important aspect. The music should be memorized so that I can work, again, on technique and perfecting the sound. You have to memorize in your head so that your brain directs the fingers and so you don't "blank out." While working on technique, I also transpose these into the 12 major keys (I think there are technically more, but some are "enharmonic," which means they have the same notes, although notated differently, as each other) and the minor keys that I have learned.

So that's where I am. I plan next to learn chord names so that I can understand better chord changes and even harmonize the above songs or re-harmonize as I improve.

Recently I accompanied son #1 (who is learning the sax) for a band evaluation. Although I never fully memorized the piece, I did break down the music measure by measure, seeing which measures were identical and determining the fingering. I practiced hands separately, no pedal, hands together, no pedal, hands separately, with pedal, and hands together with pedal. I started really slowly then sped up, eventually playing twice as fast as we played for the performance. I was unsure whether I should use the pedal, given what I had learned, and decided to, but then decided not to at the last minute, when I saw that the other accompanists (high school piano students) weren't. Inferiority complex strikes again! But it worked out for the best, I think, and I played without a mistake! Very unusual for me.

I'm also using the memorization on my organ practice. I'm able to because I concentrate on only a couple of songs at a time. It really helps to memorize so that I can concentrate on other aspects.

Unfortunately, though, I really haven't used these techniques on my hymns. That's because, for now at least, I have to concentrate on quantity. I have to be able to pound out any hymn. But I have started to work on them, slowly. I have memorized "Come, Follow Me"--I can play it with my eyes shut! On the piano anyway--I have to look at the bass line when playing the organ because I don't have the pedals memorized. (Organ pedals are a whole other subject, nothing like the piano pedals, and I'm a total beginner at those. Imagine playing keys with your feet.)

I've also transposed the melody of "Come Follow Me" into all 12 major keys. I will do the minor when I've learned all the minor scales. Next, I'm working on doing the same for "Teach Me to
Walk." These are the songs I plan to "re-harmonize" when I start on learning the chords.

Oh, and that crappy piano? It's gone. I felt bad, because it was a gift, but I do not recommend playing on something like that. Not even if you just want to learn. You just can't get better, because you can't hear any good sounds. I now have an electric piano. I don't know if I recommend it. It has worked well for me. It's always in tune, it can sound like other instruments, so, frex, I can practice organ keying on it, it's lightweight and therefore easy to move. I have been happy with it. And yet... there's something missing. It doesn't have the full musical feeling. I have determined that what I really want is a Steinway concert grand. Unfortunately, even if I could afford one, there's not a room in my house where it would fit, even if I removed the furniture. Well, maybe the basement. Yes, that's the place for a Steinway--not. It would be a pain to even get it down there. And I'm pretty sure the room would deaden the sound.

Anyway, you can see why my life can appear very boring to others, yet it's fascinating to me. I love all these technical things, the details of learning, always trying to improve. I know I will never be anything approaching a concert pianist, but I do hope that someday I can make beautiful sounds come out of a piano.

A Much Requested Recipe

Palak Paneer

Everyone's favorite restaurant dish. (Or was that butter chicken?) Once you have the ingredients, it is pretty easy to make. You can buy paneer if you have to, but homemade is tastier.

Prep: 5 minutes after assembling ingredients
Cook: about 30 minutes
Serves 5-6

1-2 tiny hot green chilies, cut into pieces (use gloves, really) and can omit if desired
1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger, sliced thin
4 T water
1/2 T ground coriander
1/2 T ground turmeric
1/2 t ground cumin
1/4 t paprika
6 t ghee or vegetable oil
6 oz fresh paneer cheese, made from 6 cups milk, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 pounds fresh spinach, washed, trimmed and finely chopped, or two 10-oz boxes of frozen chopped spinach, defrosted
1/2 t garam masala (a spice blend)
1 t salt
3 T cream or cream cheese, cut into pieces

1. Place chilies, ginger, and water in blender or food processor and puree. Add dry spices and pulse to blend well. Set aside.
2. Heat ghee or oil in (non-stick is better) wok or 5-qt saucepan over moderate heat until hot but not smoking. Fry the paneer cheese cubes for 5 minutes, turning gently to brown on all sides. Remove with slotted spoon. ( Cubes will stick in a stainless steel pan)
3. Carefully add wet spice paste (masala) to hot oil, then pack in the wet spinach leaves. Reduce the heat slightly, cover, and cook for 8 minutes. Using two forks, turn spinach over so that the cooked leaves on bottom change places with leaves on the top. Cover and cook for another 9 minutes. (If using frozen defrosted, cook only for a total of 8 minutes.
4. Add garam masala, salt, fried paneer, and cream or cream cheese. Cover and cook through for 5 minutes Stir well before serving.

Serve with warmed flatbreads, or over rice, with cornbread, or tomato salad.

Whatcha makin', Ma? ....

How to make yogurt:

adapted from "The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking" by Yamuna Devi, 780 pages, 1987

Prep time: 20 min (after assembling ingredients)
Setting time: 4-10 hours
Makes: 1 quart/liter (recipe can be quadrupled easily)

1 quart/liter milk (whole milk)
3 T plain yogurt (Dannon is great, and so is the Greek yogurt Fage. I've used all brands and have never had a bad result if I use a thermometer.) I have never bought starter from the health food store. I have made starter from previous batches too..

tools:
a 3-qt saucepan
wooden spoon
a 2-qt container to set the yogurt in (and eventually go in the fridge) with lid (or cover with towel)
a thermometer (digital or candy)
a sink with 2-3 inches of cold water in it
a whisk
a heating pad (nice but not necessary -- can use a warm garage in summer, or a cooler with an open jar of hot water in it, or put it in an oven warmed to 200F for 1 1/2 minutes then turned off)

Bring the milk to a boil quickly (212F) in the heavy 3-qt pan, stirring constantly to prevent sticking to pan. Set aside to cool or quick-cool by half-submerging it in a sink partiallly filled with cold tap water.

While the milk is cooling, rinse a 1.5-2 quart container with boiling water, then dry (I admit I often cheat and just make sure I rinse a glass or stainless steel vessel with very hot tap water and it has turned out fine).

When milk has cooled to 115F, whisk in the 3T of plain yogurt. Pour into sterilized vessel. Cover with clean towel or a loosely-fitted lid and quickly put in a warm place (ideally 85F-110). I use a heating pad set to low, with a towel between the pad and the steel pot.

Check after 5-6 hours. It should be thick and firm, for as it cools it will set up considerably. The longer you let it set once it is firm, the more tart it will be. If not set, check for up to 12 hours. If it hasn't set the cause could be stale or insufficiently sterilized milk, inadequate blending of starter, inadequate insulation during setting, or worn-out starter.

Refrigerate, covered, once it is set.. It is best used with in 3 days (says the cookbook). Mine has never spoiled and the oldest it has become is about 2 weeks (before being consumed or made into cheese).

It is normal for the whey to separate from the solid -- it is not sign of spoilage. If you don't like it when that happens, level the top with a spoon before you put it back. In India, the watery liquid is a desired beverage "good for health."


Yogurt Cheese (very much like Alouette herb cheese):

To make Labna, or Yogurt Cheese:

Line colander with clean muslin, cheesecloth, or a flour-sack cloth that doesn't have fabric softener on it. Stir up to 1/4-1/2 t sea salt, herb salt, or seasoned salt into 6 cups yogurt. Place into colander and fold or twist edges of cloth together.

Set colander in a bowl or dish that is at least 2 inches deep, and allows about 1 inch of room for the whey to drain off. My colander has feet, but you may need a rack, or use a bowl that keeps the colander suspended. Cover the whole thing with plastic wrap, sealing to make it air tight.

Refrigerate to drain for 12-18 hours for a soft cheese, for 24-26 hours for a firm cheese. Unwrap and store, sealed for up to 3 days. (of course, I have been sloppy in following these rules, and still haven't had a bad result).

Eat on crackers, on pita bread, put in baked potato, etc.



Paneer Cheese
(fresh bouncy Indian cheese - fry until golden like tofu, or dice and mix with veg or chickpeas)

This is my own version from memory - much shorter than this very scientific cookbook.

Heat up a gallon of milk, stirring until boiling (this is the boring part, so put on some music or audio tape).

Put 3 layers of cheesecloth or muslin in colander in the sink and wet them with cold water.

Don't walk away from the milk on the stove because it WILL froth and boil over suddenly (so I use a thermometer to tell me when it gets close to 212F). When it reaches the boil, reduce the heat to low, and before the foam subsides, add lemon juice (8 T of any lemon juice should work) or (2 t of citric acid mixed with 3/4 water). Gently stir -- clumps should form -- if it didn't, add more juice - it will happen in about 15 seconds. As soon as clumps form throughout, remove from heat and let set for 10 minutes.

With a slotted spoon, lift out the lumps and put in colander, then gently pour in the smaller pieces and remaining whey.

Gather the corners and twist 1-2 times, then rinse the cloth-cheese bundle under lukewarm water. Twist a bit more.

You can hang cheese from a kitchen cabinet knob to drain more, or put in the colander and put heavy weight (big can of peaches) on top of the twisted bundle. Press for about 1-2 hours, then remove from cloth, and put in ziploc bag and refrigerate.

Search the internet for recipes that use paneer. You can also store in freezer for a few months with good results.

Keeping the Blog Alive...

Current interests:

-looking at cupcakes on MarthaStewart.com
-knitting cables on the fronts of the Must Have Cardigan
-thinking of cures for migraines
-uses for eggs
-reading Joan Didion's "The Year of Magical Thinking"
-American Idol
-Lost
-Jane Austen

Comments?