Thursday, March 01, 2007
Thursday, March 1st, 2007
I found a site where you can have fun playing a piano. It even has the extra instruments to use if you want their sound added.
Here is the site for anyone who would enjoy trying it out:
Virtual Keyboard
The instruments are: Piano, Organ, Saxophone, Flute, Pan Pipes, Strings, Guitar, Steel Drums and Double Bass.
Below that you have Drum Beats 1 through 6 that you can choose from and below that are the keys of the keyboard.
On the left hand side, you’ll find three buttons: Chord Mode, Play Chord and Instructions.
The Instructions page will pop up and explain how this works and how you can use your keyboard to play the keys on the piano. You can also get a great description on how the Chord Mode works.
Either way, it was a lot of fun to try and remember how to play the piano from brief lessons in high school. I think this would be a great site for kids to play around with too. Have fun!
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/res...piano/index.htm
Have fun!!!!!
=====
I did go in the site and play for a while. I own a large Lowry floor model organ with the genie 88 which has loads of Instruments and other settings. Must admit that I don`t play it as often as I did when Walt was here to tell me he enjoyed hearing me play. I am no pro, but he still liked hearing me play. I remember the day I put on my head phones while playing so I wouldn`t drown out the western he was watching on TV. Think it was a Tom Mix one that day. I had never seen a Tom mix western before they came on TV. When I started going to the saturday afternoon movies Gene Autry was popular and a few years later Roy Rogers and Dale Even`s westerns came to the movies. So, Tom Mix was before my time. Ever hear the saying "What ever happened to andolf Scott". One day when my Husband said it, I asked him " Who the devil is Randolf Scott". He thought it strange that Ihad never heard of him as Walt only 5 years older than me. I guess a lot happened in those 5 years before I was born- Randolf Scott, Tom mix, and others.
Well, to get back to the headphones-- Walt came out from the livingroom, picked up the earphone on my right ear and asked ' Whats the matter, you don`t want me to hear you playing anymore?" I told him Ijust knew he liked the westerns and I didn`t want to drown out the voice on him. He then told me he had seen that movie before and would rather hear me play. Needless to say, I never put on the earphones again when he was in the house to hear me play
I went thru a lot to learn to play. Started out learning how to play the piano. I was a teenager at the time. When my older sister ( 2 yrs older) wanted to play piano, she was given 2 years of lessons with Virginia Murry who was the tops in our area. A couple years later when I wanted to learn, there just wasn`t money to pay for my lessons. it wasn`t just a line, as my brother had spent over a year in the hosp. and my parents had huge bills, plus they took out 2 mortages on their home to help pay the hosp bill. So, I was sure my learning was not going to happen.
Then an older cousin who was both a school teacher and a music teacher asked me if I would be willing to help clean her home for free piano lessons. Boy! Would I !! So , every Sat. morning for a whole year I rode the same sister`s bike ( I never owned a bike) up to my cousins home about 2-3 miles away. I went up and house cleaned to pay for my music lessons. I will never forget those velvet feel couch and chair in their living room. So beautiful, but they picked up the lint from all the music students coats and jackets. It seemed as fast as I got them real clean, another music student would arrive, toss their jacket onto either the couch or chair and I would need to clean them all over again. Even sitting on them often left lint from their clothing. The kind of furniture you wished had a plastic covering over them. I promised myself that I would never buy a set with that material covering it. But I can still remember how beautiful and rich looking it was. My cousin had one of those coat racks for them to hang their coats on, but there was always a few who just tossed it down. I thought they probably weren`t taught to take care of their coats at home . They probably just tossed them on the first empty chair. Of course I knew I could be wrong since I had never been in most of the homes. But I felt it showed lack of respect for other peoples property the way some slumped all over the furniture. I even saw some putting their feet up on the couch just to tie a shoestring. While we had nice furniture, we didn`t have that kind of expensive furniture in our home, but we were still taught to keep our shoes off the furniture.
Well, to get back to the paino lessons. I had a full year of lessons and learned a lot from my cousin. I will always be grateful to her for giving me a way to have lessons. I knew she couldn`t just give me the lessons free as there were way too many other relatives that would have also expected her to teach their kids for nothing. A few years after I got married, once we had built our own home, my father gave me the piano I learned on. Many years later after my oldest daughter was married and owning her own home, Walt bought me a small organ. A few years later he bought me a much larger and more costly organ. That was when I gave my fathers piano to my oldest daughter. I just didn`t have room in my home for both that large up-right piano and the larger Lowry organ. Years ago, he wanted to trade my lowry in for a new modern organ that had just the push spots like a microwave instead of keys. He felt it would be much easier with the arthritis in my hands getting worse. My older sister had the newer model and was soo confused trying to figure out the newer style rythms. It was so different. I told her she should have accepted the free lessons that came free with it. But, when I was going to take those free lessons with mine, the teacher ended up telling me I already knew more than she did, so maybe my sister would have been told the same thing. Who knows? I knew I could have played the newer organ, because I had figured out enough to help my sister begin playing hers. But, the one thing I noticed most was the great difference in the tone of the notes and rythms and I liked my Lowry sound so much better than my sisters newer one that I decided to keep the one I had. I did try out one in the Music store and while it was easy to play, I still prefered the one I had. So, I thanked my husband for his nice thought and he understood why I didn`t want the newer more expensive organ. I remember my sister`s husband once telling me that my sister never played her organ anymore. Maybe she would also have been better off keeping her older model that she was playing a lot. I felt the newer one just was too over-powering to her with too much left to figure out. Maybe if we had lived closer I might have helped her feel more comfortable playing her new organ. But we live about a three hour or so away from each other. In the winter she lives in Florida and is lots farther away.
The first organ I ever played on belonged to an Aunt. It was so beautiful and had the tall pipes above it like the old Church organs. It was large like the old church organs. This was before I learned to play. I never understood my Aunt letting us kids play or should I say strum on it since none of us knew how to play it, but she was the sweetest person. I am sure she was glad when I knew how to play instead of just making up the tones I played. I think I played on it more than the others who visited them. I sure loved that organ, but it sure needed a large place to hold it. My Aunt lived in an old large farmhouse. After my Aunt died, I once asked my cousin what her dad ever did with her moms organ. She said she had asked her dad for it only to find he had already sold it to one of his friends. He wouldn`t give her the organ, but still she was the one who took him in and cared for him during the last few years of his life. Even though he wasn`t a good husband or a good father, my cousin was a wonderful daughter and her Mom ( my Mom`s sister) was a sweetheart. My cousin took after her Mom. Even she is gone today.
Well here I sit with a full load of cloths waiting to be removed from the dryer and folded and put away. So, guess I better get up and get something done. Had to have my daughter come down and re-tape my shoulder as using it so much was sure making it ache again. this morning I was able to do the band exercises a little easier with the shoulder taped. Guess it isn`t healed as good as I thought it was. I read on line that it takes about 6 months to be fully healed and it has only been about 3 1/2 months now, so maybe I am trying to rush things too fast. Guess I need to learn more patience if I want it to heal properly. I want to get back working in my wood shop soo much. Have that large work bench over half done and so want to finish making it. But, I am thankful I was able to finish the 7 tables for the kids Christmas gifts before I fell. Glad I started making them long before Christmas. I was also happy that all the kids loved receiving them
I found a site where you can have fun playing a piano. It even has the extra instruments to use if you want their sound added.
Here is the site for anyone who would enjoy trying it out:
Virtual Keyboard
The instruments are: Piano, Organ, Saxophone, Flute, Pan Pipes, Strings, Guitar, Steel Drums and Double Bass.
Below that you have Drum Beats 1 through 6 that you can choose from and below that are the keys of the keyboard.
On the left hand side, you’ll find three buttons: Chord Mode, Play Chord and Instructions.
The Instructions page will pop up and explain how this works and how you can use your keyboard to play the keys on the piano. You can also get a great description on how the Chord Mode works.
Either way, it was a lot of fun to try and remember how to play the piano from brief lessons in high school. I think this would be a great site for kids to play around with too. Have fun!
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/res...piano/index.htm
Have fun!!!!!
=====
I did go in the site and play for a while. I own a large Lowry floor model organ with the genie 88 which has loads of Instruments and other settings. Must admit that I don`t play it as often as I did when Walt was here to tell me he enjoyed hearing me play. I am no pro, but he still liked hearing me play. I remember the day I put on my head phones while playing so I wouldn`t drown out the western he was watching on TV. Think it was a Tom Mix one that day. I had never seen a Tom mix western before they came on TV. When I started going to the saturday afternoon movies Gene Autry was popular and a few years later Roy Rogers and Dale Even`s westerns came to the movies. So, Tom Mix was before my time. Ever hear the saying "What ever happened to andolf Scott". One day when my Husband said it, I asked him " Who the devil is Randolf Scott". He thought it strange that Ihad never heard of him as Walt only 5 years older than me. I guess a lot happened in those 5 years before I was born- Randolf Scott, Tom mix, and others.
Well, to get back to the headphones-- Walt came out from the livingroom, picked up the earphone on my right ear and asked ' Whats the matter, you don`t want me to hear you playing anymore?" I told him Ijust knew he liked the westerns and I didn`t want to drown out the voice on him. He then told me he had seen that movie before and would rather hear me play. Needless to say, I never put on the earphones again when he was in the house to hear me play
I went thru a lot to learn to play. Started out learning how to play the piano. I was a teenager at the time. When my older sister ( 2 yrs older) wanted to play piano, she was given 2 years of lessons with Virginia Murry who was the tops in our area. A couple years later when I wanted to learn, there just wasn`t money to pay for my lessons. it wasn`t just a line, as my brother had spent over a year in the hosp. and my parents had huge bills, plus they took out 2 mortages on their home to help pay the hosp bill. So, I was sure my learning was not going to happen.
Then an older cousin who was both a school teacher and a music teacher asked me if I would be willing to help clean her home for free piano lessons. Boy! Would I !! So , every Sat. morning for a whole year I rode the same sister`s bike ( I never owned a bike) up to my cousins home about 2-3 miles away. I went up and house cleaned to pay for my music lessons. I will never forget those velvet feel couch and chair in their living room. So beautiful, but they picked up the lint from all the music students coats and jackets. It seemed as fast as I got them real clean, another music student would arrive, toss their jacket onto either the couch or chair and I would need to clean them all over again. Even sitting on them often left lint from their clothing. The kind of furniture you wished had a plastic covering over them. I promised myself that I would never buy a set with that material covering it. But I can still remember how beautiful and rich looking it was. My cousin had one of those coat racks for them to hang their coats on, but there was always a few who just tossed it down. I thought they probably weren`t taught to take care of their coats at home . They probably just tossed them on the first empty chair. Of course I knew I could be wrong since I had never been in most of the homes. But I felt it showed lack of respect for other peoples property the way some slumped all over the furniture. I even saw some putting their feet up on the couch just to tie a shoestring. While we had nice furniture, we didn`t have that kind of expensive furniture in our home, but we were still taught to keep our shoes off the furniture.
Well, to get back to the paino lessons. I had a full year of lessons and learned a lot from my cousin. I will always be grateful to her for giving me a way to have lessons. I knew she couldn`t just give me the lessons free as there were way too many other relatives that would have also expected her to teach their kids for nothing. A few years after I got married, once we had built our own home, my father gave me the piano I learned on. Many years later after my oldest daughter was married and owning her own home, Walt bought me a small organ. A few years later he bought me a much larger and more costly organ. That was when I gave my fathers piano to my oldest daughter. I just didn`t have room in my home for both that large up-right piano and the larger Lowry organ. Years ago, he wanted to trade my lowry in for a new modern organ that had just the push spots like a microwave instead of keys. He felt it would be much easier with the arthritis in my hands getting worse. My older sister had the newer model and was soo confused trying to figure out the newer style rythms. It was so different. I told her she should have accepted the free lessons that came free with it. But, when I was going to take those free lessons with mine, the teacher ended up telling me I already knew more than she did, so maybe my sister would have been told the same thing. Who knows? I knew I could have played the newer organ, because I had figured out enough to help my sister begin playing hers. But, the one thing I noticed most was the great difference in the tone of the notes and rythms and I liked my Lowry sound so much better than my sisters newer one that I decided to keep the one I had. I did try out one in the Music store and while it was easy to play, I still prefered the one I had. So, I thanked my husband for his nice thought and he understood why I didn`t want the newer more expensive organ. I remember my sister`s husband once telling me that my sister never played her organ anymore. Maybe she would also have been better off keeping her older model that she was playing a lot. I felt the newer one just was too over-powering to her with too much left to figure out. Maybe if we had lived closer I might have helped her feel more comfortable playing her new organ. But we live about a three hour or so away from each other. In the winter she lives in Florida and is lots farther away.
The first organ I ever played on belonged to an Aunt. It was so beautiful and had the tall pipes above it like the old Church organs. It was large like the old church organs. This was before I learned to play. I never understood my Aunt letting us kids play or should I say strum on it since none of us knew how to play it, but she was the sweetest person. I am sure she was glad when I knew how to play instead of just making up the tones I played. I think I played on it more than the others who visited them. I sure loved that organ, but it sure needed a large place to hold it. My Aunt lived in an old large farmhouse. After my Aunt died, I once asked my cousin what her dad ever did with her moms organ. She said she had asked her dad for it only to find he had already sold it to one of his friends. He wouldn`t give her the organ, but still she was the one who took him in and cared for him during the last few years of his life. Even though he wasn`t a good husband or a good father, my cousin was a wonderful daughter and her Mom ( my Mom`s sister) was a sweetheart. My cousin took after her Mom. Even she is gone today.
Well here I sit with a full load of cloths waiting to be removed from the dryer and folded and put away. So, guess I better get up and get something done. Had to have my daughter come down and re-tape my shoulder as using it so much was sure making it ache again. this morning I was able to do the band exercises a little easier with the shoulder taped. Guess it isn`t healed as good as I thought it was. I read on line that it takes about 6 months to be fully healed and it has only been about 3 1/2 months now, so maybe I am trying to rush things too fast. Guess I need to learn more patience if I want it to heal properly. I want to get back working in my wood shop soo much. Have that large work bench over half done and so want to finish making it. But, I am thankful I was able to finish the 7 tables for the kids Christmas gifts before I fell. Glad I started making them long before Christmas. I was also happy that all the kids loved receiving them
# posted by Dotm @ 3/01/2007 12:03:00 PM 
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Of course they loved recieving them, they know the love you put into making them.
Now you could slow down and let that shoulder time to heal.
When I was younger I used to play two instraments.
I wanted to play ane started playing a tenorr sax in school but my parents had aother ideas and instament in mind so I learned to play something I hated for 5 years and kept the damn thing for 15 years after i gave it up in a closet until the day came and I smashed it to pieces so that another child can't be cursed with it.
Ok I got that off of my chest.
I would like to hear you play one day.
Maybe a recording on your blog :)
Have a nice weekend
Now you could slow down and let that shoulder time to heal.
When I was younger I used to play two instraments.
I wanted to play ane started playing a tenorr sax in school but my parents had aother ideas and instament in mind so I learned to play something I hated for 5 years and kept the damn thing for 15 years after i gave it up in a closet until the day came and I smashed it to pieces so that another child can't be cursed with it.
Ok I got that off of my chest.
I would like to hear you play one day.
Maybe a recording on your blog :)
Have a nice weekend
Walker, now you have my curiosity going- wondering what that instrument was that you hated so much. I had two brothers who took violin lessons. I always wondered why the violin since my Dad used to play the uke and he called for square dances. I never heard him as it was before I was born. I did hear him playing chop sticks on the piano once when he was teaching a sister how. I was told his dad was the caller before him. Me, I like hearing a guitar, and two of my sons owned them.
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