Episode 85 - Year Two

G'day, everyone! Welcome to show number eighty-five. It was in January 2024 that I finally picked up a keyboard to start learning the piano. That means I've officially passed the two-year mark! I’m not organised enough to know the exact date,but looking back, deciding to learn the piano after sixty was undoubtedly a great decision.

Podcast Review: The Music Show I recently rediscovered "The Music Show" on ABC Radio National, hosted by Dr Andrew Ford. I was reminded of it after hearing Andrew on another podcast discussing Stravinsky’s "The Rite of Spring." "The Music Show" is a fantastic program that covers every conceivable genre. Recent episodes have featured guests ranging from Neil and Tim Finn of "Split Enz" to Ursula Yovich singing Nina Simone, and topics like the role of the bazouki in Irish Folk Music. Andrew’s relaxed and informed style makes it a permanent part of my listening rotation.https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/musicshow

Essay: Year Two Reflecting on two years of learning, I realised that while my technical progress is roughly where I expected—moving into Grade One pieces and passing theory exams—the real value has been the experiences along the way. Deciding to learn the piano has opened doors I didn't anticipate. It led to a subscription to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, attending jazz concerts with my teacher Devi, and even singing in front of a thousand people with the Belong choir. For Year Three, I’m planning more theatre, more concerts, and perhaps joining a choir permanently.

Review: David Bennett's new channel Just as I was finalising this week's show, I saw that David Bennett has launched a new interview channel and podcast called "How do you do?". He speaks with other creators, and given the quality of his existing work, this is definitely worth checking out.https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVDanqrFSHgX-hlqFs4AZ7w

Progress In my lessons with Devi, we are shifting focus slightly towards modern and pop music. I’ve started working on a chord progression in A minor, practicing smooth transitions between root position chords. It’s a new challenge,especially the sevenths in the left hand! I’m also continuing with "Sea Song" and the "Moonlight" Sonata.

The music was recorded using the Kawai NV10, Cubase 15 on a Mac Mini, and Pianoteq 9 emulating a Shigeru Kawai SK-EX grand piano.

If you'd like to get in touch, email me at david@pianofinally.show.

The contents of the podcast were entirely generated by David Reidy, but these show notes were created by Gemini.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Opening
• 0:15 Welcome
• 1:24 Podcast - The Music Show
• 5:04 Essay - Year Two
• 9:54 Review - How Do You Do?
• 10:47 Closing
• 12:00 Progress

Transcript

Episode085: 0:00

G'day everyone, I'm David Reidy. Welcome to Piano Finally, a podcast by an old bloke who's getting around to learning the piano, finally. Welcome to show number 85. Thank you very much for downloading the show. If you're a regular listener, then thanks for your support. But if this is the first time you're hearing the podcast, I hope you enjoy what's in the show. And if you do like what you hear, please consider subscribing. Are you learning a musical instrument? If you are, let me know how you're going with it. You can contact me at david@pianofinally.show It was in January 2024 that I finally got around to getting a keyboard with which I could learn the piano. So that means that sometime in the last couple of weeks, I passed the two-year mark. I could look up the exact date, but that's not important. I am nowhere near organised enough that a day either way would make a difference. And so the beginning of February seems to be a good time to look back over those two years and see the reality of deciding to learn the piano after 60. Spoiler alert, it was a great decision. I had forgotten that this show existed. Many years ago, it was on ABC Radio National on Sunday mornings after The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I'd been listening to Douglas Adams and kept listening for the music show. This was around the time I first had enough weekly income to start a music collection, and as the music show was pretty much the only classical music journalism show on the radio at the time, I followed it fairly closely. As I moved on from buying lots of CDs, I stopped listening to the show, and besides, I was busy on Sundays, and this was well before podcasting was a thing. In fact, it was before the internet was really a thing. I was reminded of the show by the host's appearance on "No one saw it coming", where he spoke about the music of Stravinsky and the premiere of "The Rite of Spring". That host is Andrew Ford. Andrew Ford is a composer and music journalist who was born in England and later moved to Australia in 1983. He worked in the music faculty of the University of Wollongong before joining the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1995. All of this is to say that Dr Ford knows music. The music show has two episodes each week. They are each around an hour long and are first broadcast on Saturdays and Sundays on Australia's Radio National. Of course, who has time to sit down and listen to the radio at a fixed time each week anymore? So the shows are much more widely consumed as podcasts. Each episode is exactly 54 minutes to fit into its radio time slot and appear in the podcast feed just after they've been broadcast. The show is mostly an interview show, generally with two guests, one in each half, although this format moves around a fair bit. One of the things that the ABC is known for is sponsoring many of the symphony orchestras' and classical ensembles' concert series, so you might be expecting that the music show would concentrate on that type of music. And it does, but pretty rarely. Instead, the show covers every conceivable genre, including ones I had never heard of, and in a recent program, one even that Andrew Ford hadn't heard of. Over the past month, Andrew's guests have included Neil and Tim Finn from "Split Enz", Rueben Brown with music from Arnhem Land, Andrea Keller with underground French music of the 1960s and Ursula Yovich singing Nina Simone. There have been extended stories on the place of the bazouki in Irish folk music and the legacy of Midnight Oil's Rob Hirst, who died recently. The shows definitely have an Australian bias, and the guests are often on the show as part of their Australian tours. But as the ABC is non-commercial, there is little in the way of obvious promotion. The Music Show is now a permanent part of my podcast listening. There is never a show where I don't learn at least one new thing, and in most cases I learn a lot. Andrew's style is relaxed and informed, he lets the interviewees speak, and there are always musical sections to illustrate points. I'd really recommend giving the show a try, even if you're not down here. There's a link in the show notes. Year Two January 2024 saw my first real keyboard arrive at home, a Roland FP-30X, which I bought with the idea that I would eventually pass it on to the younger members of the family. One way or another, this was just a first instrument. Either I would find out that I really wasn't cut out for piano playing, and the keyboard would just take up space until it moved on, or I'd find that I really enjoyed it and would replace it with something better. And we all know which way that went. At the moment, I'm mostly where I thought I would be. After two years, I can play well enough to learn Grade One pieces. Preparatory for the first year, preliminary for the second year, and then moving into Grade One for the third year. I've passed two music theory exams, grades 1 and 2, getting 100% in each, so the theory is on track. So at least I can say I am successfully learning. I'm going to assume that all of you who have learned an instrument have made similar progress in a similar time. As adults, our time availability is very different to young students, but I think we all progress at around the same rate. I'm going to suggest that this is exactly the rate that the examination boards expect. They expect one grade per year, based on their publications, and even with the busy schedule of adults, this seems achievable. I'm pleased with my progress; I think it's realistic. Would I like to be able to play concert pieces? Yes, but they are probably still 8-10 years away at my current rate, and that's fine. Now, this next bit is going to sound a lot like one of those pre-Christmas feel-good movies made for television, so apologies. Nice though the improvement in technique is, it is all the experiences along the way that have really made the difference. Deciding to learn the piano has provided a huge range of activities that I hadn't even thought about when I walked into that first piano shop. All of them come from the piano increasing my engagement with music in general. So, just in this second year of learning. I got a new subscription to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra concerts at the Opera House, which included hearing from musicologists and conductors about well-known pieces of music. I'll never listen to Ravel's "Bolero" the same way again. It also included a newly commissioned piece from an Australian composer each time, keeping me in touch with contemporary classical music. I also saw some contemporary dance paired with Bach. Getting back into the swing of subscribing also saw me going to the Bell Shakespeare series and booking again with Bell in 2026 along with the Sydney Theatre Company. Piano lessons with Devi meant I went to a couple of Jazz concerts and two of Devi's own concerts with music well outside the scope of what I would pick if left to my own devices. And these have been great, not only did I get to hear very different styles of music, but I also got the experience of being with others enjoying the performance. Sharing the in-person experience with others is one of the best parts of seeing live music, and those are experiences that I wouldn't have had otherwise. Being more comfortable reading and working with music singing in front of over a thousand people. Deciding to sign up for the Belong choir for the Vigil was possibly the best decision I made in 2025. Being able to follow a tune from a printed score gave me the confidence to decide to at least give it a go. I suppose that I was lucky that Nardi Simpson made it such a positive experience. For someone who last sang for an audience in 1975, it was a bit intimidating, but the energy and enthusiasm in Nardi's leadership made the whole process a joyous experience. So, where to for year three? I have subscriptions to Bell, The Sydney Theatre Company and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra again. I'm planning to get the date right for Devi's showcase this year, and I'm planning to learn some pop music to go along with the Beethoven and Bach. Oh, and I'm also investigating joining a choir on a permanent basis. I went to a rehearsal last Thursday, and it was a lot of fun and very welcoming. See where learning the piano can take you? This isn't really a review; I haven't had a chance to check this out yet. I wasn't going to include a review in this week's show, as I haven't bought anything new or got any new music books, which is what would normally go here. But as I was finalising the writing today, a video from David Bennett popped up announcing his new YouTube channel and podcast. It's called "How do you do?" and it is an interview program where David speaks with other creators. The lineup looks interesting, and as I like his existing work, this one is definitely worth sampling. There is a link in the show notes to the YouTube channel. I couldn't find the podcast link except on Spotify, as I think it might be a little early for the other directories. Give it a try if you like. Music this week will include a lesson with Devi on Monday and another choir rehearsal on Thursday. Apart from that, I'll be trying to fit in at least 30 minutes a day at the keyboard. That assumes I survive the school swimming carnival on Friday. If you'd like to contact me, email is the best way. You'll find me at david@pianofinally.show and the website at www.pianofinally.show. In both cases, pianofinally is all one word. The show is also available on Spotify and as an audio-only stream on YouTube. You can subscribe via any popular iOS or Android podcast application or from directories such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. I also post an excerpt and link for each episode as an Instagram reel. If you're learning an instrument, let me know where you are in your journey. What's going well, and what are the challenges? How are you managing your time? What pieces are you enjoying the most? So, until next week, I hope your piano stays in tune, and you enjoy your time at the keys. At last week's piano lesson, Devi and I were planning the next term of learning, and I mentioned that I wouldn't mind learning something a bit more modern and less classical. Maybe a pop song. I dabbled with some Elton John and Billy Joel before realising that the books were unauthorised and sending them back. Devi is making some plans so that I can learn some of that style of music. To start, she has given me a chord progression to practice. We're going to build up with this, so this week, everything is still in root position, and I'm working on moving smoothly between the chords. The song is in A minor, so the chords are all white keys, except for one non-diatonic one. The three-note chords are no problem at all, the sevenths, though, are difficult with my left hand (right-hand ones are much easier). I'll include a run-through of the progression, see if you can guess the song. The chord section is recorded in Cubase from the Nord Stage 4, because, you know, pop song. I'm still working on "Sea Song" and "Moonlight", so I'll include them too. They were recorded using Cubase 15 running on an M4 Pro Mac Mini, with Pianoteq 9 emulating a Shigeru Kawai SK-EX grand piano in concert recording mode. I used the Kawai NV10 to play the notes.[Music] Thank you.