StevenThe last few years, I’ve had the urge to get back into hobbies that I had growing up from elementary through college. Mainly piano and trombone. Not many people know that I had 8 years of piano lessons in elementary school and I was in the All-State Band 3 out of 4 years in high school with the trombone.
I learned the piano early mainly because my sister played it when she was younger and my Mom wanted me to play because she never learned to play an instrument but always wanted to. You could say I was “forced” into lessons! I have fond memories of sitting at the piano with Mom sitting beside me crocheting or reading, making sure I didn’t play things too fast and keeping an eye on the time (I had to do at least 30 minutes a day). I would always try to get out of it by playing songs faster than they were meant to be played. My favorite song to play was the Darth Vader March from Star Wars. She would always say, “This is the Darth Vader March, not the Darth Vader Sprint!”
The piano laid the foundation for me picking up the trombone in Middle School. Funny thing, I only picked the trombone because my best friend at the time did. Reading music was already there, so I had an easier time than most of my classmates. And now we’re back to practice, practice, practice. Though it did pay off since I made District, Area and All-State Bands. I even got a good scholarship for college and received a Bachelor of Music Education.
Now, a few decades after I graduated and not touching any musical instruments (except the guitar and drums), I had the urge to get a piano. As luck would have it, a local college was selling off some pianos they had in storage. I picked up a piano that I think sells for around $8k new for $100! It cost me more to have someone move the piano than to buy it!
I’ve really enjoyed getting back to playing the piano and can play mostly intermediate level songs. I’m no pro by any stretch. Somehow playing the piano also wanted me to get back into playing trombone again. I still had my trombones from high school and college, so I took them to a local music store and had them cleaned and flushed and ready for use again.
I started played for the first time in a long time and wow, my lips are dead. If you know anything about playing a brass instrument, your lips can be gone really quick if you haven’t played in awhile! I have a grand idea of recording some songs, just for my personal use probably, where I play piano accompaniment to a trombone solo. It sounds fun in my head, but I know that piano arrangements can be ridiculously hard.
I guess the point of this post is to encourage others that if you have an interest in picking up something new, or even something from your past, go for it. It’s such a good feeling to remember everything you’ve learned over the years and it’s almost second nature again.