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Hi ukulele friends!!
Well, I wanted to share with you this exciting new addition to my instrument family, a beautiful piano keyboard my parents got for me! I probably never would’ve gotten one without their help, to be honest, for a long time. We actually decided it was an early 40th birthday gift, since I turn 40 this year. (Single tear.) But it’s a much happier, more exciting prospect now with this amazing gift. 😊
For some reason, YouTube forced me to make this video a “short,” but here’s a sample of me playing it:
Needless to say, I got nothing done today because of this. 😂 But I’m so grateful for this! 🥰
Also just noticed, very strangely, there seems to be the sound of a motorcycle starting at the beginning of the video? What?! So strange, lol. Sorry about that – no idea how that happened or where that came from! 😂😂
Very beautiful playing! What an awesome gift from your folks! Did you get a stand for it too?
Happy early b-day! 🙂
@Andrew, thank you so much for that! 😊 It’s one of the most amazing gifts I’ve ever been given, if I’m being perfectly honest. It’s already brightened my whole year. I’ve wanted a new keyboard for literally 5 years, but never had the money for it (still don’t, even though I now have two jobs, lol), so it meant so much that they did that for me. It’s been a really special bonding experience with them, too. And thank you so much about my playing – that really means a lot because I’ve forgotten so much. “Making things up” on piano was always something I did, based on songs that I learned (which is what I was doing there; the chords are from Pachelbel’s Canon) and it’s really crazy how learning ukulele has now affected how I play piano and vice versa; an extremely positive effect both ways. I still am giddy with excitement that I can now play piano whenever I want. 🥰
Oh yeah, I got a stand for it, but the bench and the keyboard came first, hence I was playing it on the floor. I couldn’t wait to play it. 😂
Thank you so much, I really appreciate your comment so much, Andrew! And how much you’ve encouraged me over the years; it’s helped keep me more involved with music and inspired me so much and honestly, helped give me confidence which I struggle with constantly. I honestly was feeling a bit depressed about turning 40 (cough, a bit, imagining getting sloshed on my birthday, but then remembered that I can’t really drink anymore, or trying to make excuses not to go to whatever party they plan for me 😂) but that gift lifted my spirits so much, and that’s why they did that for me. They told me that. It makes me really emotional. Okay, thank you again! 😊
Here’s another little YouTube short I created with my new piano!! 😁 I hope the sound is okay! Fully recorded on my new phone! 😊
I have returned to share another little clip I recorded tonight of another piano tune I’m relearning! I haven’t forgotten about this month’s RC101 challenge, but yes, I am infatuated with my new piano. 😂
This is a really fun ragtime tune, The Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin! I relearned a bunch more even after recording this, but it’s just a matter of smoothing out the new material. I hope anyone who sees this enjoys it (and that it’s audible)! 🙂
Even though I’m not really sure if anyone has seen these videos at all, I still wanted to share this thing I created tonight, which is a video about an original song for piano I created in high school that I came back to 20+ years later (in the past few months) because I found out my family was obsessed with it and would randomly sing it?! I found that so hilarious and it inspired me to finish it. 😂
I also wanted to mention that things have calmed down with me by A LOT and things are much more peaceful now, which is an inexpressible relief. Everyone and everything is okay, by the grace of God. I am still playing ukulele just as much because it will forever be my “comfort instrument,” and my cuddle instrument, to be perfectly frank, LOL. I still am figuring out tunes on ukulele. But if anyone sees this, please enjoy, and maybe the other videos!
I also am working on my entry for this month’s challenge, obvs! I am relatively confident that I can figure it out quickly, since The Skye Boat Song is a style I am used to playing in. We’ll see though!
For now, please enjoy this piano tune. I also secretly hope that @Andrew sees this (it’s not much of a secret if I tag you, lol). Also @jbmills07. 😂
This thread is my little “piano pocket” on RC101 that no one is paying attention to anyway…
@The_Bumble_Bard – I need to check back on forum posts occasionally – I totally missed this introduction of your new keyboard, and it’s obvious how thrilled you were with it, and how proficient you are at playing it! Your hands move up and down the keyboard with ease and grace, and I love how they make beautiful notes, seemingly effortlessly.
I’m glad your uke is still part of your life too.
@grannieannie, thank you so much for that, for your encouragement and kind words!! I really appreciate that so much! Sorry for the extreme delay in reply, too! 😂
To say I was thrilled by this gift is really an understatement! It’s one of the best gifts I’ve ever received! I think because I’ve played piano since I was a child and never really stopped, except the last five years or so when the ukulele took its place because I lost my childhood piano – it was broken and I had to sell it because it was too hard to move, as well. But I’m so glad that happened, otherwise I probably never would’ve found the ukulele, which has become such an incredibly special part of my life and helped me make so many friends all over the USA and the world, which is so amazing! I would say, the ukulele is more of an “emotional support instrument” and an instrument I can lounge and play – and piano is more like an instrument that I can play more “effortlessly,” instinctively, because I’ve just played it so much more than ukulele. Around 27 years (piano) versus 5 years (ukulele). I never learned guitar or anything, so ukulele was the first stringed instrument I ever tried learning – not counting me buying a garbage-tier violin, then breaking it multiple times and hurting everyone’s ears with it. 😂😂😂
Anyway, thank you so much! I’ll have more piano tunes to share here at some point! I’m working on Mozart’s Turkish March (Rondo Alla Turca, I think it’s originally called) right now. I knew sections of it since middle school, but am attempting to learn the rest now! It’s really fun, but also incredibly tricky! There’s a part near the end that is borderline impossible with the speed, so we’ll see what happens. I may need to modify it to suit my skill level. 😂
But the ukulele will always be a part of my life and I’m so grateful for that! Oh, I also was going to say, for me instruments are almost as much a social thing as a creative thing – both piano and ukulele. Piano is very special because two other people in my family are learning to play, including my sweet niece, so we are bonding through that. And I wrote a song (The Night of the Dangerous Camel – I think I posted here) that my brother wrote lyrics for (as his birthday present to me in May) so we’ll record that at some point and when we do, I’ll share that here, too. Also my niece wants to learn it for next year’s piano recital, so I have to work on writing that down ASAP! Lastly, to wrap up this essay, ukulele is a social instrument in that half of my experience with it is an excuse to meet new friends online and talk about ukulele as much as (if not more than) playing it. That’s why my skills have not increased very much with it, but I still love it! The End! 😂
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