The "G" Position

Not an exotic back-breaking erotic sexual technique from the Kama Sutra, but a new position on the piano keyboard--new for me at least. Up to now, we've been playing and practicing from the C Major position. Now, we've made our way to the G position. Which means we climb higher on the Grand Staff and learn new notes.

I also learned a new Chord: The F Chord. This brings my repertoire up to three: C, G7 and F. I even learned to play a song utilizing all three chords: the venerable When the Saints Go Marching In. In time, mind you, for the Superbowl Smackdown between the Saints and the Colts. If the Saints win, I'll play this triumphantly for my wife, a die-hard Saints fan.

So tonight completed my third official lesson. It would have been my fourth, but Teacher was sick on our scheduled second session and I taught myself from Alfred. So I have been practicing the keyboard for somewhere between three and four weeks. Let's say a month for easy reference.

Tonight we passed Page 30 in Book One of Alfred. I had asked to pause there for a while and reinforce what we've covered so far with supplementary material. So we practiced from a book Teacher brought with her that had pictures of rainbows, unicorns, teddy bears, and each exercise had a sticker on the page. I commented, "This was yours when you were like, in the First Grade, right?" She said, "Music is music, and this one is tricky." I muttered that I didn't get stickers. But she was right. We found almost exactly the same exercise in my Alfred's Sight Reading book. Minus the teddy bears, alas.

I become impatient with myself. There comes a point near the end of each lesson where I reach a saturation point where I can't absorb any more. I apologized for being a slow learner. She said she had some students who had been studying the same amount of time who were on page three. Apparently they aren't practicing. Tsk tsk. So I don't feel as bad as I did.