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Chronicles of the Overlord – My Journey with Music

Commencing operation . . .

Overview

Where did it all begin? I’ve had people in the past ask me about how I learned to play the piano, how long it took to attain a decent level of ability, among other questions. So I’d like to take this opportunity to answer those questions in this post, as well as run through my journey as a pianist.

Past History

I started officially taking lessons when I was around twelve years of age. Before that, I briefly recall my mother teaching me a song when I was very young. Anyway, I took those lessons for a year or so, progressing my way to level two. I much preferred to play by ear than sight-read, and as I was just a kid, that was how my teacher taught me to learn the songs. He still ensured that my playing technique wasn’t compromised; my fingers in the correct position, stuff like that.

Unfortunately (with regards to my piano journey) my family moved to the U.K. and several factors dissuaded me from continuing with my practice. While we did ship the piano over from Australia, it took many months before it arrived in our new home, so during that time, I lacked immediate access to an instrument which I could play.

More significantly, however, I fell behind in my studies.

Seriously behind.

Let me explain. I was in the first term of year seven, but when I moved to the U.K., due to my age and timing differences in the educational year, I suddenly found myself in the last term of year eight and was soon in year nine. I had to take tests for the major three subjects (English, Science, and Maths) to determine which classes I would be placed in; based on academic ability. Now I don’t know about you, but I didn’t do any algebra at all in primary school, nor in the first term of year seven high school in Australia. Suddenly having to take a Mathematics test with questions involving simultaneous equations and factorising among others; overwhelmed me. I had no idea how to answer the vast majority of the questions, and this lack of knowledge was consistent for the English and Science tests I had to take.

So as you probably expect, I ended up at the bottom of the barrel or near enough for most of my classes, and my dad was less than stellar about it. He would rave on and on about how he used to study eight hours each day, and while I wasn’t quite forced through such a regime, my dad made sure I spent a couple of hours on most days trying to catch up educationally.

These two factors, in conjunction, killed whatever desire I may have had to continue playing the piano. With what little spare time I had left (that’s how I felt back then, but in the grand scheme of things I still had plenty of time, I just didn’t realise or appreciate it), I spent it doing things I found fun; reading books, playing video games and watching the telly.

Anyway, by the time I reached year ten, I decided to try taking up music again at G.C.S.E. level. I very quickly realised that it was somewhat expected of the students to had already been regularly studying music and that I was way in over my head. After a couple of classes of feeling overwhelmed, I switched subjects. I quitted because I didn’t think there was a way of surmounting the skill gap. With the knowledge, I have now, I know I could have stuck with it and found a way to attain at least a passing mark. I would have had to have put in a lot of effort to make up the difference, but it was not beyond my grasp like I had thought at the time.

That was the end of anything musical for me until many years later after graduating. I spent the next nine months following graduation, searching for a job, which I talk about a bit more here. Anyway, one summer evening my parents returned from a festival, and my mother decided to play the piano. She used to play it more regularly when I was younger, but for whatever reason, that frequency decreased in later years; it had become very rare for her to play.

I remember it distinctly.

I was in the office room with my headphones on, but I turned off whatever I was listening to and heard the song my mother was playing on the piano. The realisation hit me instantly. I knew I had to relearn the piano. There was this inner guidance, gently prodding me to do so. That evening, I was reminded of a feeling I had long forgotten. My passion for the piano had been reignited.

I sprang into action the very next day; after all, I was still unemployed and had ample spare time, so I had no excuses. I searched for an online course and ended up purchasing PianoforAll. I could have found another teacher and admittedly while that probably would have been the better course of action in terms of development in some retrospect; I wanted to take control of my learning and studying via an online course was not only a cost-effective solution, but also freeing.

The course covered the fundamentals and allowed me to not only regain what I had forgotten but progress to a pretty decent level of ability in around six months. Keep in mind, however, that I was practising almost every day, which is largely attributed to my rapid growth in skill. During that time, I had covered the majority of the course, after which I decided I wanted to try and learn to play my favourite video game soundtracks. Below is the first of many video game tracks I have attempted, during my seven years of playing the piano.

I learned how to play this after around seven months of playing the piano again. It took me approximately a month to roughly learn the song and then another couple of weeks on top of that to refine things. The piece itself is one of my favourite video game music of all time. I won’t go into too much detail about the theme itself but it basically plays after the protagonist is warped away from his home world and lands in the first new world of many to journey through. The theme reflects the initial outset of a new adventure; the rising hope of a new beginning. In many ways, this tune was an appropriate first song to learn after completing my training.

Over the coming years, I continued learning new songs and developing my skills. I had an entry-level keyboard for a couple of years as I was still living at home with my parents and wasn’t always able to play the upright. The keyboard was okay, it got the job done but I always preferred to play the upright piano. While I worked full time, I typically spent my lunch break playing the piano at a shop. It is quite amusing looking back on it actually; I moved jobs a fair few times but, barring my last place of employment, each other job was in a location that had a piano close by.

I had a few opportunities to play in front of a crowd, and these ventures usually were successful. I distinctly recall one time I flunked badly. I had to restart two to three times because I couldn’t get the beginning right; I was too damn nervous. By the time I reached the end, I was met with an oppressive silence. I was pretty bitter about it, but one guy came over and congratulated me, and that meant the world to me at the time. I could have quit due to the weight of embarrassment from that experience, but at the end of the day, I tasted the worst-case scenario, and I came out sort of okay, right! I think that was a pivotal moment for me as I always get nervous before playing in front of a crowd. After that, though, I became more able to “fumble” through mistakes and persevere through to completion; without feeling the need or being forced to go back and redo the song from a certain point.

Future Aspirations

Ever since picking up the piano again, I try and practice on most days, at least four times a week. Truthfully I do not have any grand ambitions for the piano. I simply play for fun and to relieve stress. I am not particularly interested in becoming super amazing at it. I think I am decent; most people seem to think I am very good, but I would gander that any professional or graduate musician would class me as average in ability.

I currently own a very old Robertson digital grand piano but one day when I have the money saved up; I would like to upgrade to one of the Yamaha silent pianos or simply a regular baby grand. While it is true that my Robertson is “old but gold” and that the action on the keys is not too far off from an actual grand piano; the plastic keys make a lot of noise when I am recording songs and is not ideal.

There’s a whole heap of stuff out there for me to learn, but I am content to take things at my own pace. I reached the limit years ago with regards to the number of songs I can feasibly retain at any given time. If I have to learn a new song, that often means I have to let go of another. I have been trying to record the songs I no longer intend to play (as well as my favourites), but I have slipped on several occasions and lost some songs altogether.