Friday Afternoon Ragtime
Jul. 14th, 2006 05:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sinanjuI'm listening to a Scott Joplin CD of ragtime piano. I love that kind of music. It's just beautiful to listen to, but also I know--having spent years learning the piano--just how much skill it takes to play it so well and make it sound so easy. Alas, I haven't played seriously in years, and have only fiddled around a little on my mom's piano on visits to Virginia.
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snippy and I visited a friend of hers this past weekend who happens to own a piano and play. She has a book of Joplin's ragtime music. I looked at the music and realized...I can't read it anymore. Once upon a time I had memorized The Entertainer. I could play the whole thing. Now I look at the music and I can't even read it, much less play it.
Oh, with some practice--starting on simpler stuff--it would come back to me fairly quickly. But I don't own a piano or even have access to one, and while I miss being able to play this stuff, I also know I probably wouldn't spend a lot of time playing if I did have one.
I also own a banjo. I once started taking banjo lessons many years ago, but stopped when I moved away from the area. I've never gotten back to them. But sometimes I think that if I want to take up an instrument again, I should learn to play that banjo. I love listening to five-string banjo for the same reason I like ragtime--I like the sound of it but I also appreciate how much skill it takes to play stuff like Foggy Mountain Breakdown or Dueling Banjos well.
I'm in a very good mood this afternoon. One might even say "unaccountably" good except that I know exactly why. I got a promotion and a raise at work today. I expected some kind of raise, but it was considerably more than I expected (the promotion bumped me into a higher wage range, which was the whole point of the exercise). So I'm very pleased.
It's a great way to start the weekend.
snippy and I visited a friend of hers this past weekend who happens to own a piano and play. She has a book of Joplin's ragtime music. I looked at the music and realized...I can't read it anymore. Once upon a time I had memorized The Entertainer. I could play the whole thing. Now I look at the music and I can't even read it, much less play it.Oh, with some practice--starting on simpler stuff--it would come back to me fairly quickly. But I don't own a piano or even have access to one, and while I miss being able to play this stuff, I also know I probably wouldn't spend a lot of time playing if I did have one.
I also own a banjo. I once started taking banjo lessons many years ago, but stopped when I moved away from the area. I've never gotten back to them. But sometimes I think that if I want to take up an instrument again, I should learn to play that banjo. I love listening to five-string banjo for the same reason I like ragtime--I like the sound of it but I also appreciate how much skill it takes to play stuff like Foggy Mountain Breakdown or Dueling Banjos well.
I'm in a very good mood this afternoon. One might even say "unaccountably" good except that I know exactly why. I got a promotion and a raise at work today. I expected some kind of raise, but it was considerably more than I expected (the promotion bumped me into a higher wage range, which was the whole point of the exercise). So I'm very pleased.
It's a great way to start the weekend.
