On Sun, 20 May 2012 10:39:36 +0100, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:

>> Ironically, the reason I started was because I saw a demonstration and
>> said "that looks easy, I could do that", and I did.  And I was actually
>> pretty good at it, too (hence the trip to the USSR to perform with the
>> orchestra I was in).
> 
> Sounds like how I started playing pipe organ. I saw a guy play the Widor
> Toccata and decided to see if I could play it. Apparently, I can...
> (It's wicked hard, though.)

Some people have a knack for certain things. :)

>> The way I was taught was to put a little strip of tape in the normal
>> positions for each finger.
> 
> Clearly I'm going to have to figure out how to get my hands on
> professional tuition...

Private lessons might be the best way to go.  Not sure what pricing is 
like now, but a lot of professional musicians do offer private lessons 
(you could also look for University music students who give private 
lessons - often times those will be less expensive and the instruction 
will be good enough to get you going).

>> So don't get me wrong, I'm excited for you as well - it's hard to
>> express that especially when sometimes you say things that are
>> completely baffling. ;)  But just like when you figured out that you
>> enjoy dancing, I'm happy that you've found something else that you can
>> enjoy doing.  :)
> 
> I enjoy doing it. And then the day after, my fingers hate me... ;-)

That sounds about right for the first 6 months or so.

>> He had private lessons from an oboist in the Minnesota Orchestra, so
>> that kept him challenged.
> 
> It must be fantastic to actually be good at something. I can't imagine
> what that's like...

Actually, you don't have to imagine it.  You're good at some stuff - and 
nobody is good at everything.

You seem to have a good grasp on maths, programming, playing the pipe 
organ (as you said, there's something you play on it that's "wicked hard" 
- so clearly you don't /suck/ at it), writing, and dancing.  And that's 
just from what I've seen you post here about and blog about.

> (Well, maybe I can. I've discovered that the more you learn how to do
> something - anything - the more you realise how drastically wrong you're
> doing it! And no matter how good you are, somebody else is always
> better. It's just a matter of how far you need to go to find that
> person...)

It's certainly a truism that the more you know about something, the more 
you realize you don't know everything about it.

Jim

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