Thursday, December 15, 2005

1101

Not only is 1101 binary for lucky 13, also known as hexidecimal D, it's also the decimal form of one thousand one hundred one. This is the 1101st post on this blog.

I have a question for everyone to answer (and I really would like EVERYONE to answer, for unnamed reasons). How would you rate your piano skills? How are you as a composer, arranger, or accompanist? Here's my answer.

I'm self-taught on the pianoforte. I can accompany hymns pretty well as long as it's a song I know how to play. I do like to compose and arrage music, and I like to think I'm pretty good at it. Most of my arrangements thus far have been vocal work, intended to be sung a capella. That means without a piano. I have done a little bit of piano arranging and composing, though.

10 comments:

Frank and Evelyn said...

I am down right lousy on the piano. I can't accompany anything. I can read music some and can pick out my part so I can learn it but that's about it.

Skippy said...

I can't play the piano unless I am making it up as I go. Well actually if I practice something long enough and memorize itI can play it, but I can't ead and play at the same time. At least not on the piano.

Anonymous said...

Well, Jared. I don't know why EVERYONE needs to answer this. I mean, you could have just asked over dinner last night, but since you were adamant I will answer. Just joking around. I do not play piano. My Grandmother taught me to play Mary Had a little lamb when I was litte, but I forget how to do it now. As far as reading music I think I know what a quarter note is. I do not know how to accompany. I love you!

Michelle said...

That last comment under Jared said was obviously actually me. The computer remembers passwords. I clicked the wrong one by mistake.

tawngap said...

I can play alright, if I practice a lot. I can play some pieces very well... because I've practiced them a lot. I don't sight read very well, but if it is simpler I can play it. Also, if I have heard it before it makes it easier. Sometimes I can sit down and pick out a piece by ear. I don't compose a lot. I have written some songs before... usually I can get the words and a melody, but I have a hard time writing accompinament.

Mindy Sebastian said...

I can play well. I can sight read music fairly well, and I can accompany people. I usually have to have music in front of me - no memorizing, or playing by ear, and I don't compose or arrange. I can play a majority of the songs in the hymn book, and I would much rather play the piano than lead the music at church.

Emily said...

My piano skills: I can find middle C. I can pick out a couple of songs, but I can't really read music, write, or arrange.

Skippy said...

I guess I did not read all of the question. I do like to compose music, though it is music that I can not play with out the help of the music program I use. they also tend to be songs that not a lot of people enjoy listening too... including myself sometimes.

Mandapanda said...

I can read music fairly well...unless it's way high or way low...to play it that is, not to sing. I can't read music to find pitch to save my life, but I can play the piano alright if I know the timing. I'm not good at timing. I took 6 years of piano lessons when I was little...but I got kind of into a rut because on the difficult pieces I learned, I liked to decide for myself when to go fast and when to go slow...when to get louder and when to get softer...but that was a bit of a problem when the composer had already made those decisions and my teacher didn't appreciate it. Anyway, I can play the right hand of many songs and can slowly play both hands of fairly simple songs. I would love to have a piano and learn more songs someday. Speaking of musical things, I've been challenging myself to try to sing the alto line during hymns at church...I never used to do that. It never really even crossed my mind to sing anything other than the melody, even though the soprano part is often painfully too high for me. Sooo I appreciate my husband's patience with me as I'm trying to learn how to hear the alto part and butcher songs as I sing next to him at church. :c) Anyway, that was a long answer.

Eric said...

Wow, lots of comments. See what happens when you ask a specific question that you don't know the answer to?

Regarding myself, I know how to read music thanks to my trumpet-playing days, though I'm sometimes a little sketchy with the bass clef. I'm not too good at playing piano with both hands. I did like to compose music with the folks' keyboard when I was home, but it's been a while. Oh! I did write and compose a bunch of songs in one night a few years ago, and helped accompany a few of them with a toy keyboard. Sadly, the recordings we made of them were stolen, and lost forever. I do still have the lyrics though.

These days I use a funny little cookie-cutter hip-hop music program for kids called JamTrax. It's limited in what it can do, but it's pretty fun. I wouldn't call it composing. Maybe arranging.