Almira - Thank you so much. It's wonderful to be able to hear the musical passages being discussed, instead of merely reading about them. I slogged my way through Steve Swayne's book, but without a musical composition background a term like "suspended dominant" has a whole different meaning. I think the the real point of confusion for me is that I don't know why the closest thing America has to a musical poet laureate can't be subsidized. I'm so tired of "reductive" revivals where the orchestra consists of eight guys and a kazoo. What kind of hoops does this poor guy have to jump through before we "comp" him? Nothing ostentatious, just a guy in a dark suit and sunglasses rolling out of a government car with a blank check would be fine. Sorry about the rant, Almira. Thanks again for the link.
I wish I had had more passion for the piano when I was taking lessons as a kid. It's never too late though, right?
"If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it." -Stephen Colbert
I'm 26 years old, and I started taking piano lessons a couple months ago. Granted, I had the advantage of prior singing and violin lessons, so I already knew how to read music, but piano is an entirely different animal. I don't know how old you are or what (if any) your current musicality level is, but I would say that taking piano lessons has been one of the best decisions I've made for myself. It's worth the price of the time and expense, and even the frustration, to be able to play just one song at the end of a day's practice. No, it's never too late, and just think--you don't want to wake up 50 years from now and think, "man, I could've been studying piano for the past half-century! Oops!"
