About

Maybe you can relate.

I’m in midlife now. To say as a child I enjoyed music is bizarre because of course I did. We all did. This isn’t some story of …que the music My great grand MaMah new I had a gift for piano because she would sit me down at the old upright when I was 5 years old and I would play etc, ect.

Now, that being said I did have a small Casio keyboard when I was very young, maybe 5 (just kidding). My brother played guitar by ear and showed me how to work out the melody of some Bon Jovi which he liked. Living on a prayer? Maybe.

But that was it until I was through college maybe 26 years old. I worked in some pretty notable kitchens in Boston at the time and had an hour+ commute home. The college late night radio station I was listening to had a Jazz program on which is when I really got into the lush sounds of Bill Evans and others.

I got to thinking about some of these players that passed away far too young. Some of them were only in this realm for 30ish years. Which gave me the idea that I might have enough runway in my life, God willing, not to become the next Bill Evans but to become as good as I could personally become. So I bought a keyboard and began.

Alfred’s Books were my start. I think the book I used was literally “Teach Yourself Piano” or something to that effect. I did that for about 2 years, that’s when I met Geoffrey Gee. I went out with my future wife to this little place for a bite to eat called The Acton Jazz Cafe it had some kind of a large cutout of a horn player strapped to the top of a minivan near the road to attract passer byes.

I never heard anything like that playing before. Sound wise, the room was full. The musician was fully connected to the instrument. And it seemed like every emotion or thought went directly into the piano. It’s tough to describe, especially because I think Genres are basically marketing. The music was certainly tonal, emotional, rich and full of expression. I wanted the freedom to play that way. So during a break I asked if he did lessons. Which he did.

I studied with Geoff for 2 years or so, which are still some of the only formal lessons I have taken. I really had no idea how much work it took to become fluent. So much so that in our first session when he asked what I wanted to accomplish I replied “well we can start with learning Classical and once through that move onto Jazz”. He told me people have spent lifetimes studying Beethoven and never stopped improving. That was the first clue of the scale of the journey I had begun.

I really enjoyed those lessons. At the time I was in a very corporate food service job outside of Boston, so for an hour a week they were my sanctuary. I would grab a coffee on the way home and review my lesson. Really fulfilling.

I don’t quite remember when I stopped taking lessons. Either he moved, which he did. Or I moved which I also did but I guess it’s irrelevant. Either way the formal lessons stopped. I resumed self study with a bigger toolbox and a better understanding. My keyboard had a record feature which I used to critique my playback and I got better.

I got married to the love of my life, moved to NY, bought a house and a Young Chang piano and started a family. I don’t think it can be overstated how raising a family can change your whole life perspective. Easily the most fulfilling thing you can do while we are here. As the kids begin charting their own paths through this place I find there are little pockets of time here and there that pop up that I am filling with piano. There was a fairly significant break in there where I studied electric bass guitar. With the occasional tips from my guitarist brother and some online lessons I made some good progress. It’s also a fun instrument that really helped with my rhythm on piano.

I saw an interview with Keith Jarrett after he needed some kind of break from music. The interviewer asked a series of questions like is ______ more important than music? He answered Yes repeatedly. I agree and am just mentioning that to just say, keep the main thing the main thing. Harmony is fun, piano is fun and an outlet for me but it’s a part of life not the whole thing.

Now fully in midlife I am documenting my journey with the hopes of helping others and learning from the contributions of the community that develops. Expect to see things on here that worked for me and may help you, reviews of gear I use and whatever I am trying to work out. I’m just happy to be here.

Welcome to Midlife Piano!