Welcome to the tonebase Piano Community!
Hey everyone - this is Dominic from tonebase 
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As the lead of tonebase PIANO it's such a pleasure to welcome you to the tonebase community. We would love to get to know you! Please introduce yourself in a post below with the following format:
- Where are you from and what's your favorite food from there? ;)
- What are you currently working on?
- What are you hoping to get out of this community?
I'll go first:
- I was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri and you better believe that I love my barbecue! It is hard to pick my favorite food between ribs, brisket, or a beautiful grilled steak, but if I have to decide...nothing beats a juicy, fall-off-the-bone rack of baby back ribs!
- Currently working on some old favorites of mine by Carl Vine (Piano Sonata No.1), Beethoven (Piano Concerto No.4) and Scriabin (Fantasy op.28) but also adding some great repertoire by H. Leslie Adams (Etude in A-flat minor Book 2), Laura Kaminsky (Alluvion), and Clara Schumann (Romanze in A minor Op.21 no.1)!
- I am hoping to getting to know and helping all of you achieve your musical and artistic goals. Let's have some fun and get to work!
Now over to you (after some participation from our tonebase team members!)
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Hi Everyone!
- My name is Paul, I was born and raised in the Netherlands and have lived there all my life. I travel a lot but haven't really lived anywhere else. I am not that fond of Dutch food; I'd rather eat a good curry or some Italian food. If it must be Dutch, I'd like a sausage roll (the Brabant variety, which is like normal bread with a sausage inside).
- I graduated from the Conservatory way back and have been playing and teaching ever since. Lately I started working with Bob Durso on the Taubman Approach, and as such I am working on Mozart Concerto KV 488 (which I love) and some Chopin Mazurkas and Waltzes.
- On Tonebase I look for ideas for my teaching, as well as checking out some topics like sight-reading and rhythm that I can recommend to my students, as I notice that a lot of my students could benefit from this. Now it takes too much time of their lessons, I am convinced some of the videos here will help them cover this territory on their own. But first I want to watch it, to get my approach streamlined with what they learn here. And I hope to learn as well, so that will be a big bonus...
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Paul Weeren Welcome to Tonebase, Paul! I used to go to Maastricht for a trade show every year so I know a tiny bit about your area. Dutch pancakes are nice!
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Hello! Welcome, Paul!
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Hi everyone. My name is Dora. I grew up in New York, spent my career years in Boston and have since retired to Rhode Island. Although I briefly tried various instruments in the past, I am only now really starting my piano journey.
I am currently working on Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, 1st movement. I also recently worked on Bach’s Two-Part Invention #1 in C Major. Considering our focus on Bach recently, I am going to revisit the Invention and hopefully, record and post the results of my effort. I have great difficulty recording myself, so this will be a real challenge.
I greatly look forward to absorbing the knowledge, excitement and inspiration afforded by this platform.
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Dora Burak Welcome to the Tonebase community! You may want to first do the quiz to determine your level. From there, you will get a suggested plan of lessons and videos that you might enjoy.
Don’t hesitate to reach out in the Community forums with ANY questions and be sure to check out the Live Stream and put them in your calendar.
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Gail Starr Thanks Gail. I did take the quiz and was assessed at Level 4. I think I must have cheated, as that seems way beyond where I would place myself. I have the plan and will follow it, but think I might first visit the content of some lower levels,
The livestreams are very exciting and I plan on attending as many as possible.
Thanks again !
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Dora Burak Hi, Dora! Welcome!
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Pauline thanks !
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Dora Burak Yes, I bumped myself down a couple of levels also!
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Hi guys! I am new to Tonebase piano. I am so confused right now because I took the quiz and I answered all questions truthfully which should have been enough for the algorithm to take me to a complete beginner practice plan. Instead, the very first tutorial in my practice is a full Bach piece that has a bunch of notes played at the same time with both hands and what it seems to be a million of symbols I have never seen in my life. What is going on? is Tonebase not for complete beginners? What should I do?
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Claudia Hi Claudia, I've spent some time figuring out how the levels works in Tonebase. The tutorials for repertoire pieces at the early levels in Tonebase are not for absolute beginners. If you are learning on your own (without a teacher), I suggest you get a piano beginner method book. These will teach the basics in a sequenced way and give you simple repertoire that you can handle, leading you into gradually more complex pieces. I suggest you watch "Piano 101: Everything you need to know," and there is a section in the lesson which recommends specific beginning piano books. if If you don't want to pay for one of the other newer method books, John Thompson's "Easiest Piano Course" (written for children) is available free at the online Petrucci Music Library (https://imslp.org/), Thompson is pretty old (which is why it's in public domain) but will still teach you what you need.
Once you have spend some time working through a method book, you will be able to benefit from some of the Tonebase repertoire tutorials at lower levels. Some of Tonebase repertoire tutorials that cover easier pieces include: Bach: Minuets in G major & G minor, BWV Anh. 114-115 | Mozart: Minuet in C Major, K. 6 | Bartok: Quasi Adagio (For Children, Vol. 1, No. 3) | Bach: Musette in D | Beethoven: Ecossaise in G Major.
I hope this is helpful.
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John Thompson's "Modern Piano Course" is also at IMSLP but it's missing the first few books
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Claudia Forgot to mention; the other tutorial lessons at early Tonebase levels should be fine for you (e.g., scales, beginner challenges, etc.). It's just the repertoire tutorials that might be too hard for you until you've gone through a method book first.
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Hi all, my name is Carlos. I grew up in Miami but due to career moves, I’ve been several places. I lived in Boston for the past 22 years and recently moved to North Carolina. Loved all the food in Boston lol…but who can pass up lobster, and fried clams!
I studied piano through most of my childhood into high school and dabbled afterward in between my college years. I own a Schimmel grand but have had little time to play over the past 15 years. I am currently in a rebuilding phase; re-acquiring skills, working on scales, technique, and revisiting old repertoire. I am working on a few pieces including relearning Liszt Consolation #3, Chopin Nocturne in C# Minor (post.), and new pieces- Bach Prelude in C Minor for WTC 1, and Granados Spanish Dance-Oriental.
What am I hoping to get out of this community, just stimulating communal chat about pieces, challenges, and music in general.
thanks and cheers to everyone!
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Welcome to the tonebase community, Carlos! You will be among lots of us who were active with piano up until university...and then dropped out of sight until our careers stabilized and our kids got older. Be sure to check out the live streams and monthly challenges. Also, don't be shy about asking anyone questions about a piece. Hope to hear you in one of the community concerts soon!
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Gail Starr Thank you Gail! Happy to be here. Looking forward to getting more involved. Cheers!
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Carlos Maybe you'd like to join the Schubert challenge that started on Monday? A bunch of us are doing some very short pieces.
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Gail Ravin Starr Thanks for the heads up…. Going to see what I can take on. Traveling for work a bit next few weeks, might make it tough to take on but I’m tempted! Thanks again :)
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Hi I have been on Tonebase for a few months now. It is a great platform. I played the classical guitar for more than 12 years when I was young. I "restarted" playing the guitar 5 years ago. But piano is the musical instrument I am also interested in learning.
I spent about a year using Musiah and stopped at level 7. While using Musiah I started learning other pieces of music and later did not find Musiah satisfied my learning interest and goals. Before joining Tonebase, I finished Moonlight 1st movement, Bach invention no 1 in C major, Bach/Marcello BWC 974 and practicing Bach Fugue No 1 in C major BWV 846 after completing the prelude.
I have also subscribed the Music and Guitar platforms. The Music platform is still being developed and I hope it will expand into different areas including musicology.
On Tonebase Piano, I am going through all the modules in Foundations. There is always something I can learn. Compared to Tonebase Guitar, some foundation courses are too easy for me. I jump straight into advanced materials.
Currently I am working on Bach invention G major and going back to those pieces I learned to polish them with correct phrasing etc., I memorize each piece of the piano music just like when I learned playing the guitar. It is just my way of learning.
Currently I am based in Sydney, Australia. The time difference makes it hard for me to join events. It is always in the middle of the night, e.g. 4 a.m.
I am still a beginner in music and piano playing. It will be good to learn from others on the same platform.
Cheers!
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Laura Peden said:
Several years ago I came across the Taubman approach and am excited to learn more.The Taubman courses on Tonebase have helped me a lot.
