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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My name is Alexander (Alex) Weymann; I joined tonebase in November 2020 but didn't really make use of it other than watching a teaching video here and there. Recently, however, I discovered this piano community - and I absolutely love it. What a wonderful, supportive group of people! This community provides just the continuity and the motivation I need as an eager amateur. :-)
I was born and raised in Germany but have been living in the U.S. continuously since 2001. I'm a pediatrician and went to medical school in Germany but did all my postgraduate training in the U.S., most of it in New York City. I then moved to St. Louis where I lived for 12 years. Since 2017, I have been living and working in Columbus, OH. A few years ago, I actually attended a wonderful concert at the Columbus Symphony with Dominic Cheli as the soloist in Shostakovich's first piano concerto (with solo trumpet) - an amazing performance, and still a memory to treasure! In addition to playing the piano, I enjoy singing and am a Bass 2 in the Columbus Symphony Chorus; I sing bass in our church choir as well.
My favorite food from Germany is hard to pick, but I do love our thick, fluffy, egg-y German pancakes. And I miss the many wonderful types of cold meats - all those delicious varieties of ham, roast and sausage...
What am I working on? I am currently brushing up a piece I first learned as a teenager - Chopin's "Fantaisie-Impromptu". A very dear family friend is getting married in August; she loves that one especially and used to always request it, so I'll make a little video recording and send it to her as a surprise. A new piece I am learning (and enjoying tremendously) is Marc-André Hamelin's delightful arrangement of Zequinha de Abreu's "Tico-Tico no Fuba". And the most recent big, long-term project I've embarked on is Schumann's "Carnaval" which I hope to play for mother on her upcoming 90th birthday - it's one of her all-time favorites, a piece she heard her father play often.
What am I hoping to get out of the tonebase piano community? Motivation, support, enjoyment of other people's music-making, learning how my peers cope with and overcome their technical and musical struggles. And, most of all: focus to help me learn new pieces "all the way", performance-ready. Like probably many of us, I have a demanding 60-80 hour a week day job and currently no piano teacher to keep me honest - so this forum, I hope, will help me perform better in what little I can do at the piano.
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Pauline thank you! :-)
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Alexander Weymann welcome, Alex! This is a fantastic community of which to be a part.
(I occasionally make German Pancakes for the family. They certainly are delicious - I imagine even more so made by someone who really knows what they were doing!) -
Thurmond R well, it's really my mother who knows to make them, not me - unfortunately. :-) I still have a little bit of time, God willing, to learn it from her...
Thanks for your warm welcome! The few months that I've been active on tonebase so far, I have found it to be an absolutely amazing, inspiring and encouraging experience.
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Alexander Weymann So, I was inadvertantly signed in under Thurmond's (my son) name when I welcomed you - but you are welcomed all the same!
I grew up in an area with many different nationalities around me (I grew up surrounded by Italians, my husband grew up surrounded by Greeks, and there were little enclaves of Germans, Swedish, Norwegians and a few others). So I grew accustomed to wonderful foods - when I got married and moved to the city where my husband was in medical school, I went to an Olive Garden restaurant for the first time and thought, "This isn't Italian food!" So be sure to learn your mother's secret to German Pancakes. The real thing can't be beat.
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Alexander Weymann Very happy to get to know all the useful information you can give us! I'm Mariela from Venezuela living now in Scotland. Became a member of tonebase in Jan 23. Enjoying it fully!
See you all
Mariela
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Hello everyone!
I live in Warsaw, Poland. There are many great foods here, but the best are pierogi :)
Currently I'm working on 1st Arabesque by Debussy and some late works by Scriabin.
I'm looking forward to the exchange of ideas on practicing, and general support as well as constructive criticisms on the performance of pieces.
Nice to meet you all, and let's stay in touch :)
Tomek
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Tomek Welcome, Tomek!
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Welcome Alexander and Tomek. I won't be able to be present on the 28th. There is a good concert in the town. Always very interested because is a great topic.
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Good evening from LA
Originally from Toronto, but been in SoCal for 34 years
Food? I'm a multivore. LA is a great place to eat.
Started playing piano at 3 or so. was pretty good as a teen, switched to guitar to play in rock bands etc. It was the 80s. Keyboards were too heavy. Also played 100s of sessions for records and some ads, mostly on Hammond organ, but also piano & synths of course.
I have been mixing film scores since 1991. The last 10 years I've also been a professor at Berklee in Boston. It's quite a commute, but I handle it. I teach Music Production & Engineering there.
Getting back into piano again in my 60s. I have a great teacher, but also 2 1/2 jobs… so I squeeze whatever time I can into practicing. I have some decent pianos: A new-ish Yamaha T118 upright in LA, and a very old (1892) but very sexy Steinway Model A back in the Massachusetts house.
Current working rep:
Prokofiev 8th Sonata - getting there! Woodshedding on the 3rd movement now
Chopin Ballade #4 Fminor - close to ready
A bunch of the Chopin Mazurkas
Rach op32/10
The first 6 Preludes/Fugues from Book 1
I have a few on the back burner… Beethoven Op 28, Ravel's Tombeau de Couperin.
The focus right now is Prokofiev 8 and the Ballade. I want to get to Ballade #1 when I feel I can move on from #4
Anyone got an orchestra handy? A bucket list item for me is Prokofiev 3rd Concerto, followed closely by Rach 3.
Grandiose enough for ya? But it's all coming along.
I signed up because I so enjoy Mr. Ohlsson's videos. Good vibes. And, I find it inspiring.
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John Whynot incredibly impressive; hope to be able to enjoy your recordings soon! Mariela - I'm totally with you! I'm not likely to ever submit a video to tonebase where we're surrounded by rock stars with more-than-full-time jobs who finish off the big beefsteaks by Chopin, Rachmaninov, Ravel and Prokofiev between their after-dinner drink and bedtime :-) But, seriously: so very much looking forward to seeing and hearing you play, John- that literature is near and dear to my (and many other people's) heart. A warm welcome from a relative tonebase newbie!
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Welcome to Tonebase! I always say that. Question: are you for real? I'll never write or send any video again to tonebase piano. OMG, what an amazing mass of experiences and knowledge. Hope we might learn a lot from you!
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When I play these pieces, it's very much a down-to-earth experience from a hobbyist! I'll have to really get my gumption up to show off anything here.
We're all just where we are - glad to be part of the community.
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John Whynot from my short experience here, I can tell you that it's a great community to be part of. Incredibly supportive!
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Hello, my name is Steven Hart. And I am very excited to join the ToneBase Community.
- I'm from Cincinnati, Ohio (born and raised), and I am a big fan of Cincinnati chili. I've lived briefly in Florida, and have spent a few months in Turkey, but Cincinnati has always been and remains my home.
- Lately, I've been working on Bach's Goldberg Variations, Mozart's first Piano Concerto, and Debussy's Sunken Cathedral.
- My primary goal with Tonebase is to identify the holes in my technique and musicianship and find the tools and resources to play more effectively. I've been playing piano for more than 20 years, but I haven't had a good teacher since I was very young, and haven't had any instructor since my first year of college, so I know my playing has a lot of problems. I am hoping to address and correct those with the help of ToneBase, so that I can become a mature musician.
I don't know what to expect, but I'm optimistic and hope to find others who can guide me through this process.
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Steven Hart Welcome, Steven!
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Welcome to Tonebase! Be sure you are in the right place. There is a very reach variety of activities like tutorials, courses, challenges to play. Also a strong community and a wide range of excellent teachers to follow. Welcome again!
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Hello Everyone - I'm Len from Australia
Favourite food - Fish 'n Chips (that's thick fries).
I learnt Piano as a child and have played intermittently as an adult. I got up to Grade 4 , and love to play but to progress any further I really need to understand and absorb the theory - my achilles heel - My sight reading is pretty good, my technique OK, and I have had a few teachers, some better than others, but I always seem to get 90% through a piece and can't quite master it.
Anyway, I would love to master Clare de Lune by Debussy - I really love Debussy - a Bach Partita - feels to me like a brain massage - and some Schubert - it always seems so comfortable under the fingers to play.
Anyway, enough from me. Have a lovely day. I'm off to check out some Tonebase content!
LEN
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Hi Len! Welcome to Tonebase. I'm sure you will be able to find what you need. Look for a course given by Ben Laude, "Theory Basics". It's very good and appart from the video class you can download the material so you can read and study it...All the best in Tonebase!
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Hello like-minded friends! My name is Michael Bruce and I currently live in St Augustine, FL.
Nothing beats a bone-in Ribeye, medium rare, Pittsburg style (I also request light on seasoning). This with a side of asparagus and a glass of red wine.
My friend showed me how to play a G chord on his guitar when I was a senior in High School. I was hooked. I bought a guitar and spent hours a day learning it. I played by tabs, then eventually mostly by ear. I learned about the space between notes - though I did not really know the notes on the fretboard well and could not read music. I learned how to build scales and chords by numbering system and I learned the sounds of a 5th, b9, 13 and so on.
I dabbled with piano a bit, but never really learned anything other than a couple pop tunes. It wasnt until about 2 years ago that I got serious about piano. I moved in as a roommate with a friend and he had a Yamaha upright piano that was pretty decent. He also had a beginner book one and two. I got through the first book, then half way to the second book and I could not take it anymore. I was really not a beginner in music and there was too much beginner stuff, I just wanted to learn to read music. SO I went and bought "The First Book for Pianists, Beethoven" book. This is where the fire grew. I practiced daily and eventually started with a teacher and would do a lesson every 2 to 3 weeks. She helped me with technique so I did not strain myself.
Eventually I moved and bought a sailboat to live in (bucket list item) and I got rid of my keyboard. I got about 6 months in and decided, I do not care how small this boat is, I am going to buy another keyboard and get serious. I did this and found a teacher that I have been working with weekly.
I am amazed that I can sit down and learn a piece like Chopin 64 no 1 and no 2 by reading. The difference from when I started is night and day. When I first started, I was so used to memorizing that I would look at the scores and painfully figure out what it was and I would not longer look at the sheets. Meaning - site reading was not a strength. As of a couple months ago, I started learning how to look at the scores while playing and this is what I am doing right now learning 64 no 1 (minute waltz). So the progress has been incredibly wonderful.
I now have 2 teachers, one for classical and one for Jazz. It is different worlds but they are too good not to learn them both so I can be technically proficient as well as improvise.
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Michael Bruce Welcome, Michael!
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Pauline Hi Michael, what an amzing story! No doubt you have keen interest worth to explore. I'm sure in Tonebase you will find many different activities that you will enjoy greatly.
Welcome to Tonebase!
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I’m Tyler. I’m from Tyler, Texas but have moved around to Austin and El Paso. My favorite food is whipped cream, if that counts. Haha
I’m currently working on the Chopin Etudes, ballades 1 and 4, Clair de Lune, and a few other miscellaneous pieces.
For 18 months now I’ve been suffering from pain that prevents me from playing with my right hand. I saw an orthopedic hand specialist who indicated the nerve in my right elbow moves over the bone when I flex my arm and the pain I get radiates from there. It appears in my right pinky, outer half of my 4th finger, and in those knuckles, and the part of the hand below that and sometimes the wrist too.
I was told there was surgical option of moving the nerve to where it isn’t as exposed and what I have is relatively common. But that is super risky and really don’t want to think about it now. I currently wrap a towel around my right elbow every night as to keep my arm straight while I sleep as I’m told that flexing the arm is what aggravates the nerve.
for the past month plus I’ve been using the Taubman Approach and really love it. While I’m possibly feeling some improvement?? I’m really just so scared to make it worse that I play a few scales slowly and nothing else right now. Generally if I use my right hand I start feeling pain later that night. The pain is very intermittent. It started out where it was 24/7 pain in December 2021. After a few months it was more intermittent. Now I rarely have pain except when I play piano.
I was learning Chopin etudes 1, 2 and winter wind the most when I stopped. Also La Campanella and Hungarian rhapsody #2. I performed them in July 2021 and was fine all that year but tried to play through the pain. I was also doing some isolation exercises at the time. In late 2021.
im a taubmen acolyte now as after like 2 days it just came so naturally. When I found he part on ‘how do I know if it’s working when I’m playing at full speed’ I noticed that the scales I was playing were, for the first time in my life, completely in control and even ascending and descending. So hopefully this will help whatever the hell is going on in my right hand.
I generally have issues way more with stretching of any kind. Octave stuff. Wrong note etude comes to mind, the A section terrifies me. That if I try to play it with my right hand it will start to flare up. Octaves too, double thirds.
i will say, my left hand technique has gone through the roof compared to where it was 18 months ago, a small silver lining. But I’m getting. Very depressed and starting to feel like I’ll never be able to play again.
does anyone have any familiarity with what I’m describing with the main in my pinky/4th finger? I’ve learned all of these beautiful pieces like chopins first ballade. I just played through the 4th ballade earlier tonight with just my left hand. One hand at a time. So I’m primed and ready to go once I can use the right hand.
But this waiting is turning into me feeling like I need to seek out other options. I just turned 36. I was classically trained (a little bit) through high school then play mostly by ear starting in college. I had a YouTube channel that was popular back in 2007 (thumphrey05) where I covered different bands songs on piano.
I’d kill to be able to play with both my hands. I’m currently reviewing my taubmen material and trying my best to not to anythjng that will aggravate it. I am hoping someone might be able to help.
thanks for reading and cheers!
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Hi Tyler, I'm sorry to hear about your sore right hand. There is an ancient Japanese healing practice that I recommend because I know it, use it and I recognise that it's done great things for my health and general wellbeing.
Jin Shin Jyutsu https://www.jsjinc.net
Their main office is in Scottsdale, Arizona. There are plenty of practitioners around the USA.
They can take care of any type of physical ailments,.
By the way, the pieces you are working on are great. Hope you recover very soon and then be able to enjoy your practice and performing fully
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Hey, my name is Ernest.
- I currently live in Jamestown, New York, born in Paterson, New Jersey. I don't really have a favorite food, its ALL GOOD. But if I had to choose it'd be a medium steak or a bowl of ramen.
- I'm currently working on music theory via the Tonebase videos. When I first started playing the piano in college, the course kind of breezed past music theory which led me to not understanding more difficult pieces. I really want to solidify the foundation of music theory and build upon that. I've been playing on and off since picking it up in college (12 years ago) and I really want to dedicate these next few years to learning theory and playing intricate pieces.
- What I hope to get out of this community is the knowledge. In the short time poking around, looking at other posts and seeing users videos, I'm noticing a passion for playing the piano. It's really inspiring to see and I know that if I ever needed help, I could come to the forums.
I'm really excited to (re)start my piano journey!
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Ernest Batchelor Hello! Welcome, Ernest!
