Andrea LeVan’s Practice Diary

Here is a start to my practice diary…..just a little background - I started my piano journey at the age of 5 and played off and on through my college years (I did not major or minor in music though). I started to have other life priorities in my later 20’s and barely played through my early 30’s. Then I took a 10 year break where I just didn’t play really at all until just about a year ago. I honestly can’t really say why except that I just didn’t have a good instrument.  I didn’t enjoy the sound or how it felt.  The piano I grew up playing needed a major renovation, but it was an old console Yamaha that just didn’t seem worth the cost. Then someone gave me a Roland V-Piano and it was great for the time (2008) but I still just couldn’t get the right sound and dynamic expression just still fell flat. Then about a year ago I discovered the Pianoteq software which was a game changer for the sound and I started back up again. Now I’m in the process of getting a new Kawai K300 so I’m falling in love with the piano all over again and am working to make up for a lot of lost time (and strength). 
 

So I’ve had a lot of time away and even when I was taking lessons, most of my instructors were your basic run of the mill,  dime a dozen neighborhood teacher working from an old piano in their basement. So I’ve had very little technical training such as scales or exercises, arpeggios, trills, etc.  I’ve got a hill to climb to try to overcome old “bad habits” and work on all of the technical skills that I just didn’t focus on before.  The videos I’ve watch so far here have been SO informative and like opening another world, and I’m really excited to see how much farther this journey can take me