It is far more than a hobby (which for me is historical wargaming [WWII and American Civil War]), but not my livlihood. I fell in love with "classical" music while in 7th grade upon hearing portions of Bach's Mass in B-Minor (portions of the Credo). From then on it has been a passion and integral to my life (with the exception of a hiatus that was sadly way too long). I really appreciate this web community for the opportunities it offers in so many ways.

Changing the subject:
@Kristinaolga, I belive that a square piano will not have the full range of a modern piano. Is that correct? If so, it could present significant limitations.

Yes, musical-mc, it is true, my Square-Piano has 5½ octaves but that causes no limitations, but rather an inspiration to “navigate around it, if necessary”.
The bass-tones are very deep and growling and sound absolutely wonderful, and the high-tones sing very beautifully,
and when I lift the dampers with the pedal the mixture of tones are amazing as they flow through the air and slowly fade away...
Many of my favourite composers wrote their compositions on this type of instrument, even “modern” ones like Elgar and Sibelius.

My real challenges were practicalities like finding a teacher who loves and understands these instruments.
I had a few teachers, but they had 10 little hammers on their hands and wanted to instruct me in “hammering”,
but I did not think it was good for my Square-Piano or me.

Unfortunately I did not succeed in finding a teacher and had to research myself how to learn playing on the Square-Piano,
read music, tune the instrument etc.

Another challenge was to make the environment right for the Square-Piano, it is constructed of wood only
and it does not like Central-Heating as this would split the sound-board; in fact, it does not like any heating in the winter at all,
and it always needs a thermostatically controlled humidifier to be on, and this humidifier has to be cleaned and decalcified on a very regular basis.
The Square Piano also likes the window to be open slightly throughout the year and it likes to be tuned on a regular basis, whenever the weather changes.

But all that does not bother me at all. I am very happy that I found this Square Piano because it helped me tremendously going through a very bad patch in my life
and having me-time and focus on something new and exciting.

For example, one of my favourite pieces in music always was “Greensleeves” and I have heard many versions of it
(Vaughan Williams, Holst, many instrumental versions, many singers etc) and I always thought I would play it differently.
Finally I had a way to express how I wanted "Greensleeves" to be played and it has been great fun ever since
and as I have said, it is my favourite hobby.

Sounds very demanding. Are you sure it's vaccinations are up to date?

That is good news.

Well, you have certainly wet my appetite. Maybe someday you will provide a recorded sample for us to hear. Although, what I would expect to hear would be quite equivalent to the sound of a spinet piano.

Regards

Hello, musical-md, thanks for you kind words.

Your remark about the up-to-date vaccinations of my Square Piano made me smile
because I must admit, it is my pet-piano and I care for it very much.

Maybe soon I attempt to upload my “Greensleeves” on this site but I have never done this before,
so I have to study how to do it and this may take a little while.

Kind regards from Kristinaolga.

I will be interested to hear your take on Greensleeves. The version by Vaughan Williams I hope ?
You also mentioned Sibelius, Elgar, and Holst. Would you record music from them too ? Piano pieces by Elgar and Holst are quite rare.

Hello, techneut,

Thanks for the encouragement, it is very much appreciated.

I am currently learning Elgar’s “Nimrod”, but I have to work on it a little longer.

My “Greensleeves” is not very elaborate and not the Vaughan Williams version,
I wanted to keep it in its early Lute-version and took a very simple source,
which I repeated in a higher octave and at the end I put on a “little cheerfulness”
which I heard in an early Bagpipe-version, to “come out of the melancholy” so to speak.

I am only a beginner with my Forte-Piano and I must say I like to be a bit creative with my pieces,
so sometimes I create my own little versions.

Thanks for the encouragement, from Kristinaolga.

That is a great story of you love to piano music. Well for me, it is a hobby. A lifelong hobby. Whenever I play our piano, it somehow relaxes me and it's very soothing to my ears to listen to it. Well not just my piano playing, but almost all piano musics.

for me it's always been half and half... It was my hobby from the age of 2&a half till 18 :p then it developed into a passion and livelihood. There have been points which I've taught piano too. Now music is more of a hobby because I can't live without it and am going into a full- blown music teacher career for 4 years soon but once I'm done and out of it.......

Hi,

I had a very hard time deciding on a major when I went to college. I loved piano and music but didn't see how it could earn my living, so I ended up with a math degree and many extra credits in music. It only took a year after college before I found a job teaching for a piano school and piano has been my job ever since, over 20 years. I always tell teens to go after their passion. I sing, accompany and teach. I love my life and am very happy! Unfortunately I have forgotten much of the math I had learned.

Heh, I can relate to that. It is amazing how quickly and thoroughly all of it seems to evaporate when you don't ever use it anymore. I am baffled by all but the most basic school stuff. Ah well, music is much more interesting anyway