I came to music over a different long way. As a child we had to play flutes on Cristmas Eve first – in order to get our presents afterwards. This was nice but not when my brother and I got older.
I still was fascinated in a certain way, especially by a Hammond Organ. I loved the sound so very much. Beeing an Electronic Engineer I decided to build up an electronic organ myself. I even designed it myself by a modification of an organ kit from a german company called „Dr. Boehm“.
That was a success, even my parents played on it i a self-learning manner.
Later I moved to the city of Berlin having my own flat. Just two rooms, toilet half a stairway down, heating with coal.
The organ did not go with me, so I made another one, with two manuals and about 30 chorus‘ . The problem was still the same: I could not really play it, just childrens tunes.
So many Notes in the books always distracted me. As in the movie AMADEUS, where the the conductor of the Royal Court said to Mozart: „To many notes in Your play“. Summarizing it, the too many bbbs and ###s where dreadful to learn. No success. There is NOT at all a connection to Mozart but I liked the words from the movie. My opinion was: This stuff is not intelligible at all.
Apart from very primitive musik – no success. Then a piano from my mother in love came to my house. Beeing an opera singer she practised her singing having Rudi playing the tunes for her performance training.
I felt guilty whenever I saw the two instruments – not beeing able to use them properly. At that time I received an recommendation by a young lady to try Duncans Seminar which was held just this weekend in Berlin.
Duncan Lorien is something like an „Enfant Terrible“ — No hold on: He is an gifted didactical master in the area of music. He lights the fire in men and women who love music. Together with the organizer Bernd we learned on a single weekend. Alexander was translating the english words into german simultaneously.
During a single weekend we learned
- reading music
- simplifying all the mysteries about music
- discovering the logic behind it – similarities with other instruments than the piano
- by the end playing a menuet from J.S.Bach.
Simply unbeleavabel but true.
But do not make a mistake: If you will not follow Duncans Practise Book for the next 100 days (- every day 10 minutes) – its all in vain. So there is not any mystery either.
I’d like to go back how I met Duncan first time on friday evening. „oh – I said- You are from Scotland? I worked there for nearly a Year. But they do not speak english up there“. I was referring to the very melodic scottish accent and the wee little words which are not common elswhere – not mentioning the gaelic words in this language of this small tribe who fighted the the romans similar to the germans in year 9 after Christ in the province where I was born (Detmold).
But I was wrong. His English is as clear as it could be. No wonder as a former Shakespeare actor he know what he is doing. A thought came into my mind: Oh shuldn’t I try reading some native Shakespeare once?
So how could it all be boilt down?
- You get HELP in naming the NOTE
- You learn the musical alphabet leaving off the odd german „amendmends“ e.g. an „H“ instead of a „B“
- In parallel You learn the alphabet on a guitar
- Discover Major and Moll tunes (Tonleiter) with the ### and bbb by simplifying the quest
- Throw away the „Quintenzirkel“
- Rhythm in the air divided into Tempo / bpm, Groups of strokes (Taktart) 3above4 which is holy…
- independent movement of tones and tunes
- Learn about the tiny dots after a note. (No it is not an left off of a fly!)
- A pause is as long as a note
- Training of your sticky fingers
- Then play Menuett in G of Johann Sebastian Bach.
If You like Classical Music. It is heaven or at least the entrance of the entrance into it.
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