Category: General

Well here we are at the conclusion of this little exercise – the opening bars of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, posted here to test the efficacy of the SOKOZY piano playing method (the notes of any particular tune portrayed in chronological sequence directly onto the piano keyboard. ) In this way, there is an immediate appreciation of the tune,

The triplet movement of the opening four bars is resolved here by the tune homing in to the C sharp minor chord, 111, 123, the three ‘1’s on the far left being played with the little finger, index finger and thumb of the left hand, joined by the  ‘1’ furthest right, played with the thumb of the right hand. I  think that if anyone can sit at a piano and play these five bars then one is likely to draw a small crowd in the expectancy of a full rendition of the tune. That’s when you get up from the stool and say you are in a terrible hurry and you need to be on your way.  That is exactly what I did yesterday on a public piano at Herne Hill Railway Station, South London , though I did offer a jazzy version of “Blue Moon” before catching my train.

The Royalist has earlier mentioned the velocity of striking the notes, finding the left hand notes more dominant.  It is possible that effect is brought about simply by the left hand playing in octaves (the top and bottom notes of the scale).  But “touch” is indeed the most important part of a pianist’s box of tricks. On a decent piano a sensitive touch can be likened to gently pressing a grape – ha ha I’ve only  put that bit in for Janus!

I do hope those of you who have attempted to play this exercise have had some sense of accomplishment as well as enjoyment!

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I know I have been slightly conspicuous by my absence from cyber-space for a while, but I have been busy.

Daughter No.1 is to be married on 28th September, and we are moving house in early October. We are relocating to Dorset which was our intention about five years ago. If the telephone and broadband transfer goes smoothly, we shall be back on line on the 9th.

If nothing else we have made headway with clearing out heaps of rubbish and general unwanted clutter which we found in the attic, shed and cupboards. This has all been given away, recycled or consigned to landfill, and it’s taken an age.

In the last few months I’ve grown disappointed with some I had in the past considered friends. So I decided to go to Australia, New South Wales to be precise. Does anyone have any advice on what to see in the Sydney and Canberra regions?

I don’t suppose this will mean much to the followers of the round ball game, or even followers of Rugby League, but in this new season, the Rugby Union laws on scrummaging have changed, basically back to what they were when I was still playing.

I will not go into technical details, but it is great to see props propping again instead of collapsing in a heap every other scrum, hookers hooking the ball again and the ball being put into the scrum straight, and not right into the back row. The only thing still a bit silly is that the ref has to tell the scrum half when to put the ball in. When I were a lad, this was normally done by the hooker and scrum half devising a set of hand (or at least finger) signals to indicate the most advantageous time to put the ball in. There are still many opportunities for skullduggery in the dark depths of the front row, but it is, as it was, more difficult for refs to spot, unless, like one of my mates, who was an ex hooker, whenever he reffed me, he blew the whistle even on the odd occasion when I was not indulging in naughtiness.

Anyway, the first weekend  of the English Rugby Premiership has provided four exciting games so far, with one to come tomorrow. I look forward to the new season.