A warm hello to all the forum members.
My name is Alessandro and, what follows, is my little story.
In elementary school (I don't remember exactly if I was in 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade) I was "introduced" to the world of music.
In fact, the teachers organized a "mini course" for all classes aimed at performing a final "saggio" (correct me if this term is wrong) which was held in the local cinema-theater and met with "great" success among our parents (and how could it not!!!).
Lessons were taught by a Maestro very well known in the town who, with much patience (imagine a group of about 50-60 children), instilled in us musical "pills" regarding the basic elements of theory: staff, notes, note duration, solfeggio, concept of bar/measure, etc. and, obviously, the study of an instrument: the recorder (perhaps one of the most "didactic" instruments) which, believe it or not, I still have at my parents' house.
In those same years (or perhaps a bit before, I don't remember exactly) my father bought me my first little keyboard toy: a Bontempi organ similar to, if not even identical to, the one I am posting in the photo.
http://www.pianoconc...no-bontempi.jpg
You cannot imagine the joy of repeating on the keyboard the same exercises and "sheet music" learned with the recorder for the "saggio".
My father, a music enthusiast and perhaps seeing what I was "doing" with the toy, bought some time later an organ worthy of the name: the Farfisa VIP 202 that you can see in the following photo.
http://www.pianoconc...ano-farfisa.jpg
New "horizons" could open up, provided, however, that I started studying music a bit more seriously.
Unfortunately, due to problems related to a sudden move and the absolute impossibility of "repositioning" the organ in the new house due to lack of space, in addition to other problems that I won't recount here, I was unable to undertake (and perhaps partly did not want to, as children make different kinds of choices than those made as adults) musical studies. I believe, anyway, it would have been almost impossible for me considering that in the following years we moved two more times and my mother started working in a hospital, thus also working night shifts (think of the nuisance caused by a person playing in an apartment building to the other residents,
multiplied by the fact of having the piano inside the same home where the person who might be disturbed lives; I don't know if I am managing to convey the concept).
So, having put an end to musical studies, life led me down other paths; a degree in mechanical engineering and, currently, an Officer in the Italian Army in the Engineers Corps (something unthinkable for me at 18 when I didn't even have the desire to do compulsory military service). If you want to know a bit about the Corps, I can invite you to visit the link http://www.esercito....ne/default.aspx and see the pages reachable by clicking on the "Il Corpo" menu to the right of the central image.
Today, at the age of 46, thinking back to the "good old days" with much nostalgia (and who doesn't? Years pass for everyone), and with the immense possibilities offered by the internet, I am "rediscovering" my interest in studying music. Given that it would be impossible for me to attend a course, I started browsing the web looking for all kinds of information and discovered some interesting sites (at least for those taking their first steps in this musical world) that also offer video lessons; among these sites, I also found this one. You cannot imagine how many memories were awakened in me when I began reading the first pages of "music theory" or watching the first educational videos on piano and/or keyboards found here and there, and seeing that I still remembered "many" things. This "lack of memory loss" is increasingly encouraging me to "resume" the conversation that was prematurely interrupted; clearly I have no
ambitious goals of any particular level, but picking up "strumming" again, I am sure, would bring me great happiness.
I hope I haven't bored you.
Ciao.
Alessandro
