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[songofcecilia]

I just finished reading All Families are Psychotic by Douglas Coupland. It's fabulous and I highly recommend it. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy his books. (I think it was dogonwheels827 that introduced me to him way back in the day. Yes

Comments

[scullyfied]

It used to annoy the shit out of my organ teacher when I would ask about the pedals. Or anything else on the organ. She thought I should only be concerned with the keys. I would have liked the damn organ if I'd had a teacher that wasn't a stick in the mud. (I was in third grade and my mom made me take organ lessons since we had a huge organ in the living room.) Our organ was the super deluxe model or something cause it had all these knobs and effects and nobody would answer my damn questions about all those things. (My mom honestly didn't know what all the knobs and such did because she only played basic stuff.)

My mom's best friend would come over and play circus music on it. That was awesome.

[songofcecilia]

The pedals are so important to the organ! And if you don't know about all the knobs and things, you're stuck with the default organ sound all of the time. The first thing that I do with a beginner is go over all of the separate parts of the piano or the voice. With elementary-age kids, especially, it's so important to acknowledge that curiosity and engage the students in their learning. I'm not an organist by any means, but it irritates me when a teacher won't acknowledge the needs of the student. As you said, it's a whole lot easier to enjoy lessons and enjoy the instrument if your teacher is personable and flexible.

Besides, everyone knows that the fun parts of the organ are the pedals and the bells and whistles!

[scullyfied]

Yeah, I remember when I took piano in college I figured out a bunch of shit I had been wondering about since grade school. And then wondered AGAIN why that organ lady wouldn't just answer my damn questions.

[cornizzle]

Whoa! Holy shit you're right! The order of flats is the order of sharps backwards! How come I never realized that?
I guess it's because I always remembered them like this:
Father Charles Goes Down And Enteres Battle (#F #C #G #A #E #B)
Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles's Father (Bb Eb Ab Db Gb Cb Fb)

[songofcecilia]

hahahaha. I know, right? My piano teacher taught me that when I started lessons back in the day. The acronym she taught me for sharps is:

Fat Cow Girls Do An Excellent Boogie

And, I'll be damned, I still know it.