rab3D - 2010

November & December 2010:
Back in 2008 I added a post about music on the PC, I had just brought a midi keyboard and was starting to learn the piano.

Extract from that post:

My reasons for searching for a music program dates back to an accident I had a few years ago which needed a 5 hour operation to reconnect tendons and repair a knuckle in my left hand. The surgeon made a great job of the repair but passed the comment that I probably won't be able to play the piano again. I don't know why but whenever I am told I can't or won't be able to do something I have to have a go to see if I can prove them wrong.

Having learnt a few basic melodies using "The Complete Keyboard Player" books by Kenneth Baker, a few months ago I decided to have a go at something a little more challenging.

With the sheet music freely available on the internet, I downloaded Beethoven's Symphony No 14 in C sharp minor. The music instantly exposed the limitations of both the midi keyboard and my playing. So it was off to the music shops to choose an entry level electric piano. I chose the Korg SP250.

The real weighted hammer action keys and carefully sampled concert grand piano has made this a very sensitive instrument. Having never played a piano before purchasing this, it has taken a lot of experimentation and learning to get used to the feel of the piano keys. But I am really pleased with the the feel and sound of the piano.

The sheet music which can be downloaded from here was at a completely different level of complexity to anything I had

attempted before. The animated score available from musanim really helped check the music is being interpreted correctly. Not being able to read music I made a notes primer to make it easier to identify the position of the notes on the staves correctly.

Using the primer: middle C sits between the base and treble clef. Notes shown on the treble clef are normally played with the right hand, notes shown on the base clef are usually played with the left hand.

Click on the image for a larger version.

Learning to play the piano has been quite a diversion from Blender. I am still keeping an eye on the progress of blender and am hopeful that the Blender Foundation will be able to port over all the modelling functionality from the 2.4 series in the next couple of months. Once stable and with all the tools working I hope to restart my tutorials projects updating some of the old tutorials and adding a few new ones.

I was pleased that my wife brought me a copy of both Sintel and Chaos & Evolution for Christmas and look forward to exploring the tutorials and techniques over the next few months.

My collection of Blender products has grown recently and I am happy that proceeds from these books and DVD's goes a little way towards supporting further development of Blender.