Exposing Yourself to the piano

This lesson will be just familiarize you with the piano.  When you look at a keyboard, don’t be intimidated by the seemingly disorganized jumble of black and white keys confronting you.  You will learn that the keyboard is actually organized brilliantly, making it so much simpler than it looks at first glance.  The black keys are very important, because without them, you wouldn’t be able to find your way around the instrument.  Looking at the groupings of 2’s and 3’s of the black keys allows you to identify the position of your hand, as you are moving along the keyboard.  This can be done without looking down at the keyboard simply by feeling along the keys.       

Black keys ([#]sharps/[b]flats):  There are two groups of black keys.  There are the two’s and the three’s huddled next to each other.  Your index finger and middle finger go on the two black keys.  And your index, middle and ring finger go onto the three black keys.  As a general guideline, you will never play the black keys with your thumb.    

White keys:  For this exercise only your thumb will be touching the white keys. 

The first two notes that I want you to find on the keyboard is C and F.  C can be found on the white key just before any group of two black keys.  F will be found just before any grouping of three black keys.  Now put your right index finger onto the first of the two black keys.  Hit the next black key with your middle finger.  Now cross your thumb over to F on the white key.  And now play with your three fingers on the three black keys.  Roll your thumb underneath once more onto C.  And finally come to rest on the next black key with your index finger.  After you have done this try to go all the way up the keyboard in this way and then all the way back down.  Now try it with the other hand. 

Your left hand will be a mirror image of what your right hand did.  Put your middle finger on the first of the two black keys.  Then your index finger.  Put your thumb on F.  Roll your ring finger over to the next set of black keys and play them with your three fingers, hit C with your thumb and rest on the next black note with your middle finger.  Learnt to go up and down the keyboard like the right hand.  After you have finished all of that, you should then try to play with both hands at the same time.  

   

Two Unlikely Meetings, and Lost Opportunities

Hal Shaper

Hal and Charles first met on the Muizenberg beach in Cape Town 1954.  Hal was a lawyer and Charles introduced him to song-writing, encouraging him to try write lyrics for some of Charles’s melodies. Charles introduced Hal to his original lyricist, Anton De Waal, who wrote the lyrics for and published their first song.  There were many more Segal-Shaper collaborations to come, but the relationship between Charles and Harold was always dynamic, with Hal’s tendency to be controlling of every aspect of their professional relationship and friendship.

 

Hal enjoyed the life of a lyric writer so much that he devoted more and more time to doing that and eventually moved to London and joined a music publishing company.  Hal’s big hit was “Softly as I Leave You,” for which he translated the lyrics of a popular Italian song.  Hal’s version was recorded by top artists, such as Frank Sinatra, Elvis and Matt Monro.

Charles and Hal kept in touch over the years, collaborating on more songs such as “Michelle Meets Mark”, “Reeve’s Song” and “Melanie,”  which was recorded with Charles when visitng Hal in London. 

Herbert Kretzmer

In an equally unlikely meeting, Charles sat next to South African journalist, Herbert Kretzmer, on a plane traveling to Israel and they talked nonstop throughout the trip.  There was a genuine connection between the two of them and Charles came away from the trip with a real friend. 

Then on one Saturday afternoon in London, Charles Segal was looking out the window of Shaper’s South Kensington home and was excited to see Herbert Kretzmer approaching the building, presumably to meet with Hal.  Charles told Hal how much he liked Herbert and was excited to get together with him.  Kretzmer rang Hal’s doorbell, but Shaper refused to answer.  Both being lyricists, there might have been a sense of rivalry between these two men.  Charles tried to convince Hal to let Herbert in, but Hal replied, “This isn’t your apartment, I can do as I please.”  Little did Hal know, Herbert Kretzmer would later become the English lyric adapter to the hit musical Les Miserables.  Since this adaptation, Herbert Kretzmer had become bigger than Hal ever hoped to be. 

The lesson that Charles took away from this incident is that one should always be nice to people you meet, whether you perceive them as important or just ordinary.  You never know what life may bring and how important that person may become in the future.