I took piano lessons for a little less than a year in 1990, when I was 14 and then gave up, as I didn't take the time required to practice and learn, busy as I was between school and teaching myself programming, which I have been doing professionally since age 19.

July 2002 :

After 12 years without playing, I decided to give piano another try. I got myself a digital piano with weighted action - a Roland FP-3, if you must know - and started taking piano lessons again in July 2002. This time, I knew I would have to practice seriously.

December 2002 :

I acquired a Schimmel GP169T grand piano for Christmas. I am now practicing mostly on that wonderful acoustic piano, except when playing past 10pm, or when I want to use non-piano sounds - my favorite are harpsichord and organ.

One of my long-term goals is to be able to play the Goldberg Variations from Johann Sebastian Bach. This is a wonderful but notoriously difficult works to play. I own about 25 different CD recordings of it, and never get tired of listening to them.

May 2003 :

I like a good challenge and spent months trying to learn variation 1, which is one of my favorites. Up until may, I could only play the first half of that variation. On May 16, 2003, I was able to make a recording of it that I consider decent enough to listen to and share. It is the first recording I share that I made on my acoustic grand piano.

July 2003 :

There is now a second recording dated July 25, 2003. This marks my first year anniversary of starting over with piano. I only had 9 months' worth of lessons though. My former piano teacher dropped me as a student at the end of March, referring me to other teachers who were more suitable for my interests in music, specifically Bach. After that happened, I went on a 6 weeks trip to Europe - during which I did not play - , and I did not resume taking lessons until July 2003. I did however get to practice the 1st variation during the time I was home and without a teacher. The second recording uses a faster, more interesting tempo. There are also 3 missing notes in the first recording that are present in the second - I don't know how I could have missed them the first time around. To me, the two recordings are like night and day. What a difference 2 months make !

August 2003 :

I finally mastered the second page, after only one month of resuming piano lessons. I can now play it at almost the same pace as the first page. I have posted a recording below dated august 3rd. I haven't managed to make a clean recording of the whole variation at even tempo yet, but I will post one when I do. I'm now on to learning the much more difficult opening Aria of the Goldberg variations.

May 2004 :

There has been a big void in this page, but that doesn't mean that I was not making music. In September 2003, I resumed my lessons with a new teacher, Ray McIntyre. I have been learning both piano and harpsichord with him, as he is lucky enough to own a great double-manual acoustic harpsichord. I wish I had room in my townhouse for such an instrument, but as it is, it's a miracle the grand piano fits at all !

With Ray's help, I was able to learn the Aria of the Goldberg Variations. I have now posted several recordings of it. I also learned Invention 3 in D major. I am hoping to get Goldberg variation 7 finished as well soon, as I am going to give a recital on Ray's harpsichord of the Aria, variation 1 and variation 7 in June.

November 2005 :

I am updating this page for the first time in nearly a year. I added a recording of Goldberg variation 19. It is barely listenable, but that's about as well as I have managed to play this busy year unfortunately.

December 2005 :

I made a recording of variation 18, which I hope you will enjoy. I wish I could play all the other variations this well ! I am hoping to add another recording of variation 19 soon, as well as one of variation 7, which I never posted, even though I completed it.  I'm now working on variation 22, which is the first piece for 4 voices that I'm attempting. I might also try to play the deceptively difficult variation 3 again, after a failed attempt in 2004.

December 29 and 30 : I had a week off work, and was able to make new recordings of variation 18, 19, and 7 on acoustic piano, which I added to the site. Enjoy !