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Piano Lessons: Music, Love, and True Adventures Posters
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List Price: $15.00Amazon.com's Price: $10.20 You Save: $4.80 (32%)Prices subject to change.
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 786.2092
EAN: 9780385318211
ISBN: 0385318219
Label: Delta
Manufacturer: Delta
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 272
Publication Date: March 10, 1997
Publisher: Delta
Release Date: March 10, 1997
Sales Rank: 68382
Studio: Delta
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Piano Lessons is Noah Adams's delightful and moving chronicle of his fifty-second year--a year already filled with long, fast workdays and too little spare time--as he answers at last a lifelong call: to learn to play the piano. The twelve monthly chapters span from January--when after decades of growing affection for keyboard artists and artisans he finally plunges in and buys a piano--through December, when as a surprise Christmas present for his wife he dresses in a tuxedo and, in flickering candlelight, snow falling outside the windows, he attempts their favorite piece of music, a difficult third-year composition he's been struggling with in secret to get to this very moment.
Among the up-tempo triumphs and unexpected setbacks, Noah Adams interweaves the rich history and folklore that surround the piano. And along the way, set between the ragtime rhythms and boogie-woogie beats, there are encounters with--and insights from--masters of the keyboard, from Glenn Gould and Leon Fleisher ("I was a bit embarrassed," he writes; "telling Leon Fleisher about my ambitions for piano lessons is like telling Julia Child about plans to make toast in the morning") to Dr. John and Tori Amos.
As a storyteller, Noah Adams has perfect pitch. In the foreground here, like a familiar melody, are the challenges of learning a complex new skill as an adult, when enthusiasm meets the necessary repetition of tedious scales at the end of a twelve-hour workday. Lingering in the background, like a subtle bass line, are the quiet concerns of how we spend our time and how our priorities shift as we proceed through life. For Piano Lessons is really an adventure story filled with obstacles to overcome and grand leaps forward, eccentric geniuses and quiet moments of pre-dawn practice, as Noah Adams travels across country and keyboard, pursuing his dream and keeping the rhythm.
Amazon.com Review:
The difference between the piano lessons Noah Adams took and the ones most of us took was that he was 51, not 7, and -- lucky Noah -- his mother didn't make him practice. This is not only a delightful account of his twelve-month nose-to-the-grindstone attempt to learn to play the $11,000 Steinway he bought on a whim, but also the story of his many-year process of falling in love with music and its history.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
Noah Adams enchanted me with his touching--and at times very amusing--memoir of learning to play a deceptively simple piece of music on the piano.
I read this book years ago, when it was recommended to me by pianist Robin Spielberg. At the time, Piano Lessons struck me as the first prose I had encountered that accurately described the rush of elation musicians experience when successfully conquering the chaos of a difficult phrase. On a second read-through, almost a decade after its ... Read More
Rating: -
It's been years since I read this book, but I have fond memories of it and dropped in here trying to relocate it again. I have to laugh at those who have given this book such harsh reviews with their literal impressions, and I'm very much in agreement with the others, like Bron Mitchell here, who enjoyed it for the right reasons. This is not necessarily about piano. It is about struggling to fulfill a passion in the face of your limitations. About confronting your fears and inadequacies, in the ... Read More
Rating: -
I think it is misleading that some have written very poor reviews of "Piano Lessons" by Noah Adams. They say the book does not have enough material about how to play the piano, or that he does not have enough patience to learn to play, and the book minimizes how much hard work it takes to play.
But the goal of this book is not to teach one to play piano. It is to trace an adult's foray into piano playing. Mr. Adams chose to begin by using a book rather than hiring a teacher. Though hiring ... Read More
Rating:  -
I was instantly intrigued by this book. I was disappointed that of the 242 pages, it take until page 181 for him to decide to even play Traumerei for his wife.
Quite frankly, this book is filled with self indulgant nonsense. If Adams had stuck to the idea of writing a book about just learning piano , it would have been fine. Instead he meanders onto subjects such buying boats and taking trips. What does any of that crap have to do with playing piano?
I think Noah Adam's experience ... Read More
Rating: -
Two things about this book are depressing. First, the author has no patience or self-discipline, and thus cannot possibly learn to play piano well. So why does he go on this "quest" to obtain an expensive piano? The real reason, which goes unsaid but runs as a sad subtext through the book, is that it is easy for the author, who has money, to spend that money on a piano, and the satisfaction of owning the piano serves him as a substitute for the satisfaction that would be gained from learning to play it. The ... Read More
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