Music
Piano Is My LIfe
My name is Eric Valencia and I began playing piano three and a half years ago. I never
had any interest in playing piano, although I loved hearing it. My grandmother passed away
december of 2008 and I was deeply saddened by this event. My music history teacher in high
school played a few pieces for us from the classical period. I remember hearing the Marriage
of figaro, Moonlight sonata, Don Giovanni, and a few others, but Moonlight sonata grabbed
my attention the most. I began to learn this piece by ear as I had no prior piano knowledge.
Little by little, the piece began to come along and i performed it in class to the best of my
ability. I've never been that nervous at anytime of my life.
In the last semester of my senior year at high school, I decided to learn the third
movement of moonlight sonata, yet this time my apporach was different. I found a program
called synthesia for pc, and this program would play midi files in a way that was easy for me
to understand. So I learned the third movement through it within 3 months, and performed
it the last weeks of school. As my interest grew in the piano world, I began to discover other
composers and pianists. The next composer I studied was Franz Liszt.
The first couple of pieces I ever discovered by Franz Liszt were La Notte, Nuage Gris,
Il Pensoroso, and the Transcendental Etudes, along with Soneto del Petrarca 104. I learned
all those pieces using that same program on my computer, and I began to study reading a bit
more. I studied with the high school teacher I had and vastly improved my knowledge of the
subject with him. The last piece I learned by Liszt was the twelveth etude " Chasse-Neige"
and I couldnt wait to so what other music awaited me. Then I discovered Alexander Scriabin.
Scriabin's music fascinated me from the moment I heard it. It is something out of this
world, so ambient and beautiful. The
My name is Eric Valencia and I began playing piano three and a half years ago. I never
had any interest in playing piano, although I loved hearing it. My grandmother passed away
december of 2008 and I was deeply saddened by this event. My music history teacher in high
school played a few pieces for us from the classical period. I remember hearing the Marriage
of figaro, Moonlight sonata, Don Giovanni, and a few others, but Moonlight sonata grabbed
my attention the most. I began to learn this piece by ear as I had no prior piano knowledge.
Little by little, the piece began to come along and i performed it in class to the best of my
ability. I've never been that nervous at anytime of my life.
In the last semester of my senior year at high school, I decided to learn the third
movement of moonlight sonata, yet this time my apporach was different. I found a program
called synthesia for pc, and this program would play midi files in a way that was easy for me
to understand. So I learned the third movement through it within 3 months, and performed
it the last weeks of school. As my interest grew in the piano world, I began to discover other
composers and pianists. The next composer I studied was Franz Liszt.
The first couple of pieces I ever discovered by Franz Liszt were La Notte, Nuage Gris,
Il Pensoroso, and the Transcendental Etudes, along with Soneto del Petrarca 104. I learned
all those pieces using that same program on my computer, and I began to study reading a bit
more. I studied with the high school teacher I had and vastly improved my knowledge of the
subject with him. The last piece I learned by Liszt was the twelveth etude " Chasse-Neige"
and I couldnt wait to so what other music awaited me. Then I discovered Alexander Scriabin.
Scriabin's music fascinated me from the moment I heard it. It is something out of this
world, so ambient and beautiful. The