Piano, finally

Piano Finally is a podcast by an old bloke who is learning the piano, finally. I cover the process of learning the piano and music theory as an adult learner. I also review piano books, hardware and other materials from an adult learner's perspective.

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Piano, finally

Episode 84 - Say “Yes"

February 01, 2026 • David Reidy • Season 1 • Episode 84

G'day, everyone! Welcome to show number eighty-four. The holidays are officially over, and we are back into the swing of things at school. It’s been a busy week of planning and welcoming new classes, but it's always nice to have a fresh start.

Follow-up: Amazon Returns Last week, I mentioned receiving some dubious print-on-demand music books from Amazon. I’m happy to report that the return process was incredibly simple, and the refund was processed almost immediately. I still haven't found the proper copyright owners to notify them, but I’ll keep looking.

YouTube Review: The story of Vigil: Belong This week’s video recommendation is a special one because, if you squint, you might just spot me! The Sydney Festival has released a video about the Vigil: Belong performance. It features interviews with Nardi Simpson and clips from the rehearsals and the performance itself. It’s a beautiful summary of the event. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjp-LNCHDKQ

Essay: Say "Yes" Reflecting on my recent experience with the Belong Choir, I realised that none of it would have happened if I hadn't simply said "Yes." As we get older, it's easy to stick to the comfortable and predictable, but opportunities for growth and fun usually lie just outside that comfort zone. From filling out an expression of interest form on a whim to singing in front of a thousand people, saying "Yes" has been the best strategy for 2026 so far.

Review: Megalong Music Festival I received an email about the upcoming Megalong Music Festival, held in the picturesque Megalong Valley in the Blue Mountains. I attended last year, and it was fantastic. This year's program for Easter Saturday and Sunday looks incredibly varied, featuring music from Hayden to Pärt. With performers like Jacqui Cronin, Timothy Nankervis, and Ieva Jokubaviciute, it’s definitely worth the drive. https://www.megalongmusicfestival.com.au/

Progress Piano lessons resume this week! Over the break, practice was a bit sparse, but I’ve been enjoying "Sea Song," which has just the right amount of complexity. I’m also making decent headway with the "Moonlight" Sonata. "Trumpet Tune" and "A Wild Chase" are still in the works, and I'll update you on those when I've made more progress.

If you'd like to get in touch, email me at david@pianofinally.show.

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Episode084: 0:00

G'day everyone, I'm David Reidy. Welcome to Piano Finally, a podcast by an old bloke who's getting around to learning the piano. Finally. Welcome to show number 84. Thank you very much for downloading the show. If you're a regular listener, then thanks for your support. But if this is the first time you're hearing the podcast, I hope you enjoy what's in the show. And if you do like what you hear, please consider subscribing. Are you also learning a musical instrument? If you are, let me know how you're going with it. You can contact me at david@pianofinally.show Well, the holidays are over and all the staff from work went back after the Monday public holiday. It was for four days of review and planning meetings and getting everything ready. All our new students will be at school on Monday And all the returning students come back on Tuesday I have my class lists for the coming year And most of my students are not ones I've taught before Even though I'm teaching the year they have moved into I have other classes with new faces It's a fun time of the year And it's nice to be getting off to a new start There is some follow-up from last week's episode I sent back the two music books the Elton John and Billy Joel titles, that were dodgy print-on-demand versions without any proper attributions, and so probably pirated. I hadn't done an Amazon return before, and it was really simple. They send a QR code, and all you need to do is package up the items and show the post office the code. Everything else is handled for you. The refund even turned up in my account within a couple of hours of handing over the package, even before it had arrived at Amazon. I let Amazon know why I was returning it, but I haven't been able to find copyright contact details to pass the information on to the owners. I'll keep looking. In this week's episode, we're going to look at the choir adventure I've just had. It's not playing the piano, but it arose from deciding to get more into music. I've often said that deciding to learn an instrument is just the start of the journey, and two years ago, when I got my first proper keyboard, I didn't think I'd be singing in public in front of over a thousand people. It has been an experience. I think that this is the first time I have recommended a video that I am in, Although you'll have to look very carefully to find me, and I'm only on screen for about a second. This is, of course, some of the video from the Belong Choir performance I was part of last weekend. The video was produced by the Sydney Festival, and looks at more than just the performance, adding in moments from the rehearsals and interviews with Nardi Simpson and others. The video includes parts of the opening and closing numbers, "Old Ones" and "Four Directions", both written by Nardi. It's well put together and will give you some idea of what the whole thing looked like. There's probably a lot more video around of the performance, and if any shows up, I'll include it in the show notes in coming weeks. For the moment, I'll just include a link to the official Sydney Festival video. Say Yes choir is going to be a highlight for this year. If you had asked me last year if I thought I'd be singing in front of over a thousand people, the answer would have been an almost certain no. The last time I was part of a choir was at school in second form in 1975, and the only other singing is joining in at school assemblies and the national anthem when required, although I have sung that from the concert hall stage of the Sydney Opera House. So how is it that all this came about? Well, I said yes. I've ended up doing a lot of things over the last more than 60 years. Most of them have come about because I tend to say yes more often than I say no. I sort of believe in not planning too much and taking advantage of opportunities as they arise. Now this is not advice to just say yes to everything, but if something fits in with who you think you are, and it's not going to harm you or anybody else, then starting with possibly is a good idea. It is very easy to just keep going along the way you currently are. It is somewhat comforting to know exactly what is going to happen at this time next week or next year. I've been sent the school timetable for the next term, so in theory, I know exactly what I'll be doing at work up until Easter. Now, there are likely to be many unexpected events along the way, but all in all, I sort of know where I'll be up to at work. In this case, planned and predictable is good. I'll be teaching around 150 children directly, and keeping things organised for them is important, but it does reduce the scope for new discoveries. If everything we do is planned and predictable, then we sort of know how everything is going to turn out, and that can be a bit boring. It's hard to have a surprise if you already know what's going to be happening. Surprises aren't always good, but I find they are more often good than otherwise. How do you make sure there is room for surprises? Say yes when an opportunity comes along, and keep an eye out for opportunities. In the case of the Belong Choir, the opportunity came in the form of an email from the Sydney Festival. I went to some of last year's shows and was on their mailing list. There's another hint for finding opportunities. Get out of the house. With all the entertainment options you can have at home, it can be tempting to not take advantage of live music, theatre and other events and just stay in. Getting out means meeting other people with similar tastes. and that leads to even more opportunities. Is saying yes scary? Sometimes. No thank you is much safer. If my life is going along nicely most of the time then it can be very safe to not rock the boat to keep doing all the same things and maintain the status quo. I vaguely remember a sketch on Seinfeld in which the characters are discussing where to go to eat should they go to the same place where they know and like the food, or to a new place which may not be as good, but which may be better. I don't know how they resolved it, but I'd hope it was the new place. I first saw the request for singers for the Belong Choir in October. It was just after the closing date for expressions of interest. On the spur of the moment, I decided to fill in the online form anyway. It wasn't a commitment, just an expression of interest. I could become uninterested if necessary. I pointed it out to a couple of other people and then forgot all about it. In the middle of November, an email arrived with the dates and times for the rehearsals. So it was decision time. I did not sing in public, except when absolutely necessary to set an example for students at assembly. And I never really even got into communal happy birthdays. I'm not a particularly good singer, and singing solo is something I would never consider. I weighed up the opportunity of trying something new and potential disasters, and decided it wouldn't hurt to give it a go, and it might be wonderful. The worst that could happen was that I would be so off-tune that I'd be asked not to come back next time. Embarrassing, but I'd survive. Of course, that's not what happened. The rehearsal went well, and even when I got moved to the front and put into the very small group of tenor and lower register voices, I still managed to sing. I met new people every step of the way. There was a fair bit of waiting around, so striking up a conversation with whomever was nearby was really easy. Remember, everyone there has at least that in common, so there's a plus. The spur-of-the-moment decision to send the expression of interest led to an unforgettable experience, one that I haven't stopped telling people about. I got to see an incredible artist at work. Nardi Simpson, who wrote most of the words and music and led the choir, made something truly special and then shared it with all of us. I got to be part of an acknowledgement of the wrongs visited upon the original inhabitants of this place and perhaps a part of a small step towards real reconciliation. And I got to have a lot of fun. It has opened a whole new world of opportunities and let me push some of my boundaries back a bit and all from saying yes without giving it too much thought but with a sense of adventure. So say yes when you get the chance to try something new and a little scary. Become a bit uncomfortable when stepping up because it will probably turn out to be amazing. While I was writing this week's episode, an email turned up announcing this year's edition of the Megalong Music Festival. I went to the final day of the festival last year, and it was great. As the name suggests, the festival is held in the Megalong Valley, which is a couple of hours west of Sydney if you're driving. The valley is one of the most picturesque spots in the Blue Mountains and is well worth a visit, even if there is not a music festival on. This year the festival has two concerts, one on Easter Saturday and one on Easter Sunday, both in the Hall in the Valley. The programs for each are very varied, from Hayden to Pärt and many composers I've never heard of. It will certainly be a chance to hear some classical music that doesn't appear in concert programs very often. There are five principal musicians listed to perform and they will be joined by other musicians from the Blue Mountains. Jacqui Cronin, Timothy Nankervis and Asmira Woodward-Page are the violist, cellist and violinist respectively. Frank Celata from the Sydney Symphony Orchestra will be playing the clarinet and Ieva Jokubaviciute will be the pianist. The beautiful surroundings and the selection of music make this festival an easy choice to attend if you live close enough. You could easily attend from Sydney and I'd thoroughly recommend coming along, especially the drive down into the valley. I've already bought my tickets and I'll put a link in the show notes so you can buy yours. As I mentioned earlier The students are back at school this week And so my piano lessons commence again tomorrow afternoon I didn't get anywhere near as much practice done in the holidays as I had hoped So I'll have to get to a better rhythm throughout this term If you'd like to contact me, email is the best way You'll find me at david@pianofinally.show and the website at www.pianofinally.show. In both cases, pianofinally is all one word. That's also where you'll find the show notes. The show is also available on Spotify and is an audio-only stream on YouTube. You can subscribe via any popular iOS or Android podcast application or from directories such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. I also post an excerpt and link for each episode as an Instagram Reel. If you're learning a musical instrument, let me know where you're up to in your journey. What's going well? What are the challenges? What dangerous things have you done recently? And how are you managing your time? And so until next week, I hope your piano stays in tune and you enjoy your time at the keys. Over the past week, I've mainly been working on "Sea Song". It's a nice piece with enough complexity to keep me interested, but not so complicated that I get frustrated. I'll just include the opening of it and "Moonlight" this week, as those are really the only things with decent progress. I'm still working on the "Trumpet Tune" and "A Wild Chase". I'll include them again in the progress section in weeks to come, when I've made some decent progress. The music was recorded using Cubase 15 running on an M4 Pro Mac Mini with Pianoteq 9 emulating a Shigeru Kawai SK-EX Grand Piano in concert recording mode and I use a Kawai NV10 to play the notes. Thank you.