It’s called “Thoughts on a Train” as in “various trains of thought,” since a lot of the posts here may free-associate in the manner of most of the Bloggerie out there. I wanted to have a space for more writings about creativity and have more flexibility, keeping “Dr. Dick’s Blog,” really a company blog, more about what’s going on at the station. A lot of my posts there might seem off-topic to some readers, and since I’m planning on writing a novel about creativity and posting it (and the process of it) on-line, that didn’t seem like the place where it should be taking up the kind of space that will entail. I needed some place I could post things without worrying about who owned what: I was thinking of calling it “Dr. Dick’s Annex.”
So if you’re new to either of these blogs, check out my pathetic profile and follow the links to the other blog once in a while. And the other links, too (woo hoo! I figured out how to post links!!)
Well, I hadn’t thought about going that far back... but this is a photo my dad took of me when I was not yet 1 year old. And, no, I’m not really playing the piano, am I... I wish he’d thought to have the sheet music open so it’d look like I actually was.The piano was just another toy for me: whether I was hiding in the cave underneath it or crawling up on the bench, my legs dangling too far above the pedals to do anything, and not having a clue what I was doing playing on the keys anyway (my poor mother, having to deal with all this, probably before I turned 5), it was always part of my life. They probably started my piano lessons when I was in 1st Grade out of self-defense. I was already trying to write down little piano pieces as soon as I learned how to read music.
One of the things I liked about this picture (which I saw for the first time maybe just 4 years ago) was recognizing the one book on the music rack, selected works for solo piano by Frederic Chopin. When I was about 10 or 11, maybe, I started trying to play some pieces from this book, far too advanced from the sort of stuff I’d been dealing with in my regular music lessons, but when it accidentally ended up going along with me to a lesson, my teacher looked at it – I thought disapprovingly – and asked if I wanted to learn to play some of these pieces. I mean really wanted to play them. I said yes and soon I was trying out Chopin’s Nocturne in E-flat, Op.9 No. 2.
Anyway, that’ll give you an idea “where I’m coming from,” as they used to say. I’m still trying to figure out where I’m going to, but that’s all part of this blog. I don’t know if you’ll find any of these posts that interesting or insightful, but considering what’s out there in the blogosphere, that shouldn’t be too disappointing, then, should it?
Right now I’m composing some short pieces for violin and piano for a performance maybe this January, and I need to get back to working on them, in case the violinist-in-question is reading this...
