:Piano Scales

I'm surprised that I can play the piano without too much discomfort. I'm only playing the major and minor scales. I'm sure I've forgotten how to technically play some of these scales right, but I'm finding out that I don't actually need to. I can tell by the sound whether I'm playing the right note or not. The more significant problem for me is which finger I use to play the right note. I think not playing for a while has allowed me to see a bigger pattern for playing the scales. It has to do with which fingers I use to play the black keys. A couple of scales don't use any black notes, but it works out the same way. At least I think it does.

One of the reasons I had such a bad attack of arthritis is that I tried to play through the pain. I don't think I'll make that mistake again. When I get tired or frustrated I just quit. It's my sense of things that I have to keep exercising my whole body in some way or the other. Especially my hands and forearms. That's where i have the most trouble. I've started playing my djembe drum again. It seems odd to beat my hurting hands against the drumhead, but when I get done, my hands seem to feel better. I just can't overdo it.

I'm very pleased to be playing the scales again. I'm not really making any progress. This still won't lead to Carnegie Hall or to fame and fortune. It entertains me to do something I've put off practically all of my life. I've definitely used not being able to play in every key as an excuse not to play with other people.

I used to sing in some glee clubs and choirs. I didn't read sheet music well. I made a lotta mistakes that pissed people off. That wouldn't happen any more. I know just enough to be able to play the part I would sing in a choir on my piano, and memorize it before i went to practice. I still can't sight read. I don't actually care. I just play the piano for-myself. My days of performing music for-the-other are dead and gone. At least, I think they are.

Up to the time I got that letter from my doctor saying that I'd been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis I considered all my aches and pains as temporary inconveniences. Not any more. I'm fairly convinced that whatever it is that causing me to experience this pain ain't going away, and that I have to just learn to live with it the best I can.

I've been really curious about what would happen after the effect of the steroids wore off. Sure enough, after a couple of weeks I started feeling those familiar aches and pains. I just didn't know how bad it would get. I didn't know what I was gonna have to live with. It may be more manageable than I thought. Well, so far, anyway.