Greetings from Belgium !

[Kaneda]

I've already started a few threads on this forum but realized I hadn't introduced myself yet. So, here goes...

I'm quoting the intro to my first post :

I’d like to rekindle an old flame of mine, namely music. A long, long time ago, I went to the local music academy (Belgium) for four years, and learned how to play the piano.
Used to own an acoustic Yamaha piano, and two synths, a Yamaha DX21 and a Yamaha V50 (told you it was a long time ago ). However, for some reason, at one point in time, I lost interest in playing music and ended up selling everything.

I used to play everything, from classic on the piano, to Hammond organ style pieces and more modern music on the synths. I’m 48 years old now, and I recently stumbled upon some footage of people playing keyboards while I was watching some youtube over the past few weeks. And it brought everything back.

So, there. I'm now the proud owner of a Roland FA-08 keyboard and I'm very excited about getting back into music. I realize I'm going to need a lot (and I mean, a lot !) of practice, but I'm going to take it one step at a time, and I'm planning on enjoying it to the full !

 

[CowboyNQ]

Welcome!

 

[Kaneda]

Thx !

 

[Biggles]

Welcome.

Practice little and often and you will get back to where you were.

 

[Kaneda]

Welcome.

Practice little and often and you will get back to where you were.

That's the plan !

 

[Rayblewit]

Welcome @Kaneda
You have so much enthusiasm.
I am enjoying your posts and glad you are here on board with us.
Love the Belgium beers btw. The best in the world.
Cheers Ray

 

[Biggles]

Welcome @Kaneda
You have so much enthusiasm.
I am enjoying your posts and glad you are here on board with us.
Love the Belgium beers btw. The best in the world.
Cheers Ray

If think Belgian beers are great, just try their chocolate.

There is a league of one for world class Chocolate and yes its Belgium.

 

[Kaneda]

As far as food and drink are concerned, you can't go wrong when in Belgium

But I love the UK, too. My late wife was half English, so our kids are each one quarter English . We (with my new girlfriend) still regularly visit their great-grandfather who lives north of London.
Love Oxford, Cambridge, Canterbury, etc. Love going to a pub for fish 'n chips, lager 'n lime
Nearly fell in love with North Yorkshire, Scotland's on the bucket list. (@Biggles : my children's late great-grandmother was originally from Lancashire ; she passed away last year, their grandfather's still alive and kicking, he turned 95 in March).

Belgium's nice, though, taxes are quite high here, but we've got lovely food and beer to eat and drink away our depression
Oh, and I work in France. Can't get more European than that !

 

[Biggles]

We toured Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany on our motorcycles a few years ago.

We stayed in Bastogne and went to pay our respects at the Mardasson Memorial and then went around the Museum before riding on into the Moselle. On our return we stayed in the coastal resort of De Hann for a couple if nights and toured a little around the area before spending the day in Bruges, what a wonderful City, we loved it especially as they were performing Shakespeare in the Basillica and there was a Salvador Dali exhibition in one of the Museums.

As it is my Wife has since traced her ancestry back to Hainault but as we did not know that at the time we visited or we would have arranged for a longer stay in Belgium to explore more.

 

[Becky]

Great to have you here @Kaneda

 

[Kaneda]

@Biggles : Belgium is a small, but complicated country. We've got 3 official languages, Dutch, French and German, and we've got more politicians than any other country in the world. There's a small part of the population that speaks German (in the East, near the German border), the Southern half of the country is French, and the Norther half, where I live, has Dutch as their mothertongue (your wife's ancestors in Hainaut, that would be on French speaking territory).

De Haan and Bruges are very nice indeed. I currently live near the French border (15 minutes by car), in the south of the most western province (which contains De Haan and Bruges, amongst others), but I'm in the process of moving and I will be living closer to the coast (not far from Ostend).
I'm not too keen on France, and their way of life, but it's work . Love The Netherlands, though. So you see, I'm almost as complicated as the country I'm living in

 

[Kaneda]

Great to have you here @Kaneda

Thanks, Becky !

 

[Kaneda]

Just wondering : anyone else in your family who plays an instrument ? My grandfather was mostly the reason I got into music to begin with. He used to play the saxophone and clarinet in a band back in the days. I also have an uncle who plays the piano and bass guitar...

 

[Biggles]

My Mother used to play Piano, we had one at home and it was she who got me playing at a fairly young age.

The strange thing is that as a kid I could play a quite passable version of Tchaikovskis Piano Concerto in Bb minor (and whatever sheet music was in her piano stool storage compartment) but then my Dad come home with an acoustic guitar and I moved over to the dark side that is and has been the guitar until a few years ago when I started to get interested in keys again.

 

[CowboyNQ]

Great Grandfather: Piano, Lute, Violin
Grandmother: Piano
Aunt: Piano
Mum: Piano
Brother: Piano, Guitar, Drums, Bass

 

[Rayblewit]

My son as an infant wanted to learn music, so we bought him a 4 octave beginners keyboard and got him a teacher. When he got older and left school he got a job and he bought his own guitar. He then formed a punk/rock band.

Later in life I taught myself to play his abandoned 4 octave keyboard.

My sisters are into musicals/stage shows . They dance and sing.
No one else is musical in my family.
Ray