ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 27, 1996 TAG: 9604300003
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRIS PASLES LOS ANGELES TIMES
As the genial host of National Public Radio's ``All Things Considered,'' Noah Adams must have more friends than he can imagine. But he's making a lot of new ones as a result of his new book, ``Piano Lessons: Music, Love & True Adventures.''
``It's amazing what's happening,'' Adams said recently from his home in a Washington, D.C., suburb. ``People come up to me after I talk [on the book tour] and tell me a story.
``Each encounter takes about seven or eight minutes. They give me a little bit of their life. It always has to do with music. They could care less about the radio program.''
Adams' book chronicles his quest to learn the piano as a beginner at age 52. ``I'd been thinking about playing all my life,'' he said.
Although his musical tastes are wide-ranging, what he specifically wanted to play - besides jazz and blues - was Schumann's ``Traumerei'' (Reverie), one of the composer's ``Kinderszenen'' (Scenes From Childhood).
``The first time I know I heard it was watching the Horowitz concert,'' he said, referring to the triumphant televised return of Russian pianist Vladimir Horowitz to Moscow in 1986. ``I was being greedy. I saw those people in the audience crying and I thought, `Why? He's playing a simple piece. I'd like to learn it.'''
Since working on it, the piece doesn't seem so simple to him. ``I'm amazed. I feel more emotion in it than I can bring to the keyboard. Physically, I can't yet release that much emotion. Yet Schumann just tossed it off as a 27-year-old. I know I've played it more times than he ever did.''
The book tracks the year that follows Adams' initial piano plunge: shelling out more than $11,000 for a Steinway. His first lessons came from a computer program.
``The attraction of the computer was I can learn at my own pace,'' he said. ``I have only 10 or 15 minutes available a night. I won't have to embarrass myself in front of a teacher. A lot of adults who are accomplished in their field don't want to go back to being sort of inept in front of a teacher.''
Adams made it to lesson 16 (Scott Joplin's ``The Entertainer''), but he wasn't satisfied.
``The computer was too simplistic musically and too pedantic technically. It was tyrannical about time.''
He turned to a learn-by-ear jazz method on tape. ``You see a way into playing by ear and hope that it will easily lead you into this world that's sometimes metaphysical and miraculous. Now I realize it's hard work.''
He had almost given up on his dream when he decided to go to a 10-day piano camp in Vermont. He emerged with a shaky but complete ``Traumerei'' under his belt. The difference, he said, was ``real teachers.''
``I've been asked, `Did you mean to write an inspirational book?' I said, no. My goal was to write a book that would be interesting about a subject you don't normally encounter. I didn't mean to write a book that would inspire adults to study music. But it seems I have.''
When he has been called upon to play, he says, he's enjoying it. ``I've had a lot of fun. I wear a button, `I played it perfectly at home.' I will ask other adults to play, or even kids. I'm playing pretty well, but on some nights it could all fall apart.''
And, yes, he always plays ``Traumerei.''
``I played it on NPR's `Morning Edition.' I didn't hear the program. I didn't want to hear it. But some people told me they cried. My God, if after a year and a half, you can make people cry, what is this mystery about music? I don't have an answer.''
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Adams.by CNB