My parents gave me a musical name. So, you’d think that I had music lessons as a child, especially since my name is Melodía. I didn’t. I desperately wanted to learn how to play piano, but my parents never signed me up for music or piano lessons. The only “music education” I ever got was in elementary school, where I (badly) played songs on the recorder in “Music” class. I did join Chorus at the second elementary school I attended. However, I still didn’t get any music lessons. Later, I was the lead singer of two bands, one in high school and the other in college. After my second band split up, I decided I would try to become a female Trent Reznor and I would record my own music.
It was 2002 when I decided to walk into the local musical shop. I looked at the keyboards, not really sure which one I wanted. I looked at several Yamaha keyboards, but they were all so very expensive! I finally decided to ask an employee. I told him I wanted to be Trent Reznor, but on a budget. I also told him I didn’t know how to play music and I was hoping that the keyboard would be designed for beginners. He took me to the Casio CTK-558. He told me that even though it was marketed as a keyboard, it was also a synthesizer. He told me it was for beginners and that I could learn how to play on it. He also showed me the MIDI ports and told me I could connect it to my computer to record music. I was sold! Not only was the Casio CTK-558 cheaper than all the Yamaha keyboards I was looking at, but I also got a nice discount because I bought the floor model. Awesome! Being a floor model, it does have a couple of dings under the keyboard, but I’ll never see those. I was just happy to get a nice keyboard/synthesizer for a very low price!
Well, sadly, I only got to use the Casio a few times before I got super busy at work. My poor Casio sat there in the corner for years, waiting for me to finally use it. I moved quite a few times since 2002 and my Casio came with me on every move. Even though I hadn’t been using it, I wasn’t going to give up on it. I just knew one day that I would finally play it.
That day came on June 1, 2026! I saw that Duolingo had a music course and I decided to give it a try. It wasn’t as good as I hoped, but it made me realize that my dream of learning how to play piano and create my own music is still possible! I dumped Duolingo and tried flowkey instead. I love it! My ancient Casio keyboard works flawlessly with flowkey! I’m almost finished with the very first course for beginners. I can’t believe that in just a few days, I learned how to play 5 songs! I was musically illiterate before this, and now I can read and understand sheet music! I like to do the drills, exercises, and warmups to keep the notes and finger placements fresh in my mind.
As I start to get more comfortable playing music, I think I will start adding music to my Twitch livestreams. Also, I downloaded Sonar by BandLab so that I can finally do the thing I set out to do in 2002: record music on my computer! And, yes, my computer (and Sonar) works flawlessly with my ancient Casio keyboard! I even recorded a test loop that I created myself on the Casio. I’ll hang on to it, since it’s my very first one. You never know, I might actually use it someday.
Finally, I am doing what my name says I do. Music! Not just listening to it, but also playing and creating it!