FIRST POST - Hello to EVERYONE

Hello pianists and piano-players!

Want to thank every person who has contributed to this forum with their advice, insight, humour, and of course, their questions. I've spent nearly 2 months wandering through the myriad posts here, and found lots of useful information, motivation, and sometimes (usually) cause for envy!

I dearly love the company of others who share the same passions (who doesn't want that)...and it's hard to find like-minded ppl waaay Down Under...hint hint...I hope I can get lots of correspondence from all!

Let me introduce myself. I have roughly 4 years of solid piano experience, interspersed in about 6 years (time away from piano for various reasons). Throughout the 4 years, I've had few lessons (about 15-20) but found these to be nerve-racking because of less-than-personable teachers. I guess my bad experience with 'reputed' teachers have left me very anxious about ever attending another piano lesson, so I've been 'on my own' for a long time, so to speak. My technical abilities aren't too bad, considering the above scenario; my earliest "difficult" piece was after 2 years - Kreisleriana by Schumann (Just No 1, not the whole work! ). I suppose it's my bad habit to tackle 'heavy-duty' works - but, my heart lies in Romanticism. Thus, I've ignored much Classical and Baroque. My Bach extends to about 2 or 3 preludes from WTC 1.

Without a teacher, progess has been slow and difficult, and I've been teetering on discouragement for a long time. I've wanted to enter college/university, but that's a long story. Fear of auditioning?

So...some of the pieces I am practising, or have PLAYED, include Chopin: Etudes Op 10-1,2,4,5,12, some Preludes (biggest thrill is the bb minor, #16), Rachmaninov: Preludes c# minor, Op 23-5,6, Liszt: Un Sospiro, some Debussy (Pour Le Piano - Prelude, Claire de Lune), Chopin: various Nocturnes, Schubert: 2 impromptus, Saint-Saens: g minor concerto...uuhmmm...

etc etc...can't think of others right now...most of these I studied/studying on my own...

I love to play...want to play everything. There are many others here who feel this way, I'm sure. I hope to hear from many ppl...nothing thrills more, than ppl sharing their passions and motivating one another...

What's stopping me from getting a teacher? Sad