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Topic: What should i be able to play after 6 month of practise?  (Read 4780 times)

Offline shane20

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Hi

I've been self learning piano for 6 month at least 1hour everyday. so far i can play this fluently

usually i practice hanon exercises, invention, and major and minor scales



and this one



Do you think i'm improving slow, normal or fast?

appreciate any recommendation that help me to develop skills

Offline bronnestam

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Re: What should i be able to play after 6 month of practise?
Reply #1 on: May 18, 2015, 08:37:37 AM
I have no idea! Why even bother, everybody have their own pace and their own learning curve. This comparison thing is just damaging you. Follow your heart, rely on yourself, just work on.

I have never tried this Synthesia thing. I am sure it is effective in some aspects, but the tutorials sound awfully stiff and mechanical to me. I encourage you to SING the pieces you are learning. I don't mean sing perfectly or beautifully - personally I am a bad singer and I don't even like to sing - but you need to get this humming in your head, to really feel the music. For example, have you ever imagined what a piece like the Moonlight Sonata I describes? Not the moonlight, but the mood itself. To me it is about sad and bitter love, it expresses pain to me. But there are other interpretations. If you like to make up stories, you can even make one to this - not written in words, not shown in pictures, but told in music.
Or, imagine a picture if you like it better. Describe it through your piano. You choose the way that suits your personality the best, but the goal is that you are to describe something through the piano. And you play the piano with your whole body, remember that. (Yes, even your face ...) When you perform you might not want to look like a clown, but don't be afraid of experimenting and exaggerating a bit when you are alone.
Think a lot about your pieces when you are away from the piano, hear them in your head, strive to incorporate them in your body, so to speak ...  

And, of course, listen a lot to good pianists when they play. Get ideas on what you want to learn. Even if a piece is too difficult for you at the moment, you can always get the sheet music and study it while you listen to good interpretations.
Also record yourself a lot and listen to yourself.

I write these things because I am sure you will find more technical advice somewhere else, for example from a teacher. But with the music in your body you will never go wrong - without it you will always go wrong.  


... and, yes, when you have a very clear idea in your mind on how you want to play a piece, you will quickly realize where your weaknesses are and what you need to improve.

Offline irrational

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Re: What should i be able to play after 6 month of practise?
Reply #2 on: May 18, 2015, 02:49:02 PM
Well that depends on so many things.
As bronnestam said, no idea.

I "taught" myself piano many years ago and then decided to take proper lessons. This is what I found:

I started with a piece, D. Scarlatti's K32 "aria". I still play it 5 years later as the interpretation is much more than just playing the notes and it sounds different and better as I gain skill.
When I started piano I told myself it will take at least 10 years to get the technical skill to play what I would like to play. Now I know it is likely more (I am very critical of perfection by nature). I don't see myself as gifted in music at all, but I learn skills fairly fast. Some people learn what I learnt in 2 years, some in 10. The key is not to pay too much attention at your rate of development. Just realise that with steady practice you WILL improve over time.

Also, teaching yourself has limitations. With a program like synthesia, you will learn as you think you should play, but a teacher will guide you in a range of skills required.
So it will be somewhat useful at the start to learn a little about the music and perhaps strengthen fingers etc. But it will be limiting in the long run.

So my little advice is:
Get a teacher, as much as you are happy to afford.
Listen to as much music as you can and different interpretations of the same song. Pay attention to the differences and how it makes you feel.
Watch the music being played. Youtube and live performances.
Practice a little every day and don't overdo the same thing over and over, especially when your arms get stiff and tired.
When you practice, do so with a specific goal. Even if it is just one passage in a piece or arpeggios.

And above all, continue playing! Don't stop, even when you are worried about your development. If you love the music and making it, you will do this for the rest of your life and love it. 8)

Offline yadeehoo

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Re: What should i be able to play after 6 month of practise?
Reply #3 on: May 24, 2015, 12:31:18 PM
After 6 month of piano, you should be able to think you can play whatever you want, patience is the key word
Horowitz - Danse Macabre / Carmen variatons
Chopin - Polonaise in A flat Major + Etudes
Liszt - Liebestraum #3
Beethoven - Moonlight 3rd movement

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