Did anyone think they were good, until joining this website?

[allthumbs]

Hi,

I thought i was quite a good pianist, until i joined this site and listened to a 14 year old playin chopin in the audition room! lol. It's just made me realise how rubbish i actually am. i mean i memorised most of chopin's nocturne in b flat and moonlight sonata when i was 16, and im now 21. I had a few lessons at school when i was 14, but i found it boring. But i've been playin at home ever since. Im learning Liszt's liebestraum no.3 but theres a bit where it goes quite fast and i just can't move my fingers fast enough! it's really annoying. Maybe it's because my piano is very old and the keys are quite stiff, but a bad workman blames his tools as they say.

Anyone else feel like this?

Greetings rachmaninov uk

You are still young and have a lot to learn. Find yourself a good teacher, put in the time to do the "boring stuff" and you'll find that your fingers will start to move faster. Then maybe you'll be worthy of a better instrument!

I say this, because I was young once and could have been much better than I am at present, but I didn't have the dedication and dicipline to acheive my potential at that age.

My mother told me that one day, I'd regret quitting piano (at 14). When I was 46, I started back and took lessons again and I realized how wise my mother's words were.

Now I'm 54 and persevering at working on my Grade 10 RCM piano and plan to keep playing well into my retirement.

So, get to it, time is a-wasting! One day you'll realize just how short life is, so make the most of your the time you have and your talent.

End of sermon.


Cheers


Father allthumbs



 

[allthumbs]

I knew I was good when I was 9
Now that I am 57, I know that I am better than average, but not great....
But I can Dream can't I

Sure you can! What's important is that you enjoy playing. You may never hit Carnegie Hall, but I bet the people who love you and are your friends are thrilled when you play for them.

Cheers

allthumbs

[allthumbs]

i'd say im ranked 1 000 034th in the world.

Boy, you must be good!! Do you know how many good pianists there are in the world?

Cheers

[allthumbs]

Visiting this site made me realize what a casual piano player I am.  I thought that with working a full time job and practicing piano about 5-7 hours a week, that I was dedicated.  But then I read about many of you practicing 3 plus hours a day!!

I also notice that you all often list pieces that I would consider among the more advanced rep as "easy."  I think it just goes to show how perspectives vary.

Compared to 99 percent of the population on this site, I'm sure I'd be considered an extremely inferior pianist and yet most people I know couldn't tell you where middle C is located.

Bottom line, I'm just glad I have the piano in my life.  It's brought me a great deal of joy and continues to excite and challenge me as I continue to learn new things.

That being said, I fully acknowledge that I am lower than the navel lint belonging to the rabid dust bunnies that are breeding, as we speak,  under my bed.

Right On!!!

[G.W.K]

I have been playing the piano and E flat Tenor Horn since the age of 13...I'm now 17 and I am still rubbish...even when I try to learn things! Nothing seems to penetrate...maybe because I'm male...

G.W.K

[pianist1runner]

Ya I thought i was kinda good. but then when i started talking to ppl i found that i dont know nothing bout piano.  all i  know is how to play it 

[amelialw]

well, you have to face the fact that no matter what, there is someone else that is better than you 

For me, I don't bother about all these things, I just do my best and let other people who hear me play have the say to it and comment but I don't take the comments to heart. The other thing is my teacher said i'm probably the best student of her's now, so yeah...

[keyofc]

I have not listened to the music in the audition rooms because I'm computer-tech challenged - but I have heard a lot of fantastic music in concerts, cds.

There will always be someone that can play faster - better tone - whatever - than the next.
I have also noticed that even in the teaching forum, certain pieces are called "easy" when most people that I know, myself including have found them challenging.  And I am a teacher.   Is this a mixture of technical skill and wisdom or is it technical skill and exaggerated egos?  I think the latter.

I think that the most important part about being a musician after the basic elements - is developing your own style.  Learning how to communicate - A person can play a concerto and make it come alive or they can bore you to tears no matter how fast they play and how many mordents, trills, etc. are in it.

Since I write my own music - I feel no one could play it as well as me - because it is something I'm passionate about.  My music is not difficult for me - but it's coming from somewhere inside of me.

If you have music coming from the inside of you and I try to play it the way you do - I may sound ok, but it will never sound the way you do - because it is more than music when it comes out of your own being...

Another thing I thought of - I was in one of Randall Faber's workshops a couple of years ago (Guy who wrote the Faber books)  He is obviously a very good pianist - but he was telling about a time he was in a hotel lobby - and the pianist playing lacked technique - yet he was making everyone smile and feel good.  He was using this as a caution not to overstress technique so much that you forget why you are playing...

So I guess what I'm saying - is it's great and important to improve - but in the process, we should respect oursevles as musicians. 

Another question you might ask yourself - is when you're relaxing - what kind of music do you prefer to hear?  The technically perfect - or the soul touching music?

[c18cont]

Thanks, Keyofc,

You make at least me, feel better about my limits of today. I agree with your observations, for the most part...and I found all this to be true as one ages, and changes their own perspective and expectations...My absolute infallibility of my teen years is 55 years back ...and in fact, turns out I was very fallible...!!!!

John Cont

[thorn]

I admit that i listen to some performances here, or talk to people younger than me about repertoire and think- wow that is just amazing that they can play like that.

But at the end of the day i never compare myself with them because everyone is different; you cant possibly put any two people on the same scale; im sure everyone here has something about them that no one else does; something personal.

When I watch videos of 12 year olds playing Chopin or Liszt I feel desperately sorry for them because nine times out of ten they are chinese pianists who have blatantly been locked in practise rooms for hours at a time from the age of 3/4. Its child abuse if you think about it and it really does make me want to cry.

The last (local) music competition i entered had an 8 year old chinese girl who played the first movement of a Beethoven Sonata and the Chopin E minor waltz (the one that was on Grade 8 syllabus a few years back) and then went on to play some pieces on the violin. And im sorry, but whatever anyone else says- that is NOT normal. 8 year olds are meant to be out having fun; exploring their environment; making friends- they have their whole lives ahead of them to learn such pieces.

[amarsbar]

When I watch videos of 12 year olds playing Chopin or Liszt I feel desperately sorry for them because nine times out of ten they are chinese pianists who have blatantly been locked in practise rooms for hours at a time from the age of 3/4. Its child abuse if you think about it and it really does make me want to cry.

Lol, I agree but sometimes I wish i'd been locked up and forced to practice, because by now i'd be pretty good.

O yeah, woot, first post.

[quasimodo]

Lol, I agree but sometimes I wish i'd been locked up and forced to practice because by now i'd be pretty good

I doubt it. If you needed to be locked to practice, that means you didn't (don't?) have the drive to let you become "good".

[gerry]

hhhmmmm......actually....

i feel like i am surrounded by people who cares exceedingly so much about speed, about what the hardest pieces ever written, about can-you-play-chopet-10/1-in-30-seconds?, about how-many-hours-do-you-practice?, and about....well, God knows the rest....

now, do i feel less good?

yeah, in a way. i feel sad. tds

I agree. I'm relatively new to this forum (and probably a bit older than many members) and am still scanning the posts to get a feeling for quality and quantity. My initial impression is that students today seem to be overly concerned with speed and adding difficult pieces to their repertoire--maybe a result of having much more (too much?) access to recordings and videos than I in my early years. This in too many cases can lead to attempts to imitate rather than seek one's own interpretation--or, at worst, become frustrated at not being able to achieve the same results. Personally, I put much more weight on a superbly musical rendering of "Liebestraum" than I do on a bombastic, though technically challenging "Gaspard" and the like. Don't get me wrong, there is place for all genres of music and I love them all. The point I'm trying to make is that there seems to be a tendency of many on this site (maybe it's just due to youth) to exhalt somewhat superficial aspects of musicianship while dismissing the most important ones. I sense much more concern and anxiety about how to achieve speed than I do about how to achieve singing and meaningful melodic phrases. I welcome the few voices of wisdom that chime in now and then. The value of this forum to me so far is to keep me close to the pulse of what's driving young musicians today. Like you, what I'm seeing makes me a bit sad but who knows, maybe they know something I don't.

[dutch_pianist]

when I first heard a recording of myself I found that I was actually playing faster than I thought I had. but I made a lot of mistakes. There are a lot of better pianists out there, and  I will never have a career in pianoplaying.

But who cares? there are also a lot of people who like the fact that I'm playing classical music, I don't know anyone in person except my teacher who can play better than me. And those who hear me don't give anything about the mistakes I make, because they don't know how the music is supposed to sound.

[themockingbird]

I agree. I'm relatively new to this forum (and probably a bit older than many members) and am still scanning the posts to get a feeling for quality and quantity. My initial impression is that students today seem to be overly concerned with speed and adding difficult pieces to their repertoire--maybe a result of having much more (too much?) access to recordings and videos than I in my early years. This in too many cases can lead to attempts to imitate rather than seek one's own interpretation--or, at worst, become frustrated at not being able to achieve the same results.

You're right. As a young (21), intermediate amateur (and someone who, according to the note at the top of this window, shouldn't be posting in this section) I'd also like to make the suggestion that over here at least (England, that is - sorry, I don't know where most people on this board are from), children and young adults are being raised in a very assessment-based environment. Obviously I have no first-hand experience to compare with 'how things used to be', and I am sure that most people I ask will probably look at the past through rose-tinted glasses, but we are constantly being tested more and more and at the same time we are being told more and more that our achievements are practically worthless. Every year, around mid-August time, the press always latches on to the 'exams are getting easier' idea and tells us that getting an A grade A level is really worth very little, because the exams are easier/the subject is pointless/we don't have any other skills other than being able to pass exams...and yet most of us aren't really given any other options. OK I'm painting quite a bleak picture, but you get the idea.

As far as music is concerned, this could translate over to taking practical exams, where obviously the content becomes more and more difficult as you progress, as well as being expected to create a better overall performance. This, coupled with your point that we have more access to videos and recordings than older players may have done, means we are more likely and more able to compare ourselves with other people (seeing as this is more or less what almost all standard grading systems are based upon, and every student knows this) and therefore feel that we have to be able to develop technical ability rather than just being able to fall in love with the music, however simple it may be. I'm sure there is more to it than what I've suggested, but it does seem to be a part of it.

Well, you might disagree and I will understand if you do, that was just my gut reaction when I read your post so I thought I'd put in my two cents.

[shingo]

I suppose to some extent I thought I was beter than I was, just because I wasn't exposed to a piano community before, noone I know plays the piano in my social group etc so i just didn't have the scope. I knew I wasn't really good but I thought I was doing alright.

Now I notice that I am much more inferior, but in a way (as others have said above) this generally helps motivate me at times, for instance someone much youger playing a piece I am finding difficult. Obviously age to some extent does not matter, they may have practiced more, had more natural talent etc but it still manages to focus me.

However it does not matter to me that 90% + of the people on here are better than me, as there will always be people better than me. I am not in it to be the best, merely to enjoy myself and progress at a rate which satisfies me.

[mswaller]

If you think you've reached a point in your playing where your great, you're in trouble.  At least that's what I tell myself to feel better. 

[amelialw]

well, my piano teacher said it does'nt matter how old you are and the only thing that matters is that you know what you want and are working towards it.
I'm my teacher's oldest student right now,anyway i'm 20 working towards my ARCT Performer's dip. My teacher has another student who is 13 and she's doing the same just that she gets easier/less mature pieces.
Once I just felt so depressed when I knew she had reached the same level as me. My teacher just gently told me that it was'nt my fault that I had a late start with her and all that mattered is that I was just determined to suceed not for anyone else but only me.
Somehow after that I just felt so motivated that I begun to work so hard and that was the beginning of this year and my teacher was so suprised. Now as you all know i'll be competing for the 1st time in Nov.

[frombachtobarber]

I've always thought I was rubbish, and this site confirms it.
Which, of course, inspires me to practice even more. 

[forester]

Actually, Nick. I really thought I wasn't so good until I joined this forum and now I realize how truly f...ing amazing I really am.

[nick]

Actually, Nick. I really thought I wasn't so good until I joined this forum and now I realize how truly f...ing amazing I really am.

great!

Nick

[pianoprincess15]

Hi! I still think im a good piano player even though i know that there are kids younger than me who can play better. im 16 by the way. But even if the kids CAN play something more compicated, it doesnt mean that they are brill at everything. they could be crap at sight reading or havnt a clue about scales or anything at all. And plus, would they really appreciate the music they were playing if they were only like 7 or 8? i dont think they would. Maybe some kids do but i wouldnt imagine very many of them would. Im on grade 6 now and i started at age nine.

[pianochick93]

I think I am pretty good for my age, but there are people way better.

I don't consider piano as something I want to do all my life as a concert performer or anything (not yet anyway).
I am almost as good as my piano teacher, and though I am only doing a grade 4 exam, I am playing pieces at a 6/7/8th grade level.

By the way, I'm new here, so hi all. Sorry if this is the wrong thread.

[thalberg]

No such thing as a wrong thread, honey.  Stop by the introduction thread when you have a few minutes.  Welcome!   

[lostinidlewonder]

I am a professional musician and I meet many people every week who I think can play pieces much better than me (this is something not many pros with sensitive egos would admit to, and there are many of them ). I don't get upset about this, I am extremely happy when I do see people playing a piece better than I can. I guess we all have a kind of ego and feeling of self worth and I would have to admit that in the back of my head when do I hear someone who plays a piece better than I, I level it to the fact that I haven't practice with the piece they play, and I pay them respect for the work they have done in an area I have not touched.

However when they play something I do play it is simply different to how I play, but this doesn't mean that they are better or worse. Determining if they are better or worse is a useless path to take, it leads nowhere unless it inspires you, but that is a bad source of inspiration for your music. You do not study music to be better than others, you study it because you love the sound first and foremost.

Students of music should listen to those better than themselves and notice what is in fact is better sounding than their own playing. This is helpful for our ears, I did countless listening to recordings of top musical quality, one particulary was the playing of Liszt 12 Transcendentale Etudes by Claudio Arrau which I believed was most superior of all the recordings (that isn't to say that it is, its my opinion). I was in my early teens and to listen to someone play such difficult works with such control and expression, it all seemed very far away from me. But these recordings acted as some sort of scaffolding, helping me to construct how I would like to play the etude.

Listen to people who impress you and find out what you like about it! It is helpful stuff, but don't go thinking ohhhh they are better than me and spiral into depression/anxiety. Ok, they are better and now this has only one constructive use to yourself, that you can expect to learn from it! Also you should enjoy listening to people who are better than yourself, imagine if you where the best there was...... that would suck, everyones playing would seem suboptimal. I do find the more you know about music the more the enjoyment for listening to other people reduce because you are always looking out for the optimal way. With more musical knowledge comes more burdens and thus more things irritate you if you dont hear it. Eventually even us musicians have to learn to "turn off" our critical mind and just listen, or music just becomes stupid. I use to love that old Beethoven LP recording when I was a kid, now I realise that the pianist was wrong and I the love for that is somewhat contorted.

[thalbergmad]

I thought i was crap before i came here.

Now i know it.

Thal

[shamu]

Not really, how many other 13 year olds can play advanced Burgmuller, and Classic (not watered down) Ragtime?

[thalbergmad]

how many other 13 year olds can play advanced Burgmuller,

Thousands i would have thought as there are many 13 year olds that can play advanced Liszt.

Thal

[matterintospirit]

Hi,

I thought i was quite a good pianist, until i joined this site and listened to a 14 year old playin chopin in the audition room! lol. It's just made me realise how rubbish i actually am. i mean i memorised most of chopin's nocturne in b flat and moonlight sonata when i was 16, and im now 21. I had a few lessons at school when i was 14, but i found it boring. But i've been playin at home ever since. Im learning Liszt's liebestraum no.3 but theres a bit where it goes quite fast and i just can't move my fingers fast enough! it's really annoying. Maybe it's because my piano is very old and the keys are quite stiff, but a bad workman blames his tools as they say.

Anyone else feel like this?

We're all crap. That is the message to us from the Masters. Then a life-time struggle of not being crap. Then you die.

[jinfiesto]

Hahah I thought I was good before. I still think I'm good. I know there are lots of people that are better than me, and can play better than I can, but whatever. It makes me happy to hear really good performances.

[lostinidlewonder]

When I was young I thought I was good the best, no one could beat me. Winning competitions pushed this feeling of superiority, getting musical awards from government, learning from the best pianists in Australia etc. Now I don't think about good or bad because it is a stupid way to think. If I think im good I put my music down, I make my music seem like it can be enslaved and I can whip it and slave drive it anywhere I want. To me thinking you are good makes your music experience pretty feel empty and heartless.

The same applies when you think you are really crap. The idea is not to think at all! Not to say you are good or you are bad but instead say, you are doing! I still get asked by people who find out I can play, Oh are you any good? I always say, I'm probably better than you, but only because I've practiced more, and they will laugh because they don't even play

Someone who plays music rarely will ask you, are you any good? They will simply ask you what can you play and the music itself stands for itself. Some people might think if you play an early Mozart Sonata you are brilliant, some might think you are just starting out at the piano, so who is to say what is good or bad?

Thinking you are too good can damage your progress. I started learning pieces much harder than I should and probably wasted 20-30% of my time doing so. I had to start questioning do I like music just to play harder and harder stuff? What is the point in that?? I got the the stage where I was thinking, man I can play all these damn hard pieces which probably less than 1% of pianists play but who really cares and what does that mean? It is meaningless, it just means you can do it, but so what? You don't study music to play harder and harder pieces, that is just totally useless. You play music so you can play music you enjoy, full stop!

The reality is that since the Baby Boomer generation the world has become extremely competitive. Getting the best, achieveing the highest etc etc. It is sickening. Its not to say that the competitive mind hasn't been here since the beginning of time, but it gets out of hand in the life we live now. Look at all these competitions on TV. urrg, why are we so interested in who wins or whos the best? I use to be so interested in the best but I never knew why, it was more of a selfish desire to get better I guess, an impure way to inspire yourself.

[dmc]

I've always lived by the credo that no matter how good you are, there's always somebody somewhere who is better (or will be better at some point).  Nowhere is it more true than in the classical music world.

But I don't look at this as a competition anyway because I'm not trying to be famous (too old for it anyway).  If I hear someone who just blows me away, I try to take the route of how I can learn something from this person.  We all are a product of our influences anyway.

Open your mind and you'll be amazed at what you can do !