Stuck, need advice

[russianfingers]

I’ve been playing the piano for 8 years now and I would say I'm pretty good. Some of the things I’m fond of in my repertoire are: shortened version of Rhapsody in Blue, the original Moonlight Sonata, and a very difficult piece for me at the moment, the Montagues and Capulets by Sergei Prokofiev. I love playing the piano and everyone tells me I play with a lot of feeling and at the same time precision. One of my talents is that I memorize everything that I play, and thanks to my teacher who has taught me for the whole 8 years I can play a dozen and a half pieces including the ones is listed above and another 9 or so waltzes, jazzes, sonatinas, and concertos. The only problem is that I hate reading the sheet music. My teacher has recently died    from a stroke, and I have yet to learn how to pick up a piece of sheet music, sit down and start playing. I have tried 2 other teachers since, and none of them had the patience for me. The thing is, is that they are frustrated that my skill level is not supported by an ability to read sheet music of the same skill level, and play it.

I am stuck and don’t know what to do. Teachers are expensive, and the better the teacher, the more money they will charge  Should I just quit now? I love piano but unless I backtrack to “piano kindergarten” I will never be able to play anything other than the 12 pieces I am able to play today.
     

[celticqt]

I took about five years off of piano and now I'm kicking myself for it.  If I were you I would keep looking for a new teacher - I met mine in the music store, and when he heard that money was a potential problem, he said to just pay him whatever I could afford.  Now, I realize that is unusual, but if you really love to play and keep pursuing this with an open mind, something will work out.

If you quit something you love, you will always regret it. 

[m1469]

Well, first of all, welcome to pianostreet, russianfingers.  Also, I am sorry to hear about your teacher, that is hard.

Much of what you will continue to do, will depend on what you want to do.  What are some of your goals with your piano playing ?
 
More and more these days, I think there is not actually a "right" place to start.  There is no universal way for all pianists to start and there is no universal way for all pianists to develop.  What matters much more, is how one goes about what one does and wants to do.  Some people start with the suzuki method, which I don't know a lot about, but I know that much of the training to begin with is learning my ear and by rote.  Some people learn with hand "positions", some people do not.  There are many "methods" in the world that will help students to develop in all sorts of ways. 

Nobody can learn all there is to know about music and piano within a lifetime even, no matter what way they started,  let alone in 8 years.  That's increcibly exciting, don't you think ?  And piano/music learning is not a linear process, no matter how organized the education.  My point is that you are already developed in some ways, you have already had a beginning that was perfect for then, and that was your "piano kindergarten".  You have already been there and you cannot go back, there is no backtracking.  The good news is that this means you are ready for a new adventure.

Right now, already, you have a pool of understanding.  All one can ever do is add to that, part by part, making the pool deeper, bigger, richer.  At the same time, I think it would be impossible to delineate whether we learn something new without it relating to something we already know somewhere within us.  In other words, we learn what we are personally ready and prepared to learn.

So the trick is in discerning what it is you already have at your disposal, and then letting that serve you in your other endeavors.  For example, a developed ear and map of the piano topography will serve one's reading skills well.  Reading skills are simply one aspect of learning how to play piano music.  Just like learning to read a language, reading music enables the musician to have more options in what they learn.

I think piano and music learning (and learning in general) is like building a rock wall.

When a rock wall is built artistically, and without morter, there are several steps involved.  First, the rocks are sorted out from the pile so a clearer idea of what's actually there can be discerned.  Then certain rocks may get grouped together, depending on the project they are being used for.  Then the wall is started on.  Individual rocks are picked out and set into each other and the builder aims at allowing the tightest fit possible between these rocks (and it can look as though they were made to fit together).  When the main structure of the wall is built, or parts of the main structure of the wall is built, the builder's helper will follow through putting rock "shims" in the wall. 

I think with piano learning, we are always sorting, discerning what is there, building with our rocks and shimming along the way.  If you love piano and music, don't let the thoughts and feelings of others convince you out of what you want to do.  There is a lot one can do to help with one's reading, and as celticqt pointed out, there will be just the teacher for you when you if that's what you need. 

We all need loads of rocks, and we all need a little shimming along the way, and there is nothing wrong with that   .


m1469

[pianistimo]

a lot of sightreading IS going back to piano kindergarten.  don't be embarrassed (especially if you are in the privacy of your own practice room).  take out some REALLY easy music to you and just keep it fresh every week (so you can't practice stuff you already sightread pretty well).  the key is to find things you haven't heard before (because as you say, then you play from ear/memory).

one of the 'rocks', imo, is the idea that you HAVE to play fast.  this is so wrong.  even in juries, if you are sightreading , they are looking for a flow to the piece. 

here's the order of what i do:

i scan the piece for the key signature, time signature, the measures with the fastest notes (and gauge tempo from that).

then, i listen to the piece in my head (this takes just a minute to calm down and start thinking about intervals)

see if you are right about what you hear and what you play when you begin to sightread the music.

don't bother marking notes you hit wrong (accidentals) because if you do at the beginning, you will forever be doing this.  try to remember across the line (or from the particular measure the good sound the right accidental makes).

if you hit a few notes that are wrong DON'T STOP.  stopping interrupts the flow of sightreading.

(pretend you are playing for a choir or something, and you absolutely cannot stop - so you maintain the beat)

after a couple of months of just sightreading pieces, try to add dynamics the first time through.  this means scanning ahead - or BETTER YET  marking the score before you play the first time.  marking can be either in your head or with highlighter.

hope these tips help!

[alzado]

Reply to some points by Pianisstimo.

I really don't have any difficulty in writing in a sharp or a flat.  Sometimes where the measure is a long one, and with complex chords, this can be useful.

Sometimes if there's a base note with many leger marks (up to at least 6), I may write in the note, such as "C" or "F#".   

Sometimes where the right hand thumb has to reach down and pick up the top of a left-hand chord, I will write a little "scoop" mark in pencil to indicate that.  Otherwise, it is a guaranteed mistake.  And yes, some composers WILL write a left hand chord that is MORE THAN A TENTH INTERVAL.  (The darn rascals!!)  Satie does this not infrequently.

If a person writes such little reminders in a light pencil, you can usually erase them after you have learned the piece.  I mean, if you even care.

If the goal of sight-reading is to play a piece the first time through at nearly professional skill, then I don't sightread.  However, I have to really READ everything because I have been playing a lot of material I have never heard or seen before.  My piano teacher has never seen a lot of it before either, so there's a limit to what she can do to help me. 

I don't know if this contradicts anything Pianisstimo wrote or not, but after playing a piece through a few times, I may concentrate on one particular section, or one group of measures, if that is where most mistakes are occurring.  I don't know if that is the same as "stopping" or not.

Most of all that Pianisstimo writes is very excellent.  I do enjoy these discussions!