Late starter

[franzliszt2]

Hi

I'm a late starter at piano, I began at age 11. However I loved it, and practiced loads. I'm 17 now and going to royal college of music in september. However I am really scared that everyone will be better than me, and my late start at the piano will be my downfall.
Is starting late such a bad thing? Will everyone who started at 6 and even younger be 5 years ahead of me? or are those early years slow development because they are young. I understood everything very fast, and could play lots of stuff aftera year, and passed my grade 8 with distinction by the age of 14. However if I did that, surely younger people will have done all that befeore there teens.

I was lucky in a way that I got a great teacher at 14, and he pushed me very hard, and got me working on big pieces. "chopin ballades, scherzo's, rachmaninoff preludes etc... all the standered "big" repertoire. He also sorted my technique which he said was good to start with. He says that I will not be behind other students at the conservatoire in terms of technique, but only in the amount of repertoire covered. Could this be true?

In short... I am petrified about going, I start in september, and am very excited, but aghhhhhhh what if they all a million times better than me!!. Has anyone else felt like this, or been in this situation. My teacher says I'm not to worry, but I just can't help it, I was accepted into every college in UK except royal academy, but everyone seems so much better than me. Everyone I met at my auditions were playing since the age of 5 and had been to specialist music schools like chethams.

Thanks

[henrah]

There will always been someone better than you, so there's no need to panic about it. They may be better than you technically, but what about musically? Getting nervous and worrying about things like this is natural, so just accept it until you're there.
Henrah

[cloches_de_geneve]

Maybe you should have a look at A. Brendel's biography. He started to play late, he gave his first recital at age 18 or 19 and become known only after age 40. And where is he now? Somewhere in the top ten I would say. So, you don't have to worry, just be very determined and very patient!

[panic]

The idea of starting late in music in general can be daunting, as music is commonly portrayed as one of those fields you have to be a child prodigy to succeed in. But remember this: Anton Bruckner (a composer, not a performer, but the above social norm applies no less), widely considered one of the greatest symphonists of all time, started his first symphony at about age 43.

[lostinidlewonder]

Studying music should not be a competition either. There is no "better" or "worse" it is all up in peoples minds. I often hear amature pianists play so brilliantly I think, why is there recordings on CD's which sound so much worse than this?

When you study at the school you should think about YOURSELF not others. You are there to develop your ability not try to compete (although piano tutors at univeristies can get pretty competitive with their students). Meditate on the fact that you are a musical being, you create sound unique with your own signature and style, this is true for every single person. The way we touch the piano is all unique, and so too the sound produced. Perhaps you might admire how other people do it and wish you could do the same, but this is fooling yourself, you in the end find your own way, not copy like a parrot. So even if you see a student play something incredibly difficult don't feel jealous, admire the sound, observe the art. A wise man never tells a fool to shut up, he listens, whatever a wise man hears will only make him wiser, use that for when you listen to others play the piano too. There is no Good or Bad, every person will teach you something about piano whether they are better or worse than yourself.

[letters]

i think that, having got a distinction in grade 8 at 14, you are by no means worse than the students going to the college. I think your teacher is right however in that you may have covered less repertoire. however i think going to the college will allow you to work on this, because you will be devoting so much more time to playing the piano. It sounds like you get lots of encouragement and assurance from your teacher and when you go to the college i would definitely keep in touch with him/her and in the holidays etc continue to have lessons with them. It sounds like you already put a lot of commitment and effort into your piano playing so i think you will have no problems at the college!

[g_s_223]

Congratulations on your place at the RCM! 

I wouldn't worry too much about technique once you have got to this level. What starts to matter now is the interpretation and projection of the music. Quite a bit of that only comes with maturity and life experiences anyway: in these you are by definition pretty much exactly at the same level as all the other 18-year old entrant students.

My tip: play lots of chamber music when you get there - it's very educational and you will build a valuable network of future colleagues.

[superstition2]

Brucker was a violin prodigy, so he doesn't count.

I think, once you've passed into puberty, it's too late. As with language acquisition, the extreme dexterity needed to make it into the upper echelon of performers is acquired when the brain is developing quickly. I bet that many child prodigies would have been unable to become great performers if they hadn't been exposed to music until age 14. Studies of string players have found higher neural density in the parts of the brain used for dexterity among string players who started as young children. Those who started during or after puberty had a lower density. Tennis players start really young. So do badminton players. It's very unlikely that anyone can become a top pianist if they weren't already an instrument player before puberty.

[nervous_wreck]

i know how that feels... i started at 12, and i'm 15 now. my general experience though, is that if you have the basic talent, all it takes is a little extra work than every body else, and you can catch up in no time. when you get there they may be better than you, but after hanging around them for a little while, and realizing where you need to set the bar, i'm sure you will catch up.

[crazy for ivan moravec]

Hi

I'm a late starter at piano, I began at age 11. However I loved it, and practiced loads. I'm 17 now and going to royal college of music in september. However I am really scared that everyone will be better than me, and my late start at the piano will be my downfall.
Is starting late such a bad thing? Will everyone who started at 6 and even younger be 5 years ahead of me? or are those early years slow development because they are young. I understood everything very fast, and could play lots of stuff aftera year, and passed my grade 8 with distinction by the age of 14. However if I did that, surely younger people will have done all that befeore there teens.

I was lucky in a way that I got a great teacher at 14, and he pushed me very hard, and got me working on big pieces. "chopin ballades, scherzo's, rachmaninoff preludes etc... all the standered "big" repertoire. He also sorted my technique which he said was good to start with. He says that I will not be behind other students at the conservatoire in terms of technique, but only in the amount of repertoire covered. Could this be true?

In short... I am petrified about going, I start in september, and am very excited, but aghhhhhhh what if they all a million times better than me!!. Has anyone else felt like this, or been in this situation. My teacher says I'm not to worry, but I just can't help it, I was accepted into every college in UK except royal academy, but everyone seems so much better than me. Everyone I met at my auditions were playing since the age of 5 and had been to specialist music schools like chethams.

Thanks

sigh, those were the days... i had the same situation, exactly the same! although i started at a later age than you, 14. now i'm graduating with a bachelors degree in piano performance.

your teacher is right. you're only problem is the repertoire, but technique shouldn't be a worry for you if your teacher says so coz it isn't. technique is something we can all acquire in time and effort. you might be surprised to find out that there are lots of those who started early like 5, but you might have overtaken them with technique. you're so lucky to have studied with a good teacher because you wouldn't be in RCM if he did a bad job. i must say i was in a worse situation.. i didn't a have a good teacher when i started at 14. i came in as a freshman barely being able to play bach 2 part inventions! those different articulations would already drive me crazy! and i felt like i was the worst pianist in town coz all of my batchmates would play chopin etudes already, or ballades, etc.
well, with all the hard work, i succeeded. yes,  i'm still insecure about my playing coz i know i can do more. but im happy with how i improved and that's all that matters. i shouldn't have even compared myself to them before because now after reaching their level, it doesn't feel any different. i still have to practice some more!:)

so don't worry. don't compete to be the best among pianists. rather, compete with yourself, always strive to be a better pianist than how you are now. internal (yourself) achievement is always better than external (other people).

[jlh]

I don't think you have anything to worry about, technically.  I also have doubts about any repertory deficiencies (this is a blind assumption, not knowing your rep).  I say that because as a young child starting in piano, studies generally progress slowly because for one, the child's motor functions have not yet matured, so even if they understand what they're doing, it will be difficult to actually do it.  There are exceptions, of course.  Studies have also shown that the part of the brain that processes music is not fully developed until the child is like 10-12 years old.  Later beginners are able to progress at a faster rate because the brain is more fully developed, allowing for faster growth in both dexterity and musicality.  That's not to say there's not great value in starting a child early in music, but just to say that it's not a bad thing to start later.

Something worth mentioning is the fact that given the SAME amount of talent, privelege, work ethic, etc., a 6 year old beginner with a bad teacher will not go as far in the music world as a 12 year old beginner with a good teacher.  It makes a big difference.

I started piano lessons at the age of 11 and am now pursuing my masters in piano performance at ASU. 

Good luck in September!!

[gruffalo]

I started at the age of 5. I got distinction with grade 8 at 14 and grade 8 distinction singing at 12. Teachers always tell me that 14 is very young for grade 8. Im worried now because after that time, i started getting lazy with music. My only repertoire i can remember before the last 2 years is just the grade pieces. and my repertoire isnt very large at the moment. I wouldnt be so worried at the moment if i was going for singing, but i want to be a proffesional pianist and an Opera singer. You shouldnt be worrying because you seem to have tackled some difficult repertoire i.e. ballades and scherzos etc. i havent done any largescale pieces. my teacher says if i follow his plan, i stand in good stead (spelling?) to get into good conservatoires, but i have to put in *** loads of work in the summer. In my opinion, if they let you into the conservatoire, you are of a suitable standard to work their, and yea there will be better people or worse people than you, but in the end they let you in because you are at the standard they expect. be proud of yourself for getting in, and remind yourself of situations like mine, where i screwed up because i didnt work during my teens. sometimes it can be good starting like 10,11 because you have a refreshed interest in the piano. in my case, i had studied from when i couldnt remember studying, so it became the norm and i got bored of studying grades. it was the teacher at that time who ruined me, didnt give me an interesting repertoire he was lazy too.