New Student...

[waj4ever16]

Hey-
I happened upon this website this morning and liked what I saw. I noticed that a lot of the members here give good advice and there isn't a lot of flaming going on like in other forums that I'm in. I am very interested in learning the piano. I am going to give you a brief history so that you will better be able to understand my situation.

When I was little, my mom always wanted me to learn the piano but being "Black" it wasn't the cool thing to do so I never learned how to play although my mom was willing to teach me. Boy do I regret that decision. I am 22 years old and in my fourth year of college. One day I was listening to Yanni and my mom asked me the name of the song because she liked it a lot. The song was Reflections of Passion. I then got this great idea that I could surprise my mom by learning the piano (I go to school out of state so she wouldn't know that I'm learning it.) and playing the song for her on Mother's Day. My plan would be to fly back to Washington (where I'm originally from) and surprise her. We would then go out to a nice restaurant (with a piano of course) and I would give a short speech and surprise her with the song. Of course there would be more things involved but that is a rough sketch of what I'd do. My mom would LOVE it and I know it would make her cry because she's wanted me to learn the piano my whole life and she likes it when I do nice things for her.

Also, I have a girlfriend that likes to listen to popular songs on the piano i.e. A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton, Clocks by Coldplay, If I Ain't Got You by Alicia Keys and so forth. Basically the popular songs that have a piano in it. She has expressed an interest in these songs so I thought it would be cool to surprise her as well with my newfound talent.

I have done some research on the boards so I will spare you the noob questions.
1. I go to the University of Michigan and I was wondering if I should get a teacher outside of the music school or maybe hire a student in the music school as they might be cheaper?
2. I play basketball about 12-15 hours/week and although I'm pretty good, I don't see myself signing a contract with the Los Angeles Lakers anytime soon so I will definately be able to redirect some of those hours to playing the piano. All in all I project that I will be able to spend 2-3 hours/ day playing the piano. At this rate, would it be possible to comfortably play Reflections of Passion for my mom by Mother's Day? Maybe some of you don't know that song but you might know Yanni's work so you can give me an educated guess.
3. I don't want to be a spectacular piano player by any means but I would like to be able to play popular songs like the ones I mentioned above. Now I don't want you to think that I'm only willing to put in 3-4 months of hard work to play this stuff but if you were to tell me that it would take me 3-4 years to comfortable play these song's I would be cool with that. So i guess my question is how long would it take (on average) for someone to be playing those songs?

Sorry my post is so long but I wanted to explain my situation. I appreciate any help you guys can give me. Thanks!

[choykaiwen]

Different people have different learning rates. Some dudes, at the end of their 1st year, are already playing grade 8 pieces (or so they claim). Because you basically start from zero, your teacher would probably spend the first few months teaching you the absolute basics. And from there, you have a good gauge of how fast you are progressing.

Perhaps you can try specifically telling your teacher which pieces you wish to master, sort of like a crash course. I had a few friends who were in a similar situation like you (surprise mothers/girlfriends, impress chicks) who learnt only 1-2 songs in a short period of time. They don't really end up playing the piece 100% well, but their audience probably doesn't care (or realise it) anyway.

[waj4ever16]

Any other comments that can possibly help me out? Anything is appreciated as I am a newbie.

[jazzyprof]

First of all,...Go Blue!

Second, I know several piano students at the U of M music school who would be happy to give you a crash course for a small fee.  Some of them are specializing in piano pedagogy. 

Third, you say you never learned how to play even though your mom was willing to teach you.  That implies that when you were growing up there was a piano in the house and that you saw and heard your mom play?  Is that correct?  If that's the case, chances are that you have the sound of the piano in your ear, have a decent sense of rhythm, and that you may even have fiddled around a bit at the piano.  You can probably sing a basic scale..."doh re mi fa..etc..."  Maybe you can pick out the C major scale on the piano?  If that's the case you should be able to play a simplified version of Reflections of Passion in just a couple of months.  You won't be able to play it like Yanni but you will be able to surprise and please your mom. 

Fourth, since your immediate goal is to play one particular song, I will make the radical suggestion that the quickest path to that goal is to learn it by ear and by imitating what somebody (your teacher maybe) shows you.  While I don't know that particular song, Yanni's style is based on very simple melodies so the thing to do is to first be able to sing that melody.  You will be playing the melody in the right hand using single notes, one finger at a time.  Melodies come from scales and so if you know your basic major scale you will recognise scale fragments in the melody.  Next you will need an accompaniment.  This is what you do with the left hand.  Initially you will start out with a simple, single note bass line.  The hard part for beginners is synchronising left hand and right hand.  You should be able to learn that within a couple weeks.   I believe that in just a couple of weeks to one month you should be able to play the melody and a simple bass line.  Then you begin to enrich this simple arrangement by adding more notes in the left hand to make chords.

If you can truly spend 2-3 hours a day at the piano (which is actually a lot) you will certainly be able to play a simple version of Reflections of Passion by Mother's Day.

[waj4ever16]

Hey,
It's always good to see a fellow Michigan fan on here. I'm assuming that you either went here or know people that do go here. You are correct in the sense that I heard my mom playing the piano and have messed around with it growing up. But, I am not that advanced. I would actually say that I'm about 1or 2 steps up from an absolute beginner in that I have memorized some pieces and play them every once in awhile to make sure that I don't forget them. I know probably about 2 scales and bits and pieces of other information related to the piano.

Since you say you know some students around here I would be more than happy to get in contact with them to get lessons. Anything for a fellow student.  Thank you for your suggestions and I hope to hear from you soon!

[sthornburg]

Hey-
I happened upon this website this morning and liked what I saw. I noticed that a lot of the members here give good advice and there isn't a lot of flaming going on like in other forums that I'm in. I am very interested in learning the piano. I am going to give you a brief history so that you will better be able to understand my situation.

When I was little, my mom always wanted me to learn the piano but being "Black" it wasn't the cool thing to do so I never learned how to play although my mom was willing to teach me. Boy do I regret that decision. I am 22 years old and in my fourth year of college. One day I was listening to Yanni and my mom asked me the name of the song because she liked it a lot. The song was Reflections of Passion. I then got this great idea that I could surprise my mom by learning the piano (I go to school out of state so she wouldn't know that I'm learning it.) and playing the song for her on Mother's Day. My plan would be to fly back to Washington (where I'm originally from) and surprise her. We would then go out to a nice restaurant (with a piano of course) and I would give a short speech and surprise her with the song. Of course there would be more things involved but that is a rough sketch of what I'd do. My mom would LOVE it and I know it would make her cry because she's wanted me to learn the piano my whole life and she likes it when I do nice things for her.

Also, I have a girlfriend that likes to listen to popular songs on the piano i.e. A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton, Clocks by Coldplay, If I Ain't Got You by Alicia Keys and so forth. Basically the popular songs that have a piano in it. She has expressed an interest in these songs so I thought it would be cool to surprise her as well with my newfound talent.

I have done some research on the boards so I will spare you the noob questions.
1. I go to the University of Michigan and I was wondering if I should get a teacher outside of the music school or maybe hire a student in the music school as they might be cheaper?
2. I play basketball about 12-15 hours/week and although I'm pretty good, I don't see myself signing a contract with the Los Angeles Lakers anytime soon so I will definately be able to redirect some of those hours to playing the piano. All in all I project that I will be able to spend 2-3 hours/ day playing the piano. At this rate, would it be possible to comfortably play Reflections of Passion for my mom by Mother's Day? Maybe some of you don't know that song but you might know Yanni's work so you can give me an educated guess.
3. I don't want to be a spectacular piano player by any means but I would like to be able to play popular songs like the ones I mentioned above. Now I don't want you to think that I'm only willing to put in 3-4 months of hard work to play this stuff but if you were to tell me that it would take me 3-4 years to comfortable play these song's I would be cool with that. So i guess my question is how long would it take (on average) for someone to be playing those songs?

Sorry my post is so long but I wanted to explain my situation. I appreciate any help you guys can give me. Thanks!

[sthornburg]

Go for it!  You're much younger than me, I'm sure.  Here's my story....less than two years ago, I began playing the piano and taking lessons.  While we had a piano in our home growing up, only my mom and two sisters played - I both listened and enjoyed music - my area was choral, so I did learn to read music throughout my school years.  At first, my music teacher took me through some basic books to get the basics down.  I then started selecting pieces I'd hear and want to learn.  Since my mother played a few 40s and 50s songs that I enjoyed, I, too, selected a book of this style of music, and began to prepare a song for my first ever piano recital that my mom used to play (Maria Elena.)
In April, with my mom and sister in attendance at my recital, I was thrilled to surprise them with that piece.  My wonderfully encouraging mom said that I played it better than she did.  I played an encore at her 80th birthday gathering for many more family members.  I'm now preparing to play a few family songs for Christmas, and by next recital would like to play a waltz that my grandmother played - I have the joy of playing her piano.  I will pray for your motivation and practice time, and will look forward to hearing any updates.

[jazzyprof]

Since you say you know some students around here I would be more than happy to get in contact with them to get lessons. Anything for a fellow student.  Thank you for your suggestions and I hope to hear from you soon!

Check your personal messages.  I've sent you the names and email addresses of a few people at the U of M who can give you lessons.

[sleepingcats]

Go for it.  If it will make you Mom happy, do it!

My Mom died a few months ago.  I wish I had finished more pieces for her, but she was just happy to hear a piano in person no matter what I played.

When I started lessons as a teenager, she said she'd love to hear Fur Elise.  Although it was advanced for me at that point, my teacher helped me, and I learned it and even played it at a recital.  After 3 years, I quit piano, then restarted 2.5 years ago. (25-year break from the piano!). Whenever she came over to my home, she loved to listen to anything at all, even scales!

If you are determined enough, you can do anything.  Good luck!

[lisztianick]

Yeah, I say go for it dude.

You seem to be able to accomplish some good things in a small amount of time. If you just put something as a goal you really want to achieve you will surprised that you can reach it sooner than you think.