your piano training

[nick]

Hello all. I was wondering when others started piano lessons, and did you continue for years once you started. My own experience is my parents sent me to lessons at about 10 yrs. old, and I was allowed to quite after about a month. I then started again on my own at age 17 and continued through college. Any input would be interesting. Thanks!

Nick

[joca_hdj]

I don't know anybody how quit and than started again,but i know several guys how started playing piano at the age of 17,for the first time.
They got so musch into it ,that they have practised for 10 hours a day and make up the lost time.
Trust me ,they play better now then most of the people how have gone to school regulary.
Could be that their passon and devotion helped them out!!!

Jovan

[quantum]

I started around 9, reluctantly.  But during the first lesson I realized I kind of liked it.  I threatened to quit several times but never really got to it. 

[thalbergmad]

I started lessons at 4 and stopped at 7.

Started at 10 and stopped at 12 & have carried on in a similar vein ever since.

So, after 38 years of intermittent teaching, i am now on my 11th teacher, who i have not seen for 18 months.

Anybody on here who actually wants to be a pianist, should not follow my system.

Thal

[letters]

my mum took me to a piano lesson when i was 5 and ive been with the same teacher ever since (im now 17). Ive done grades 1 3 4 5 7 8 with her and my lessons are now 45mins long rather than 30 mins which i had until i was about 15. I have one lesson a week but not in school holidays. I play every day for at least 30 mins.

[nanabush]

Started when I was about 8, took 30 minute lessons... started off slow, I had the worst focus and motivation when I was younger... at about 10 I was into the grades pretty well, not as fast as a child prodigy but I was doin ok.  Started hour long lessons around 12 years old, changed teachers at 13.  Then I started 1.5 hour lessons at around 15 and finished my grd 10 around there. (I'm in Canada, there's 10 grades then a single performance diploma).  I'm still with the same teacher, goin to 1.5 hour lessons still, and if I was slightly more motivated I'd go and do the performance diploma, but, I'm missing grd 4 history, so I can't qualify for the exam.... advice, if ther's prereqs.... do them as early as you can so ur not worrying last minute.  I've done several of those exams in the past year and a bit, and it's not fun, takes away from actual playing at lessons. 

[zheer]

  Developed an intrest in music at 7, sat at the piano at 11, started taking piano lessons at 12 - 16 from a non pianist, a composer/wind instrument player(oboe possibly), studied music at college and was sent briefly to study composition with a struggling composer. Was the expeld from college , thus the end of my musical education at 18. Recently had a few pianio lessons from a french pianist then dumed shortly after. Currently waiting to study music at Uni, though most Uni fail to acknowledge my intrest in music, fingers crossed.

[lau]

I started at age 8, thinking that piano was stupid and for girls.  I was also pretty slow, my first recital peice was just playing 2 notes over and over again. Then after 5 years, BAM! I was wizzing past the other kids. I had a very high interest in piano, and piano only, i didn't really like orchestra that much, and still don't. Everyone at school thinks i am a prodigy, mostly because i go after peices for to hard for my level.

What I think is that most non-musicans can't even tell if a peice is played well, so way should i waste my time perfecting everything? I think it  sounds good, until I hear the recording   

[sharon_f]

Took lessons for not quite 4 years when I was a teenager. (14 - 18 year of age.) Didn't touch the piano for almost 35 years. Got a Yammie upright as a gift and started taking lessons again a little over two years ago. I have an hour lesson every other week, sometimes longer between lessons if my teacher is away concertizing or giving masterclasses.

[blu217]

This is interesting.

I started piano at 7, just after-school lessons my mom got me into to keep me busy. I performed recitals and won a few competitions, but when it was time for college everyone thought I'd head off to be an English major. I decided I could continue to write without an English degree, but I could not evolve as a musician without intense study.

I got my undergraduate degree in piano performance. Only after that, at about 23, did I decide to stop, get a Master's in journalism and start down the writing path again.

Now, at 34, I'm again interested in getting my Master's in piano.

Good times. 

[nick]

Thank you to all who replied. I was curious how many came back to piano study, once they stopped, on their own without parental pressure. Many concert pianist's were made to practice and state they would not have without being made to. Clearly it must have a different feeling to do it because you were made to vs. desire to.

Nick

[rc]

I became interested in piano enough to get a crappy keyboard at 19.  Screwed around for about a year before I began to truely believe I could get good, then I became a piano-hermit for over a year which was a good kickstart.

It's all about desire...  Inner-motivation, it's reliable, strong.

Thank you to all who replied. I was curious how many came back to piano study, once they stopped, on their own without parental pressure. Many concert pianist's were made to practice and state they would not have without being made to. Clearly it must have a different feeling to do it because you were made to vs. desire to.

Nick

Well, I remember being forced to continue guitar lessons when I was a kid.  I wouldn't have kept going if it wasn't for my Dad.  Although the lessons and practice while I was externally-motivated were mostly a waste, they kept me in the habit and over time being a 'guitarist' was a part of who I was.  So when I took a deeper interest in music around 13, I already had a foundation to go from.  Otherwise I might've took up guitar, found it too hard then quit.

[ako]

Started at 3 learning informally from my aunt. Started lessons at 6, quit at 19, started again at 31.

[phil13]

I started teaching myself piano at 11, began with a teacher at 12 and have since moved on to a university teacher. Been playing for 6 years now.

Phil

[pianistimo]

my mom always wished she played the piano - so at 8 years i dutifully went off and studied with 3-4 teachers over the next five years.  my first teacher was a neighbor, the second a music school teacher, and then a guy who was sort of like liberace and had really soft carpet, gave out candy, and basically bribed us to practice.  i already liked practicing, but i think that he thought it was necessary. 

then, about 6th or 7th grade, my mom found another teacher who is chair of the music dept.  (i believe) of university of alaska now.  he was very much a wonderful step up the ladder rungs of my music lessons.  although, he immediately gave me a lot of bach and i didn't like it at the time.  i remember going thru fugues and thinking, oh no!  this is going to kill me.  it's funny now - because i love bach.  he really helped me understand and go through things methodically.  he also was a very sweet man (dean epperson) and had a very nice wife and two cats.  they kept in touch over the years and when i moved on to uni teacher - they let me come and practice several times (once before junior recital and once before senior) by conveniently being gone to hawaii.  i housesat, took care of the cats, and had their grand pianos all to myself.  when i think about  this now, i feel extremely guilty for not thanking them enough.  seems that when you are young - you think you're all that - and that you somehow deserve things.  anyway, if it wasn't for them - i'd never have gotten a real start into a career in music (or semi-career) or even been able to have the quiet practice time i needed before recitals.

i graduated from u of a with a bachelor's in piano performance.  i studied first with james johnson in fairbanks and then came back to anchorage the following year.  jean-paul billaud was my instructor there and was similarly motivating - often letting us practice before performances on a very nice steinway.  once it was tuned just right - and i remember practicing until 1 am because it just sounded good.  i remember a fellow student had learned all the paganini variations and was just whipping them out right and left.  it always took me (and still takes me) a while to get even a portion of a set of variations.  when i left to come to california - i was looking at faure's theme and variations. 

i'd say that what i have learned is to never turn down any sort of opportunity in music whatsoever.  if your church asks you to play or do something - do it!  even if you make alot of mistakes at first.  i started playing hymns in 7th or 8th grade - but did take a break from lessons for a year and played the flute.  but, i ended up liking piano better and went back to it.  then, in highschool i played also for the 'swing choir.'  we would rehearse performances with choreography (and i played pianO) and then go perform for various elementary schools.  it was a lot of fun.  i never turned down opportunities to play for church choirs and ended up playing in pasadena, california for several church conventions (hymns) as well that were broadcast internationally.  i was slightly nervous that morning because i was pregnant with my middle daughter at the time and hoped i wouldn't accidentally burp or something.  we played duet hymns - which i highly recommend now - because it adds so much and is a lot of fun.

so many times performers are off in a corner so to speak.  the more you can get students to play with each other -the better for their sociability and also just to have something to do besides playing alone.  i joined MTNA for a year or two and was secretary for a year.  it was disorganized chaos for me, at that point (earlier) because my son was only 2 or 3.  i look back now, and wouldn't have even attempted to be busy with MTNA - but at the time i thought it was something i needed to do.  i went to a couple of seminars in the summer, too, in la and/or longbeach.  i had a really organized outlook, i thought, and often drove to my piano students homes on the weekend (so i didn't have to clean the house every day - just to have lessons).  also, i began to search out another piano teacher in california.  that was when i had the opportunity to meet arghh 'what's his name?'  - and work some mozart again.  his name is on the tip of my tongue.  he was the teacher of my husband's cousin, who is a concert pianist.

each teacher has been so completely and totally different - but it has been good.  i enjoy learning new ways and approaches.  i would say that the best was saved for last because carl cranmer of west chester university gave me an ultimate taste for what it is like to have a career performing piano.  i could tell by all the piano competitions and experiences that he'd had that he knew what he was talking about -  about everything.  i realized that part of maturing and growing up is setting your OWN goals, your OWN performance arenas, being wise about time and schedules (which i'm trying to re-learn now that my kids are close to being in school again), and actually HAVING FUN performing.  it used to be such a stressful thing - but i didn't want it to be.  i just wanted to relax.  i think i understand the basics of how.  now it's just doing it.  it's like having a lot of coaches and then you get to the point where you either fly or crash.  i'm not done flying - but i take alot of nose-dives.  it's really a matter of doubting myself sometimes.  i have to look in the mirror and just say - you can do it.  you always knew you could.  just go out there and kick **.  what is there to lose when you are 45?  nothing.  absolutely nothing.  say - you perform terribly one night - and really good the next month.  are the people that were at the terrible performance ever going to see you again?  likely not - since they didn't like the performance and wouldn't think of showing up for another one  - but thankfully, i've not been performing yet.  just thinking. seriously.     

[crazy for ivan moravec]

gosh, long story....

at 8 years old, i started to take interest on the yamaha electone which we had in the house. my mom used it for her catholic community group prayer meetings. so i played simple tunes like "When the Saints Go Marching in". then i would go to the other room where the piano was. i started to play on it and forced myself to read those first pieces from John Thompson's Grade 1 book. and so i asked my parents if i, too, could take piano lessons (all my siblings had piano lessons but quit. im the youngest). of course, they said no, because they thought that i might be wasting their money just like my other siblings who really didn't practice and hated going to piano lessons. haha, i remember crying after that moment. but that didn't stop me. we had a neighbor who was a piano teacher and i would go to her house every saturday for free piano lessons. i dont know how imade her offer me to take free lessons but it lasted for only a month because my mom found out about it.

so years pass by, i kinda gave up on the thought of ever having lessons, but i never lost interest on the instrument. we had a dilapidated piano in school and it was locked, but i was always intrigued  by it. i wanted to open it and play some tunes i knew. btw, i stopped playing on the piano in our house because i was frustrated that i couldn't have lessons.

at 12, i went to a different school, a minor catholic seminary for boys. it was great there because i was surrounded by music. singing, concerts, there was a piano, liturgical music, etc... it was the best environment for me. so i loved it there. i started picking up on my playing again, but this time, i worked on improvisation. i picked up tunes easily. one summer, i went to Manila to buy some piano jazz cassettes (like Jim Chappell). i picked one cassette tape from the store, thinking it was jazz, i didn't look at it. i bought it and when i got home to play it, it was CLASSICAL MUSIC! the first song that played was Chopin's 3rd movement of his 2nd piano concerto. i fell in love with a music which i encountered for the first time! so i again thought of taking piano lessons, and people were encouraging that it's never too late. so i did, starting at 14 years old. at first my parents were skeptical about what i wanted because they were saying it's too late for me (of course, coz they never allowed me when i was eight), but i got mad and forced them to send me.hahahaha.

practice, practice, practice... my progress was very good and my parents realized it too.
when i was 15, i decided i wanted to take music seriously as a career. my parents were again skeptical about it and said that only prodigies take it seriously. i didn't force them this time, i just let it pass. when i was 16, i told them again for the last time, that i wanted to music seriously. they agreed with a sigh... hehe! starting this moment, their suppport was always there, till now.

while taking my bachelors (a span of 5 years), i won 1st place in four competitions including the major National one, played with orchestra, and garnered some other awards and recognitions. it's not much but it made my parents wish they sent me to piano lessons when i asked for it as a kid. i told them: if i started that early, i might have opted not to go in the seminary so i could  practice more in High School. possibly, in that setting i could have lost interest in music because the only place that musically inspired me was the high school seminary where music is the air we breathe.

[jamie0168]

I had to beg my parents for a piano and lessons for almost a year before they gave in because they were worrried that I was going to quit. I started off very quickly. I never quit, never wanted to. I'm now working on my bachelor's in performance with my 4th teacher.

[bella musica]

My Mom always wanted to play piano but never had the chance, so she figured she'd at least give us the chance to decide if we liked it.  So I've been taking lessons since I was 4 (I'm 21 now).  There was one year that I didn't take lessons, I think I was 13 or 14, but I kept playing the piano.  Didn't get onto the classical music scene until I was almsot 17 though, and my first competition was when I was 18.  Fun times...!  Now I'm working on my bachelor's degree.

[kriskicksass]

I wanted to take piano lessons when I was really little, but my sisters' piano teacher said that her studio was full (also, she didn't like to take little boys because she insisted they don't pay attention). My sister gave me a few lessons, and then I took a handful of lessons with a different teacher than my sisters, but eventually the older of them quit and her teacher let me take her place in the studio. That was about the 3rd grade.

I took lessons with her for the next 6-7 years until my freshman year of high school, after which she went me to take lessons with a teacher about an hour away from where I live. He has his masters from Juilliard and he's generally considered the best teacher in the area. I've been studying with him for about 3 years now, and I'm heading into my senior year of high school.

I've also attended the summer piano program at Ithaca College for the past two summers, and after the program ended this year I took an additional 5 weeks or so of lessons with my prof from the program. He decided that my lessons with him had to end at the beginning of the school year because he had his college students to teach and he didn't want to interfere with my regular teacher. (It's really too bad, as I could have used the extra technical advice he gave while I'm preparing for college auditions. I have an in at Eastman, so I may look for a professor there to study with, especially since I need to find a teacher there who I would want to study with for 4 years if I make it in.)

As for my current level of playing...I have recordings that I refuse to post in the Audition Room because I'm ashamed of them. All my hard work seems to pay off very little. My teacher says that he was in the same boat as I am when he was my age because he got a late start and with less than wonderful teachers. He says that missing the foundation that most pianists get before elementary school is crippling, but he managed to pick up around the middle to end of his undergrad work, and then he got into Juilliard, so there's still hope for me...