Did anyone start playing, and feel like me?

[reginator]

Hello everyone,

     My name is Regg, and I just joined  Piano Street after browsing through some Pianist communities online. I am probley less than a beginner when it comes to playing the piano as I've never had any lessons, and the few cheap keyboards I've had growing up, I more or less just learned to play a few simple tunes by ear and play only with one hand, sometimes my left hand just to add a beat or something simple.

I'm 25, and I guess thats kinda late to be learning how to play the piano properly, but I'm very serious about it. I didn't have the opportunity when I was younger to get proper lessons, or practice on anything other than spring loaded keyboards that were half the size of a real piano.

However, I've wanted to learn how to play since I was about 13yrs old. I love the sound of the piano. There have been times when I've even taken an extra ride on an elevator just to finish listening to a piece that might be playing ambiently in the background.

But the thing I find a little weird is, even though I can't play, and I don't activly listen to any great pianists or know all their compositions, I feel if I learn to play, I will be very good. I feel like if I could just figure out how to properly use my fingers, I could write my own music. I feel like I have so much in my head I could bring out through playing the piano, even though I've never played an instrument with any skill. I NEED to learn how to play the piano. I'll hear a song, or watch a movie, or take a walk down the street, and I'll get feelings that I could make something of the moment into music, if I just knew how to play. I can't express how strongly I feel I can do this if I knew how to play, It's hard for me to even put into words exactly what I mean, because I don't have anything else to compare these sensations to in my experiences in life.

I'm finally in a position where I have the opportunity, time, and money to start learning how to play. I'm in the military now, and I'm taking classes to learn my trade as an Avionics systems technician, and I have alot of free time when I'm not in classes or studying, so I've decided to pursue learning to play finally. And the first thing I did last week was layaway a Korg SP250 which the salesman at the store said would be good for me to learn on, and take me up to an intermediate stage of playing.

I won't have the piano for about 2 months, but I'm so excited that I'm finally taking the steps to learn, that I started searching for pianist communities, and here I am. I will start paying for lessons as soon as I get the piano.

I guess I want to know, has anyone else felt like this before they could play? And how do you think it's affected your playing abilities as you began to learn?

[danny elfboy]

I guess I want to know, has anyone else felt like this before they could play? And how do you think it's affected your playing abilities as you began to learn?

I have felt this feelings before and they all turned out positively.
I do believe in sixth sense or instinct.
I guess our body does know what kind of coordination we have already aquired in life and I think that you feeling is something in your body "clickin" and thinking "uhmm ... this sounds like the product of a coordinated movements ... and hey presto I've already had to do with similar kind of coordination; it sounds like I can do it"

[elspeth]

Like most things in life, if you start (and continue!) learning piano with a positive attitude and a willingness to put the work in, you will be as good as you want to be.

Good luck and welcome!

[counterpoint]

But the thing I find a little weird is, even though I can't play, and I don't activly listen to any great pianists or know all their compositions, I feel if I learn to play, I will be very good. I feel like if I could just figure out how to properly use my fingers, I could write my own music.

I don't want to discourage you, but this thinking of "piano playing - I could do it, if I knew how" sounds a bit silly to me. All good pianists have learned their abilities in many years of everyday practise. Then someone comes across, can't play, but thinks, I would be as good (or even better) as they. It can't be that difficult.

I wish you good luck. I'm very curious what you will write about your progress in piano playing in the next months and years.

[danny elfboy]

I don't want to discourage you, but this thinking of "piano playing - I could do it, if I knew how" sounds a bit silly to me.

I don't agree.
I don't believe that talent or predisposition are inborn (since there are no evidence that they are) but definitely our life experience create predisposition.
There certain habits, activities and experience which activate the same neurological coordinative pathways necessary to play piano.
And I have seen first hand beginners who had a non-pianistic coordination-foundation who was just natural at the keyboard and as they depressed their first keys they didn't need to be told much about hand position, contraction and motions. They also progressed at an unbelievable fast pace.

In the same way there are adult beginner who learn very quickly and amazingly easy.
They to ad a coordinative foundation due to their experience in life and indeed they could easily make up for the loss time. Their coordination was still there and it didn't make an iota of a difference that they were adults and not children, they learned like they were children.

In the same way there are students who keep being amateur for years ... but you can tell the foundation and predisposition is there. Even if as amateur they never crossed the grade 1 barrier as soon as they're given technical information to improve their playing and are taught how to play they improve at an amazing pace ... and I'm talking about passing grade 8 exams after one year of lessons. I have seen it.

We've all heard or seen person that try something for the first time and all you can say is "wow ... you're a natural, you seem born doing this and you look like you've practice this for years".

They are not naturals. They just had a similar foundation without having taken up that activity before. And I do believe that the body does know it when we're "natural" at something. So I wouldn't dismiss reginator feelings because he may be talking about what I'm talking about.

[reginator]

Thanks for the replys guys, I really appriciate it.

Then someone comes across, can't play, but thinks, I would be as good (or even better) as they. It can't be that difficult.

And when I say I believe I could play very well, I don't mean I think I could play better than most, or that I will become the next great composer. I just think I will take to it well.

I do feel very comfortable using my hands and fingers. I know typing and playing piano are not really alike, but I'll use typing as an example. I love to type, I can type faster than I can read, and I have next to perfect accuracy. But I learned to type so well because I simply like the feel of typing and enjoy it. (weirdness I know lol)

I realize I have alot to learn, and that playing the piano takes years of practice, and that most serious pianists practice 2hrs or more a day. I'm willing to put that in. I don't expect to take a few lessons and start playing like a professional, but if 5 or 6 years down the road, I can play well enough to express my mind, and how I feel, then I've already won, and can only go forward from there.

This isn't just a fad or something for me, this is something I want to do for the rest of my life. If I can convey my thoughts and feelings through playing music, why would I stop? I know I can't truely be convincing through a post on a message board, but I'm not going to discredit myself before I even get started either, no matter what people's views on it are.

Someday I will be great, not greater than anyone else, or measured against some scale, but I will be great for myself, the day I can express myself through the keys. Wait, and you will see, I promise.

[danny elfboy]

I know typing and playing piano are not really alike

They're instead.
Technically at least.
The coordination in fast and precise typing is very close to the coordination in piano playing.
Of course typing is just the technical mean ... what matter is what you write.
And hitting the right keys is just a technica mean ... what matter is your musicality.

[rc]

I guess I want to know, has anyone else felt like this before they could play? And how do you think it's affected your playing abilities as you began to learn?

Hey Regg, this sounds a lot like how I felt before getting into piano.  I was 19 at the time, I made a commitment to myself that I would do whatever it takes to get good at piano.  3 years later here I am still practicing.  I feel like a slightly more capable rookie continually progressing, enjoying the journey.

Thinking back to when I first started, that powerful motivation gave a good headstart...  If the first steps are the hardest, I took them at a running pace.  I spent a month or so scouring all the info I could find in this forum (mostly Bernhards posts) and searching up everything I could find on the net before coming up with a plan of action.  From there I got busy, like a man posessed, practicing every spare minute...  I began steadily reading books on piano and music, sometime next week I expect to get another lump of books from Amazon for a little spring reading.

Regg, your attitude is inspiring!  You're motivated, determined and realistic.  I have no doubts you'll realize your dream!

[schiu]

Hello, Regg:

Just so that you don't feel too bad about starting "late", I started two years ago when I was 56, and now I just managed to play Chopin's Prelude in B minor, almost at the right speed and mostly right.  I must tell you the thrill is hard to describe.

I only wish I had started 30 years earlier, when I was your age!

Hang in there. By the time you turn 35 you will look back and be delighted you started on this path.

Cheers.

[overscore]

But the thing I find a little weird is, even though I can't play, and I don't activly listen to any great pianists or know all their compositions, I feel if I learn to play, I will be very good.

That sounds like a good start. I felt like that in the beginning too, but don't get too confident - the mind is willing... but the flesh is weak! It takes quite a bit of time to learn the necessary co-ordination. At first your fingers will simply not want to work properly, no matter what your brain tells them.

[reginator]

Thanks again, those are some great motivational replies. The more I think about getting my Piano, and reading all your posts, I get more and more inspired and excited. My moral is high, and I can't wait to start learning.

Since I don't have my piano yet, I have started to learn to read sheet music, and been spending time reading through the posts here at PianoStreet.com
I've also bought Piano's for Dummies lol, to read while I'm on breaks at work. It's by no means an advanced book, but for someone with as little experience as me, it's giving me some good insight on some of the things I will be learning as I take my steps towards playing. Hopefully this will help me make the most out of my lessons when I first start taking them, and help me catch on a little quicker than if I read nothing at all.

I made my first downpayment of 400 dollars on my KORG SP250 against the advice of some of my collegues who thought it would be better spent bar hopping in Toronto for the weekend, and it feels good.

I just wish there was a way to excersice my fingers without a piano so I could be a little more productive while I'm waiting for my piano to be paid off. If anyone knows of anything I could do, please let me know. Thanks again for the replies, and I would love to hear some of you play, if you have any music you've played recorded online and would like the chance to show off a bit, please send me a link

[danny elfboy]

I just wish there was a way to excersice my fingers without a piano so I could be a little more productive while I'm waiting for my piano to be paid off. If anyone knows of anything I could do, please let me know. Thanks again for the replies, and I would love to hear some of you play, if you have any music you've played recorded online and would like the chance to show off a bit, please send me a link

There are exercises you can do away from the piano to train coordination and the most neuromuscolarly efficient way to play a single note without strain and tension.

PM me!

[lazlo]

I knew a pianist who hadn't heard or thought of playing until he heard a nice piece he liked in an elevator and decided to try something... After a year of lessons he was playing chopin etudes and julliard was interested in him... although he ended up not going because even though they accepted him, they said he was "too old to be a concert pianist". And now he's a concert pianisnt.... 

[a-sharp]

Lazlo - who is this person? You?

How old is[was] he?

so curious now.

[Regg - life is short - they sky is the limit - just do what your heart tells you to do. Attitude is everything - or almost everything anyway. The rest is a lot of hard work. Good luck!].

[lazlo]

He was not me (if only). He was another student of my teacher. He was I believe 19 or 20 when he started. Although I started when I was 19, I am not playing chopin etudes yet.

[pianoamore]

Hi Reginator (and all here),

 As I read your post, the first thing that hit me was the implied limitation you have already placed on yourself. It seems clear that you feel strongly that starting "late" is a negative; this mindset will continue to have a negative influence on you unless you change it - and you can, friend. We hear things as children, learn to believe them as "cut in stone" and unchangeable... ideas like "it's too late to learn.... blah blah.. etc. etc." What you need to do is be you and go with the inner energy that you presently have that is driving you to learn more and do more. Everyone has the innate ability to learn, develop, and express themselves musically. You have a huge element that so many people (many who even have much more experience playing the piano than you) don't have - I'm referring to that "inner spark" that moves mountains. The main point I would like to make to you right here and now is do not, by any means, allow your learned beliefs from the past stop you - or even remotely influence you - if they are not the kind of beliefs that will support you in your current undertaking and help you get from where you are to where you want to be. Change your beliefs - change your results.

Just go for it. (Live those four words and pursue and enjoy your musical passion.)

[scondron]

I thought you might enjoy this story.  A couple of years ago at a birthday party for one of my children's friends, I started chatting with another mom, and we got onto the subject of piano lessons for the kids.  Her daughter played, and I was interested in starting my own daughter in lessons.   I asked my friend if she played, and she said she did, but never for an audience.  She went on to explain, "Well, I learned late, as an adult, and I had a traumatic performance experience.  I was at a recital with a bunch of little kids, who all played beautifully.  My turn came up, and I started to play my piece, a Chopin piece I KNEW really well, but I just choked, couldn't do it! It was awful, one of the worst experiences of my life.  At one point a lady in the audience yelled, 'It's alright, honey!'  Never again."

"Wow," I said, "you learned to play as an adult?"

So eventually I started learning, too (I mean, who wouldn't after that ringing endorsement?), and we started a piano group of moms who had learned as adults.  No recital halls, just some living rooms and snacks.  We motivate each other, hear each other's progress, even come up with themes and assignments for one another.  It's fun.  I guess that's my point.  You don't have to be a virtuoso to enjoy playing and sharing music.  Music is its own reward, a gift with no other purpose than to elevate the everyday, to turn ordinary sound waves into something sublime. 

Happy playing!
S

[rc]

Good story Scondron.  It's funny how differently people can react to situations.  An old friend who plays drums had a bad first experience performing, it was a trainwreck and he hasn't played for an audience since...  My first couple of performances were trainwrecks in various ways, it was tough at the time, I hold no regrets.

[Derek]

Have you tried improvisation? The way you have started is very similar to me. I was also a late starter.  I used to pick out a few tunes with one hand and play something very simple in the left hand, such as an octave chord. This gradually led to trying to play in various different scales and chords, and with a little encouragement from friends of mine it made me want to keep going, and now I'll definitely never stop. Anyway, good luck to you!

[pars]

I only wish I had started 30 years earlier, when I was your age!

Hang in there. By the time you turn 35 you will look back and be delighted you started on this path.

Cheers.

Hear, hear!!

I started 18months ago at the grade old age of 40 and I'm loving it! (albeit periods of frustration because of my impatience)

Go for it!

 

[krimi]

I start playing with 28 (2 years ago). I had to scale down my expectations, because there is not enough time to practice (I do not play Chopin, or Liszt, or ...). But its fun! I have so many friends who started playing as they were young but now they play never again. Of course, there are moments I wish I had start earlier (when I want to play Chopin, Liszt, ...) but the journey is the reward! So, there are enough beautiful peaces within my abilities - why bother, I will play Chopin in ten years.

[m]

Hi Reginator,

As a professional I wish I could be that excited as you. In fact, I wish there would be time when I could start all over again... just for the heck of it--to feel how one with motivation should feel it for the FIRST TIME.

Only one suggestion--find a good teacher, and then jump with open heart into that hell which called music.

[tallman]

reginator,
 i feel the same i have bought a piano and have prepaid for this terms lesson (11 Lessons) and the first lesson has been canceled and the second had the date change and i went there and the teacher forgot i was in the room and so i missed that one . also the piano i am going to be taught on is so crappy and out of tune at  the school that im really disappointed so far and am thinking  i will ride the next 9 lessons out then change schools because the bloke hasent got a clue.

so what im saying isthat i really  think you need a good teacher as well .

i am extremely motivated and cant believe i am being jerked around like this but i will not be  broken hehehe.

[robertp]

Trust your feelings, Reginator, and trust especially what Pianoamore has said. It's a physical action, playing the piano, but the mind's role is not insignificant. It may be that us adult types think too much about playing the piano, and children think too little  .

Of course, there are extremes. If one feels after a year of lessons, say, that one is going to be able to play Islamey, that's unlikely to happen. But I don't think anyone has ever felt that.

I'd had lesson here and there over a number of years. And then I decided to go for it, not based on any one piece (although I had, and have, a wish list).  In short I had exactly your feelings. After a few years, the reality of my playing had exceeded my imaginings, and I can imagine quite a bit!

The biggest issue is shutting off those voices in your head which say "you can't do this" or "you're too old". They tended to make me tense and create a real split between my technique and pieces. Get those voices to be quiet, trust your feelings, practice hard but intelligently, and it's quite amazing what can happen. And I don't amaze easily.

[danny elfboy]

Trust your feelings, Reginator, and trust especially what Pianoamore has said. It's a physical action, playing the piano, but the mind's role is not insignificant.

It's all mental
Even the coordination you need to develo to play more complex pieces is just mental.
No challenge at the piano is really literally physical ... with the meaning this word has in high-intensity sports challenges.

[loops]

I thought you might enjoy this story.  A couple of years ago at a birthday party for one of my children's friends, I started chatting with another mom, and we got onto the subject of piano lessons for the kids.  Her daughter played, and I was interested in starting my own daughter in lessons.   I asked my friend if she played, and she said she did, but never for an audience.  She went on to explain, "Well, I learned late, as an adult, and I had a traumatic performance experience.  I was at a recital with a bunch of little kids, who all played beautifully.  My turn came up, and I started to play my piece, a Chopin piece I KNEW really well, but I just choked, couldn't do it! It was awful, one of the worst experiences of my life.  At one point a lady in the audience yelled, 'It's alright, honey!'  Never again."

wow scondron your acquaintance had a tough experience. I recently had my first student recital.
I started an as adult a few years ago and even though in my job I lecture to maybe 150 undergraduates
so you'd think I'd be OK for public performanace, I was terrified:
playing music requires a whole higher level of concentration. I was practically in emotional meltdown before hand, as I was playing in a recital with children all improvising or Chopin-preluding their hearts out. I did a duet with my teacher and my parts in those duets were a good 4-5 grades lower than what I normally play. In other words, I was learning performing in public as a separate skill.  I overcame my fears, made some small mistakes that didn't matter, and came away having had a positive experience.

PS I can play much more advanced material for friends and family. Interesting, isn't it.

[rc]

Yeah, nerves are something else, heheh.  Though I make random mistakes, the nerves overall add a lot of excitement to the whole performance.  I love it.