growth

[the lugal]

ive been playing the piano since march of '06 and my teacher has always praised me on the spped of my progress.........a few months ago she stopped saying such things.......i play intermediate peices now.........and they seem to take forever.........im always frustrated.........i enjoy playing, but i just feel like im not getting anywhere.........i want to pick up the pace again.....is it possible?.......or have i finally caught up with my natural talent?.........

any suggestions?

[amelialw]

if you want to pick up the pace, my advice is listen and listen to listen to tons of classical music, it really helps! I do that all the time. The other thing is yes, it may be that you have caught up with your natural talent, I used to be able to memorise pages and pages of music fast, I still can do that but it takes a little longer because i'm being pushed to the limit right now, so it takes a little while longer to absorb everything . Now, that i'm used to it though, my brain's starting to speed up again... so you just have to give yourself time.

[imbetter]

this happens to everybody. when you first start, the music is easy. but as it gets harder and harder it takes longer and longer to learn and requires more time and effort. its as simple as that. When you end up playing chopin, liszt, ect....youll find that some pieces might take you as long as a year to learn. dont be worried, it happens to everybody.

[rc]

You're plateaued, it's normal...  Chill, enjoy your current level and keep working away.  It's not a continuous progression.  If everyone could progress at the rate of the beginning steps, everyone would become a concert pianist in a few years.

Things worthwhile take time to grow.  Don't worry about it, keep learning and enjoy your intermediate pieces.  Perform them often!

[miguelcatalao]

I am sort of quoting desordre, another forum user...

But he actually advised this to me. You could toggle between a challenge, and an easy piece... That way you might not get so frustrated, you can learn like 10 easy (by easy i don't mean too easy, but easily learned) and 2 or 3 more challenging!

Of course if you are on a schedule, you'll have to keep up to the repertoire of an exam, but at least you'll throw the frustration away!

[the lugal]

ok thanx, that makes me feel a tad better.........

i'll try to listen to some classical, but i actually cant stand classical music.......

and ill make sure i take my time and keep a pace.......

[steve jones]

When hit a level like this, I usually just chill out on my piano. Casually start learing a few new pieces, ususally difficult ones, and not rushing at all with the learning process. After a while, I suddenly notice that Iv moved forward again! Then, when Im on a run, I get busy again and try to move up a gear.

SJ