Been Playing Piano For 6 Years and Bad

[vom53]

Hello everyone. This is my first post since I was on the search of finding a forum like this.
I have played the piano for 6 years and in level 6 (National Merit...) and I also have been learning from sheet musics(expect when memorizing for auditions). I am feeling that I really am bad at piano. Sometimes I played a song right, but right after it is wrong and then it is right. I don't usually follow the fingering from the sheet music so it is hard for me to memorize. My teacher said that I need to use correct fingering from the book and follow the beat to easier learn a song. I usually take like 2 months just to learn one song. However, after that I may play it right and get the song totally wrong right after, but then right away. I have played mostly classical music and try other classical music and other genres of music from online, but I have fail since I need my teacher to help me. When I look at the sheet music, I know what the notes are, but if I already know the song I look at the sheet music, but it is like I am blind and don't notice my mistake. My eyes can know that is the "x" note, but my ears cannot tell if Im playing a song right or wrong. My teacher is mad at me how I can't even determine my own mistakes. Learning a new song for me is really hard without a teacher because I tend to not follow the fingering and beat of the song. I know what the beat are and I am perfect at my piano theory, but somehow when I played it is hard for me to imply it.

Do you have any suggestions?

I am sorry for the grammatical errors and spelling mistake as this is a rough draft and I had a time limit before the internet ran out.

Thank you.

[vom53]

Still no reply?

[royandrew]

As your teacher said, you have to follow the correct fingering on the book(sheet music). And practice a lot. I am sure you will get better. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[antichrist]

just try more and things will go well
You should solve it by sitting in front of the piano and explore for hours

[nicekiddo]

i think you should  learn more how to read the notes so you can imply it properly!!!!

[mcdiddy1]

first , get a good piano teacher that can help you. A good piano teacher should not get mad at the student, it is the teachers job to teach they student how to achieve their goal. \
        You say you are "perfect" in music theory? Hopefully, you understand music theory is more than memorizing facts but more with explain what happens in the music as a result of what we hear.
        With the pieces you are learning, one way to get better is to sing note names while you play. The more you do this, the better you will get at audiation-the ability to hear the music in your mind without playing. This ability is crucial to figure out mistakes in your practice.
       In regards to fingering, choose your fingering first day you learn a piece and stick to. Use principles of good fingering, thumb and pinky on white keys, thumb crossings. Practice slow from the beginning and gradually build up speed.
       If your efficient in your practice, it should take you days to learn a piece and certainly not two months. Come up with achievable goals  and go for it from day one.

[slobone]

First of all, as to fingering. You don't necessarily have to use exactly the fingering that's in the music if it doesn't work for you. Sometimes people's hands are larger or smaller than average, or there may be other reasons why you don't like a particular fingering.

BUT -- you have to decide very early with a new piece what fingering you're going to use, and then always do it the same way. Otherwise it's hopeless to try and learn it correctly.

Working out the fingering should come as soon as you've figured out what the notes are. Use a pencil to write in any fingering you might forget. You can change it later if it's not working, but you should ALWAYS know what your preferred fingering is.

As for learning in general, I find it helps to break the piece down into a lot of small sections, maybe about 4 measures on average, and then do a lot of repetitions on each section before going on to the next one. You shouldn't go on to a new section until you feel completely comfortable with the one you're working on.

Always use a metronome when you're in your early years of learning. Start very slow and then gradually build up. Don't increase the tempo until you can play the section at least 2-3 times in a row with no mistakes.

Don't worry if it seems like an endless series of repetitions, especially at first. That's what piano practicing mostly means. If you do it this way, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised the next day when you realize you know the piece better than you thought you did.

This phase of learning is all about "getting it in your fingers". Learning the notes is a very mechanical process, like programming a computer. Your fingers need to know exactly what to do. Later on you can focus on phrasing, musicality, etc.

If you get to your lesson, and you're still deciphering the notes as if you'd never seen the music before, then obviously you need a better practice method. If you start practicing more methodically, and you're still not learning fast enough, talk to your teacher. Be honest about how long you practice every day and what method you use.

It may be that he/she is giving you too much new music at one lesson. It's better to learn one page well than to skim through the whole piece and not show any progress.

[lostinidlewonder]

Try to observe pattern in your music and in the keyboard. Also notice when you can be lazy and allow your hand to remain about a single position while you play a group of notes. Notice that black and white notes create pattern, like CEbG is a triangle shape. When you start to notice a group of notes at a time your fingering starts to make more sense, when things are note by note, this isolation creates an "out of context" experience when you make mistakes, you just don't understand the mistake and how resolve it. Ask your teacher to help you visualise pattern in the keyboard and how to section up your sheet music.

[optimistic08]

I have the same problem, too. I can never play perfectly because I make mistakes all the time, sometimes on parts of the piece I already could play, or at times, the easy parts!

I agree with all the above comments, and have tried to practice little by little, taking note of the passages I commonly make mistakes at (sometimes, I play it okay out of sheer luck) and then trying to half-memorize, or memorize, those portions. I noticed some improvement, and my confidence has been building.

In addition, I did notice that sometimes, it's because a part of my mind is wandering. I don't focus, especially when it's the "easy" parts that I already know. It takes some discipline for me not to play mechanically, and I do get a bit lazy! Of course, sometimes, it's just tiredness, or fatigue. I'm still working on it, though!

I'm glad I found this thread. The responses are very helpful.

[kelly_kelly]

I guess I'm somewhat in the same boat as the original poster. However, I've gotten much more confident over the course of the past year as I've realized that perfection isn't absolutely necessary. Even though I make technical errors almost invariably when I play, I've found that people still like my performances because (I've been told) I usually play fairly musically.

[guendola]

Slobone is right, it is absolutely necessary to have exactly one fingering per piece only. It matters for the next couple of notes which finger you use, it also matters which finger you are going to use a few notes later. There were always pieces in history that were considered unplayable and usually it was some innovative fingering that cracked them.

As for the "original fingering" printed in the scores: You probably have your own system and to some extent it works. However, it is not reliable and it is based on your personal experience only, while general fingering has a history of several hundred years. It is simply better to start from the printed fingerings. After 6 years, you could have a huge amount of patterns in your toolbox but since you were ignoring the schoolbook, you don't. There is no point re-inventing the wheel. It is better to understand how it works and find the weak points. Then you are able to improve it for your personal use.

[landru]

I would also add that make sure you can play the piece consistently at half the performance speed - with the dynamics, fingering etc. Concentrating on the music aspects at this stage really set you up for playing well - whereas going to performance speed too soon just cements bad habits (as I know *very well*).

I agree with Slobone and guendola - fingerings can unlock a piece. I was shown this by playing a Mendelssohn Song without Words. My teacher thought it would take me a long time - but I had it down in two weeks - she was amazed, as I was too. The difference was that the edited sheet music (that I had but she didn't ) had un-obvious fingerings that just totally fit my hands and the music - at that stage in my development it would have been impossible to come up with those fingerings on my own. The piece almost played itself!

So not only can investigating the edition's fingerings pay off, it gives you experience on how to tackle similar problems in future pieces.

[gyzzzmo]

Your piano theory obviously is far from perfect, else you'd know how to learn to play piano.
Get a proper teacher and listen/obey what he/she tells you to do.

Btw, fingering isnt something you have to memorize, its something you start doing automaticly if you play a certain fingering often enough.

Gyzzzmo