need to know what to do please help. i don't want to loose intrest

[jadekirby]

i have been playing for 6 months now and have finished a book about first starting to play piano. 6 months ago i didn't know how to read music or anything. i have finished grade 1 and 2 theory books so far and now on grade 3. i have learnt a lot about playing the piano and have learnt to play the fur elise.  i am now learning the moonlight sonata movement 1 but i feel like it is taking me ages to learn. also what is the amount of practice i should be doing. have i learnt quickly or are people just saying that.i do have a 30min lesson every week. please help i am 13 and in 4 years time i would like to be a music teacher do you think i will have learnt enough by then to be able to become a teacher.

[nataliethepianist]

Hello Jade. It is wonderful to hear you would like to be a teacher! Who knows, maybe you could be in that amount of time. Let me try to understand this. You are losing interest? Yes, you are moving along very well, good for you!

If you need pieces, try a romantic piece. For a challenge you could try a Chopin etude. I always recommend these to people as they are just so much fun to play! Listen to Op. 10 No. 5. It doesn't seem to difficult.

I encourage you to not stop taking lessons. Trust me. I wanted to stop taking lessons about 8 months back after I was learning level 2 pieces. Not kidding. They were boring and I never wanted to practice! Now I switched teachers (I'm switching again, though) and I begged my teacher to let me learn Chopin Fantasie Impromptu about 2 months ago while I was learning Beethoven Adagio Cantabile. He told me no, but eventually gave in thinking I wouldn't be able to. Now I am almost done, and play it well!

I would say you need to practice maybe 40 minutes a day? Once you start learning more difficult pices and especially more pieces at once, you will want more practice time, but for now that seems fine!

Good luck with your studies!


- Natalie

[ongaku_oniko]

Sorry natalie, I usually like how you're always so encouraging and nice, but this time I really have to say you're wrong.

Op. 10 No. 5 doesn't seem too difficult? Well, I've been at it for over a month, and I am not even 20% through this piece. I've been playing for much longer than 6 months, and I am quite talented, if I say so myself. Well, not exactly talented, but I've always been a fast learner at absolutely everything. I passed level 8 RCME within a year of starting the piano, which means that at least I'm not a slow learner.

Point is, Op. 10 No.5 is WAAAAAYYYYYY above any person who's only been playing for 6 months can possibly undertake and get anything from it.

In fact, any of the Chopin Etudes are waaaaaay waaay beyond any first year students. *MAYBE* some really genius second year students can start the easier ones if they are truly talented and hard working.

At least change to 1 hour/week lessons, and practise one hour a day to realistically hope of becoming a teacher anytime in the near (10 years) future.

[nataliethepianist]

Your right, some things just fly over my head! I have not been playing for that long either, so I don't always give good advice, although I try.

[nataliethepianist]

Sorry, I typed the wrong number. It seems I typed the Black Key etude (don't attempt this), when I meant to type Op. 10 No. 6. It still could be too difficult, though.

[ongaku_oniko]

Oh I see.
Well, to be honest, I never even heard the 6th before. Do you know of a good recording I can listen to?


I heard that all of Chopin's etudes are extremely hard though. The easiest is op.25 no.2, but even then it's pretty hard. That's what I heard, anyway.

[avguste]

jadekirby, congratulations on your enthusiasm.

To answer your questions/concerns:

-I would recommend to continue the piano lessons, no matter what.

-Beethoven Moonlight, 1st movement is a very good piece. What other pieces are you working on.
I would suggest to add a Bach Prelude and Fugue, and also to do some of the Chopin Preludes (24 Preludes, Op. 28)
Having multiple pieces will help you remain interested.
I would also suggest scales and the Hanon exercises

-concerning practice, I would suggest 1 hour of practice on a daily basis, except Sundays.

-concerning your goal of being a teacher, I would recommend you consider doing it in about 10 years or so. After high school, I would recommend you attend an university and take pedagogy classes and also music education classes.

[nataliethepianist]

Most of Valentina Lisitsa's interpretations of the Chopin Etudes I enjoy:

[ongaku_oniko]

Oh wow, that's the 6th? O_O

I've been listening to it for like 6 years, since my first piano teacher gave me this CD and it's one of the songs on it that I often listen to!

sorry, piece, not song*

[nataliethepianist]

I do that all the time! It is a wonderful piece.

[john90]

Jade, It does sound like you are a fast learner. At times I pick things up really quickly, then I slow down, seem to make no progress or even get worse, then all of a sudden it is full speed ahead. I see this with my son learning too. I think there is lots of time for you to become a teacher. There is more to teaching than being an expert pianist. Understanding the difficulty students face, their concerns about their own progress, just what you are going through, is one key thing you need to understand. Being an absolute prodigy, if there is such a thing, and not experiencing an ounce of self doubt, must make it difficult to teach other mere mortals that make up 99.9% of students.

[sucom]

Hi Jade
If you are learning just one or two pieces at a time and they are taking quite a while to learn, especially if the pieces don't really inspire you, the chances are you are going to become bored, no matter how much you enjoy playing.

The answer is to keep practising set pieces carefully but also play music that inspires you.  Find some pieces of your favourite styles that you really enjoy playing and make sure you find time to just sit down and play them, wrong notes and all!  Just let the sounds wash over you, regardless of the wrong notes and wrong rhythms.  This will allow some inspiration back into your practice which could really push you forwards.

I always think it is very important to remember that the whole purpose of learning an instrument is to find yourself immersed in the music and inspired by the sounds.  This will drive you forward to greater things!  Remember there should be a time for practice and a time for sheer enjoyment! 

[hastur]

Great thread! I myself would love to have a teacher (I have contacted a few by email, but the one that replied is fully booked until summer). Definitely keep on studying under a teacher though. I wish I had been prodded to take music classes since I was 8 or 10 instead of just getting started on music theory and piano (I'm 22 years old, but have played some guitar and bass guitar by ear and tablature for about five years).

Keep it up, and the suggestions in this thread in general seem like really good one's!

- H

[nanabush]

Keep at it!!  I was one of those 'prodded at 8 or 10' kids 

Because it is something entirely new, it does take time.  When stuff clicks though, there is no better feeling.

Listen to a lot of recordings of music; browse IMSLP for scores, try bits and pieces of stuff; do lots of scales and exercises; it's really good that you have started looking at theory.

Just try to immerse yourself in any way you can; you will start really appreciating what you are learning!

[jadekirby]

Thanks everyone that has really helped. it just seems that this piece is taking for ever to learn and it is starting to get boring. i know i won’t always learn things quickly but it is starting to get annoying because i can’t get some of the timing. thanks every one again i will try to practice longer as well in might help because i only practice half an hour if that every day but do a lot of theory. i might try some of the pieces that you have suggested as well and listen to more pieces. i have the same teacher  in  school and out side of school.today he let me go around and help half of the class because i am in a year 9 class but am learning at year 11 level. it was so fun and they actually understood when i was trying to explain things. oh and before i forget what do you think about exams and do you need them to be a high school music teacher.
             thank you
                       Jade

[hastur]

Keep at it!!  I was one of those 'prodded at 8 or 10' kids 

Because it is something entirely new, it does take time.  When stuff clicks though, there is no better feeling.

Listen to a lot of recordings of music; browse IMSLP for scores, try bits and pieces of stuff; do lots of scales and exercises; it's really good that you have started looking at theory.

Just try to immerse yourself in any way you can; you will start really appreciating what you are learning!

I envy you! Hehe : ) But yes, as I said, I have played both the bass guitar and acoustic guitar, but none of them felt quite as right as the piano did first time I put my fingers on the keys. : )