In love with classical piano. So i started at 24 y.o.

[sonofsteinway]

I was grown up on classical music and crooners, but fell out of it when i reached a teenager (because i was a TEENAGER).
 Now, after a few horrible jobs including Telstra callcenter op, Electricity meter reader, firearms shop salesman and seven years in the Australian military i have decided to go back to my roots, make a decision and play piano like i have always wanted to.
 So i did what any savvy 24 year old does, i went on the net. i found a teacher VERY close by (like, 400m close) and started with him (hello fellow forum poster BTW).
 VERY fast i learned that its not all jam and scones. I cant just pounce upon a piano and start trilling on the 4th and 5th fingers amidst the best of you. Although, the hard work each night repeating two bars of a simple score and breaking it up with some time in my theory books, has only fostered a deeper understanding and love for what i once thought an unreachable goal!
 Now, i have nothing but respect for those who work towards attaining unreachable concertos or preludes. Listening to my compilations of Chopin, Debussy, Satie (my favorite, for music and who he was) and Greig i feel like i just want to learn until i can learn no more. One day i will be in a house party amongst my friends and find they have a piano, then BOOM out comes La Campenella and all my mates crowd around to watch me blow their minds.
 HOWEVER, until then i will study, and record how i study here. I hope some of you will remain interested enough to stay reading and offer me tips when i falter. And maybe my teacher will smack me upon my knuckles (proverbially) when my ego gets the better of me. Which will happen!

[megadodd]

Very well! Keep us up to date, I'll have a look out and I'm happy to help if I can.
I'm sorry to say though, that most non musicians dosn't find La Campanella etude any more impressive than Fur Elise sadly.

I wish you much luck and to have fun in reaching for your goal!

[jpahmad]

I started piano when I was 21.  Well, I had a piano in my house growing up and could read music already because I had played violin in middle school, but I didn't seriously start playing until my junior year of college.  The first piece I learned was chopin fantasie impromptu because my roomate in college would keep playing it over and over.  However, he would only play the first 12 bars or so.  Anyway, the story goes on from there... but I would definatley like to hear how you progress.  Good luck in your journey!  


jp

[sonofsteinway]

I am now a month and a bit in to my lessons and so far i have progressed from knowing what the black keys look like and thinking i am a piano god (first lesson), to diligently studying my theory (I can read music-slowly. This was about two weeks in) to playing a few beginner pieces and playing them IN TIME (now).
 Tonight, after my most recent lesson, i am working on a stater piece that includes a large amount of hand movement not just five keys. I can get the tune ok but the main hurdles are posturing properly, or fingering i think its called, and actually reading the music as i play it instead of getting the framework and memorising the way its played.
 The damn fingering! i just cannot get it right, Teach has explained it will take some time but i felt i progressed on fingering when i played my scales meticulously so i might blend that with some chosen Czerny lessons he handed over.
 Also, i think i need to upgrade my account to get hold of some extra sheet music, maybe save Teach some materials in case i spill my beer accidentally or forget to return it!!

[jpahmad]

so you can read music already? I mean, can you look at a score and kind of figure out the notes and rhythms and then put it to the piano?

[ajspiano]

Yes he can!

Fairly excellent progress I must say. - I gave sonofsteinway some things that would typically be more challenging than normal for a beginner. He already knows note reading for the entire grand staff, including ledger lines. Rhythm reading for semibreves down to semiquavers, including dotted notes/rests. Has an understanding of time signatures 2/4 3/4 4/4 (and we briefly discussed 6/8). Knows the C, G and F major scales as a construct, ie. T t s t t t s.. And so can effective work out all major scales at the piano. And has even started on some basic transposition of melody lines.

We have begun working through a few simple pieces, and also begun piecing together one that is grade 1 ameb level. And can play a few scales HS for 2 octaves, and contrary motion. Excellent work no?

Edit: should point out that it's ok if you memorize the notes to the tune, you don't have to be reading while playing. In fact, while reading is important I would encourage you to memorize at the moment. We may work on sight reading a bit more later - at the momen I think it's better to focus on the playing rather than have to read at the same time. Memorizing better facilitates musical playing also..

[sonofsteinway]

ajspiano is my Teach if you haven't figured it out already. 

[jpahmad]

Sonofsteinway,

   Sounds like you have a great teacher!  By the way,  I really appreciate the videos ajspiano.  Although I've already played the fantasie impromptu, I will probably need help with something in the near future and would love your advice.


jp

[ajspiano]

By the way,  I really appreciate the videos ajspiano.  Although I've already played the fantasie impromptu, I will probably need help with something in the near future and would love your advice.

Hi JP,

always happy to help out.. I was hoping to make videos a little more frequently than its looking like will happen in reality. Still, look forward to seeing/hearing something from you, and hopefully I'll be able to be of some small help..

I'll be doing something for costicina's revolutionary etude either tonight or tomorrow, so maybe there'll be something in it for you. I think the information will be applicable well outside just that piece.

AJ.

[sonofsteinway]

Whoa, this week has been busy.
 I start work at 5 in the morning and i have a 1 hr commute so as you can imagine i get kinda tired in the afternoons!! But lately i have been doing overtime and my practice has suffered   !!
 I had my lesson with AJSPiano this week and was quite apologetic for the no practice. But nonetheless we knocked out a few bars and i was taught on just how complex the theory can get. Interval quality! A perfect note and a diminished.... i have some work ahead of me (dont worry teach i understand it all, its just scary looking into the abyss)
 So- i finally get to practice and i remember that piano street have given me a free sheet music piece, as im not yet a gold member. I have been listening to Chopins Preludes Op.28 No. 15 in D flat lately and wanted to crack into the more brooding, slow bass chords in the middle of the set. After printing it out and isolating the notes in the three pages of info (i can read music quite well it seems!!) i can now play the first five chords!
 Booyah

[sonofsteinway]

and yesterday was australia day, so i drank my way through two cartons of beer and listened to the hottest 100..
 very.....hungover......

[sonofsteinway]

I said Teach was here to knock me down a few pegs when my ego gets the better of me! Turns out i had been playing it incorrectly (as in- REALLY incorrectly) so we spent the lesson working on the chords for No 15 in D flat and now, even though i need sleep desperately, i am practicing!!

[ajspiano]

No 15 in D

D flat.

[roseamelia]

Hope you get where you want to get to.

[sonofsteinway]

I bought my way into five star social elitism! On this site anyway......
 I printed out Czerny exercises to give me a bunch of material i could scribble over instead of Teach's collection of works that i had been borrowing. It gives me something to do whilst i mellow out my brain from playing actual concert music like the First of six gnossiennes, Prelude in D flat and arabesque i am constantly attempting, and gaining ground in every day!

[sonofsteinway]

I have been practicing the chords from the deep bass in "No 15" for a while now and i can play the first four bars from memory. ALTHOUGH, i have a weighted key keyboard and I'm not using any MIDI software to make it easier to fine tune the finger strokes, so i kinda have to mash the keys to get the definition i want. Chopin would be rolling in his grave if he heard such a brash cacophony of his moody tones!
 So, i wanted to know if anyone else uses MIDI through their computer to alter the keystroke touch, and what software they use. I know of "PianoTeq Play" because someone else i know uses it, but it costs money. I was wondering if anyone knew of a FREE software device that was very similar to it...?

[sonofsteinway]

I have now begun my path to becoming an officially recognized pianist.
 In stead of jumbling around and learning pieces in leisure, i am studying to be qualified by the Aussie Music Board and hope to achieve the ultimate goal of level 8 qualification (in due process clearly.)
 So here's hoping i am good enough!!

[lilitu]

I really enjoyed reading this thread as my story is exactly the same as yours :-) Only I am 37 and started taking lessons again just 2 months ago, having spent almost 20 years in musical exile. Bought myself a new piano, found a piano teacher (on the web of course) and started on this very intense, creative and scary journey. I dream about playing Fantasie Improptou, Hungarian Rhapsodies and Beethovens Sonata Pathetique. At the moment I'm struggling with the Sonata Semplice, which I don't find easy at all. Easy to play the notes yes, not easy to get it sound like Mozart. I wonder how long it would take before I could play Chopins piano sonatas etc... If it is realistic to believe I would ever get there at all?

Yours in the struggle

[sonofsteinway]

Lately Teach has me focusing on a single piece that works on fingering and different melodies on different hands. Though the sheet music seems simple enough, for a beginner it is more than testing as while my right hand is busy my left is just wandering around playing notes whenever it wants! I am finding it tricky to play in time with each other but Teach has a good method for me to use.
 -Break two bars down into about 8 sections.
 -make sure those sections are overlapping by at least a crotchet or two quavers
 -play one of those sections until it is perfect and repeat that perfection seven or eight times.
 -move onto the next overlapping section and repeat last step
 -do not exceed 20 mins of playtime when playing the same piece, break it up. p[lay some chords or scales or something!!

The results of this method are really paying off. i can learn two bars fluently within an hour and it usually took me double or even triple that time!