Self Taught Pianists

[90abyss]

How should the approach be for people who want to learn the piano but cannot afford a private piano tutor?
I'm taking Learning & Master's Piano DVD courses. To get started with sight reading I've begun with Alfred's Adult series book 1. Is there anything else I can do?

Right now I'm totally free for 5 months. So I've all the time in the world. I want to make this 5 months very fruitful as far as piano learning is concerned as I'll be going to college in fall 13 and therefore won't have the luxury of time that I have now.

So please tell me how my approach to learning should be? How should I divide my practice time? Also how do I improve my left hand right hand co-ordination?

Thank you.

[mahlermaniac]

1) Practice reading sheet music of songs/pieces you already know and like. I felt the music notes were just swimming on the page until I picked a song I absolutely loved to hear. I'd play the same section on my iPod as I was reading it. It really helped reading musical notation click in my mind.

2) " practice" in your head when you aren't at a piano. I had an image of the musical staff in my head while showering, at lunch time, etc and mentally reviewed it. Now I do the same with pieces that I'm working on playing.

3) Set goals or a schedule on what you want to accomplish at each session.

I'm a newbie myself, and have not advanced very far. But these things seem to help so far.

[xdjuicebox]

1) Practice reading sheet music of songs/pieces you already know and like. I felt the music notes were just swimming on the page until I picked a song I absolutely loved to hear. I'd play the same section on my iPod as I was reading it. It really helped reading musical notation click in my mind.

2) " practice" in your head when you aren't at a piano. I had an image of the musical staff in my head while showering, at lunch time, etc and mentally reviewed it. Now I do the same with pieces that I'm working on playing.

3) Set goals or a schedule on what you want to accomplish at each session.

I'm a newbie myself, and have not advanced very far. But these things seem to help so far.

Learn to read music, you won't regret it.

#2 is an AMAZING tip, but I would recommend you picture the piano in your head instead of the staff. It's usually to memorize easier that way. Also, hear the music as you "play the piano" in your head.

There are some books online that you can get for free, I think one that I liked a lot was "Fundamentals of Piano Practice" by Chuan C. Chuang which you can find at pianopractice.org

My advice would be to do all the research you can on it before you begin making a bunch of bad habits, and always make it feel as comfortable and natural as you can.

[hfmadopter]

1) Practice reading sheet music of songs/pieces you already know and like. I felt the music notes were just swimming on the page until I picked a song I absolutely loved to hear. I'd play the same section on my iPod as I was reading it. It really helped reading musical notation click in my mind.

I'm a newbie myself, and have not advanced very far. But these things seem to help so far.

Just FWIW, playing songs you like isn't all that bad an idea. However, I suggest the next step so you can grow more into your music and that is to learn the chords of the key the piece is written in and it's related harmonizing chords. In this way over time you will see the correlation of at least the basic related chords and be able to learn a new piece in that much faster time and even in more advanced arrangements by mere familiarity of accompanying notes to the harmony of the new piece.. Well worth taking the extra time to learn.

To the OP: piano is not a short term venture. Thinking of five months as all the time in the world as it relates to piano is really thinking of something similar to a flash of light ! Not that you should not take advantage of the 5 months mind you but you really will just scratch the surface. That said you can get a few things done. Learn correctly though, follow as others have said and get at elast a first grade or first year piano book and follow the studies in that and also do some online work..

[bronnestam]

I also highly recommend "Fundamentals of Piano Practice". It has been tremendously helpful for me. You might find that not ALL of the suggestions appeal to you - never mind, pick what you like, skip what you don't like.
Chung is very fond of the idea that you practice all the technical difficulties with separate hands. From my own bitter experience, I know this is true. If you try to solve difficulties playing with both hands, you might "learn mistakes" that then are unbelievably hard to get rid of again. 

Good coordination exercises are Bach's Inventions, which you can download for free from this site.

I don't have specific goals anymore when I sit down to practice, but after each session - even if it was just 5 minutes - I ask myself: "what did I just learn?"  I find that there is always SOMETHING. Never mind if the progress was very, very small - it was progress anyway. And therefore I always leave the piano with the feeling that I have made progress, and that is very encouraging. As long as you keep the feeling that you are making progress, you will stay motivated.

Never compare yourself with people boasting about "I learned this in so-and-so short time, and I am at this level now and I practice so-and-so much every day". As long as you're making progress - see above - you are doing good!  Remember that boredom is your absolute worst enemy here, and the feeling of being stuck is the shortest way to boredom. NEVER do exercises that you find boring, in the belief that your fingers will get their practice while you think of something else. Believe me, it does not work that way. It is the brain that plays, really. So better do mental playing in your head, far way from the piano, than doing mindless exercises with your hands. They will do more harm than good; your fingers might get warm but your enthusiasm will get cold, and that will be the Kiss of Death. (And you will learn not to listen to what you're playing, which of course is pure disaster.) 

[taio]

DONT DO WHAT I DID! Learn how to read sheet music and learn scales. Learn music theory if needed

I on the other hand I have been self teaching for 8 months and although I can (Just) play a bit of Rachmaninoff it is NOT worth it. Learn the proper way like I am now.

[hfmadopter]

DONT DO WHAT I DID! Learn how to read sheet music and learn scales. Learn music theory if needed

I on the other hand I have been self teaching for 8 months and although I can (Just) play a bit of Rachmaninoff it is NOT worth it. Learn the proper way like I am now.

Some theory is needed and people are getting it and sometimes don't even know it and just end up hacking away piece after piece.. Basic theory will go a long ways to helping anyone learn a new piece of music. Everyone doesn't have to be a theory guru but they should know the basics, IMO. That's how I teach my few students, even if to do a pop piece, we analyze it and tie that to the basics. I feel it's good to separate out the chords as a study in a piece, to better understand what is constructing a given piece. Later when you go on to another piece in the same key you better understand how it will come together . Even though it has different fingering, it will be in familiar territory and you will know why that is, beyond the mere fact of a key signature written at the beginning of the piece. I start a new piece out this way with the student r even for myself for that matter.. Lets sit, what do we know about this piece without playing a single note ? What key is it in, what does that mean in relation to scale and the chords in the piece ? Is it a major or minor and why, how do we know this ? What time signature, what do we see in the first couple of measures related to all that ? Get that all established, now begin. It only takes a few minutes time.

[slobone]

How serious are you about learning to play the piano? If it's really important to you, I wouldn't even consider trying to learn without a teacher. Otherwise you'll develop a lot of bad habits. A good teacher will also be able to set priorities for you, monitor your progress, and just generally be a second pair of ears to tell you when you're going wrong. It's almost impossible to do that on your own.

I suggest you ask around for who the good teachers are in your area. Then talk to them about your money situation. They might be willing to make an adjustment in their fee, or meet you every two weeks instead of every week (once a month is probably not enough). Or you could sign up for a group piano class at a a community college. And maybe you could even figure out some way to rearrange your budget priorities.

[muleski]

How serious are you about learning to play the piano? If it's really important to you, I wouldn't even consider trying to learn without a teacher. Otherwise you'll develop a lot of bad habits. A good teacher will also be able to set priorities for you, monitor your progress, and just generally be a second pair of ears to tell you when you're going wrong. It's almost impossible to do that on your own.

I think that's very good advice.  I took it back up after over a decade of not playing & initially thought 'ah, I can do it myself', but having bought new sheet music for a piece I wanted to learn, I realised my theory knowledge was so poor (I could understand basic time sigs, could read the notes, but that was pretty much it), that I very quickly realised I needed help.  I have a lesson every other week.  We talk theory & do a bit of practise during the lesson.  I work on all we've discussed in the meantime of course and it's certainly true that a second pair of ears & eyes even, are indispensable when learning piano.  Yes they are expensive, but you will more than likely yield far better results.  Good luck!