Hello - First lesson. 43 yo Aussie guy

[bones69]

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to quickly introduce myself. I am a 43 year old Aussie bloke who just had his first piano lesson a week ago. Prior to last Wednesday I have had zero music training and never sat in front of a piano before (or any other instrument) -except to watch my two children play piano (girl 12 who has played for 6 years and a 9 yo boy who has been playing for about 6 months).

Learning piano is something I have wanted to do since I was about 15, so starting has been a long time coming and is quite overdue.

I injured both hands very badly in a motorcycle accident 8 years ago and my right hand in particular was completely smashed. It went through 5 reconstructions and 3 years of physio to get it working again. I have lost a bit of movement and it does hurt sometimes (I can't make a fist etc), but I don't think my injury will effect my learning or playing very much apart from perhaps getting tired a little quicker, in fact - I am somewhat hopeful this type of regular exercise may be beneficial in the long term. This wasn't the motivation in me finally deciding to learn, but if it turns out to be an added bonus then I won't complain.

Anyway, after a week of practice (on average a few hours per day), I am quite pleased with my initial results but I do feel I am probably going to be a slow learner, it looks like reading music is going to be more challenging than I thought but of course it is very early days so I am only speculating. Will be interesting to get some feedback from my teacher after my second lesson tomorrow evening.

At this stage though I am surprised by how much I am actually enjoying practicing and I took significant pleasure the first time my little beginner piece came together without error. Time seems to go very fast when I am sitting on the little chair. I guess it is like this for everyone when they first start though....

Really, I just wanted to say hello and share where I am currently at. Long term.... Well I really love Dire Straits Telegraph Rd, I would like to think I can play this in 10 years. Really not sure if this is realistic or not but it is a piece of music I have loved for decades.

[bronnestam]

I wish you the best of luck! I am 46 and I recently started to play again, after 27 years of "hibernation". It was not that fun during my teenage years, that is, after the first enthusiastic weeks ... now it is fun all the time. You know, I have realized that having fun is the key to everything here. Always make sure you have fun. Count every little sign of progress as progress, no matter how small, and tell yourself that you are getting forward ... Congratulate yourself constantly, be proud of your progress, and never put up goals like "I should be able to play THIS perfectly at the end of the week", because if you don't reach that goal you will feel disappointed with yourself. Having long-term goals is of course great, but be happy for what you achieve instead of frustrated over what you think you ought to have achieved.
If you make errors (did I say "if" Ha, ha    ), then take a pause and analyze them before you repeat them, give yourself time to figure out exactly what is wrong and what you should to about it. This is from someone who spent years "learning errors". They are terribly hard to "unlearn" again, and meanwhile your ears will suffer because you want to enjoy the music too, right? And then it will be no fun anymore ... So, my conclusion has been that it is sometimes wise to let the hands rest while your brain is doing the work.

Yes, you will spend a ridiculous lot of time struggling with details so small that it seems to be crazy bothering about them, but believe me - it will pay off.

Just my 0.02$ opinions, of course. But you should not have to do the same mistakes I did. 

[iancollett6]

Gday, Im also an Aussie. I started at the age of 35, even though I did play a bit when I was younger. I had already played another instrument so I could read music reasonably well.
I simply love playing the piano, I spent as much time doing it as possible, it drives my wife a bit crazy.
 You set yourself a goal of 10 years to play that piece. I reckon you will be way on your way in 3!
 Alot of people think that if you didnt start learning when you were young then you can never learn, but that simply isnt true. You may have a great talent for it!    Good Luck!

[bernadette60614]

Welcome!

Something I consider:  The average lifespan in the U.S. for a woman is now over 75...so at 46 I have decades in which to improve. The great thing about learning an instrument for me has been seeing that improvement over time.

So, I'd agree with the good counsel of the other poster:  Enjoy your progress. For me, it was first measured in time practiced (starting at 5 minutes daily now up to an hour) and then I began noting the date I started a piece.  I can see over the last 2 years how I've progressed from "easy piano classics" to intermediate ones.

I remind myself daily: If I continue to work consistently, I will be a better pianist this time next year than I am today. 

[bones69]

Thanks for the kind words, useful tips and reassurance I am not too old. 

My initial thoughts about reading music were correct as I am really completely struggling. I know it will take time but I am surprised by how much effort I have to put in to reading the basics. When I break it down it appears to be a simple task but the brain is not engaging.

However, every time I get frustrated I go back to scales so these are improving, and for all purposes I don't mind doing them.

Best advice ever was keep it fun. Good advice and I will try and remember this more during the frustrating periods of learning to read.

[bronnestam]

Yes, as long as you enjoy the work and as long as you keep on working, you can be 100% sure, yes 100%, that The Process is going on deep within you.

I have thought a lot about this lately. I have reached the conclusion that piano playing is very fascinating not just because you produce great music with your hands, but also because - it is difficult.

Think about it. Nobody is born a piano player, everyone has to learn it from the very beginning, and everyone has to struggle in the beginning. No matter if their name is Ludwig van Beethoven or John Doe, they all have to LEARN. So, studying piano playing is a great study of the human brain and how it learns new things, that absolutely not are "in our blood". You start by hitting a single key and listen to the sound of it, and you end with the almost incomprehensible complexity of a Rachmaninoff concerto or something like that.

And you must trust your brain. It will learn, but sometimes the process is a bit hard to understand. There will be long periods when nothing seem to happen. You try and you try and you are very serious about it, but you keep on struggling with something that SEEMS to be rather simple, but for some reason it does not work for you. (I have worked with one bar in Tjajkovsky's "Barcarolle" for months by now ...    It does not look more difficult than anything else, but still I cannot play it well. Gaah!)
Don't worry! The calmness on the surface is a sure sign that the activity deep down is intense! What is happening right now is that you brain is busy creating new synapse connections and forming new neural patterns that never have been there before. The more intense this process is, the less you will "see" from it - isn't that quite logical? And it is ongoing the most when you relax, especially when you are asleep!

... well, these are thoughts I comfort myself with when I meet some unexpected obstructions like the one I just mentioned above. Again, there is always SOMETHING I can count as progress, even though it might be a baby step. And it often has happened that I have worked for days, weeks and months with something, without mastering it - and suddenly, just overnight, it's there. Like magic, or?   

So, when nothing seems to happen, that's when it really is happening!