Taking up piano more seriously

[1lyn]

Hello, this is my first post here.

I've had an electronic keyboard for some 8 years now in my room, but I've only practiced a few pieces on it and I can play them pretty well. Some of these are "To Zanarkand" and "More London Streets" if you want to find them on Youtube.

I had a few private lessons six years ago when I was 12, which taught me the major scales, the chromatic scale, and a little finger techniques. Unfortunately I couldn't keep my interest up back then, so I stopped taking the lessons. Now I'd want to take up piano again and learn more, so I thought this would be the best place to ask where I should proceed now.

I think I am pretty good at learning on my own, but my problem is that I don't know what I should learn and in what order. My goals are to be able to play pieces from the sheets (I'm not very good at it, I always looked up on Youtube to learn pieces..) and being able to compose something myself - if I were to compose something now, I'd have to do it via the tedious trial and error way, but I believe there are some rules on how to compose well. I think scales are the way to go and something else too, but I never got that far.

Any advice? I'll gladly answer any questions as well.

[bronnestam]

Hi and welcome! 

If I were you, I'd go to a good music store and ask for a book with self-study material, including a CD. There is plenty of it in these days and they are nice to work with. Just be careful to stick to the course once you have begun. A good book is well planned and you should get the best result out of it if you follow it carefully.
(You can also find material on the Internet, ask people here for suitable books.)

The very best thing you can do is, of course, to get a real teacher but that is often easy to say and hard to do, depending on where you live and other circumstances in your life.

[bernadette60614]

Welcome!

My advice:  Find a self-study course and follow it through as far as you can, and then find a great teacher. I like the Alfred's adult piano series because the explanations are simple but not extremely dumbed down.

Alfred may take you 6 months to a year but it will give you some keyboard foundation.

And, don't be afraid to ask questions here. Like any discussion board, personalities vary, but eventually you'll find those people whose advice works for you.

GL!  Piano is a great process of lifelong learning.

[1lyn]

Thank you for replies!

A self studying course sounds like the best option for me. I found the Alfred's book on Amazon, and the table of contents looks promising. (Although I didn't see a mention of circle of fifths in there, it would be nice to have some information on that, as well.)

https://www.amazon.com/Alfreds-Self-Teaching-Adult-Piano-Course/dp/0739052055#reader_0739052055

I think I'm going to see how far I get with this book.

[sarah_16]

Welcome! I'm new myself

[jjernigan]

You know,
I started like that again too.  After 30 years and my mother's death I decided to try again.  As the norm, I started with elementary music and worked my way through that.  However, at some point I decided I really needed a teacher to correct mistakes I couldn't identify. Outside views are all important because in our minds, we tend to "ignore" the mistakes and try and move forward.  The same principle applies in say testing a product.  The folk who produce it all know all about it so tend to "skip" over steps they "already" know thus certain things don't get tested.  In industry, it's been found to be a better product if it's been independently tested.  That's my recommendation for a teacher.  Even if it's only occasionally, it's good to have an independent evaluation of where you're at.