Is it even an accomplishment to play by ear?

[breebreebran]

.,

[ranniks]

Slow down cowboy.

Beethoven's third movement is concert pianist level. Amateur/hobbiest can half-ass it, sjure, but actually playing/feeling the piece is different. I see myself playing that piece in 5 years orso, probably longer. And even then, it probably won't be on the level of concert pianists who practise God only knows how many hours each day. Either way, mastery is different from just wanting to play it I guess.

Also, there's a big difference between the Lacrimosa and the beginner level pieces that you're playing. I commend you on being able to play the first bar well at this stage.

Either way, keep practising, you'll get there.

[gregh]

It's always good to be able to play by ear. For one thing, that will help you play written music because you know what's coming and your fingers know how to make the sounds (I assume that by "playing by ear" you mean that you can pretty much play what you hear in your head without having to go back again and again until you make it sound right). It's good for any musician to be able to hear the next note before playing it, and to play the note that he hears. If jazz improvisation is your thing, you need to be able to play by ear.

Just don't let your extra-curricular activities develop bad habits that will have to be beaten out of you later.

[italk2planes]

I don't think there is too much harm if you are learning for enjoyment but would advise against it if you are in it for the long term.  Supplement what you are learning with pieces that are at your level, if you spend so much time trying to learn music beyond your level you're likely to pick up some bad habits that are a real pain to fix.

As for being able to play by ear, my teacher has told me it is good for me, bad for her and that the best pianists are the ones who have the ear but also are skilled at reading music.

[indianajo]

This points out to me the difficulty of taking piano "class".  Students are different, the curriculum has to  be the same. 
For example, I soldiered through John W. Schaum pre book with my Mother, then about half of book one with my private teacher, then she bought an "everybody's favorite music" book and we took off playing stuff that was fun.  By contrast, I did every exercise in the Edna Mae Berman books, one a week or sometimes two weeks when I didn't get it.  The mechanical tricks of piano, I wasn't able to make those up, I had to grind through the curriculum.
But there are other students who weren't well controlled that missed some things at the most elementary level, and are playing badly at level 8 and never realize what is wrong.  A friend of mine never got rhythm down, it interfered with his emotions.  He was too impatient for his teacher.  Well, my opinion is, you play rhythmically at first until you know the piece, then add emotion to it.  When I hear this person play, it is just a big hash to me, even though I hear some right notes in there. 
And bar band players that play totally by ear, some of them make a lot more money than I do.  But there are things I can do that studied classically that I've never seen them even try. 
what the classical curriculum didn't do well when I was young, was teach how to play pop music off a lead sheet.  This is the commercial kind of "by ear".  the Records and CDs are so different from the lame pop music arrangements they sell at the music store, it is night and day.  Playing what people want to hear with their beer is an art to itself. 
Good luck, and have some patience, but not too much IMHO.   

[kalirren]

Any input on this?

Of course it's an accomplishment to play things by ear.  (IMHO a musician who can't do this is worse than a playback device.)  I don't understand the source of your insecurities at all.

Do you feel bad because you're ahead of your class? That should be a reason to be proud.

Or do you feel bad because you know how to play a piece but don't know how to write it down? Don't worry, you'll learn to. Your teachers will eventually get around to explaining what those little signs mean. If you're impatient, you could always ask them. If that fails to assuage you, you could always go back to the score and play the piece you know while looking at the score until you understand why the score produces the piece you know how to play. You'll probably learn even more that way...

Or do you feel bad because you didn't construct your idea of the piece from the score alone, but have benefited from the aid of a recording? Congratulations, that's exactly what most musicians do!  It's true that musicians who don't read their scores carefully and don't listen critically can become trapped in shadows of past performances, but you don't need to fear this for years yet, if ever.

You have the ear. Great! Now run with it.  Don't confuse working at the level of your class with real diligence.

[muleski]

I'm a beginner piano student. I've been taking a piano class at school since August.
But it's so boring to me. Playing Mary had a little lamb and when the saints go marching in and boring stuff like that.
So when I get home I try to teach myself harder songs.
Like right now I'm learning Mozart's Lacrimosa.
I have it nearly perfected and I'm proud of it. I can play it all by memory.
But part of me feels like I shouldn't be proud at all.
In my class we're learning 3/4 time and basic chords.
But Lacrimosa is way more advanced than that. It's in 12/8 time, has 8th rests, it plays into ledger lines, has key signatures, etc.
I haven't learned any of this in my class. I did go home and look up most of it. So I partially understand it.
But that's basically it.
The rest of the song, I learned because I know what it sounds like. If I had just looked at that sheet music I would never be able to play it. I have no clue how to play in 12/8 time. I have no clue how to do an 8th rest.
And I just feel like any professional pianist would look down on me because I don't even understand what I'm playing.
I know everyone starts at the bottom and I should just be patient and stick with these beginner songs my teacher keeps assigning.
But that's so hard to just sit back knowing there's beautiful pieces like Lacrimosa or Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata 3rd movement.
Any input on this?


I feel just the same...  I'm having lessons, but I'm not going down the exam route.  I can read music (not brilliantly), but I always need help off my teacher regarding the exactness of the music (on paper).  In reality, I listen to what I'm learning, then play it as to what I know it sounds like.  I can't sight read, unless it's a single note tune, so everything is committed to memory, which is how I play.  I couldn't bear learning really boring stuff, so I always go (probably to my detriment to some extent) for more complex pieces.  Really, I just go for stuff I like. 

I wouldn't worry about what you're doing at all.  It's your choice to go to a class, could you not go to a private tutor who may be better able to gauge your level & cater for a more individual training approach?  I'd definitely keep up learning yourself, as you're clearly hungry for it. 

[muleski]

Damn... sorry, I included my reply within the quote box!  I clearly still haven't quite got the hang of this!