Beginner Questions

[fore]

Hi, I've been wanting to learn to play piano for a longtime.  I got a Yamaha P105 for christmas that I love...would love to get ext. speakers eventually, but for now, the sounds not bad.

I've been learning using "Alfreds Adult Piano Course", and watching utube videos of Andrew Furmanczyk Piano Academy.  I'm progressing ok, still learning the notes on sheet music, and recognizing intervals more readily.  I've got about 4-5 cords down.  My question is, at this stage, I can get thru a basic song, but not at the 4/4 and not fluid.  Should I keep playing these basic songs at the beginning of Alfreds book till I get the fluidity and timing to be exact, or, should I proceed trying to learn the notes now, and worry about the timing later?

Thanks!
Chris

[pianoplayer51]

why do so many people teach themselves? 

[sucom]

Hi fore

I suggest keeping the timing very much in mind right from the outset of learning a piece.  Obviously you have to make sure you are playing the right notes, which may detract from the timing in the first instance, but once you are certain which notes you should be playing, immediately consider the timing too.  The correct notes, in the correct order, with the correct timings and dynamics is, I feel,  the way to practice a piece, even if you have to go at a snail's pace. From this point, you will gradually develop fluency.

[fore]

Sucom, I'm glad I asked as I've primarily been focusing on notes.
 
Very well put! "The correct notes, in the correct order, with the correct timings and dynamics is, I feel,  the way to practice a piece, even if you have to go at a snail's pace."

This is where I need to focus my practicing now. 
Thanks

[savvygal]

I think trying to teach oneself on the computer for starters is a great way to go to learn the keyboard and some basic stuff.  After that, I would suggest getting a teacher before you're ready to play some real music.

Also, you could go to your piano store and work on some theory books.  Always a great start!  If you could master chord theory, you would have some great roots that would continue to be instrumental in more ways than you could imagine in your journey!  I never learned this stuff as a kid.  Now I'm finding out how important it is.

[fore]

I totally agree.  I spent most of yesterday reading beginning threads, and I realized the importance of a teacher, at least in the beginning.  I found a highly qualified guy not too far from the house...but $70/hr or 55/45.  He offered every other week to keep expenses down.  I'm seriously considering this, to make sure I have proper posture, hand and wrist movement while I'm still new at this. 

[wsmith75]

I still consider myself a beginner and I have been playing for three years.

A teacher is not just for posture and the hand placement. A good teacher will be able to teach you the things that make you a real artist. Anyone can learn to play a piece technically correctly. A good teacher that truly loves the instrument will show you how to live the music and interpret it in your own way.

And good teachers don't always cost a lot if money. Good teachers are selective about their students and want to share their love of music with students.

Happy playing. And don't give up. My first year was tough.

Now my playing time is a joy to do. Even when I work at a snails pace!

[loydb]

why do so many people teach themselves? 

Because so few teachers teach for free. 

[pianoplayer51]

You get what you pay for.  I agree that not everyone can afford lessons.  Some time ago I was given a piece to learn over the holidays. I worked my  socks off and was pleased with the result. I played it for my teacher and she pulled it apart and said although I hit the right notes, the phrasing and timing was not correct.   She then showed me how it was supposed to be played.  I therefore felt that I had completely wasted my time on the piece so it figures that I need the help of a teacher go guide me

[fore]

Well I bit the bullet and start lessons next week.  Nervous, but excited.

[pianoplayer51]

good luck

[fore]

Thank you for the encouragement Pianoplayer51!  I'm really taking lessons to avoid exactly what happened to you, spend time learning something, only to be told later, it's all wrong.  And hopefully get good

[pianoplayer51]

ah but I was having lessons too when that happened.  This means I still have a long way to go and cannot work a piece out on my own.   Yes I can sit and pass an exam but that is because I have help from a teacher.  Left to my own devices I would fail.   My aim is to get to the stage where I can do things and do not need much help to get the phrasing right etc.    Its more than simply hitting the correct notes and making a tune.    What I will say though it that since my disaster trying to play that piece with no help over the holidays, I have started now recognising phrases and so on, so if i were given something else to work out on my own, it would still require some help but not so much as before.    

I am still not a fluent sight reader and never will be, and thats ok because as long as I can basically work out the tune thats fine and eventually it sinks in.   This is only something I do for fun so it is not a matter of life and death if I do not become a fluent sight reader.   I get the score and work it out first.    How many people do you know that can pick up a difficult score they have never seen before and just put it up on the piano and play it as if they had been playing the piece for weeks....   Not many I bet

[wsmith75]

Pianoplayer51:

Go find a beginner book and flip to the middle (find a first lesson book, but not your own)

See if you can sight read one of those songs. My teacher doesn't push sight reading on me because I will probably never test over it. However, my teacher can sit down and sight read the most complicated pieces and phrase them like he's been practicing for weeks. I was moaning about never being able to do that and he pulled out a beginner I have never seen flipped it open to the middle and said "play that".

Amazingly, I could do it. Sure, it was a really simple piece, but I am still a "beginner" myself.

His point was, sight reading comes with playing lots of pieces and knowing music. If I stay at it, I may never be as good as him, but I will be able to sight read some really complicated pieces one day.

So will you.

[bronnestam]

why do so many people teach themselves? 

Because finding a teacher is not always that easy? I am an adult, living on the countryside in Sweden, and teachers for adults don't exactly grow on trees here.
Finally I found a good teacher in a town just 1 hour car drive from here, wee! But right now we got a lot of snow, so I'm stuck here. 

[pianoplayer51]

the school I go to has now started piano lessons via skype