"Beginner" Questions and Concerns

[klevaiv]

I'm not exactly sure where to start on this ; I don't know how much background is required to answer my questions so let me know if this is sufficient. I started "playing" the piano several years ago; I say this with hesitation as I never learned notes or sheet music and my practice was not regular or structured. I learned several of what I now know are very simple songs. This was all through self-teaching; I learned through videos, readings, or synthesia. I stopped about one year ago after attempting to learn more difficult pieces, failing, and realizing how little I had actually learned. Recently I have come upon the time and funds I can truly dedicate to proper learning, and I began reading this forum and others to learn what "proper" is.

- Most people I have heard from recommend a teacher, suggesting that technique and bad habbits can be corrected more easily and the learning process in general will be expedited. I have also heard the horror stories of those who have self-taught themselves these bad practices. There is some fear that I have developed these myself, and thus I have resolved to avoid the instrument until I learn what is good technique. However I would eventually like to be self sufficient; I would like to take lessons with the intent of learning technique and how to learn a piece correctly such that I can eventually do so without the aid of a teacher. Is this a plausible idea? If so, in what kind of time frame should I expect to learn these fundamentals?(I am not looking to rush this; please be honest.)

- For as many horror stories from those self-taught, there are those who learned from "bad" teachers. In finding a teacher, how can I differentiate quality?

- I fear I am staring down a chasm of complexity that will strip any enjoyment I derived from the instrument. I loved playing the piano and it is still my favorite instrument to listen to today. My current goal is to replicate music that appeals to me. I am not looking to become a concert pianist or compete and perform against others, nor am I seeking to compose. I realize however that this may change as I learn more about playing the instrument. How feasible is this? Can one choose how deep they wish to take their learning, or is it necessary to "go all the way"?

- I am 17. From what I have read, it is still possible to learn anew from this position, however I do fear a time crunch. What should I expect from myself at this point, and is there anything I should know about learning new technique at this stage?

It is possible that my previous "learning" has imprinted methods and technique that are not salvageable, or that my mentality surrounding piano will not mesh with what is required to properly learn. I realize that these are best observed by a teacher and thus I am not expecting accurate analysis from just this post, but if you see any glaring issues, please point them out. If learning correctly from this position is a lost cause, I would rather know now than after I have devoted more time and effort.

For those that read this far, thank you for your help.

[coda_colossale]

Synthesia is good only as a midi player-visualiser. It is not an alternative to sheet music. You'll see how easier to play a Beethoven sonata by sheet music than für elise by Synthesia.

1- You need a teacher for the best results unless you're exceptionally talented, intelligent and knowledgeable in piano literature-performance. But this is a rare case and only a few people possess all these qualities in this forum.
Still, it's practice that makes you play, not teachers.

2- From one neither can play the piano nor teach, to bernhard.

3- Well, you're not the only one to experience this. Set yourself a goal maybe?

4- You still have 50+ years to practise...

5- Possible. Existent? No one can tell without seeing you play. Not salvageable? No.

[hmrichter]

To try to answer this all in one go,

-Yes, get a teacher. Before you can read Shakespeare you should read beginning books; similar to piano. Before you can tackle things by yourself, you need to work with someone who has all the experience, that is to say, teaching, performance, preferably coming from a reputable music school (though there are still several good teachers who never went to college). But the bottom line for a teacher is just because they can play well does not mean they are a good teacher, they need to be able to convey their experience to you effectively.
-Yes, learning by yourself can give you bad technique. To select a good teacher, you may want to see if you can sit in on a lesson. See what the teacher does and doesn't do. See their standards. Also important; have a good relationship with your teacher, they could be Vladimir Horowitz but if you hate them you'll never learn.
-A good long term goal is key. But wait on it, if you try to go for Chopin's Ballade 1 (as my friend once tried to, as did another member of this forum) with no experience, you will likely damage your fingers and your musicality, and for what? It will 99.9% of the time be god awful. A good way to work your way up is select your dream piece, and then figure out what its technical and musical challenges are, then figure out some pieces to help with that (with the help of your teacher of course; and in general, you may need to wait a bit before you do that, and just focus entirely on what your teacher selects for you). For example, my piece for a long time was Moonlight Sonata movement 3, so I played the first two movements to get a feel for the form, then analyzed the sonata and saw the repetitious movements, so I did a lot of arpeggios and things like that. Now I'm just building my overall technique.
-17 is a fine age to start. I know somebody who started at age 50 and is a fine pianist, in fact I'm going to a show of his where he's playing the Appassionata sonata. However, it may be harder depending on how you look at your learning. You'll see the 14 year old kids playing the Pathetique sonata or Hungarian Rhapsody 2, and it may motivate you to practice, or it may make you think "jesus, I'll never get there!". A little bit of inspiration is good now and then though, just don't get so caught up in the future that you forget what you're doing to get to that goal. Chopinlover01 can tell you about that