how good are you

[pianoplayer51]

my mother heard me play and said I was really good.  I was playing Bach prelude in c which is an easy piece.  I do not think I am really good.  I cannot play very complicated music and am not concert pianist standard.  I am average.  It's good that I have my feet on the ground.  why do people misjudge the quality of musicians.  I am an average pianist and any decent pianist such as lang lang would wipe the floor with me.  . 

[j_menz]

Don't argue with your mother, young man! 

 

[cwjalex]

words like "good" or "decent" are loaded descriptions since everything is relative.  non-musicians are unable to play anything so they consider anyone who can play a piece that requires both hands to be good.  i think it's best to recognize what your own goals are.  if you are playing just to impress a random person then you could just learn fur elise, turkish march, and k545 (ithink thats it) in the first year and be content with that.  if you want to be considered good among other pianists it will take longer.  comparing yourself to other pianists can have both positive and negative effects depending on the person.  some people can get frustrated by others progress while people like me are extremely competitive and listening to players better than me drives me to practice more.

[kevin69]

my mother heard me play and said I was really good.  I was playing Bach prelude in c which is an easy piece.  I do not think I am really good.  I cannot play very complicated music and am not concert pianist standard.  I am average.  It's good that I have my feet on the ground.  why do people misjudge the quality of musicians.  I am an average pianist and any decent pianist such as lang lang would wipe the floor with me.  . 

Hardly anyone is of 'concert pianist standard'.
Looking at the stats for abrsm results here: https://us.abrsm.org/en/press/exam-statistics/graded-music-exams-by-result-practical/ only 15% or so of people who take grade 1 piano go on to take grade 8, and grade 8 a long way below concert pianist standards. Also the average level (at least before people get fed up with exams) is around grade 2 or 3 i.e. not that high.

So if professional such as Lang Lang only rate as 'decent', rather than exceptional, then there probably aren't many decent pianists out there, and most of us will never reach that level.

However, if you want to be a musician, a better yardstick is whether people enjoy listening to you play. Most people don't actually care much about the technical difficulty of what you are playing (in my experience anyway), so if others can enjoy your playing it would be a shame that you don't enjoy playing for them just because the pieces you play aren't technically that difficult.

[pianoplayer51]

I am not saying I dont enjoy playing for such people, but people who know I am an intermediate pianist say I am really good (these people have no musical knowledge).  Just because I can play a simple classical music piece, and they cannot, they think I am very good 

Let them try and they will soon change their mind.

On the subject of Lang Lang, I think he is very good and I really mean it, however I do not like his style of performance.  He not only plays at the Proms but gives master classes.  He is very technically skilled but he is a little way out for my taste.  There is no need to wave your arms in the air whilst you play.

[cwjalex]

lang lang is technically really good but i dont like his interpretations of various pieces.  i feel like there aren't enough dynamics and the majority of pieces are just played very loud without much feeling.  i saw a youtube comment that referred to him as bang bang which i found pretty funny.  i liken his performances to when you feed sheet music into a machine and its played technically perfectly without error but has no feeling.

[bronnestam]

If you love to play the piano, if you love to practice - then fine, you are very good. Your joy and your love for your piano playing will alway shine through and make listening a pleasure for others. (Well, perhaps not your practicing sessions ...    )

If you don't really love to play the piano, just love to be admired and get attention and "win" over whoeveritmightbe then sorry, go and do something else with your life. F*** this comparison sh*t. Playing the piano is an ART. That is, it does not solve any of our global problems, it actually is doing nothing good except being a pleasure for those who play and those who listen. It is pure entertainment. And as such, it is priceless. Play because you like to play, and let this be enough for you.

"If you ever start looking around to see what the world thinks of you, you should be aware that you now have lost everything you have won up to this point. Let be that you are a great philosopher. If you also want to be considered as one, then consider yourself to be one, and let this be enough for you." /Epiktetos, Greek philosopher, about 2000 years ago.

[iancollett6]

" If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself."

 Desiderata

[lostinidlewonder]

my mother heard me play and said I was really good.  I was playing Bach prelude in c which is an easy piece.  I do not think I am really good.  I cannot play very complicated music and am not concert pianist standard.  I am average.  It's good that I have my feet on the ground.  why do people misjudge the quality of musicians.  I am an average pianist and any decent pianist such as lang lang would wipe the floor with me.  . 

You should cherish a parents pride in you, I am sure your mother is very proud that her son plays the piano. Don't compare yourself with others if you make someone happy when you play this is the best thing you can possibly do, everything else is secondary.

[hardy_practice]

The nurse at school heard one of my students play.  She said to him 'It sounds like water'  Chopin got that comment from the ladies in England in 1848 -And every observation on music ends with “leik water,” meaning that it flows like water. I have not yet played to any Englishwoman without her saying to me, “leik water.” They all look at their hands and play the wrong notes with much feeling. Eccentric folk, God help them.