For the last few weeks I have been debating myself once again whether I should just quit because after 4 years of working my butt off I still cannot play the piano at all. And I don't see that changing in the near future.I won't quit of course because I am an more obsessive than sane in this matter...
I say that if you put enough effort into playing piano that you can say you've worked your butt off, you can say you play piano. I don't like the idea that you need to reach some arbitrary skill threshold to say you can "play" the piano. If you enjoy piano, put forth effort to practice, and make it a part of your life, I think you can say you play piano.
Yes, I do play the piano in some sense, just cannot really do it
baah, you can play the piano. I know, because I have heard you.I think you in general can say you can play the piano when you have a good idea on what to do when you sit down at it. Being able to read sheet music decently and adapt it to the piano keys is of course a sure sign, but there are, undisputably, some good pianists that cannot read notes ... So, let's look at two persons, let's call them Jane and John. Jane learned to play "Happy Birthday" from a friend. She can sit down at the piano and play it flawlessly with two hands, but she can NOT play the piano. Why? Because she only learned the sequence on the keyboard. She cannot for her life play anything else, unless her friend does not show her that sequence too. Larry, on the other hand, can also play "Happy Birthday". But he has also learned the basic tools - he knows what fingering is, he can name the keys, read notes decently well, and he has some basic ideas on HOW to press the keys. If you give him another song to play, of the similar level as Happy Birthday, he will learn that too. In fact he can learn to play almost everything provided that you give him it in small portions and let him take the time he needs.So, Lisa can by definition not play the piano, and Larry can. He may be a lousy pianist at the moment, but he has cracked the code, so to speak. When it comes to children and reading, teachers like to talk about "cracking the reading code". This means that the child does not only know how to pronounce all the letters, it also understands the principle on HOW to read. It may read a bit slowly in the beginning and has to struggle hard with long and complicated words, but it understands the idea. The rest is just about speeding up. Maybe you can say the same about piano playing. Once you understand HOW to play, all you need is to speed up ... The rest is just polishing.
Whether you think you can or cannot play the piano, you are right.(Shamelessly stolen from famous quote)
After your first paid gig, no matter how cheap.
OK this is completely subjectiveI had a conversation with someone I work with this morning, I showed her a little video of me playing a piece that I'm currently learning, we got into a little debate because she said I can already 'play' my argument was that I am still 'learning'I've been playing now for 9 or ten months and can play a fair few grade 2 pieces and am getting ready to jump into the grade 3 pieces, I have a few more pieces that are a lot more difficult which I can work my way through.I still class myself as being very much a learner, I don't think that in my eyes I will be able to say confidently that 'I can play the piano' until I reach the grade 4 sort of level and can learn pieces a hell of a lot quicker than I can at the moment. I know that the overwhelming answer will be 'you never stop learning' but in your eyes can you say that you can 'play the piano' when you can bash out twinkle twinkle little star with one finger or is it when through hours and hours of practice you can muddle your way through a grade 2 piece, maybe its when you can sit down and look at a piece for the first time and play it rather competently after 20 minutes, maybe it is only when you feel you are on a par with Ludwig Van or Chopin.I'm not after a definitive answer just curious as to when you personally felt that you could tell people you could play rather than you were learning.
I'm going to revise this suggested test.After the first time somebody hires you again. When they want you back, you know you've crossed over.Caveat: sometimes you don't get hired again because you're a jerk, rather than because you can't play. And conversely, I've been hired over better players because I'm a bit easier to work with.
That reminds of a Billy Joel interview where he said when your playing can pay the rent, then you know you have made it. sorry I dont have a direct reference to the interview but it was interesting.
Topic: At what point can you say that you can 'play' the piano 