Piano Forum

I find this definition of ‘success’ shallow as well as self-defeating.  Shallow because it defines an end point rather than if the pianist plays with musicality and technique.  It is self-defeating because the emphasis in on the wrong goal,  so a student rushes through where they actually are in order to run faster to the false goalpost. In the end, you have Simone who plays  a bunch of notes. Big deal.

I understand what you mean. However, I really want to know if anyone was able to play difficult repertoire starting as an adult.

I can already more-or-less "play" most ~grade 8 material, but I'm afraid that I may not be able to 'make it' due to my age due to the fact that it looks like almost no one ever does! I adore Liszt and Ravel pieces so much that I would feel really hollow if I found out that it's unlikely I will ever be able to play them well because I've passed a critical window of learning opportunity or some other bs reason, and I might as well rather just give up trying to play the piano.

Personally (and this is obviously a very personal thing), I think of being successful as being able to produce on the piano anything that I can imagine. I want there to be a direct link between what I can imagine and what I can play, so as to channel and express my thoughts and musical ideas effortlessly. However, this also means that if I can imagine a beautiful rendition of Jeux D'Eau, I won't feel successful as a pianist until I can play it!

... None of these are super virtuoso pieces, but the small audience loved it. One woman, a dairy farmer, was in tears and told me it brought back her whole youth. People who had never heard of Janacek were turned on to him. That's success in my book. And I get to spend 3 hours a day working on great music by great composers. There's virtuoso stuff I'll certainly never be able to play. But if I'd let someone dissuade me from starting, 20 years ago on the grounds that I'd never be a "success," it would have been a personal tragedy.

Don't get me wrong, it is admirable that you learned to play the piano well and with musicality, and it's amazing to be able to make a mark in people's lives as you did in your recital. My concern, however, is that I may never be able to play my favorite pieces, and there are so many pieces I adore which are virtuosic. It is that I really like piano music with multiple moving parts, such as orchestral transcriptions which often use the "three-hand technique", and pieces with innovative pianistic textural effects, both of which require great dexterity.

When I asked people I knew if they knew anyone like that, they talked about colleagues who played pieces such as Maple Leaf Rag in a jazz band, or sometimes played some relatively easy classical. Basically all the "amazing piano players" I find online who have claimed to have learned as adults, till date, have only been able to play easy pieces well, or play difficult pieces poorly. All the courses or teaching marketed towards adults turn out to be scams which teach you things which can be figured out through an internet search! People often reassure adult beginners that while they won't be able to play as well as those who have been learning since they were small children, they can still play some pieces which they enjoy. I couldn't care less about that, I want the real deal! And so, I would love to know if there is someone out there who has been able to learn some significantly difficult pieces such as Hungarian Rhapsodies or Chopin Ballades well, starting as an adult.