As a piano student, what do you find the most exciting to learn?

[anacrusis]

Heya. I'm curious what y'all find the most exciting to learn about the piano? I'd like to know in general, and also more specifically, what do you find the most exciting to do/learn in a piano lesson? I was a notoriously hard child to teach, because I wanted to play what I wanted to play even if it was too hard, and was disinterested and stubborn whenever we did anything I didn't want to do. When I started teaching a few years ago I thought everyone was this way, but discovered that many of my students thought things I feared would bore them to be fun. So I'd like to hear what people here get excited about in lessons? 

[brogers70]

New ways to practice some difficult thing that I hadn't thought of myself.

[dogperson]

As a kid, my teacher chose all of my music and since I was unfamiliar with most of it, I was happy to learn it. I remember learning ‘the surprise symphony’ snd stopped after playing the first couple of pages with the question ‘where did the name come from’ only to find out when I continued to play.  I was delighted !!

As an adult, my teacher and I jointly choose my repertoire so I am excited to just play what I have chosen.  If there is a problem section and I conquer it, life feels great!!!

[ranjit]

I find it very exciting when I go to a lesson or have a conversation, and realize a completely new way of moving my hand/fingers that I had never thought of before. It immediately opens up a vast plethora of possibilities, which I can then spend a lot of time exploring.

[keypeg]

How to play.  As Ranjit says.
(I'm assuming the asker is asking about "which pieces", though.)

[ranjit]

Well, if I'm really interested in a piece, I usually just learn it on my own anyway. What I need a teacher for it's to realize which things need improvement, technical issues I've overlooked etc.

[anacrusis]

How to play.  As Ranjit says.
(I'm assuming the asker is asking about "which pieces", though.)

Sorry I wasn't more clear - I meant anything you could conceivably do in a lesson, not which pieces you are the most excited about. Like something I found fun when I was a teenager was my teacher showing me tricks I could use to make a difficult passage easier. I also often liked working on how to interpret at passage, that I could later bring home and work on (though it sometimes stung a bit to hear that it wasn't good already )

[quantum]

Exploring technique, and discovering ways of taking difficult passages of music and making them easier and more efficient to play. 

Being introduced to new perspectives in thinking about music.   Taking such ideas and applying them to the pieces I was studying.

[determined2learn]

I'm new to lessons so I'm excited to learn correct technique and bring the little theory I know into action. Having just learned (but very difficult for me to to play) 5 finger chords I now have a better understanding of perfect 5ths, that flagging the 3rd makes a major chord minor, the circle of fifths.


Music-wise, I've had this happen twice, I walk towards the front door of mg instructors home and I hear him playing. It's the new piece I'm learning. First was Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel , this week it was Arabesque.

[scientistplayspiano]

I am most excited to learn how real pianist approach music, and how composer create the effect of their composition. That's why I always like to discuss with my piano teacher the style and the process of learning and interpreting a piece.

[lelle]

If I could get detailed feedback on how to play better, but without needless criticism, I was generally a happy student!

[anacrusis]

Thank you everyone for your input! I see a common thread is that you like concrete information on how to grow your skills and how "real" pianists do it. That's in contrast to some lessons I have witnessed where the teacher just says "make it better" and perhaps shows what needs to be different but doesn't explain why (I detest that myself).