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Interesting concept…

However, I tend to focus on the other side of the coin, and that is the creativity and individuality that we interject into our music that only comes from within ourselves. That’s really where all music originates from anyway, is it not?

Diversity of opinion is a good thing.

Take care,

Rick

I would agree with John-B... a teacher is essential. I took about three years of lessons when I took up classical piano and was always amazed at the things I was doing wrong when I would come for my by-weekly class. There was just so much that a book or online lesson couldn't show you. I've now been without a teacher for a number of years and know I really need to find one.

Whilst I had lessons as a kid a long, long, long time ago, I'm self teaching. I think provided that you are motivated and organised that with the help available here, participation in the ABF recitals and use of modern technology for recording/videos so that you can critique your work - then you will go far!

However, I do believe that a good teacher is the best option. Particularly during the first few years at least.

On the other hand nothing beats an average or poor teacher. i.e your better off with nothing ...if you see what I mean.

Unfortunately, this is the category, to which my teacher belonged. Best way to describe her hmmm... Mrs Doubtfire (including the wig).... Just a couple of stories... Before one thirty minute lesson she informed me that she'd had a word with my Mum and there was a little job for me to do after the lesson at 5.30pm. After the lesson, I found that it had been arranged for me to strip the wood chip wall paper off the walls in her hallway. So after the lesson, and armed with a paint scrapper and kettle of boiling water I had to use the steam from the kettle to soften the painted wallpaper then scrap the stuff off. I was able to go home about 4 hours later but had to return the following day to finish the job.

On another occassion, Mrs Doubtfire informed me that
"Hello dearie, I've had a word with your Mum and there's another little job...".
At the front and back of her home, the lawn had been replaced with gravel, but weeds were growing through, so armed with a small trowel, I spent the rest of the Summers evening digging weeds out of the gravel patchs.

Finally, the worst one of the lot was the description I got during one lesson regarding the removal of her advanced nasal polyps, and

"What a surpries the shear quantity of green mucus was.. Oh Dearie you've played that incorrectly, does my new wig look OK?"

I'm now self teaching and likely to stay that way....

Peyton,



This makes me feel distinctly nervous. I'm not used to people agreeing with me!

This thread is so fascinating to me... When I started teaching, I thought I would only teach kids, but was stunned to wind up with just as many adults as kids. Over time, I realized that a lot of these adults were self-taught before coming to me. THEN, I realized that lots of adults stay self-taught and never get a teacher.

Now, I still believe that finding the *right teacher* is much better than no teacher, but I also accept that lots of you guys are having a wonderful time just playing on your own. That's one of the main reasons I published my piano method. Since lots of you are going to work on your own no matter what anyone says, I figured I could still be of help by publishing stuff and making videos geared towards your crowd.

<<To be honest, I'm a bit nervous about finding a good piano teacher>>

me too

<<Bristol,UK>>

ditto

I'm more or less self taught.I had some basic musical education as a child, including two years playing trumpet in a local brass band plus a few guitar and piano lessons.I picked it up again in my early twenties and haven't had any tuition simply because I couldn't afford it.I think a good teacher would have cut my learning curve in half especially in the early stages where there's so much time wasted doing things wrong which any decent teacher would correct immediately.
I'm not sure how far I've gone exactly, I'd guess about the early advanced sort of level.

Say what? If there's nothing wrong with self-teaching then why do you feel sorry for those who do? Typically we only feel sorry when there's something wrong...



All? You never learned anything interesting about music on your own? If so, then something is wrong and now I feel sorry...

I think this is great, and a classic example of the wonderful American free enterprise spirit - a resourceful and ambitious entreperneur (sp.) jumping in to take advantage of a potentially lucrative niche market by supplying a real pressing need. In this case "publishing stuff" God only knows "our crowd" needs lots of stuff!

Just kidding Rachel - I really do think this is praiseworthy and very smart of you

JF

I've always played by ear and loved classical music. I knew that the only way that I would ever be able to play classical music was to be able to read music. Now that I am retired and have the time, I am self-teaching and enjoying every minute of it.
Mike White

LOL, John. Yes, sometimes I'm not very eloquent online.

I've been self taught for about five and a half years ago, and have progressed nicely. However, there were some problems that could have been avoided had I had a teacher, and they have caused me quite a bit of work to fix. Also, I think teachers move you beyond just merely playing a piece, and teach how to experiment with works. I don't know-I've never had a teacher-- but it's a hunch.
It's possible to teach yourself, and I have enjoyed doing so, but if you can find a good teacher and can afford it, I would take advantage of it!

I'm found a compromise. I'm a 52 year old beginner. I went back to college. They have a great music program. I'm in a piano class there. There are abut 12 students in a large room with many digital Kawai pianos and two grand pianos, Students mostly work using the digital pianos with headphones. Class is twice a week for 90 minutes. The teacher talks to the class as a whole and also listens to each student and works with them as required. It is not the same as private instruction, more like three hours a week of supervised practice. The school also provides practice rooms. It is more convenient to practice at home but it is good to have available a variety of grands and uprights.

Being in a class like this gets you over performance anxiety. When you think you have a piece worked out you get to play it on the grand piano. And if you don't have it worked out and there has been "enough" time you get to play it on the grand piano anyway. So you get to play for a dozen outers from the start.

The other thing I get is exposure to all the other students with levels ranging from beginners to those further along who have student of their own. There are three performance spaces ranging from 200 to 2,000 seats and we will over the course of a semester get to hear concerts or recitals in the larger and small venues. Cost is $60 for 20 weeks or $3 per class.

There are quite a number of things I think people should definitely not self teach... brain surgery, piloting and airplane, parachuting, use of high-explosives, practicing medicine... oh, and the list goes on. All of these can have disasterous and irreversible outcomes.

Self-teaching on the piano... while not so disasterous as self-taught use of high explosives, can still be a big waste of time. While getting the hang of reading notes and identifying the keys, counting simple time signatures, and playing simple left hand accompaniment to rudimentary melodies are fine to take on yourself with a method book, after that point, I think you should get a teacher. There are so many things that I learn from my teacher each week. They may seem small when you look at them one by one, but building technique is like building a house... it takes a lot of individually placed and well-cemented bricks.

I strongly encourage finding a piano teacher that you mesh well with, and who can accommodate your style of learning, your tastes, your pace, and fill you with knowledge to overcome your learning hurdles.

Sometimes it may just be a little thing like who to hold your wrist, or some creative fingering you'd never have thought of, but it's little things like that which make the difference between being able to play a piece or just muddle through it.

Me...

I took a year of piano lesson twenty years ago, learned some chords, scales and some ear training. I've been self teaching myself by listening to lots of recordings. I am recently learning to read music and learned some classical pieces.

This board has lots of information that is very valuable for self learner like me.

I am following two study books .

I am for the moment self-taught though I've always wanted to have a teacher. There is only so much Googling one could do to find out what tenuto or marcato mean or what's non-legato? When I see 'f' written in the music, I wonder how loud is that? I imagine the same 'f' for Bach is not the same loudness as Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt? Can I assume each one is louder than their predecessor with the same 'f' in the music assuming Bach's 'piano' is very different from Liszt? I have so many question that Google or YouTube cannot answer directly.

I think the worse part about teaching myself is not knowing when to move on to a new piece. I could literally spend the rest of my life trying to improve on the same piece because no matter how much I work on something I still hear lots of problems. I do move on of course, knowing I must, but was that the appropriate time? Should I spend more time? It's impossible for me to know.

There is so much more going on there is not written on the page. It's like reading a book out loud, and having it sound interesting and engaging, even though there are only words on the page with no instruction on how to say them or which syllables to put emphasis on.

I learned without a teacher since 3 years ago (age of 40). I now play Chopin's Nocturn Op9-2, The Largo part of Fantaisie-Impromptu (working on other parts now), and the "most beautiful" part of Etude Op10-3. And I have played, but forgotten how to play now, many other pieces.

I would play much better if I did not split my spare time between playing and developing Hao Staff sheet music library and website. But whenever I am serious in learning one, I transcribe it to Hao Staff first, and then play from it.

Using the Grand Staff for these pieces is just too much for me. It is not impossible, of course.

Jeff

P.S. I have recently started to ask for comments (and tips) from a teacher/pianist, remotely via posted videos and emails. I have no doubt that a teacher by your side is immensely helpful. It should make a world of difference. But I somehow have managed to skip "regular lessons" stage.

This is an interesting concept. Only 2-3 times a year sounds a little infrequent to me (and I would need more for where I am right now), but monthly, rather than weekly (or daily!) sounds very appealing.

Does anyone here get lessons on a monthly basis?

Well, it is too infrequent, because she is such a great teacher. The problem is: a 3 hour drive!

I love and admire my teacher so much. She has so much knowledge and understanding of music to transmit.

It's like love: once you've got the right one another just won't do.

I had a regular teacher for a short time, but she just didn't do. I mean, she actually tried to teach me to play piano!