Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Lack of motivation

Nope, not an option. That is something I did very often. Suspending for a short time means quitting forever. I have a lot of photography gear that I don't use anymore. I liked it a lot, was published in magazines and a short break turned in to quitting.

It doesn't necessarily mean a need to quit forever. Unless you want to quit forever.

There are too many things that I like, piano playing, piano restoring, listening to music, reading, take walks in the forest, gardening. Sometimes I do some photography, a few times a year. But I when it was my main hobby I did creative editing in photoshop mostly. I spend hours working on my photographs and thinking of what I was going to create next.
Now I rather spend that time on the piano.

Here is some of my work, to get an idea: https://1x.com/leonie

But I choose the piano over photography. I think this is it for me, this is what I love most. What I liked about photography is that you can express your thoughts and feelings, but I feel like I can do that even more with a piano.

That's the thing. It's possible that you may well get back into photography again .... after a long enough time. It doesn't necessarily mean forever abandoned. Variety is good. Although ... it does sound like you get back to it a bit ..... a little, which is nice.

Nice work ! I used to take a lot of picture a long a time ago in Black and white and develop them myself. That was before digital. I was walking around for hours to get something unusual.

Very nice work indeed. I love photography too, and it goes well with my other hobby - growing orchids. LINK

And I like to do a whole bunch of other things too, aside from playing piano and music. A nice mix and balance.

I never tried that, it sounds fun! I do have an old Praktica camera, but I only use the old Carl Zeiss lenses on my digital camera.

I love orchids but unfortunately I'm not very good at keeping them alive.

That's ok! The climate can really help a lot. The tropical orchids can do well here without need to put them in greenhouses etc. They can just grow under a balcony. They're good for taking pics of when in flower. Lots of different sorts of flowers. The photoshop work you did with the photography is excellent. I can see why you enjoy it. Or enjoyed it.

For me I've always made it a point to keep my life in balance, that I try to find equal time to do the things that I feel are important for a quality life like exercise, work, time with wife and family/friends, piano, housework, other hobbies. Problem is I always feel like there just is not enough time in the day and right now my life is out of balance because I have to prioritize some business ventures that the business/practice I own is undertaking. That takes time away from doing the other things I want to do like playing the piano.

So, funny that you started this thread but for the past 3 weeks I have just been so busy with what's going on at work my practice time has suffered terribly. I don't think I touched the piano at all this past week and I have a lesson tomorrow so I have a lot of make-up to do and of course the guilt starts to set in. But it's not just piano. I haven't picked up at tennis racquet in over 6 weeks and starting to gain weight. I'm not riding my bike. I'm not weightlifting and I don't like that I'm putting on a few pounds. Then there's all the housework. And when you run your own medical practice. There's notes, billing, staffing issues, compliance requirements, legal matters, seeing patients and then commuting 1 hour each way after a 10 hour work day. When is one supposed to practice?

I decided that I wanted to take lessons again in the middle of my busy work week 4 years ago. It has and continues to be a wonderful decision. I told myself at the time that I didn't want to wait until I was retired to return to serious study and be in my retirement years. I feel I have the ability to play the piano well if I had the time to put into it and I didn't want to wait or lose valuable years of training. But sometimes life gets in the way. I often wondered if my teachers really understood how busy I was and how challenging it was to fit piano into my work week, but they've always been nice and it seems like they understand. The piano for me is right now more a less therapy and an escape from my busy life but there are times when I'm just not afforded the luxury.

I guess what I'm trying to say is if you have the time take advantage of it and cherish it because you are very lucky to have the time. Don't waste the opportunity.

That's exactly right jethro. One source of motivation is with various thread posts about somebody having did lessons and/or played piano for a while back in the earlier years, and then many many many years went by without playing the piano. And then eventually deciding to start up again - which is nice. Although, if the goal is to attempt to reach a particular level (that's if there is such a goal only) ------ then the motivation will be in 'knowing now - to keep at it where possible', instead of knowing 'what could have been' etc.

But - if there is no aim or goal to reach a particular level, then that's ok. When it comes to achieving objectives (if there is one) ------ then after all the lessons and help and practising and accumulation of knowledge --- it becomes up to ourselves (the individual) to get things done --- if possible that is.

Well, I'm proud of myself got 2 hours of practice time in!

Thank you Jethro. My life is not as busy as yours, indeed I should treasure it.
I contacted a teacher to ask if he had room for another student and he did, so I'm starting after the summer! I already told that I'm not good at sight reading and I want to work on that and on theory like I'm a complete beginner but I also need some more challenging pieces to work on, and he said that we can find a way to do that, so that's nice.

Very good! Monday and Tuesday I practiced a lot but yesterday I didn't because I wasn't home, I left in the morning and was back home just before midnight. But today I have time and I'm going to start a new piece. Not sure which one but on my list is 'printing sheet music and start with piece' so I have to choose now

Hi

Joined this thread late, but something that hasn't been mentioned here is the question of whether you actually like the music you're playing enough to motivate you to practise?

When I start learning a 'classical' piece (most recently a Scarlatti sonata) I get so far with it, then never really finish it. And primarily that's because the music I enjoy playing the most isn't 'classical', it's blues, Jazz and Rock music. That's the music I listen to mainly, and it's the music I spend my practise time on mostly.

I realised at quite a young age that whilst I like 'classical' music, and I have done some grades, and still dabble with it every so often (normally Bach or Chopin), I don't love it in the way I do Jazz and Blues.

As soon as my Dad played me some boogie-woogie Piano on his turntable in the 1960s I knew that's what I'd play if I ever learnt the Piano. And today if I sit down at the Piano with no sheet music that's what I'll play.

Probably not the case for you, but worth mentioning, even if only in the context of how you choose the next piece of music you are going to try and learn. Do you just like it, or does it inspire you!

Cheers

Thanks for your reply Simon!
I love classical music most, but not all of it. I didn't grew up with classical music so I'm still finding out what I like, there is so much to listen to. I like romantic or lyrical pieces the most. Pieces that I really love are often too difficult and complex. I think I'm going to play Schubert for a while because Schubert wrote more pieces that are less difficult. But then I have this book with a lot Schubert pieces that I can play and what happens, I fall in love with Op. 94 no 3, which is not in the book and which is far more difficult.
I don't try it, but it stays in my mind the whole time and it makes it harder to choose something else.

Great that you found a teacher and I hope it works out for you.

If you like Romantic era pieces there are plenty of other composers to choose from and plenty of easier music. Try the following:
* Tchaikovsky op. 39
* Schumann op. 68 and op. 15
* Chopin op. 28, nos. 4 and 6
* Chopin A minor waltz op. posth. B. 150
* Grieg Lyric pieces, especially op. 12

I suggest trying out a lot of different stuff. Sometimes, you may not immediately fall in love with a composer but after you learn some pieces you start appreciating that composer much more.

Thanks! I love Chopin, I played Op 28 no 7. I also played half of the posth. nocturne in c-sharp minor. I want to try Op 69 no 2. And I want to finish the nocturne but I have to start over because I already forgot what I learned. For fun, with no intentions of learning the whole piece, I can play the first page of aeolian harp, that is my forever piece haha, I play it a few times every week for a year now, and it still sounds terrible but it is fun! I think I have a video of a little part of it from 10 months ago, it is just a few seconds. I can play it faster now and I practiced more on the singing voice, it's less staccato now. And I'm learning the next page but only the right hand so far. Okay, I'm not sure I should show this but this was ten months ago, and I know it's not good but it is just so much fun: me playing not good

Grieg, I also love Grieg! But it's always more difficult then it sounds I played Arietta and the Op 38 waltz (I believe it's no 7), on my list of pieces I want to try is Op 62 no 5. I also tried a little part of Op 19 no 3 a year ago, till bar 36. But I find it very difficult to play Grieg pieces.

I'm going to take a look at Schumann and Tsjaikovski.

Well, you should probably not work on stuff that's so much above your technical level, especially etudes because those are specifically about technique. If you learn it with bad technique it's going to be hard to fix that later. Your knuckle joints are collapsing and that is a really big problem.

Grieg is difficult, that's true. IMO, Schumann is very good for learning purposes. His music has many layers and inner melody lines and learning to play those well is a good preparation for more advanced music.