I'm more interested in being keyboardist than a classical pianist, but this helped immensely. In many play by ear self teaching videos, technique is kind of ignored and it can turn months into years with so many bad habits.
Very informative and helpful advice again. I will share this wisdom of yours with my fellow adult piano learners from my piano institute. Thanks again!
Sage advice coming from years of experience, you're more than a virtuoso and not everyone can teach - we all appreciate someone who is creative, motivated, and kind enough to show us the secrets of how to practice effectively to be able to play with expression, emotion, articulation, and confidence Personally, I don't get frustrated when I find something I can't play right away, there has been so much material I can't play when I first figure out how to play it - I put alot of stuff on the backburner and break it into small sections I practice individually. I absorb the musical content and use it for improvisation and composition as part of my creative scale practice routine and often times several years later I find myself able to play things I never thought I would be able to When I found out Carl Vine knew full well he would not be able to play his own first sonata when he wrote it, it made me rethink about how I write music
I'm playing advanced pieces too soon but if the piece is too hard I'll do it slow and leave out notes. I've gone through several Mendelssohn Songs Without Words that way and some Schubert Sonatas. I really hit the wall with the Franck Symphonic Variations which is a lot harder than it sounds on recordings. lol But I'm hearing things I never heard on a cd.
I think it’s very easy to compare to others or fall for “this one quick hack” I am just gonna focus on rhythm for multiple months. I know some scales and I will temper my expectations. I know I’m gonna stay with the basics for a while and that’s ok and what I want to do. I play multiple instruments so the technique varies from instrument. If I can swop instruments and do rhythm and counting for a few months then I’ll move to the next step. The slower I go and the more I know it’s right to go slow and get things correct it really is way more rewarding. Ashlee is 100 percent correct. It’s important to take our time. It’s like the time we put in upfront pays off exponentially down the road. You did a wonderful job explaining this. It’s so much more fun to have “OH MY GOODNESS I DID IT” rather than I did not do it. ❤ Mentally temper your expectations and things are so much more fun and enjoyable.
I started playing piano (with no real dedication so very off and on) when I was 13. My mother helped a little but never took lessons. I bought a piano when I was 24 and started practicing regularly. I was self taught, and progressed from Hanon and other etudes to the Moonlight Sonata first movement at which point I decided to take lessons. My teacher turned me onto Beethoven's Pathetique sonata. This was over my head in terms of technique and ability to read the music. It was a grind to work through each measure and commit to memory because I was bad at sight reading. But I kept on it and could play the first two movements. Not polished, and I never played it for anyone except my wife. I played and practiced for 10 years, but not with the energy I had to learn the Pathetique and only added a few additional pieces. Because practice wasn't regular I started losing the memory I had built up and when I ran into a part that I had forgot, it was a little bit of struggle to find it in the sheet music and re-learn it. This lead to less practice and playing because of the frustration of having my skills regressed. It regressed to the point where I no longer played, and this is where I was for 30 years. I am now 71, and started playing and practicing again during the pandemic. I am retired and have a lot of time to rebuild my skills now. So I went back to Hanon, scales arpeggios, and the basics. I have completely forgotten everything I used to play, and am starting over on the Pathetique. It is not as slow as it was 47 years ago, but will still be a major project to get it back. My teacher from so long ago was a very accomplished player. His reasoning for having me do a hard piece was that it would create a challenge and since I was motivated and wanted a challenge it would accelerate my growth. He felt that since I had learned the Moonlight on my own, this was a realizable goal. I also play guitar and had taught myself some difficult pieces so there seemed to be logic in the guidance. I wish now that I had spent more time on the fundamentals, because the frustration beat me. I can't get back the lost 30 years. But I can try and do better on this rewind of my musical learning curve.
I totally agree! I often see folks working on things WAY above their level and I feel like saying the same to them. But I've seen how many people react negatively if you say this to them in some adult groups. The response is often: "If you love the piece, go for it! If you keep working hard at it, you'll eventually get it." And I'm thinking: "Uh... no you won't. You can't skip steps in piano [no pun intended]. It's going to sound bad." Lately, I just keep my opinions to myself. 🤣
I totally agree. In my opinion, being supportive and giving false hopes are two different things. Some people, even including some piano teachers, think beginners can "try" to learn complex classical pieces in a few months if they really want to and keep 'practicing' while at same time they don't dispute that being fluent in a foreign language can take years. You know, "if you really want to play that piece, go for it! It's up to you!" attitude. Often, that doesn't end up very well and what is worse is people may give up learning even before they cherish this joy of learning fundamentals of the instrument. Again, in my opinion, learning to play the piano is like learning a new language. We don't master the language in a few months. We take steps. We start from simple greetings, and from there, we hope we can read PhD. theses in that language someday. What truly matters is whether we can enjoy those steps of learning. In that sense, you and Ashlee are very true.
Hi, Ashlee. Thank you for this video. I just started TWO books: John Thompson Grade 3, and Alfred Adult All-in-one Level 3. Reason: The former is more classically oriented, and the latter leans popular. But I'm planning on taking a good long time at this level. Maybe (up to) two years. I want this level to really get in DEEP before I move up the grades (I'm using RCM as a gauge.) Thoughts?
For some people not all if you give me Mary had a little lamb I’d b in twilight zone discourage actually classical sound inspired me to play and keep going regardless of slow process learning Chopin is my fav and slower mellow music Gavin luke
I'm more interested in being keyboardist than a classical pianist, but this helped immensely. In many play by ear self teaching videos, technique is kind of ignored and it can turn months into years with so many bad habits.
This is great - thanks for sharing with me! What you said is SO true - lots of wisdom in your comment!
Very informative and helpful advice again. I will share this wisdom of yours with my fellow adult piano learners from my piano institute. Thanks again!
Awesome and I’m glad to hear it!
this is the best advice at a time in my life where I'm setting my ego aside.
The Faber book is great! thank you for the suggestion.
You’re welcome!!
Fantastic advice and beautifully and logically presented. Thank you!
Thanks for saying so, I appreciate you! :)
Sage advice coming from years of experience, you're more than a virtuoso and not everyone can teach - we all appreciate someone who is creative, motivated, and kind enough to show us the secrets of how to practice effectively to be able to play with expression, emotion, articulation, and confidence
Personally, I don't get frustrated when I find something I can't play right away, there has been so much material I can't play when I first figure out how to play it - I put alot of stuff on the backburner and break it into small sections I practice individually. I absorb the musical content and use it for improvisation and composition as part of my creative scale practice routine and often times several years later I find myself able to play things I never thought I would be able to
When I found out Carl Vine knew full well he would not be able to play his own first sonata when he wrote it, it made me rethink about how I write music
Thank you very much for the kind words!! Glad to hear you don’t get frustrated - that’s a great mindset 😊
oh absolutely . It is good to push foward but it can also break
Fabulous topic - eager to listen in!
YES to those wonderfully broad foundations!
Thanks!!!
🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
I'm playing advanced pieces too soon but if the piece is too hard I'll do it slow and leave out notes. I've gone through several Mendelssohn Songs Without Words that way and some Schubert Sonatas. I really hit the wall with the Franck Symphonic Variations which is a lot harder than it sounds on recordings. lol But I'm hearing things I never heard on a cd.
I think it’s very easy to compare to others or fall for “this one quick hack”
I am just gonna focus on rhythm for multiple months. I know some scales and I will temper my expectations. I know I’m gonna stay with the basics for a while and that’s ok and what I want to do. I play multiple instruments so the technique varies from instrument. If I can swop instruments and do rhythm and counting for a few months then I’ll move to the next step.
The slower I go and the more I know it’s right to go slow and get things correct it really is way more rewarding.
Ashlee is 100 percent correct. It’s important to take our time. It’s like the time we put in upfront pays off exponentially down the road.
You did a wonderful job explaining this.
It’s so much more fun to have “OH MY GOODNESS I DID IT” rather than I did not do it. ❤
Mentally temper your expectations and things are so much more fun and enjoyable.
I absolutely love this! Thank you for sharing - you have lots of wisdom in here and I know others will resonate when they read this!
@ thank you so much for taking the time to break this down and share your experience and thoughts too. ❤️
You rock
I started playing piano (with no real dedication so very off and on) when I was 13. My mother helped a little but never took lessons. I bought a piano when I was 24 and started practicing regularly. I was self taught, and progressed from Hanon and other etudes to the Moonlight Sonata first movement at which point I decided to take lessons.
My teacher turned me onto Beethoven's Pathetique sonata. This was over my head in terms of technique and ability to read the music. It was a grind to work through each measure and commit to memory because I was bad at sight reading. But I kept on it and could play the first two movements. Not polished, and I never played it for anyone except my wife.
I played and practiced for 10 years, but not with the energy I had to learn the Pathetique and only added a few additional pieces. Because practice wasn't regular I started losing the memory I had built up and when I ran into a part that I had forgot, it was a little bit of struggle to find it in the sheet music and re-learn it.
This lead to less practice and playing because of the frustration of having my skills regressed. It regressed to the point where I no longer played, and this is where I was for 30 years.
I am now 71, and started playing and practicing again during the pandemic. I am retired and have a lot of time to rebuild my skills now. So I went back to Hanon, scales arpeggios, and the basics.
I have completely forgotten everything I used to play, and am starting over on the Pathetique. It is not as slow as it was 47 years ago, but will still be a major project to get it back.
My teacher from so long ago was a very accomplished player. His reasoning for having me do a hard piece was that it would create a challenge and since I was motivated and wanted a challenge it would accelerate my growth. He felt that since I had learned the Moonlight on my own, this was a realizable goal. I also play guitar and had taught myself some difficult pieces so there seemed to be logic in the guidance.
I wish now that I had spent more time on the fundamentals, because the frustration beat me. I can't get back the lost 30 years. But I can try and do better on this rewind of my musical learning curve.
I’m so happy to hear that you are back at it! Thank you for giving us all a chance to get to know you a little bit better. Welcome to the channel!
I totally agree! I often see folks working on things WAY above their level and I feel like saying the same to them. But I've seen how many people react negatively if you say this to them in some adult groups. The response is often: "If you love the piece, go for it! If you keep working hard at it, you'll eventually get it." And I'm thinking: "Uh... no you won't. You can't skip steps in piano [no pun intended]. It's going to sound bad." Lately, I just keep my opinions to myself. 🤣
I totally agree. In my opinion, being supportive and giving false hopes are two different things. Some people, even including some piano teachers, think beginners can "try" to learn complex classical pieces in a few months if they really want to and keep 'practicing' while at same time they don't dispute that being fluent in a foreign language can take years. You know, "if you really want to play that piece, go for it! It's up to you!" attitude. Often, that doesn't end up very well and what is worse is people may give up learning even before they cherish this joy of learning fundamentals of the instrument.
Again, in my opinion, learning to play the piano is like learning a new language. We don't master the language in a few months. We take steps. We start from simple greetings, and from there, we hope we can read PhD. theses in that language someday. What truly matters is whether we can enjoy those steps of learning. In that sense, you and Ashlee are very true.
It’s so great to see your name pop up here!!! Yes yes yes - I totally understand with the adult groups. Can’t save them all hahaha
@@AshleeYoungMusicStudio "Can't save them all" is the greatest answer ever! Hahaha!
Rhythm is my Achilles heel. I always ask my teacher to go through the rhythm with me on a new piece
It can be tough!
Hi, Ashlee. Thank you for this video. I just started TWO books: John Thompson Grade 3, and Alfred Adult All-in-one Level 3. Reason: The former is more classically oriented, and the latter leans popular. But I'm planning on taking a good long time at this level. Maybe (up to) two years. I want this level to really get in DEEP before I move up the grades (I'm using RCM as a gauge.) Thoughts?
This sounds like an excellent plan! Make sure to check in w/ technique every step of the way.
For some people not all if you give me Mary had a little lamb I’d b in twilight zone discourage actually classical sound inspired me to play and keep going regardless of slow process learning Chopin is my fav and slower mellow music Gavin luke