Does anyone fancy a piano chat thread?

[LemonViolet]

I’m awaiting delivery of a new piano, squeee!!! I haven’t played regularly for 20 years. I got to grade 6 as a teen, failed grade 7, carried on tinkering for a bit but have not really lived anywhere with a piano since age 18 so am well out of practice.

Whilst I hope/plan to put a baby grand in our front room, once it is done up - which may be some time - at the weekend I just realised, what am I waiting for, I want a digital anyways for playing at less sociable hours, so went ahead and ordered myself a nice Kawai digital and it arrives on Friday!!!

There’s a music chat thread on the extracurricular board but that’s more parents discussing their offsprings’ exploits, I have seen on the music board it’s quite pianissimo but there clearly are other grown up women around here playing/learning/relearning piano for our own pleasure, entertainment, therapy etc! So thought I’d post to see if anyone else is interested in hanging out on a piano thread to chat about our piano journeys, successes and failures, pieces we like, what we’re practicing etc?

It could be called the piano bar or the pianist beaker, seeing as this is MN

If there is one I’ve just failed to find, please point me in that direction.

I passed grade 6 and it's still my regret that I didn't practice more when I was young. I was a very lazy student. I passed all my grades with mere 'passes'. I could have had a better pass mark and did grade 7 and maybe even grade 8. I keep telling this to my children when they are lazy with practising.

@broccolibush I googled and found a youtube video saying that Gymnopédie No. 1 is in the ABRSM grade 6 exam for 1999-2000. It depends on what you consider a begineering isn't it? To some, it's all of grades 1-8 are beginners I'm sure. Difficulty is relative.

I haven't given up entirely but I needed a break because the project had become a chore rather than a pleasurable pastime, which was never my intention. I suspect half the trouble has been picking the wrong tunes; I've done that more than once.

I do understand. But also the problem is that it's not possible to really improve on piano, to a point where you can play anything you fancy quite well, without lessons.

My teacher (mid 40s, degree in music, recording artist in her own right, obviously well beyond grade VIII) still has a piano teacher and lessons.

I learn some songs that I just like under my own steam, but then also have structured lessons progressing through the grades because I want to improve in all areas. I just don't believe it's possible to do this without one to one attention. But yes, it often feels like a chore - I completely understand!

@WildRosie it sounds like it's the right choice for you. I think as an adult it's not as simple as ploughing on. It can damage your confidence.

I had a terrible lesson last night. I learn through a school and my teacher was away for some reason. The admin didn't bother to let me know in advance that I would have a substitute teacher. So I turned up and there was someone new, who clearly wasn't expecting an adult. She was personally rude (she didn't introduce herself and asked how old I was!) and gave really abrupt feedback.

I know I play like a robot. My usual teacher finds polite ways to tell me this all the time. Sometimes he stops for a while because I can only hear it for so long. Thing is, I'm doing everything I can to solve it and I'm not there yet! A complete stranger quoting Bach talking about emotion to me isn't going to give me the technical skill or the ears to suddenly fix this! It did make me cry on the way home though.

Anyone got any tips on how to play musically as a beginner? I have downloaded ear training apps and the yousician singing app to try and work on pitch. I have a toddler though and a job and very limited free time. This isn't going to fix itself overnight. Very tempted to quit for a while myself until I've made a little progress if it's so very egregious to teach me with my tin ear.

Sounds like you had an unfortunate experience with the replacement teacher and didn't gel. Probably best to chalk that up to experience.

Before I returned to piano as an adult, I used to play like a baby elephant on speed. I'd play really fast with both pedals to the floor because I was convinced it sounded good. It didn't. 😂

My teacher introduced me to the concept of rubato which made me think about my pieces musically. It really helped me.

Are you playing pieces you like and relate to musically?

Please don't beat yourself up 😥

Thankyou Animal, I'm sure the break will help.

In terms of playing musically I think it comes together slowly - and the further you get you may be more find yourself playing pieces you like more. I've definitely had teachers work on this in the past (not learning or practising now sadly) and apparently in my head I play more musically than I actually sound! However I think if you can sing the tune (I'm terrible at singing but the shower or car is good for this!), work out in your head what direction the notes are going in, without worrying about the mechanics of getting the hands playing the right notes, then when you put hands to keys some of that sense of direction and shape will translate into your actual playing. Best not to worry about it either, it will improve gradually.

On the off chance, just wondering if there any Burt Bacharach fans out there who've played his music and can recommend a songbook?

I resume my lessons a week on Thursday, after a two month break. I can still play the one tune I've mastered (Little Symphony by Haydn) without music so that gives me hope.

Once my holidays nails have been cut, I'm going to really try hard to resume playing. I got to Grade 7 but find it hard to motivate myself to play when there's no exam to practise for. I have loads of music but play a bit, then when I come on a tricky part, I just give up.

Anybody got any suggestions on how I could get my enthusiasm back as it's a waste having a nice piano and music sitting doing nothing,

Hello chaps, I'm back under a slightly different username, had to wean myself off MN after too many hours lost aimlessly watching fights on AIBU 😂
I passed my G6 with merit and I played Pink Minor at our local music festival earlier this month. So proud, I worked so hard on it and when I first heard it I thought I would never be able to do it. In fact I thought that until about December 😂. It definitely proved that you can eat an elephant if you take one bite at a time.
I've decided not to take my g7 this year, I'm entering a cake decorating competition which will take a lot of effort so I've decided to take the pressure off. I am contemplating doing the LCM recital grade instead of the traditional AB exam as the technical work was my lowest element. I'm only doing it for pleasure so why make life hard ? You choose 5 pieces for a proper recital from their syllabus pieces.
im off to Finchcocks in June for a weekend on Black Female Renaissance music. I wasn't going to go this year due to finances but Dh wanted to do it for my birthday. There's some really interesting material on the suggested pieces by composers I'd never heard of so already it's opened my eyes to new material

currently on the music stand is some Scarlatti and Rameau counterpoint, Tchaikovsky's piano arrangement of Sugar Plum Fairy and Betty Jackson King "Seasonal Suite" which is far too difficult for me 😝. So a right old mix !

@RaraRachael is a piano teacher an option ?

This is the Betty Jackson King Seasonal Sketches, played with such poise and elegance

Well done!

And just to share something so delicious that I have found in a YouTube wormhole.... the delights of Francesco Parrino. #2024pianogoals

@WildRosie for me the motivation comes from choosing my own pieces, the stuff I want to play.
as a child your piano teacher tells you what you're going to do, so to be able to just choose what you want to work on is great.
what you say about the tricky bits making you give up does resonate though. Do you find yourself picking material that is far too difficult for your current level because there's no point in trying to play unrealistic pieces as you just get disheartened. Maybe it might be worth finding some material that is a level or two below what you can play at if you work on it and just ease into some new repertoire. Then work in stuff that challenges you.
I know I've banged on about Burgmuller before but his 25 easy and progressive pieces is a brilliant book and covers up to g5

@broccolibush
re YouTubers also it seems to be a habit of people in forums when asked what rough grade a certain piece is, to chortle away
"fantasise impromptu ? Oh well I would say that was a grade 2 piece, a 1 handed 7year old could play that quite competently after just half a term of piano lessons"
Moonlight Sonata is a challenging piece with some big stretches, I learnt the first movement after g5 but of course being able to play the notes in thr right order and actually interpret the music, well, that's why Lang Lang's version of Fur Elise is a completely different animal to the average player

@DaphneDeloresMoorhead2 I live in quite a rural area so I doubt there would be a piano teacher to my level without travelling a fair distance. There are quite a few locally but they just seem to teach basics to kids, maybe up to Grade 5.

Don't know if anybody else has noticed but I did Grade 2 in 1972 (I know, I'm ancient) and there was a piece I played that my daughter had for Grade 4 when she did it about 2004. It was a really tricky Mozart? piece which now looks horrendously difficult for Grade 2. I also noticed that a Grade 6 cello piece I played is now Grade 8.

@RaraRachael would online be an option for you ? Lots of music teachers offer this now, it's not the same as in person but certainly available - with some phenomenal musicians offering the occasional online tutoring

Depends what the examiners are looking at thought doesn't it ?
1st movement of "Moonlight" Sonata is "playable" at grade 6 but to interpret it correctly, play it beautifully requires a much more skilled musician.

Also consider that the piece at G2 may have been a simplified arrangement. I have an intermediate arrangement of the Entertainer which is currently on the G3 syllabus - no way would a g3 pianist ever have done the full version.

I have a 1993 grade 7 book at home - the pieces were much easier than in the 2021 grade 7 IMHO. Put it this way I can reasonably easily sight read one of the 1993 pieces. I definitely can't the current material and that's the "grade" I'm working at

Following!

@DaphneDeloresMoorhead2 online teaching is a great idea - I hadn't thought of that, but not sure my technological skills could stand up to it!

The Grade 2/4 piece was exactly the same version - note for note.

Fair enough ! I know there's lots of discussion around "dumbing down" of various syllabuses, would be interesting to see an examiner's perspective on it

I'm at Finchcocks in a couple of months, they have a huge archive of exam music, I'll have to have a look at some of the older syllabuses.
however if you look at the choice on offer of repertoire it so different nowadays, I remember it was just pieces set A or pieces from set B and that was that whether you liked them or not.
I do think that the wide choices available are much better for learners as there is more likelihood they can pick something they actually want to learn.

For a lot of teachers, exams were the be-all and end-all. "Well done, you've passed Grade 4, now let's start on Grade 5". That was our experience anyway with no time for the pupils to enjoy playing anything other than exam pieces.
My son is the annoying sort of person who can hear something on the radio and just sit down and play it with all the chords but he's only got Grade 5 because he didn't want to play classical music.