Playing the piano

[Igglepiggleandhisboat]

I played piano as a child and teen and practised loads. Constantly played and was a little obsessive. I’m now mid 30s and at the moment cannot remember at all how to read music or play piano 🤦🏻‍♀️
Has anyone come back to this later in life and been able to learn? I think I’m too tired and old 😂
Any tips for re learning piano as an adult?

@mauvish

if I have an electric piano, I can use headphones and play in the evenings

This is what I do. It's great. If I wake up really early I can get my practice in before anyone's up.

My mum has just restarted using Simply Piano. Must ask her how she’s getting on. She just turned 79!

I restarted twice once mid thirties on a very organised way with a teacher and passed grade 6 and seven. Then family….

then again in a more relaxed way as I’m finding more time for myself mid fifties

always wanted to get to grade 8 and maybe will one day!

I learned when at school, now 45 years ago! I know I would be rubbish at it now but I haven't forgotten how to play (I just can't do it), and I have never forgotten how to read music. Have you tried picking up a simple piece of music and just trying to work out what it says? Picking out the tune and the rhythm in your head? I know you say you have forgotten how to read music but maybe you can remind yourself?

I've never had a grade exam but played almost daily in my primary school with the kids singing.

My teacher said I play very nicely and said she appreciated the way I just paused if I went wrong then carried on unlime the young kids she teaches who feel they have to stop and go back to the beginning. That def comes from just having to plough on when 200 kids are singing with you.

I cant see taking exams will be amy more stressful that 200 kids and all their parents listening to you play the piano I'm church for them at Christmas concerts.

I may take the exam. I havent decided. But if I can say with confidence that I play at a grade 5 level then I will be pleased with that.

Well, the grade 5 music in the exam book is fine. I can almost sight-read it, but then do have to practice to play with the right numbered fingers!

But scales are going to kick my ass! I've learned scales, and certainly not 2 handed scales. That is not coming naturally, and I'm having to start with grade 1 scales and build up while I play a range of pieces of grade 5 music to get the feel of it all.

Pianote is really good. I had a free trial and thought it would be sh@te. But teacher are varied in terms of music they play amd you can choose to follow one. Lisa Witt excellent (not an ad.... thinking of actually paying now as played much more when a member)

I started playing again when the DC started learning - I picked it up pretty quickly again and got to around Grade 1 standard by just doing the pieces in the books. I then struggled to get much further without actually practising, and should really go back to it!

I passed Grade 2 at 10, and then didn’t touch a piano for around 50 😱years, until after I retired.
So virtually had to start again from scratch.
I really had to work at my sight reading - it was practically non existent.
I bought a lot of 2nd hand easy music from Amazon, and a bit later on, would buy (also 2nd hand) the out of date ABRSM exam piece books with CDs, so I could tell which I liked enough to bother with.

Initially I got the Carol Barratt books for adult beginners (classical piano) and worked on my own for about a year, before joining a group (keyboard) class. After a few years I was playing grade 5 pieces, and did keep telling myself I’d go for the G5 exam, but never did quite get around to it. Too many scales and arpeggios (though I gather they’ve cut them down now) plus to be honest I was just too chicken.

Might add that a woman in one of the group classes told me she’d just passed her grade 3, having never even touched a piano until about 3 years previously. She was maybe 45-50 - she put me to shame!

Good luck!

Ooooh! Very interesting thread. I always said I'd buy a digital piano for my 40th. But I just never got round to it. Then I said I'd DEFINITELY get one for my 50th, and that was last year! My mum was giving away our family acoustic one that I learned out when I was a kid but I turned it down because it's just not practical in our house with DH working from home, teenagers studying etc. I need to be able to play with headphones on.

I've looked and looked and while I am willing to shell out a lot of money for a decent one, I don't want to be disappointed so I just haven't got to the point of buying one. I was always a purist, you CAN tell an acoustic from a digital, so I want to choose wisely and really enjoy playing rather than constantly think "oh this just isn't the same".

I think this thread has prompted me to do it this year before it's too late. My sight reading was always decent, I've played a bit here and there since playing regularly when I was a teenager and I think it'll just be a case of lots of scales and getting my fingers used to it all again.

I never took exams, I was too nervous to be put under scrutiny. I had lessons and I was taught as if I was doing the exams, following the books etc but just didn't want to sit any. I guess I got to around grade 5.

Could anyone recommend me a digital piano, who grew up playing an acoustic?

I think you need to find somewhere near to you which sells digital pianos, and have a try of several to see which sounds and feels best to you.

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER , I don't know if you still want to do an exam, but you could look at the ABRSM performance exams? No scales or arpeggios, just four pieces, and you record yourself so it might be a bit less nerve-wracking.

I am trying to improve on the piano, having stopped after Grade 4 at 11, but get frustrated easily, because my left hand won't work well! I've played in wind bands for years, so I can sight read the right hand with very little problem and my left hand rhythms are fine, but my bass clef reading is definitely rusty, and getting my hands to work together is so much harder than when I was a child!

I've dug out my old A Dozen a Days, so I'm trying that (although it's more like a dozen every couple of days). I am thinking of finding a teacher, but haven't taken the plunge yet.

Thanks, @PolkadotsAndMoonbeams , but my goal was to pass G5 - I doubt I’ll ever do it now, though - I can’t seem to make myself practise enough any more. Too much other stuff now, inc. 3 Gdcs I didn’t have when I started!

I used to have a couple of G5 pieces committed to memory, but can’t even play those without the books any more. And TBH I’d find a performance exam equally nerve-wracking!

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER - the great thing about the performance exams is that you record yourself, or get someone to do it for you - it's not live! You can re-do it as often as you like. You then upload the video and get scored.

I remember Dozen a Day! I found them so dull but liked the stick men!

I bought a book (lyric pieces) this week that had a really pretty piece that's on the G5 syllabus, so I now have 2 pieces I really like and one I'm trying to get to grips with. I could sight read and play it straight away but need to get to grips with the dynamics.

My sight reading is great because, as a primary teacher playing hymns for assembly, that's the skill I've developed.
Playing EVERY note,, with the right fingers and with all the dynamic changes is what I'm concentrating on as that's not important when playing for the kids to sing along to.

My piano teacher has recommended I consider the performance exam and it does appeal - mostly because of the lack of having to do all the other bits.

I recommend the book for anyone that wants pretty and expressive pieces to play. You don't need to be at G4 or 5 to get to grips with them I think. In fact I queried the particular piece was G5. Apparently it's the playing with emotion and all the dynamics along with the repeat and coda that makes it G5.

I now need to look at whether there's any advice for choosing the 4th piece for a performance exam, but I fancy a piece by Einaudi if it's free choice!
(I'm avoiding all the super-fast pieces in the syllabus).

I always feel embarrassed going into music shops, though, I'm so out of practice that I don't know what I'd even try to play. You see other people trying out pianos who obviously play regularly. No-one wants to listen to a cringey 50 year old woman who hasn't played regularly in 30 years trying to remember how to play a few bars from memory.

I have very recently just (re)started piano lessons at the age for 40 after a break of 22 years! I loved playing as a child/teenager and got to Grade 8, but stopped lessons when I went to university. Since then I've had a piano, but never done much more than revisit old pieces occasionally. It was my daughter starting lessons that got me interested again, and so I found an online teacher. It's very convenient and I find it relaxing to sit down after the kids are in bed and practice. It doesn't at all feel like a chore.

No-one wants to listen to a cringey 50 year old woman who hasn't played regularly in 30 years trying to remember how to play a few bars from memory.

@CurlyhairedAssassin

They absolutely do want this if the cringey 50 year old might shell out for a new instrument! Nobody will take any notice of what you sound like so don't let what other randoms think spoil things for you. Just play a few chords at different places on the keyboard (check what the bottom and top sound like). A couple of slow scales. How responsive is it, is it easy to play quietly, can it be both smooth and detached, do you like the sound it makes. I bet if you try two, you will like one more than the other so it's just about finding your favourite for the right price. You are not there to impress other people and they are not expecting to be impressed. Plus if you want to hear it in full flow without having to concentrate on playing, just ask the person in the shop to play it so you can listen, that's very normal. Lots of people buying a piano can't play at all, they're buying one because they want to learn.

I did piano up to grade 4 aged 11ish - had to take it twice because I failed the first time for playing everything at the wrong octave 🤦‍♀️
Alongside and after that I played other instruments, did a music degree and now aged 53 have had a career in and around music. DD has just done grade 8 and now I'm going to try that too. The scales are the hardest thing I think - I can't see how I'm ever going to remember them all 😬

Yamaha Clavinovas are pretty good these days for pure digital.
They also do a very clever “silent piano” that my son’s teacher has - which is an acoustic piano with a genius system that, when engaged, takes all the sound out through a midi channel to headphones or digital system.
Neither cheap, but I’ve only heard good things about both.

I learnt 2 instruments when young. Got both to grade 8. Stopped both when I started work. 10 years later and I picked one up again, got upset how horrible it sounded, took some lessons… now I’m back playing in orchestras and having a blast. Only regret is loosing so many years. Try it!

F just started last week complete beginner

Thankyou, that's given me some confidence to do it.

The next poster recommends a clavinova. I've played that in a school I worked in in one of the music rooms and liked it. Might go and have another go in a music shop and compare to something else.

Does anyone know how reliable the technology is? I mean, not much goes wrong with an acoustic. You just have to have it tuned regularly, so it can last years and years. What happens if something technical goes wrong with a digital?

I played until 18, stopped just before taking grade 8 temporarily to focus on A levels, and never resumed. Now im 54 and there are three pieces I can just sit down and play well by muscle memory. (My party piece as few people know I can play until I do!) If I think about it or try to read the music even for these pieces, I can't. I can sight read and play right hand still. Left hand all forgotten.

Yes, I stopped age 18 at Grade 7 and didn't paly for many years. The started lessons age 27 and took and passed my Grade 8 2 years later. I played on and off then again until age 40 when I started having lessons again - mostly for the discipline of practice and challenge of playing out of my comfort zone repertoire. I no longer have lessons but still play and try and teach myself new pieces regularly. I can highly recommend getting some lessons to bring technique up to scratch.