Resuming Piano lessons again!

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ByteMixer
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Resuming Piano lessons again!

Post by ByteMixer »

I was a little reluctant to start this thread because It's a bit far removed from the usual gaming discussions that happen here. Even if it is the Community section of the forums. But I did post about our band's album release last year, so it's probably fine.

This will be a long post. So, in a nutshell, I decided to restart piano lessons to reinvent and rebuild myself as a classical pianist. My teacher is a nice lady with over 30 years of teaching experience, and who performed at the concert for excellence for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia a couple years ago. I started lessons around late march, deciding I was probably about a late beginner/late elementary level to start with. So after 2 and a half months, I'm roughly grade 3 ABRSM, and recently learned Scarlatti's K.32 and K.40 pieces. I recorded K.40 the other night, though I had a little bit of "interfering ego" knowing that I was recording, and made a small mistake at the beginning. I also feel like I "panic trilled" a little bit on some of the ornaments. https://soundcloud.com/bytemixer/scarlatti-k-40

Oh, and I'm teaching one of her students music composition lessons starting tomorrow.

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So yeah, I've restarted piano lessons. Originally, growing up, I started plinking around on the upright piano in our home around age 5 or 6. Around age 6, I started figuring out the commercial jingles and showtune melodies, and figuring out how to play the melodies on the piano. Age 7/8, I started figuring out my own melodies, and how to make chords work. At that point my parents finally decided to start me on piano lesson with the local church pianist. I grew up in a small rural town in NE Florida, about 30 minutes away from Gainesville, FL. The local Methodist pianist was an older lady who taught the local kids piano lessons. I think there were a little over a dozen of us of various ages as her students. At age 11, I got distracted by stuff at middle school, felt like I hit a wall with piano, and wanted to join the school band on trumpet to follow my half-brother's footsteps. So I was in band for 7 years. Then, after about 3 years in university once I had my Associate's degree, I took a couple semesters of applied piano lessons on the side through the music school. Later, I changed curriculum, and joined the music school as a performance major, but on trumpet. And by then it was probably too late, and I ended up burning out. So I didn't finish. The next couple decades, I continued playing for myself, writing music, collaborating with musicians on recording forums, learning recording and mixing, etc. Fast forward to 2017, and I started jamming with a friend in his basement after moving to Philly. I also helped form a local rock band. The lack of piano lessons hasn't really been too much of an issue when playing "keys" with the band. But sometimes one of the others will come up with something moderately complex, and I feel like it took too long for me to learn or get my head wrapped around the ideas.

And then I started having a nagging voice in the back of my head. "You're not really that skilled. You don't really deserve the compliments you get on stage. You should just quit and let the band find a real keyboardist." And etc. etc. I came to realize that I was suffering from some mild case of imposter syndrome. It wasn't as bad as what some of the really successful and creative types have to deal with. But it was there, and since I was able to put a name and identity to it, I was able to learn to mostly ignore it. But every once in awhile taking a bit of extra time to learn a song from the band would trigger those feelings. Especially if it took me more than a couple weeks or a month or more to get it learned. So I constantly had this feeling of illegitimacy hanging over me, that I wasn't "truly" a pianist or keyboardist. But I do my best to ignore those thoughts, and keep performing and creating new material.

Fast forward to 2022, and as of end of March, I've restarted taking piano lessons. I want to rebuild and reinvent myself as a classical pianist. And this is also to finally quash and eliminate those feelings of illegitimacy and try to put an end to that imposter syndrome stuff. My teacher is a nice older lady with 30+ years of teaching experience, and who recently performed at a concerts for excellence for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Well, recently being a few years ago before Covid started. She's a graduate of the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, taught by a Julliard graduate who made her rethink her whole technique when she entered the university. She's also studied pedagogy with a few other skilled pianists after graduating as well.

Going back to lessons, I'm aware that I have some weaknesses I need to focus on, sight reading being one of them (and that has improved significantly over the past couple months) also overcoming some older habits of mine that aren't ideal. One thing she has me doing is incorporating ideas from the Taubman/Goldanski Institute concepts to open my my movements more, keep the wrists higher, fingers and thumb more down, roll over the scale shapes, rotations of the wrist, loosen up and become more fluid in my motions. I was taught differently both as a kid and at university where it was the more traditional ideas of, "wrist loose, but hand resting on a small ball, thumb at a bit of an angle" idea, focusing more on as few movements as possible to preserve economy of motion. So what I'm learning now runs a little counter to that, but I'm keeping an open mind, and I think I'm definitely seeing some benefit and improvement currently, and in the long run. So yeah, I'm learning and adjusting, thinking about these more nuanced movements to open up my technique and style of playing; to become more fluid. I'm also doing some exercises to strengthen my 3,4,5 fingers since she felt like my 4th finger in particular was underdeveloped. One of her exercises which is just playing repeated notes up and down scales just using the 4th finger. One of Paul Barton's which is using 3, 4 and 5 to play chromatic scale runs, and one of my own, which is walking up and down scales using intervals of a third, alternating between 4 and 5 to play those 3rds, and 3 and 4 to play them. She did caution me to pay attention to what I'm doing, and if I feel any tenseness or tiredness either in my hand, or above my wrists, stop, and rethink how I'm moving. (we don't want me developing tendonitis). If my fingers alone are feeling a little tired from the exercises, that's okay, but don't overwork them, and don't push myself too hard.

Another thing she's having me think about, which is a little challenging, is to not think too much about how other pianists interpret a musical work. She wants me to focus internally, and pull out my own expression, and my own interpretation of the work. And, admittedly, there are some works that I don't "connect" with on a deeper emotional level, so I'm working to internalize imagery about the music that will let me create and pull out my own unique expressions and interpretations of the material.

I recently learned Scarlatti's K.32 and K.40 pieces, "Aria" and "Minuet" and I'm picking exercises out of a Czerny-Gerner book to work on with her guidance. So, I'm probably about grade 3 ABRSM in ability at this point after 2 and a half months of weekly lessons. I practice on average about an hour or so a day. Sometimes a little more, sometimes I only manage to fit in about half an hour. But I try to keep consistent, and I'm thinking about trying to work in more time to practice as I'm starting to hit material that is a little more challenging for me. I did recently record myself playing Scarlatti's K.40 here in my basement using a Yamaha YC-73. My intent was to really focus internally on an imagery that I try to equate with this piece. In my mind, it's a little playful with a bit of mystique to it. So I think of fireflies dancing in a ruined manor hall somewhere in the Bavarian countryside, maybe in a forested area. I did have a little "interfering ego" because I was conscious that I was recording myself, so there was a minor flub at the beginning. But overall my teacher was happy with what I was able to pull out of myself and create my own interpretation. (although I do feel like I "panic trilled" on a couple of the ornaments.) Here's the recording: https://soundcloud.com/bytemixer/scarlatti-k-40

Currently, she's having me learn a simplified version of Schubert's Ave Maria, which is a little tricky for me due to a polyrhythm that occurs in a couple places. (triplets over quavers) But I figured out that learning this arrangement of Ave Maria is both a continuation of some Czerny exercises I was doing, and that polyrhythm also occurs in a piece I want to start learning, which is the "Passacaria" from Genso Suikoden 1. (Neclord's Castle Theme) The arrangement I'm learning is one I consider to be mostly accurate, and performed by Verdegrand on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qryEyWsC-FE So, once I get those learned, we'll start focusing on the "Passacaria" from Suikoden in earnest. And that may very well be what I perform at the December recital, if I can learn it and get it polished up in time.

Every lesson, I sit behind the baby grand piano in her apartment, and I feel like, "This is right. This is correct. Behind the piano is where I belong, where I'm meant to be." So I am enthusiastic to see where my growth in December will be compared to now. Even now, I feel like I've surpassed my older self after just 2 and a half months of lessons. My issues with that bit of imposter syndrome I was experiencing have practically evaporated, because I don't feel illegitimate anymore. I feel like a student of piano rather than some imposter faking it on the keys in a band. So I'm looking forward to hitting my own goals and milestones in the coming months and years as I continue. I'm looking forward to being able to call myself a pianist.


OH! And I also have a student now as well. I met the parents of one of my teacher's students at the recent recital. He's pretty skilled for his age, and also writes compositions, and has a composition teacher who teaches half-hour lessons. I mentioned the chat I had with them to my teacher, and she encouraged me to consider teaching him music composition as well. She kind of gave me a push saying that if she didn't think my teaching would be beneficial, she wouldn't have suggested it. So we contacted the parents, I met with them and the student, and they enthusiastically agreed to have me start teaching their kid as well. First lesson is tomorrow. I don't want to step on the other composition teacher's toes, so I view my involvement as supplementary, where we'll focus on more abstract and "big picture" ideas concerning structure and connecting ideas together. There will also be some analysis where we listen to music, pay attention to what is happening with it, and then review what we listened to. We'll also incorporate in some composition and improvisation time, and I'll assign small take-home exercises for him to write short, focused compositions to build some structure and form.

I didn't think I'd be teaching someone so soon after restarting my own lessons in piano, but yeah, that's happening, and I'm looking forward to helping out.
"Whatever you do, make good art." - Neil Gaiman

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MrFlibble
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Re: Resuming Piano lessons again!

Post by MrFlibble »

As a kid, I took piano lessons from pre-school age to somewhere around the tenth grade, but made only moderate progress, which I now think is mostly due to very lax discipline and a lack of motivation. Back then I did not really realise that to get good at something, one needs to invest a lot of hard work and be focussed at what you're doing. And also I don't remember any time when I really wanted to play, even less master, any of the pieces that I was given to learn, which undermined motivation quite a bit.

I've had this little idea of revisiting the piano experience sometime and try to re-learn from a fresh start, but so far I've not found the time and, again, sufficient motivation to do that.

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ByteMixer
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Re: Resuming Piano lessons again!

Post by ByteMixer »

Yeah, I can totally understand that. Back in my college days when I was playing trumpet again (after about 4 years of not) and went into the performance curriculum, but my desire was really more on writing and composition. So, there I was putting in maybe an hour-ish of practice a day on trumpet in the practice rooms. And, you always hear the stories of the music students putting 4, 6, sometimes 8 hours of practice a day into their instrument, just damn near living inside those practice rooms. I had nowhere near that kind of motivation, at least not back then.

But now, 20 years later, I am motivated, and have the temporal flexibility to be able to take up lessons again. And as I said, having returned to acoustic piano and taking lessons: it feels "right" or "correct" like it's where I belong. And I'm mostly doing this for myself, to improve, to surpass my younger self, and to heal that feeling of illegitimacy I've been carrying around for 20 years.

I have a clear vision of what my short-term goals are, and how far I want to go. But I don't have any dreams or ambitions of becoming a concert pianist. I firmly believe anyone can learn an instrument at any age, young, adult, middle-aged, or even elderly. Having a private teacher as a guide is highly valuable, and in my case, she's pointing out nuances and things involving my technique and emotional expression I could improve upon that no video lesson or tutorial would ever show me.

I'd suggest people return to or take up music lessons because they find joy and motivation in learning the music and the instrument, not because they feel like they have to, or that they're trying to check off an item in a list. I'd suggest they ask themselves, what is the motivation, where do you want to go with it, what are some short-term goals? And if they DO have some motivation and spare time, and they do gain enjoyment from playing/learning music and/or performing at recitals, then by all means, find a private teacher who's well reputed and open minded. An open minded teacher will usually be malleable enough to let you choose the songs you want to work on.
"Whatever you do, make good art." - Neil Gaiman

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MrFlibble
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Re: Resuming Piano lessons again!

Post by MrFlibble »

Man, I'd sure have been more diligent in my piano studies back in the mid-90s had someone shown me I could learn to play this:

(Warcraft II being my favourite game at the time)

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ByteMixer
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Re: Resuming Piano lessons again!

Post by ByteMixer »

Update: after 5 months of piano lessons:

Progress has been good. More than good. First off, I've been teaching composition to the young student I met at the recital. We're about 2 months in, and this coming Friday will be his last lesson with me for awhile. They'll discontinue lessons during the academic year while his schedules shift around and stuff. They said they'll see about resuming with me next summer. In any case, I'll see them again at the winter recital.

He does have another composition instructor he's been learning from for some time, so I didn't want to step on the other teacher's toes. I viewed my lessons as being more supplementary. So my focus was on the abstract, big picture ideas for composition. We engaged in listening & review, short at-home composition assignments, some improvisation, in-lesson interactivity by collaborating and co-writing melodic lines. I wasn't planning on it, but I did end up dipping into teaching some music theory and suggesting certain relevant videos from the Music Matters Youtube channel for them to view in their own time. The student can be a little difficult to work with as once he starts playing something, he tends to just keep playing and playing, so it can be a challenge getting him to focus on things I'm trying to explain.

That said, I have seen growth, and he has asked some pretty important questions, which indicates to me that he is actively thinking about composition, melody, what makes a melody memorable or "good" and stuff like that. So I feel like my lessons have helped guide him in a good direction.

Now, for my own piano lessons with my teacher, things are going well. After 5 months of lessons, we have agreed to ditch the "adult beginner anthology book" that I was using, and start having me explore and learn the "real" transcriptions and arrangements, so no more "watered down" or "simplified" stuff for me. Hehe. I feel like this is a significant growth in ability for me, and she's having me explore my first Chopin waltz (the easiset of his waltzes) A Minor B.150 to explore while she's on vacation. She also gave me Minuet 2 from Bach's Partita no. 1 in Bb Major to look at. I'm also now able to play through the entire Passacaglia from Genso Suikoden 1 (Neclord's Castle theme) er, at least the piano transcription I have which isn't 100% accurate, but has some things that are more accurate than a couple other piano transcriptions I've seen. I also changed a chord in one spot to be more accurate to the source as it was supposed to be a diminished chord. I still need to polish it up more and improve my accuracy to be ready for the winter recital, but it's coming along nicely!

That I'm no longer using an adult beginner book, starting to explore Chopin's easier material, able to get through the Passacaglia from Suikoden, I feel like this is all an acknowledgement that I'm ready to start exploring solidly intermediate piano pieces, roughly grade 5 ABRSM (the Chopin waltz I mentioned is also in Suzuki book 4 if you're familiar with that system). So I do feel like I've made some leaps in ability over the past couple months after I learned those two easier Scarlatti pieces, and a somewhat simplified version of Schubert's Ave Maria.

The reason this is all so significant for me, is because I've surprised both myself and my teacher with the amount of progress and growth I have achieved over the past 5 months especially the last 2 months. Truthfully though, I feel like I'm still somewhat a beginner because there are so many nuances and small things I need to adjust and become more fluid with in regards to movements, positions, speed, and some older bad habits I still need to correct, not to mention working on reading further ahead when sight reading. Also, working on my internal connection with the piano, the instrument itself, or connecting more with a piece of music on a deeper level to really bring out that expression and emotion in my interpretations of the work. It's a lot to think about and work on, but maybe my awareness of all that indicates that I'm no longer a beginner.
"Whatever you do, make good art." - Neil Gaiman

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