Thank you everyone for being so patient with me! I've just been so swamped with a bunch of different things... So, I'm very glad to put this out for you guys! If you guys have any questions regarding my progress, please feel free to ask down here! I'll happily do my best to answer them :)
When did you begin piano? I'm age 21 and did gymnastics for 14 years. The summer after my first year of college was pandemic. I met girl in my building who plays piano. I grew up without music but learned from her I have something called absolute pitch. She taught me the notes and both bass and treble clefs. She plays chords and with my back turned can name them. So I got interested in the piano. I didn't do anything about piano lessons--pandemic, not having a piano, exercise addiction, finding work, etc. I now have a full time job and thinking of starting piano lessons. Do you think it's too late for me to have a chance of making progress? I started watching Josh Wright piano videos. He said try for acoustic piano over a digital piano. My hands are beat up from gymnastics and now working in construction. I followed the Cliburn piano competition and discovered Yunchan Lim--and your take on performance. I also discovered Argerich and Horowitz. The pandemic was hard on me being in my own bubble and stress fueled exercise addiction but then found piano videos and got hooked Seems you've played for a long time. I dunno. Just wondering if it's worth spending time and money on piano lessons. This idea came up recently and saw your video. Thanks.
This is the first video which I felt like I actually related to as a practicing pianist. Like, incomplete pieces, given-up pieces, etc. are a part of the game. Thanks!
There's always something you can grab/learn from not completing a piece. It can be a tough pill to swallow, knowing that you might not have the means to finish something... But that doesn't mean you didn't improve! So glad you could relate to this. And thank you for watching!
God this video really inspired me! It's so honest and just hits home for me (: I've been playing since I was about 6, and have been teaching myself more seriously since the pandemic until now (don't really have the ability to get a teacher atm). Being in the classical music sphere is so difficult cause there are all these crazy standards that someone like me, who just enjoys the music and plays for fun, would feel really boxed by. It's really really encouraging to see that someone else is also going through the same experience I've been in and that i CAN actually get better like you've shown here ((:
I remember practicing Beyer, Czerny and Bach when I was young and thinking those pieces were so boring lol. However, these books definitely built a more solid foundation for harder pieces!
Probably better to choose one piece that's way above your current level as a challenge, and the rest of the repertoire at or slightly above your current playing level. You also mention hurting, which always means that there are technical problems. My teacher's rule of thumb applies here. "If it hurts, STOP!!" You are only harming yourself physically. Unlike athletes, the 'no pain no gain' doesn't ever apply to playing the piano. Best wishes for your "painless" success.
Hi .Spot on with the enjoy factor. And 'going rogue'. No enjoy, no real practice' Biggest advance for me was at school aged c14 when I got full access to the grand in the main hall after school hours. Great instrument, great acoustics. Couldn't get enough. up to two hours five days a week. Then...next thing. I can remember tackling eg ...all the Chopin nocturnes. Didn't notice but I had a hidden audience. And then folk I didn't know coming to talk. You get noticed. Also started organ at 14. That was a pattern for then on - through uni. You get a larger circle of music fans / performers. Then accompanying, voice, chamber, chorus, orchestra etc. You might be non-note perfect - but if you have the shape and connection - enjoy plus and friends plus. And special really talented people to accompany. Things build. New compositions, discovery. Musicianship comes. And for me - mostly because I got that grand and hall just at the right time and going rogueish...just being me.
Awesome that you're documenting your progress. One learns so much by doing this and i only whished i bothered when i was young! Best wishes on your quest to pianodom.
Dear Pie; Try learning other genres other than classical. Try learning a little blues, jazz, rock, tangos, waltzes, and composing your own music, etc. We love your honesty and enthusiasm.
okay first, you're amazing!! Second, I have technically been playing piano for a very long time, since I was 6 and I'm 16 now. This feels embarrassing honestly, but I am no where near the levels that people have gotten to in fractions of the time that I've been playing. I really only got actually interested in classical, like really interested, recently, but even so I am just wondering if I am doing something wrong haha! In my next performance, I'm playing the 1st movement of Beethoven Sonata op 49, Bach invention no 4, and Chopin prelude in e minor. Could it be that I'm not practicing enough or have the wrong teacher or something? I seriously need to know! I think it could just be me not being good enough too, but generally I play my pieces very well and should be able to play a lot more by now I think at least. I honestly have no scope or reference for where I'm supposed to be playing at right now. Anyway sorry for the long comment and great job!
How much time do you practice and how do you spend it? Since you've made a recent discovery regarding your interest in classical music, you need to ask yourself a lot of questions. "Where do I want my playing to be in 3 months, 1 year, 2 years?" or "What is preventing me from being able to play X piece?" It be might a lack of technique or whatever the case may be! Ask yourself these questions and do your best to answer them honestly, and figure out how you can solve them. Sometimes it can be hard to figure out, but a really good teacher will be able to diagnose your playing and give you 'supplements' that will help develop the areas of your playing that you lack the most. To me, it sounds like you desire a stronger technical foundation which will then allow you to play more difficult pieces. Playing things under your skill level extremely well can help a lot, but it's also necessary for us to push ourselves and take risks with our playing. I wish you the best of luck and remember to take it one practice session at a time :)
i have never related to something so much! i began learning piano with synthesia and spent MONTHS on claire de lune and nocturne op 55 no 1 with little progress (ultimately never finished them) and at some point i decided to speed run a bunch of pieces slowly increasing the difficulty for several months and improved my technique and sight reading significantly by doing this. i still have some much to learn and learn WELL, but i very proud of my progress and improved knowledge about the instrument so i have similar sentiments to you 😊
4:04 I thought I was the only person who had problems watching my old videos, but apparently, it is frustrating to everyone (or at least to a lot of people).
Hmmm... had to watch other video's of your before saying what I really wanted to say. You are not just a musician; you are an artist!! Side note... of classical pianist, I've only said that of one other artist... yep, Alexander. I'll save the questions for the RU-vid where you responded to some questions. Never stop being creative; God created you to be an artist!! So thankful you have taken those gifts and grown them!!
OMG!! 34:00 this is the exact piece I am playing for a competition! I got district gold and am performing state this Saturday. Hoping it goes well 😬 now I kinda wanna record this piece hahaha GJ on all the progress btw:)
Have you explored voice / piano? Something really challenging - but made for chaos might be say - the Erlkönig / Schubert. Find a good bass also keen on chaos and the pair of you will have a blast. You learn heaps. You get pushed. The drama drives you. You want more .You need / want to get better. Practice comes naturally. And drinks after or whatever complete the day. You can also get a feel for the role of repetiteur. Missed by most .But real fun, real skill, outright musicianship. But all this you may know. If so - keep at it.
I've been taking piano lessons for three years as well, and I can play Beethoven's pathetique sonata and Chopin's nocturne op 48 no.1, and a few other pieces. I'm better than I ever thought I could be and still want to get better. One thing that I found out though was that it actually depends how much time you practices, not how long you've played. My teacher has other students that have been taking lessons for 5,6,7 years and they could never play stuff I've been doing. It depends on how much you love it. Great job! I can tell you like the instrument a lot, also by the RU-vid videos. Besides Yunchan Lim didn't start at three years old.....
I am now playing the piano since 6 years. I almost have hungarian rhapsody no 6 4th part on concert lvl. My hardest piece I am able to play on concert lvl is currently op 23 no 5 (because I dont have hungarian rhapsody no 6 on concert lvl). And my whole repertoire based on when I played them: (so from first piece to last piece) Amelie by yann tiersen River flows in you Nuvole bianche (learned it by hearing) Le coucou by louis daquin Turkish march by mozart Invention no 1 by bach Invention no 8 by bach Moment musiceaux no 3 by schubert Moment musical no 3 by rachmaninoff Musica ricercata no 3 by ligeti Op 9 no 2 by chopin Op 2 no 1 Beethoven 1. movement Op 23 no 5 (And I also composed about 5 pieces) And currently playing: hungarian rhapsody no 6 and Galopp de bal liszt and nocturne is c sharp minor by chopin
As a pretty casual piano student (I took 6 years of lessons as a child about as old as you were, then coming up on 6th year as an adult after a long break of about 18 years), here are my comments regarding the pieces you chose: Chopin Etude: This etude is known as Aeolian Harp (I can never remember the opus numbers for these). It's probably one of the easiest of Chopin's famous etudes, but obviously not easy by any stretch of imagination. This one in particular is unique because it requires significant elbow rotation, which I personally haven't seen anyone really do for any other piece. I can tell from how little your wrists are moving that you didn't have enough rotation, which contributed to your tension and made your right hand 4-5 finger weaknesses much more noticeable. Chopin Prelude 1: I also could not recognize it. I think I played this one but I don't remember it that well. I think you may have been playing alternate rhythms though. My teacher often makes me do short-long and long-short rhythms as a kind of cerebral exercise. Chopin Ballade: This one does sound really bad. But I think it's cause you need to employ proper rubato for it to sound good, and it's pretty delicate from what I remember. The Waltz: I haven't played this one, but I would've chosen the Am op. posth. one to practice the jumps. Bach Invention (no. 8?): Bach's inventions are deceptively difficult. It's because of the dual voice thing where the main musicality challenge comes from. Czerny and Hanon are the backbone of my childhood technique building. It's kinda useful but also some people hate them. Hanon is notorious for feeling useless, but you're also meant to transpose it to other keys even though everything is written in C major. You can also do legato-staccato or crescendo-diminueno etc. No comments on the scherzo. I haven't even looked at it. The Mozart fantasie is I think one of the turning points of your journey where you start sounding more musical rather than trying to hit all the keys in time. Your left hand being too loud is a common issue. Bass strings are longer and thicker, so they tend to resonate more, and people usually have less control over strength in their left hand. My version of your Beethoven sonata was Mozart's k545 sonata. It trained a lot of different techniques for me. I don't know the rest of the stuff well enough to comment.
BROOO I also started playing piano as a hobby right before 2020 when I was 18. I also didn't finish a lot of pieces either. It's so cool to see your progression. The major difference being that I never touched it before and after a full year I'd taken lessons. Right now I am practicing the third fugue of the WTC 1. My biggest accomplishment so far is the second fugue of the WTC1. Incredible piece to play, never get bored of it. Dude I swear everyone has at some point had the phase of practicing shit FAR out of reach. Sure, you learn from them, but sometimes it's just better to give up and do something at a lower level. I remember trying to play clair de lune when I was just starting. Only until a few days ago, three years after revisiting the piece, I noticed that I not only completely butchered the melody and overpedalled like crazy, but I also completely ignored the rhythm of the first two sections in that piece. I can't bear listening to my recordings of it
yea seems like everyone started or rediscovered piano after 2020. I started playing again at the end of 2021 after a decade of quitting when I started only for a month or two, and the first piece I tried learning was Beethoven sonata op. 27 no.2 3rd movement.. and up till now I have yet to actually learn it beyond the repeat lol. And I haven't really learned to play any other piece, as I only play about once or twice in a month or even lesser. But looking back at a recording from the first year to this year (I still haven't gone beyond the repeat after 1.8 years), I could definitely hear some improvements. I did not care about rhythm at all at the start.. just wanted to hit the right notes, until recently when I started to play with a more solid approach, changing a few fingerings here and there to play it with a higher accuracy etc. where I saw the major improvement of the sound.
@@supercalifragillisticexpia9214 I am pretty sure its not aufschwung, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XZ7hE4lQAYs.html&ab_channel=AshishXiangyiKumar its this one
@@l3oke.tto_0926 33:39 He said in the video Aufschwung. If you compare his performance to others of Aufschwung on RU-vid you will find that it’s the same piece.
@@supercalifragillisticexpia9214 I think he was talking about the piece being played in the background when he is speaking. Or else he would have highlighted 33:39 instead
This is fantastic! Despite writing quite a few piano pieces already, I am only starting to study the piano for the first time in five years! I am hoping to level up so I can play my own pieces. Your progress is fantastic! Keep up the good work!
