Who's just starting on piano then... what are you playing, what piano have you got, what's your teacher like, what tutor book are you working from... anything really


I've just started to work on Tchaikovsky's Marche Slave from Michael Aaron's book - it's in A minor and I love the sound of it, it sounds really dramatic. I can play with separate hands quite easily but putting it together is


Over to you....

My eldest has just done Grade One, and is working on the music from the latest vampire film, ( can't
remember the name).
Little one is doing a Magic Piano book. Loves it.
Bev

Hi,

I started piano classes at my local college last Easter (after being told at school 20 years ago that I was useless at music!) and have been amazed at how well I've got on. I started with a cheapo keyboard from Argos but in September I bought a Yamaha NP30 as I don't have room for the piano (the keyboard lives under the sideboard and I have to completely re-arrange the dining room furniture when I want to practice).

It was the last lesson of term last night and I played Aloutte (Spelling?) and, like Skylark, the Marche Slave from Michael Aaron's book. My teacher was really pleased at how well I played them - so was I especially with the Marche Slave as I only managed hands together on Monday night and I hadn't practiced again since then!

The only problem now is that she's given me the next three pieces in the book (I think they are Home on the Range, Hundred Pipers and Sweet & Low) to work on over the Easter holidays.

Because it's a college course, there are 14 people in the class, which lasts for 2 hours, so you only get a short while with the teacher each week but as it is a mixed ability class (complete beginner to people who have done Grade 8 as children there is always someone else to ask if you get stuck!.

Tobyjug

hello all this is my first post

I suppose I'm technically a beginner on the piano.... although I did do a fair few other instrument exams as a child.

I just took my grade 1 this session and passed with distinction.

I started learning with the pianoworks books before looking at the grade 1 book. Now I'm just playing a bit of fun stuff before looking at the grade 2 pieces.

Hi Tobyjug, welcome to the forum, and great to see another beginner pianist. I've got a Yamaha NP30 as well and I love it After I'd done my "proper" practice last night, I spent ages just dabbling around on it - have you ever dabbled around on just the black keys, they sound gorgeous

I'm very impressed that you could play Marche Slave with hands together after only doing it for the first time on Monday - I've got two weeks to my next lesson and I'm not sure it's going to be long enough! I'm looking forward to playing Home on the Range, and my teacher had a wicked grin when I said that

Look forward to chatting with you and you Bev!



Edit:


Just seen your post Little Elf - welcome to you too, it's nice to have another newbie here

Congratulations on your Grade1 distinction - fantastic! I'm especially impressed because my teacher has started doing sightreading with me in the lessons and I can't say I do very well at it. I can't imagine ever being able to sightread piano music!

Look forward to chatting with you too

Well, I sometimes play on my NP30

I wonder if you mean "Twilight". My daughter loves these books, and enjoyed the film. It hadn't occurred to me there would be a book of piano music. I know, there was bound to be... Anyway, having been alerted to the possibility by your post, I have just popped out of the office and acquired a copy. Hopefully daughter will be delighted when she returns from the school Spanish trip..

Hi. I started piano lessons at the end of January and have just had my ninth lesson. After a few initial problems with my teacher things have settled down nicely and I'm really enjoying it. I've previously tried teaching myself the clarinet and guitar, but I have to say neither of them grabbed me in the same way that the piano has (although it definitely helps having a teacher). It's such a beautiful instrument, although incredibly challenging and at times very frustrating!

We started with the Michael Aaron book but dropped it after about 4 lessons and I now work from the Classics to Moderns Book 1. It has some lovely pieces in it and I've so far done the Little Sonata (Wilton), Gavotte (Haydn), Bagatell (Diabelli), The Hunt (Gurlitt), and I'm now working on Minuet by Mozart with Menuet by Krieger as back up in case I make better progress than expected with the Mozart during the Easter break (which somehow I doubt!)

I also use both the Dozen a Day book, as well as Mikrokosmos Book 1 for warm up exercises and find them both very useful.

The only trouble with all these pieces is that they require me using parts of the keyboard that on our decrepit old piano are a bit of a no-go area! It 's been fine while my daughter has been learning for the past two years as she hasn't had to venture more than an octave either side of middle C. However, she's now working towards her Grade 1 which is also taking her further afield so both of us now need something more playable so I'm having to look out for a replacement.

I'm really glad that's worked out for you in the end, I remember the initial problems you had.

As I get closer and closer to the end of Michael Aaron's book, I'm dying to know what book my teacher is going to suggest next

Hi all.

I started my piano lessons at the end of January last year. It was something I had thought about for a while and my husband bought me a Yamaha NP30 for Christmas to see how I got on. After taking 2 weeks to pluck the courage up to ring a teacher who had been recommended through my local music shop I arranged to start lessons. I had no real musical experience, other than the bits you learn at school. My teacher is a lady of around retirement age and I have a lesson every week at her house.

After a couple of months I upgraded my piano to a Yamaha YDP 131 (at least I think that's the number, they keep changing the model numbers every few months). Having decided, yes I really do want to do this it has been a good investment, but at the time I did feel really guilty spending all that money on it, after only having had a couple of month's use out of the NP30. The NP30 was quickly sold (someone out there got a real bargain!). Anyway the YDP looks the part and even though it is in the spare bedroom at the moment, I hope to be able to fetch it downstairs in the near future where it will be even more accessible. (Hopefully having a conservatory built where it will sit nicely).

I too started on the Michael Aaron piano course, but only got as far as 'Thoughts at Twilight' and then my teacher slotted in another couple of books. She says the Michael Aaron book had a tendancy to move on too quickly. We worked through Making the Grade preparatory book and we are now working through a book with little tunes in called Birds and Beasts and at Christmas we had a Carol book too.

I have just taken my Grade 1 exam this session, my chosen pieces were, A1 Gavot, B1 A Song of Erin and C2 Never Vex a Tyrannosaurus Rex! Somehow I managed to get 134/150 (distinction).

In November I took Grade 1 theory (98%) and have just taken Grade 2 theory this session (awaiting results). I have started working through the Grade 3 theory workbook, but my teacher says it will be November before I do that exam, because she is concerned that the theory is moving along a bit too qucikly against the practical.

She told me last night, she is hoping for me to do Grade 2 practical in November, but if we are not ready we will just wait until this time next year.

Now I have started to learn the first of the scales for Grade 2 and am still working through the Birds and Beasts book and will be doing a few of the Grade 1 exam peices that weren't chosen for the exam. I am currently trying to get my head around A2 Minuet, it is not proving to be easy, but I'm sure I will get there.

I try to get my practice in every morning before work because this is when I seem to work at my best. I am lucky enough to have quietish days at work where I have been able to get on with my theory.

Well enough of my ramblings for now, my husband says it's all I ever talk about these days (oops), but he knows just how much I love it. I've got an awful lot to learn and at times it can be frustrating trying to get everything to co-ordinate etc, but with regular practice, you never know what might happen.

Yes, Twilight, that's it

I'm really interested to see this because mine's a NP30 and I love it, so I'm wondering what made you change it after only a couple of months? The only thing which I would say is on the downside is the fact that it's only got 76 keys instead of 88. But then if it had an 88-key width, it probably wouldn't be portable and I like that about it.


I love Thoughts at Twilight - I played it for my solo at the Leeds concert in January. It's one of the pieces which when my teacher plays it, he makes it sound as musical as a concert piece

Hi Skylark,

I originally chose the NP30 because it wasn't gimicky and I just wanted a straightforward digital piano to get me started, which was exactly what it did.

After a couple of months I was noticing the keys on my NP30 were not anything like as heavy as the ones on my teacher's piano and when I was playing things for my teacher I was pressing some keys and no sound was coming out on her piano because I just wasn't used to to difference in weight. Of course I could have got round this but I suppose by then I had decided I really wanted to do this and fancied something that looked the part rather than a keyboard on a stand. My YDP 131 has all 88 keys, which incidentially came in very handy for one of my Grade 1 pieces because I had to use the bottom three notes on the piano, and without the piano I have now, I probably wouldn't have been able to choose the T Rex as an exam piece.

I suppose I was just being a bit extravagent really , treating myself to an upgrade so quickly. Like I say I did feel really guilty at the time but my husband just said as long as I sell the NP30 and recoup some of the cost, it served its purpose and I suppose it cost us around £100 in the end to find out if I wanted to pursue the piano for real. I wouldn't have wanted to go out and spend the best part of £500 to find out I didn't like it after a few weeks.

So now I have my YDP which is lovely and I can't wait to be able to fetch it downstairs where it can sit and blend in with the furniture, which isn't something I would have wanted to do with the NP30 on a stand.

Does this mean you're now a plucked chicken?

Thanks for that Jazz Chicken. I often recommend the NP30 on here because I love it, so it's good to have balancing comments from someone who wasn't quite satisfied with it.

My teacher said that the acoustic piano that I use in my lesson is at the lighter end of the spectrum, and together with my digital keys set on maximum sensitivity, there's possibly less difference between my digital keys and those of the acoustic used in my lesson.

I must have a go at T Rex some time as I know it's very popular and I'm curious to know what it sounds like!

T Rex is quite fun - two of my pupils played it in recent exams.

You can hear it online if you want to know what it sounds like !

I never thought of that!

I've just been watching/listening to it on youtube and I see what Jazz Chicken means about the bottom notes. I can see why it's popular, it sounds fun.

As soon as I heard the T Rex on the downloads that accompany the exam pieces I knew I wanted to give it a try. It really is fun to play and you can get really expressive with it. Mine didn't quite have the expression I would have liked in my exam, I think nerves must have got the better of me a little and under the examiner's comments he said 'your T Rex sounded a bit tame, (give him a prod), which made me laugh.

It's definately a fun one to play and I would recommend it to anyone at around our grade to try.

I've found that the students who learnt T Rex also liked African Dance and vice versa.

Having not previously had anyone go for 'Kummer', a post-exam T Rex- teenager was having a listen to others from the book before looking elsewhere for new material, and he went absolutely overboard for Kummer.

"Oh I love that ..!. it's the chords' much to my surprise.

He's now gone away to spend the Easter holiday working out the intricacies of the third line.

I will bear those in mind.

I am also going to be working through some of the others in the exam book now. At the moment I am trying to get my head round A2, Minuetto. It's not easy, but hopefully I will get there.

No, I think Minuetto is one of the harder ones in the grade 1 book. Quite rewarding but not easy.

I'd do Kummer off List B, and off List C I'd do Bluemerang - I like the sound of the clip of that one. Next time I'm at a music shop I'll have a look at Piano Time Going Places which that piece is in

Am I allowed in her if I've already got Grade 1??
Bev

Course you can... and I think maggiemay has probably already got grade 1

I don't know. I haven't, of course

I can see where we're going, let's go back quick

2 of my students did Bluemerang for grade 1 and really loved it. Singing in the Mountain is a good piece too, but Im not sure many people would be prepared to buy the whole book just for that piece - worth a play if you an borrow a copy from your teacher. T Rex is a great piece, but one of my pupils got himself terribly tangled up with all the chromatic scales - I think he just hasn't quite got the control needed, yet. Dragonflies - the Helyer piece has been popular with my students - both kids and adults.

I liked the opening notes on Singing in the Mountain on the ABRSM MP3 clip (very tinkly!), but then it suddenly changed and I wasn't sure where it was going. I'd probably like to try it though.



PS. Can I coin your phrase maggiemay - "If you're playing the notes as they're written down, it shows a lack of initiative"

It's not really my phrase, but that of a well-loved conductor / composer friend who was taking a reahearsal recently. I should really add a credit to the quote !

I agree about the chromatic bits in T Rex, btw ... the ones near the beginning are not too bad: the killer is the two-handed bit nearer the end.

Thanks, glad it's not just me that thinks it's hard, I spent two hours this afternoon on it and I'm still nowhere near putting it hands together yet. My teacher is away next week, so you never know by the time I next see her it could be coming together.

Does this get any easier with time?

You might find that half an hour a day on it is more efficient than a two hour session.
I'm not suggesting that you don't practice every day, just that f you are working for that length of time at this level it might work better to work on several things for a shorter time during your practice session.

Grade 1 stuff will get easy. Grade 2 stuff will seem hard. Until you master it and then it will seem easy and Grade 3 stuff will seem hard. Etc, ad infinitum. What I found when I started learning clarinet is that you meet a hurdle and eventually you get over it. And then you meet another hurdle, you get over it and then there's another one. It's all a series of hurdles, but after a while, you get to trust that you will get over them *eventually*, but each hurdle takes a different length of time for it to happen. I can see a similar pattern now that I've started piano - the hurdles of contrary/similar motion on scales, hands together in pieces, pedalling.... etc. They're just hurdles, and eventually I'll overcome them, until the next one. Have faith, Jazz Chicken - what you're doing now will get easier, maybe even boring because it's *too* easy and you'll want something more challenging!



Yes! Sometimes the penny just drops! I couldn't get the hang of pedalling at all, then after one lesson a few weeks ago when I still hadn't been able to do it, I came home, sat at the piano and just did it! You *will* be able to do it eventually, and if you haven't managed it by the time of your next lesson, maybe your teacher could give you some advice on a different way of practising it?

Sometimes when I get a bit frustrated at not being able to do something, I go back to something really easy to finish the session off with. Or I tinkle about on the black keys which I find very relaxing

Is anybody else working on Marche Slave from Michael Aaron's book? I won't see my teacher again until after Easter and I'm not sure about the fingering.

In the bass clef for the first 8 bars, you use Finger 2 on the E. In bar 9, it doesn't say to change fingers, but it's very awkward to play E, D#, C, B, A in that position. I've tried changing the fingering to Finger 1 on the E just for that bar, but then I have to remember to go back to the original position in Bar 11. Which fingering position should I persevere with - anyone, please ?

I'd go for 1 on E in bar 9.
It might help to practice the LH of bar 10 to 2nd note of bar 11 just to get used to making the small move back to 2 on E. Sometimes it can seem as though a move like that is bigger than it actually is.
Maybe try playing A to E alternating between 2 and 1 on the E so that you get the feel of the difference.

Thanks for confirming the fingering. And yes, your suggestions are good ideas, thanks I'll try that.

Im starting on grade 1 piano eeekk. Have had a listen to them all now, and African Dance is my favourite!

Hi sags - I'm listening to your flute video as I write this, I love that Mozart piece. Look forward to hearing how you get on with your G1 piano!

You might find that half an hour a day on it is more efficient than a two hour session.
I'm not suggesting that you don't practice every day, just that f you are working for that length of time at this level it might work better to work on several things for a shorter time during your practice session.
[/quote]


Thanks, yes I will bear this in mind. I do try to practice for at least half an hour every day but that half an hour soon disappears when I look at all the things I have to practice, so sometimes at the weekend I try and spend a lot longer on one of the pieces in an effort to make good progress. Last week I had this piece in question and another 2 little tunes on the go and in an effort to have something to show at the end of the week I concentrated on the smaller pieces thinking they would be easier and Minuetto didn't really get a look in. Unfortunately this approach didn't really work and when I had my lesson this week, the 2 small pieces were still very shaky and of course there hadn't been much progress at all on Minuetto. So I now have the 2 small pieces to get right, the Minuetto and another piece which my teacher has asked me to have a look at over the next couple of weeks

I will take your advice and try to practise each piece for approximately the same amount of time and hopefully make progress in all of the pieces, rather than simply concentrating on one at a time.

Have faith, Jazz Chicken - what you're doing now will get easier, maybe even boring because it's *too* easy and you'll want something more challenging!
[
Sometimes when I get a bit frustrated at not being able to do something, I go back to something really easy to finish the session off with. Or I tinkle about on the black keys which I find very relaxing
[/quote]


Thanks Skylark, this is all new to me and I really shouldn't forget how far I have come in the last 14 months. It can be really frustrating though at times, but I do love it .

I get the impression you're feeling under a bit of pressure with it, as I did when I first started. I felt as if I had to go back to the next lesson with everything perfect. Because I was doing that, my teacher gave me more new pieces, scales, exercises, which again I spent all week perfecting, and the wheels were going ever faster. In the end I asked if I could have fortnightly lessons instead and that's made a big difference. Even if you stick with weekly lessons (and one of the reasons I went to fortnightly was because I'm having clarinet lessons as well), if you're feeling under pressure then it might be useful to talk to your teacher about how you feel - s/he probably doesn't realise you feel under pressure (if indeed you do!) and can adjust things so that you slow down a bit if that would help

I think you hit the nail on the head there, I do tend to feel I have to go back to my lesson with everything perfect and am disappointed when I don't seem to have managed to do that.

I know my teacher gives me lots of things to be getting on with so I don't get bored, but yes sometimes it just all adds up to a lot of pressure to get everything done. She doesn't mind in the slightest if I turn up and say I haven't got round to a certain piece, but I think I can be a bit hard on myself and think, she has given it me to do, so I should be able to do it all, which probably isn't the case at all.

I've been learning piano for a little over a month now, and I think I've officially joined the 'I wish I'd started sooner' club.

I'm still really enjoying it at the moment, in spite of the fact that it looks as though I'm going to have to switch teachers already. I've had to reschedule some things, so I'm no longer able to take my lessons on the same day/time that I do now. My teacher doesn't have any open dates that I can fit in either, which is a shame because they are really nice.

I've started looking round for another teacher, so hopefully I wont be too long without one.

*sighs*

Currently learning: Dvorak - 'Cavatina' from the simply classics book. No real reason other than that I heard it and decided that I 'had' to learn it (lovely little tune ).

It sounds as if your teacher is used to pupils getting bored with just one piece, but maybe that's not the case for you.

To digress a little, it brings to mind a programme I saw a few months ago about Vanessa Mae. As an experiment, she and a few others were given a painting to replicate in a short space of time - about 20 minutes I think. All the others spent the time doing a finished painting to a fairly rough standard. Vanessa Mae, however, spent her time perfecting one small section of the painting and didn't finish it. I suppose the reason this comes to mind is because it's possible that most people wouldn't want to spend their time perfecting one piece before moving on to something else. But maybe you're the new Vanessa Mae of the piano world Perhaps you could get your teacher to realise that you won't get bored with just having one piece to do, and you'd rather concentrate on one piece at a time. If you do perfect it before your lesson (and is anything ever perfect?), you can always work on finger drills, exercises, scales, etc. It's very unlikely you'd get bored, even if you only had one piece to work on!


Hi Clueless One - sorry to hear about your teacher. Hope the piano you're looking at makes up for the lack of a teacher in the meantime

My piano is now happily in my home (waiting for part of the mechanism which is on its' way via the repair shop).

However, I'm now officially without a teacher.

On the plus side, it looks as though I'll only be 'teacher-less' for about 2 weeks.
I've found someone who teaches near me, and who has a space on one of my free days.
I've spoken to them over the phone, and had an introductory lesson with them. They seem nice and they're happy to take me on.

So *fingers crossed* it will all work out ok.

I'm not a beginner pianist but am training to be a piano teacher. At the moment I am looking at the The Classic Piano Course by Carol Barratt (starting to play) which is geared towards older beginners.

I am also looking at Scenes at a Farm (Walter Carroll), which is another first piano lessons book (Book 1)

My piano is now whole.



*does her happy 'I have a piano' dance*

It still needs tuning, and it'll never be 'perfect', but it's nice to have it all the same.

Hey great, you're all set up for your lessons now! (well apart from the tuning bit!). I think you said you'd found a new teacher and had a lesson shortly - look forward to hearing about it

Hello everyone,

About 25 years ago I tried teaching myself a bit of piano on a cheap keyboard - without much success. I could play one grade oe piece to my own satisfaction but probably not to anyone else's.

Yesterday I bought myself a Yamaha p85 and am supposed to be having my first lesson tomorrow. The only problem is that I hurt my left arm/hand a bit carrying the box as it was unwieldier than I'd bargained on. I think it's tendonitis which I had several years back. It didn't hurt though when I tried playing the keys a bit yesterday. Hope it will be OK. Playing the violin does hurt though so I'll be putting that on hold for a while.

I'll have to trim my nails (for guitar) as they get in the way when playing keyboards. No hardship really as I hardly ever play guitar these days, but I do wonder what other guitarists do who play keyboard instruments?

Hi bvgdez

I've just been looking at the P85 - it seems to have had some good reviews, nice choice

Hope your first lesson goes well - I'd be interested to hear how you get on