I wanted to introduce myself, I've just taken the leap into the unknown and survived my first term of piano lessons. This is after a 21 year gap. All I can say is if I had known how hard it would be (to open up to a new teacher), how hard it would be for my three very young children to understand that they have to ask some one else for things if I'm trying to practise for a 10min uninterupted stretch!) and how upset it would make me (flooded with memories of a beloved childhood teacher) I never would have considered it for a second.

What I had forgotten was just how addictive it is to be playing the piano again. There's no way I'm giving up this time!

Thankyou for your time reading this, and I hope that in the future I can post helpfully! (Right now I feel a hopeless muddling through kind of pianist!)

Welcome, rites of summer. Thanks for your lovely evocative post!

It's great to know your experiences of earlier lessons were good ones (despite the memories being somewhat bittersweet). Music has a knack of engaging the emotions - sometimes when you least expect it.

Lots of joy with your playing! Your family will gradually get the message - and may gradually become interested themselves - a wonderful legacy for your former teacher.

Please stay around and let us know how it goes.

Hello, I hope you enjoy your piano playing.

Welcome! I'm also studying the piano after not having formal lessons for quite some years and just passed my Grade 1 It's great!

Did you do any grades previously?

to the forums rites_of_summer
Hope you enjoy looking around

Welcome, rites_of_summer. I hope you enjoy the forums and continue to enjoy the piano.

to the forums, all the best with your pianoing!

Thankyou for your kind words.

Solari, congratulations on passing Grade 1, I remember it felt like a big milestone to me. Yes, I did sit some exams (Trinity Grades 1 to 5). Unfortunately I received high honours for them all and it rather led to an overwhelming fear of failure and I sobbed and begged my teacher not to be entered ever again. My kind teacher rehabilitated me with three years of wonderful repertoire.

After that we moved house, and I didn't get on too well with my next teacher and I was up against a 'sit Grade 8 or leave' kind of ultimatum. And so with my 15 years of wisdom I walked out.

But now I'm back playing...

Hello rites_of_summer

Thanks for introducing yourself, and I enjoyed reading your post in the other thread as well. Glad you've found a good teacher again - I took up learning the piano last year and my teacher's lovely too. Look forward to seeing you around

Welcome to the forum. Hope you have fun.

Welcome to the forum rites_of_summer

I hope you enjoy the Forum and your piano playing. Welcome.
Beverley.

Hello rites_of_summer, and welcome.

Hello and

Welcome, I love hearing stories of how people come to, or come back to, music. This forum is a great source of support, advice and encouragement - enjoy!

from another mature enthusiastic amateur player

Welcome, indeed! Perhaps you'll be able to come along to some of the forums events and concerts - they are great fun, and everyone's very friendly. It's nice to hear from another fellow piano player (if I can call myself that now ) Perhaps I should have put "amateur" like Fsharpminor, but a rather more "amateur" amateur than him!

A very big WELCOME, I started playing the piano with young children around and told myself the biggest thing I would need was Patience - to practice with lots of distractions but am so pleased I perservered and really love it.

Just thought it was about time I nipped back to say thankyou to everyone.
Time and time again I have found the advice to something or other in the old posts!

I'm having fun too, I've now relaxed into it. Since Christmas I've been ambling through the current grade 7 exam book with my teacher. The pieces are much more varied than I remember from the early 1980's!

And my children have finally got the hang of the fact I enjoy practising! And I don't need to be rescued with their kind offers of coming out and playing lego instead.

Thanks everyone.

As a 53-year-old adult with a family and two children in adolescence, I can tell what we must beware of most is the moments of discouragement that hit us every now and then.The key to success is not to pay too much attention to feeling frustrated and/or discouraged. Something along the lines of this inner dialogue "I'm so discouraged, thi will never come the way I want". "Oh, are you?" It'll pass off ... now carry on practising ..." Sort of recreating the understanding figure of a parent or friend inside us. This does the trick. One condition is that we must always be aware of discouragement when it hits, it's not at all about hiding it ...

Hello everyone from another newbie....

I have recently started taking classical guitar lessons (for about 18 months). [Is anyone else learning this in here?]. I recongnise many of the sentiments expressed on here. Think may be us adults are a bit hard on ourselves. Even though I am lucky enough to have found a wonderful teacher with the patience of a saint, just think that these particular skills take a while to build up very s l o w l y....! Not far enough in to contemplate a Grade 1 yet....

Very interesting forum.

to the forum!

Off the top of my head, Alicia Ocean is learning guitar, and I'm sure there's a few others too.

Hope you enjoy your time here

It very often happens that it isn't the teachers who lack the patience ... doesn't it?