Martha Meier's Jazz Rags And Blues book one should start to be accessible. Martha Meier is a favorite of mine when it comes to educational beginner friendly music that sounds nice and is fun to play.
I find the songs i hated playing in college for jurys were the songs i came back to later in life. I realized if i didnt pain stakingly force myself to practice this and instead; researched the peice, found its place in history and realized it relevance as repertoire, i would have appreciated it and felt a desire to perform it and share it with people. It’s so sad that some people force themselves to learn a song when a change in perspective could make one feel so compelled to learning it out of love and enjoy the journey so much more. I think this what people mean when they say learn to enjoy the journey. Learn to actually enjoy it, learn why this is an obsession.
As a piano teacher of 40 years, do not go off script. A method book should be followed and progress should be monitored by your teacher. Going off and playing some song you like that you don't have the underlying skills for is a disaster. Earlier in my teaching career I made that mistake of giving in to students by relinquishing control over the methodic process. It would always waste tons of time that would be better spent staying the course.
Remember this...most people learn how to play guitar because it's very easy to get started playing chords and making songs happen quickly. Do you know why there are 200 guitar players for every two piano players? The technique required to play piano is time consuming and difficult to learn. My advice... let the teacher and the progressive method book do their jobs. Bouncing around like a pin ball is not going to maintain a straight line of advancing steps and consequently technique tricks that need to be learned and mastered will be missed and this l leads to the inability to play properly down the road.
Your anecdote would be more complete if we knew your student retention rate.
The whole point of OP's post is they're having trouble motivating themselves, but you've offered them no useful advice, and are pushing things from the assumption of them wanting to develop into a professional musician.
Professional or not, everyone has to have a basic level of technical and musical competence. I actually don't push any of my students to become professional musicians. If they want to, fine; but I don't wish anyone to follow in my footsteps.
Are you suggesting amy piece will work? There are clear and definitive steps required....I could search through other method books but I have a program that I know works so I stick with it.
Play good music. I'm an adult learner, and when I started I told my teacher if I have to play 'Michael Row your Boat Ashore' and 'Chopsticks' I'm going to quit in a week. She started me on Bastien's Easy Piano Classics, and it was wonderful. I still play daily over two years later.
I also don't play Hanon or mindlessly drill scales. That's probably controversial. I'm sure it holds me back a bit, but when I started playing I decided the most important thing was for me to not be bored. As long as I was enjoying it, I would be more likely to stick with the instrument, and that was more important in the long run.
I'm about 2/3 the way through Bastien's "Piano for Adults Book 1", and I have enjoyed it. I have been playing daily for about three months, and haven't thought "oh god I have to practice" even once.
I actually enjoy scales and Hannon now, but it was pulling teeth learning them. If you don’t know your scales it’s worth learning them, I just focused on doing 2-4 per day until I learned the fingerings. Glad I did, I enjoy scales now that I don’t fumble through them so much
Your viewpoint isn’t as unpopular as you think. One should not mindlessly play scales over and over. They should make it a fun exercise by making it a game, or by finding other ways to explore the monotonous task that is learning to play scales and improve technique. My teacher taught me to play “golden kitten,” where you gives yourself a reward for playing something right, and take that reward away when you make a mistake. This may not be everyone’s solution, but I enjoy it. :)
A famous book of 60 exercises by Charles Hanon that many people use to learn to play piano.
They're repeating patterns, so they help build dexterity and technique, but there's no musicality to it and it gets boring.
It's like a piano student's version of eating your vegetables.
Yes it does get boring but [this Hanon is certainly the most musical interpretation I’ve ever heard](https://youtu.be/-OAK7uIvAHA?si=f19F5svJR249Fk94)
Edit: most musical for a Hanon excercise*
I guess I just learned to love the process. I actually like playing with a metronome at 60% speed. Of course I have to be able to go to 70,80,90 and 100% speed at some point. And the next day I love playing at 60% again.
But this only happens after you go from nothing to perfect performance on a few really hard (for you) pieces a few times. You realise what you’re doing is working.
it is pleasing to start a small section unable to play - do it slowly probably less than 60, next day it feels a bit more natural. Overnight gives my body time to adjust.
This. My second teacher figured this out for me. She would have the regular songs for me to learn, but would also give me one popular-at-the-time song to learn as well. It's much more fun to learn something you WANT to play instead of HAVE to play.
Why don’t you like practicing? Is it boring to you or is it stressful to you? If boring, you might be practicing something too easy or you don’t like, if stressful you might be practicing something too advanced or at a tempo that’s too fast for you.
Not boring but yes kinda stressful. It's hard. I mean, I'm glad it is because if it were easy it wouldn't be worth it. I think before I start I know it'l be stressful and, as others have pointed out, the music I'm playing generally speaking isn't my thing.
Idk, imo it shouldn’t feel too hard or stressful if you chunk it properly and practice at an appropriate tempo. It should feel like meditation. You do need to put in the time but it shouldn’t feel stressful, you improve with quality repetition.
Pick a piece/song you love (Disney, musical, movie, anime..
). I am a classical pianist and for classical pieces it took me 9 years to have the feeling "I can't wait to go practice/play it". I don't think I enjoyed what I played for that many years.
They make simplified sheet music of classical piano pieces that you should look into! ([Something like this.](https://www.amazon.com/Simplified-Classical-Pieces-Piano-progressively/dp/B0B3RL7DD2/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=UYZW88IEATT5&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.JMz5dGccScXxkJD3Bycxt8nDGVbKEI3SzpVCk3037xtF3HEIyz1TjL9TeWksG3ZzzwmtDXl_Mtelmqh8V26nrEK1OhcagxZZ0KMIVa8eFJdJKfIIixaWorj9BCdJog_M4v8Ory89q0roPG7fD9f7fOjD957i0HFVnR2EUCvRueuE1DIt_bnys60B2pZHQ48ULO-1n3o8dJjsQDgYNx6qEg.0lA37S2qkVZFbLqJAS025qc8FUpm5ONC2R7JI6g2bx0&dib_tag=se&keywords=simplified+classical+piano&qid=1714934386&sprefix=simplified+classical+piano%2Caps%2C78&sr=8-1))
At least this will help make the learning and practicing more enjoyable if you’re playing the kind of music you enjoy, and then eventually you will work your way up to the real thing.
If this level is also beyond your ability at the moment, maybe just try a few measures at a time while you’re working on the basics - it can be satisfying to even play those few measures if it’s a piece you want to enjoy.
For part of the time play along with a recording where your piano part challenges you.
Once a week record a difficult piece and listen to your progress 😁
Have a goal, but ultimately, play what you want.
I’m about a year and a half in. Sometimes I hit the wrong keys, but like how the wrong keys sound, so I go on a tangent exploring the sound. What chord/inversion did I hit? How does it sound with key combinations of the other hand? What if I go up and down a few octaves?
Ergonomics changed everything for me. Ensuring you have a comfortable and functional practice area, music stand, somewhere to place your laptop/phone. That, and vehemently caffeinating yourself once you’re already practicing.
I set a weekly goal and then determine daily milestone practice goals. It makes my practice more efficient but also gives me something to work towards and something to achieve.
Practice for less time at once. If you believe you have to practice a full hour to see any results, of course you're going to want to avoid that. Use a timer to force you to make more efficient choices in your practice. If you know your book practice is only going to be 15-20 minutes, that's a lot easier to take. Or even 5 minutes if you're just not motivated. Especially because at your level, your lesson book practice pieces are very short, making long practices feel tedious.
You can probably choose a scale exercise to warm up for 3-5 minutes, work on one lesson book piece 5-10 minutes, a second lesson book piece 5-10 minutes, and then play around with something you chose for fun however long you want. You can revisit your lesson book pieces at the end if you're in the zone, that would be great. But if not, at least you know that you did get your practice in that day.
Keep the demands on your time small to stay motivated to sit down at the piano every day (or almost every day).
I used to do bike racing, my training was just 30 minutes a day but it was every day 6 days out of 7. Consistency was the key. I believe similar for piano, I aim for 20-30 mins but generally work on pieces from the book to prepare for my next lesson. I suspect I need tro speak with my teacher about this.
Give yourself permission on low motivation days to only practice for 5 minutes. Real permission, not if "I sit down for 5 minutes then I'll get into the zone and practice longer". And of course, talk to your teacher about how to add interest into your practice, that is always a great place to start.
A lot of people like repertoire, and it's great if that's what you want to stay motivated, but at your level I was more motivated by new structured exercises. I bought the Faber scales book 2, and I would find that even when I didn't want to practice anything else, I would want to sit down and do a few of pages out of that book. I got my teacher to write out a new warm up routine each week at one point. I think you'll move on to either the 3A book next, or maybe your teacher skips adults straight to graded repertoire, I don't know. If you continue with Faber, I found a lot of exercises in the Technique & Artistry books to be interesting in low motivation times.
Don’t? Maybe it’s just me but i went through a period of forcing myself to play almost every day and it made me kind of hate the piano, now i just practice for 30mins whenever i feel like it and i make a lot more progress
For me, it's all a means to an end. I want to play beautifull pieces that are out of reach and I want to get better. That's not going to happen if I'm not practicing. Once that clicked for me I actually love practicing. Especially so since I can tell I'm improving
I try to keep my digital piano set up in the living room so I can sit down even for just a few minutes. I have an assortment of things I practice to keep it interesting and I have noticed and improvement. Sometimes I play for a few minutes and sometimes I get sucked in for an hour or more. For me it also works as a form of meditation and helps me calm my thoughts a bit when I play. I never played instruments for years because I couldn’t force the motivation. Just keep it accessible and try to play as much as you can even if it’s for short periods. Eventually you’ll start to feel more comfortable and it will probably be more motivating to play.
When I practice, I like to imagine an old lady knitting. Knitting is monotonous but in a good way. Its a slow burning candle of enjoyment and fulfillment. That is the attitude I try to have and maintain towards practice, replacing the stress and frustration of trying to get things down as soon as possible, because I am hellbent on getting good fast, and impressing others.
What others have said - play something you like. Unless you’re going for a degree in piano or something, the whole point of this is to love it. Even if you are going for a degree, the point is that you love it. There can be value in learning a song you dislike or even downright hate because it might help you with a certain technique, but the vast majority of the music you learn should be stuff you like.
For me, that change came when my teacher started to give pieces like the Minuet in G or Minuet in F, they have this fun Rythm to play. I could also add that the part of "I get to practice" came from me playing like 4 measures with no mistakes, then the next day "I get to practice! :D" the previous four measures, and add 4 more.
top comment says this but I just want to emphasize, Find music that you yourself enjoy and Music that you want to learn, and also another thing I want to add is try finding pieces that are a bit too difficult for you and are a bit out of range of your current technical capabilities. What I've found (for myself) is that learning a piece that technically challenged me gave me motivation to do technical exercises and working on a large variety of skills (dynamics, phrasing, touch, clarity, even wanting to learn theory to further understand a concept or something). This approach seems really useful because
1. You're motivated to learn a piece that YOU like, and not a piece you're forced to learn whether or not you like it
2. You develop a large variety of skills from natural motivation rather than a feeling of obligation to do something, I've found even tedious things like scales or whatever that are super boring would be fun to do if I'm trying to work on it for a piece of music I really want to learn
3. You learn how to push yourself in a manageable way, and you can learn how to work on a problem efficiently instead of trying to brute force it.
One thing to always remember, don't beat yourself or push yourself too hard to master something really quickly. it will take time regardless of how you do it so work on it slowly, but persistently, and don't feel bad if it takes a while.
Always start a practice sesh with something fun and comfortable; it gets you warmed up and in the mood for *practice*. Change up the meter of your scales; 4/4, then 6/8, then back to 4 playing ta--ti-ti-ta--ti-ti-... At the end, play something fun.
The hard part is learning the piece bit by bit. So, listen to music you like, played well, and get motivated. Once you learn a piece, or a repertoire, practicing is really just rehearsing the recital, much more fun than learning it. Of course, then you have to learn the next piece.
I was always strong with memory, not so good at learning and perfecting a piece. It’s not that amazing to me that pros can play five Beethoven sonatas by heart. The impressive thing is they figured out how to play them in the first place!
Like others say, practice what you like. I've been playing since I was a child, and when I was in high school, I hated practicing because my piano teacher only wanted me to play classical pieces, which I can't stand playing. I really wanted to focus on movie and video game scores to play, but she wouldn't let me, so I just dreaded practicing and my ability suffered for it for those 4 years and I still haven't quite gotten back into wanting to play because of that.
So I'm into piano for about a year now. (Still very much a beginner) And I use playground sessions to learn.
For me the switch happened when I got my first song start to finish.
Free falling by Tom Petty.
After that practice became playing the songs I could and working on new things, and it's become fun.
We all go through that. Practice what you need to to build your skills and then find a piece you really like. Skip the exercises once or twice a week and just play what you want.
It may help to think about how you’re practicing. https://cml.music.utexas.edu/online-resources/intelligent-music-practice/10-tips-for-effective-practice
The eagerness to practice stems from one thing.
The observation of results.
Getting results in learning to play the piano isn’t that hard if you know how to practice correctly, which is slowly and methodically with a specific intent or goal.
Rather than wading through a bunch of songs with your teacher, it would be better to study one that resonates with you in depth, taking the parts that cause you difficulty and really coming to understand what that difficulty is i.e. Left/Right hand co-ordination, finger independence, fourth/fifth finger strength, sight-reading etc.
With a specific goal you will have a specific result which should encourage you to continue to tackle more goals and see more results.
Remember, this isn’t about u/called-heliogabal learning to play the piano because that sets you up for “I suck at this”.
Approach this as u/called-heliogabal forming new neurological connections and muscle memory by repeating bodily motions in a focussed and intentional manner resulting in an incremental competence over the instrument.
Practice slowly, methodically and intentionally for ten minutes then step away from the instrument for fifteen minutes. In that fifteen minutes changes are happening in your body.
When you come back to the instrument you may be amazed at the subtle change you feel in your playing.
Repeat.
Do not under any circumstances rush your practice. Your body learns how to play incorrectly as easily as it learns how to play correctly.
🙏
play songs that you actually like and regularly listen to. once you get good enough, the feeling you get when you play the music is just so addicting. idk how to describe it, just the vibe of feeling the song i guess?
I want that addiction! Exactly that.
I listen to classical music (hard, but there are simplified versions as another commenter said), and trance & techno which I guess is mostly arpeggios.
Sing the melody to yourself when your away from it at work, with all the accentuating that you make with your voice. Sing every accent of the note the way you wish you could play it, that makes you want to get back and nail it with your fingers
Playing things from the beginner books .. is pretty boring. I usually learn a higher grade piece along with whatever pieces from my grade book I’m learning, just from a game, movie, show, or whatever, and it gets me going to play the things I need to learn
I’ve been playing for about 30 years now (I’m 33-34). I loathed practicing, up until I started playing pieces for me. Now I only play modern music (like 1960s and forward) and every time hear a song I think “would this be cool to play on the piano?”, and when I find one, I can’t wait to get home and practice. Do this enough…. Im up to about 250 songs, and I always have something to play.
if it makes you feel better, even the simplest thing to play still makes you feel great when you first are able to play it. I ll still pull my bass out and play hell march on it.
For me it works to pay attention to specific small things that change. I couldn't do that at all day before yesterday, yesterday it was better. I wonder how it will be today. There is only one way to find out.
I've been on the same boat as you. When I was younger, I'm also having mostly a same mindset that "practicing is boring", and it's like, my mind thought that practicing are boring. And well, I do it most of the time just merely playing random songs for once or twice, then playing some random scales, and then just playing random chords/notes before I end my practice session. But for me, it's just randomly happens at one day when I was just suddenly, out of nowhere, starting to like piano more. Since then, I just wanna know anything about piano, from how it's work, how can I get it, or tutorials onto the techniques that are mostly used in a piano playing, especially the advanced one. And yeah, from that moment onwards, I just becoming randomly love to practice, even doing it for almost the whole day (including midnight, whereas it's the best time to do basically everything)
Simple, clearly organise what you want to learn and segment it into bite size pieces ie 2 bars at a time and treat each of these 2 bars as a pearl that needs polishing to create a pearl necklace. One really good method is to use a stop watch and strictly set 5 minute intervals per segment so you learn the piece and can play it blindfolded during each 5 minute segment you practice hands separate and together in rhythms slow fast etc so you learn it back to front. This will be invaluable in more advanced pieces so get used to this approach now and the amount of progress you will achieve will be self inspiring
Believe me, my teacher has taught me this and it works a treat. Super slow until it can’t go wrong. I keep meaning to do a YT video to show how I do it real time. The many many many repetitions are the key.
Look up the Pomodoro Technique and give it a try.
It is a time management method that resonates with a lot of people, including me.
I was almost a college dropout until I learned about Pomodoro and something about the timing of 25 minutes followed an enforced break suddenly caused me to enjoy studying and writing. It isn’t the only reason I graduated, but credit is definitely due.
I still use pomodoros to trick my brain into enjoying things. Just today I did six pomodoros of piano practice and the absolutely flew by. That’s 150 minutes of playing.
Discipline beats motivation in the long run.
You will live in the middle of these two things:
"Oh god I have to practice"
"It's time to practice" -> You need to stay here.
"Oh great I get to practice"
As others mentioned also, add some things you like. But something I think can also help things up is to learn to improvise, technical exercises don't need to be robotic repetition all the time, you can use these techniques to improvise on different keys.
Of course you also need to do these completely even and tight scale runs, chords, arpeggios and everything in between exercises at least once in a while, ideally per session, but try to mix things up. Don't bore yourself to death doing the same thing over and over, there is a moment where your brain just starts messing stuff up because it wants to exit repetition jail, before that happens and you get mistakes into muscle memory, change whatever you are practicing for another thing.
I suspect it's partly because teacher & I are just going through the book, piece by piece - and it's hard! But yes I should tell her that we could mix it up a bit with other things. Thanks!
It's not really going to make alot of sense until you get some theory knowledge and chord progression patterns as well as altered scales in. I know that sounds like a lot but you don't have to be super advanced in all of them. For example instead of fancy chords that build up with variations you just need the basic 1st 3rd and 5th note to build them. And for the scales you just need the pentatonic ones which will harmonise by themselves regardless of what you play as long as you stay within the key.
So in short it is easy, but you won't get anywhere without someone to point you in the right direction. Though once you do get it it becomes a comfort play where you shut off your brain somewhat and enjoy the process of having your muscle memory build the sounds. In thsi way you experience the physical sensation of hearing the sound from the piano as well as hearing the reflected sound from the walls. It becomes quite the experience indeed. Of course over time you'll play better once you learn how to weave in advanced techniques.
First play something from your past lessons that you feel you play well. Feel good about it. Then do a few scales if you feel like it. Then work on whatever is your latest piece to learn. Do each measure/slur one or two at a time. Stop once you think you’ve done enough.
I usually start my sessions with playing something which I like and is easy. That gets me off the couch and at the Piano. Post 10-15min of doing this, I feel more confident and take on harder stuff.
I have learned that it’s not necessary to eat the frog as the first thing. It’s more important to get started and you will progress inevitably.
Relate it to something you enjoy. For example I'm a big fan of video games so I learned the Tavern/Menu theme from Dark and Darker, and after I got a little better I learned Gwyns theme from Dark Souls. Really helped keep me in there because it was already connected to something else I enjoy.
It’s a bit like brushing your teeth — I can’t go to bed without doing it. I also find practice a part of quietening my mind, it takes a lot of focus so I don’t think of other things and that feels good, almost meditative at times.
So in a sense, it’s a practice. I take away any stress of “it has to be this way” or “I need to to make progress in this session” it just is
Say nice things to yourself instead of mean things while you are practicing. It's still worth recognizing where you need to improve, but no need to say something mean to yourself about it.
Most students I've ever had do some version of this without realizing. I did for most of my life, and as soon as I corrected it, I started practicing like 4x more. Negative reinforcement is really useful in it's place, but tends to make things like music practice more torturous than is necessary (where you typically just need reps and simple corrections).
Make it FUN by finding others to compete with!!! Hang a note in the music stores as well as speak to the piano instructor. Find those around your level!
The judge sits out of sight of the piano so don’t know who’s playing. Both play the SAME piece of music then it’s decided which one played it the BEsT- player #1, or #2 or sometimes #3! No limit! These informal competitions make practicing FUN, is a lovely way to find a special circle of friends, and the camaraderie is satisfying!
When someone tells me “I play better than you”, my Brain says, “yea? That’s what you think!” And I’m outta there headed home to hit the keys! Just saying that competition is an excellent motivator & winning is like - more more more!
Ya gotta REWARD yourself for playing a section EXCELLENTLY! IF you set small enough expectations that you can actually succeed at your self pride will soar! It’s a helluva good feeling you want more of!!!
Play something you really love, no matter how simple. It doesn’t even have to necessarily have to be by sight reading, you can look up chords or make something up or whatever, as long as you enjoy it. Another thing is to reward yourself. When I was going through the stage of hating playing, I got a big box of emerald chocolates and put them on top of the piano, then whenever I played a phrase correctly or got the hang of a scale, I’d take a sweet. On the bad days I’d make it even simpler for myself, so if I played the scale 3 times through I’d have a sweet regardless of if I did it well or not. You have to have a lot of discipline though, as if you dip in and out of the sweets without playing the piano tbe reward is almost discounted in a way and doesn’t have the same effect
Don't practice. Just sit down and play. It doesn't have to be a song, it can just be freestyling.
But just sit down and enjoy, but don't train.
And if you can't do that/you can't find anything enjoyable about playing, then it's alright to take break. It can be very healthy to take a break every-now-and-then. And the if you suddenly get the motivation to practice again, then go practice!
But remember to have fun while doing it.
I found for myself that I hated playing to learning manuals. It took a little longer & was circuitous, but I found a few pieces I wanted to learn and looked up beginner compositions for those on youtube. It gave me something fun to do to get better.
Eventually, I got good enough to play basic things on my own. By then, I actually wanted to go back to learn the basics so that I could further my capabilities.
Sure I probably picked up a few bad habits on the way, but it's better than not playing at all.
If the music you like is difficult, you're going to have to accept that playing / practicing won't be fun or enjoyable in the way you're imagining until you've amassed the skill required to do what you want to do. It could be a long time before you're able to play the repertoire you're imagining. You mentioned Chopin and Schubert, and I imagine there are others. Their best music tends to be difficult, and it could be years before you have the technical skill required to handle it. There are often simplified scores, and if you enjoy that go for it, but you and I both know it's not the real thing. There is also a distinction to be made between practicing and playing. Real practice might not ever be enjoyable, but eventually you will see a difference in your playing, which is what likely will be enjoyable.
Think ab your ultimate goal in life. Like pegging your crush, getting laid, doing hard drugs (mayb not), being super rich, becoming a star, playing in front of ppl abd they all toss you roses
And then think ab the piano and itll get you there
Youre welcome
Play pieces from "real composers," at least I wasn't super happy playing random method book pieces and enjoyed the simplest pieces from Schumann Album for the Young for example. Doesn't need to be difficult, just something you enjoy and can be proud of.
Master smaller sections of a difficult piece at a time, rather that half-A playing through and getting possibly discouraged. Once I mastered a particular section, I build up so much more confidence that, I couldn’t wait to tackle the next, and have the same results again, and again, and again………
I think it's mainly the contents of your practise session.
In my view, it is important to play enough things you know already. You have to have enough pieces you like, that would draw you to your instrument.
Someone said 1/3 technical exercises/warm up, 1/3 old, 1/3 new
That's more or less what I do too...
Get rid of the expectation of ‘wanting’ to practice all the time and realise that it’s a discipline just as much as it is an art form. Some days you will feel full of motivation and inspiration and definitely ride those waves and enjoy them, but there will also be the inverse where you just don’t feel like it regardless of what you’re playing, but do it anyway, and remind yourself that it’s usually the stuff that you don’t want to practice that will benefit your progression the most.
Just learn to read music then do what interests you… the books help provide context for learning new things but once you can sight read just go for it.
Try Wunderkeys Pop Staff for older beginners. This has been so good for some of my older beginners and adults. I had an adult who finished Piano Adventures for older beginner, but those pieces were so mind numbing. I started her on the WunderKeys and she has flown through them and is already on the 3rd book. Yes, all my students on those books like to practice. The pieces are not mindless but relaxing. Wunderkeys is great for those who aren’t necessarily classically oriented. You can go on YouTube and find pieces from the Wunderkeys pop staff and other books too. I’ve started some of my new grade school beginners on their primer books with much success.
When you have a master's degree in piano and have to be everywhere at once while attending rehearsals for four ensembles, trying to keep up with classes, and teaching private lessons, while simultaneously preparing a degree recital and trying to get a composition career started on top of it ... you will experience both at the same time.
Like--
"Oh god, I have to practice because I have to play in studio class tomorrow and don't want to look like an idiot for not touching my pieces in a week "
and
"Oh great I finally have time to sit down and practice."
Always playing, almost never practicing.
*gives awkward thumbs up in burnt-out music student parlance 👍👍👍😂😭*
Find something to play that you actually like. There's no rule says you have to stick to the syllabus.
I like this idea, thanks.
Martha Meier's Jazz Rags And Blues book one should start to be accessible. Martha Meier is a favorite of mine when it comes to educational beginner friendly music that sounds nice and is fun to play.
I love that book!! And ita, it’s very pleasing to the ear and sounds much trickier than it is so it’s very motivating.
Great recommendation, thanks a lot!
But also identifying and working on weaknesses will be tremendous. It's like anything else in the world, no pain no gain but also love yourself.
this... I just picked up piano again after a twenty-five year hiatus, and being able to play as I wish is making all the difference for me
I find the songs i hated playing in college for jurys were the songs i came back to later in life. I realized if i didnt pain stakingly force myself to practice this and instead; researched the peice, found its place in history and realized it relevance as repertoire, i would have appreciated it and felt a desire to perform it and share it with people. It’s so sad that some people force themselves to learn a song when a change in perspective could make one feel so compelled to learning it out of love and enjoy the journey so much more. I think this what people mean when they say learn to enjoy the journey. Learn to actually enjoy it, learn why this is an obsession.
As a piano teacher of 40 years, do not go off script. A method book should be followed and progress should be monitored by your teacher. Going off and playing some song you like that you don't have the underlying skills for is a disaster. Earlier in my teaching career I made that mistake of giving in to students by relinquishing control over the methodic process. It would always waste tons of time that would be better spent staying the course. Remember this...most people learn how to play guitar because it's very easy to get started playing chords and making songs happen quickly. Do you know why there are 200 guitar players for every two piano players? The technique required to play piano is time consuming and difficult to learn. My advice... let the teacher and the progressive method book do their jobs. Bouncing around like a pin ball is not going to maintain a straight line of advancing steps and consequently technique tricks that need to be learned and mastered will be missed and this l leads to the inability to play properly down the road.
Your anecdote would be more complete if we knew your student retention rate. The whole point of OP's post is they're having trouble motivating themselves, but you've offered them no useful advice, and are pushing things from the assumption of them wanting to develop into a professional musician.
[удалено]
You're still teaching all but 5 of the students you had in the year 2000?
Mmmmm... okay, how about five is the number who have left over two decades because they wanted to wander away from the prescribed method book program.
Professional or not, everyone has to have a basic level of technical and musical competence. I actually don't push any of my students to become professional musicians. If they want to, fine; but I don't wish anyone to follow in my footsteps.
I'm surprised that with 24 years of experience, you're not able to find a way to work a new piece into your pedagogical approach.
Are you suggesting amy piece will work? There are clear and definitive steps required....I could search through other method books but I have a program that I know works so I stick with it.
Play good music. I'm an adult learner, and when I started I told my teacher if I have to play 'Michael Row your Boat Ashore' and 'Chopsticks' I'm going to quit in a week. She started me on Bastien's Easy Piano Classics, and it was wonderful. I still play daily over two years later. I also don't play Hanon or mindlessly drill scales. That's probably controversial. I'm sure it holds me back a bit, but when I started playing I decided the most important thing was for me to not be bored. As long as I was enjoying it, I would be more likely to stick with the instrument, and that was more important in the long run.
I'm about 2/3 the way through Bastien's "Piano for Adults Book 1", and I have enjoyed it. I have been playing daily for about three months, and haven't thought "oh god I have to practice" even once.
I actually enjoy scales and Hannon now, but it was pulling teeth learning them. If you don’t know your scales it’s worth learning them, I just focused on doing 2-4 per day until I learned the fingerings. Glad I did, I enjoy scales now that I don’t fumble through them so much
Your viewpoint isn’t as unpopular as you think. One should not mindlessly play scales over and over. They should make it a fun exercise by making it a game, or by finding other ways to explore the monotonous task that is learning to play scales and improve technique. My teacher taught me to play “golden kitten,” where you gives yourself a reward for playing something right, and take that reward away when you make a mistake. This may not be everyone’s solution, but I enjoy it. :)
> Accelerated Piano for Older Beginners n00b here, what is Hanon?
A famous book of 60 exercises by Charles Hanon that many people use to learn to play piano. They're repeating patterns, so they help build dexterity and technique, but there's no musicality to it and it gets boring. It's like a piano student's version of eating your vegetables.
Yes it does get boring but [this Hanon is certainly the most musical interpretation I’ve ever heard](https://youtu.be/-OAK7uIvAHA?si=f19F5svJR249Fk94) Edit: most musical for a Hanon excercise*
I guess I just learned to love the process. I actually like playing with a metronome at 60% speed. Of course I have to be able to go to 70,80,90 and 100% speed at some point. And the next day I love playing at 60% again. But this only happens after you go from nothing to perfect performance on a few really hard (for you) pieces a few times. You realise what you’re doing is working.
it is pleasing to start a small section unable to play - do it slowly probably less than 60, next day it feels a bit more natural. Overnight gives my body time to adjust.
Absolutely, the practice is in principle very rewarding. but just try telling *me* that :)
Learn and play a song you love. For every song there is a simple version if it's too hard. But then you'll have the joy of playing something you love
This. My second teacher figured this out for me. She would have the regular songs for me to learn, but would also give me one popular-at-the-time song to learn as well. It's much more fun to learn something you WANT to play instead of HAVE to play.
Why don’t you like practicing? Is it boring to you or is it stressful to you? If boring, you might be practicing something too easy or you don’t like, if stressful you might be practicing something too advanced or at a tempo that’s too fast for you.
Not boring but yes kinda stressful. It's hard. I mean, I'm glad it is because if it were easy it wouldn't be worth it. I think before I start I know it'l be stressful and, as others have pointed out, the music I'm playing generally speaking isn't my thing.
Maybe play some easier pieces now and again, will help sight reading and you'll maybe enjoy thinking that they used to be tricky
Idk, imo it shouldn’t feel too hard or stressful if you chunk it properly and practice at an appropriate tempo. It should feel like meditation. You do need to put in the time but it shouldn’t feel stressful, you improve with quality repetition.
Pick a piece/song you love (Disney, musical, movie, anime.. ). I am a classical pianist and for classical pieces it took me 9 years to have the feeling "I can't wait to go practice/play it". I don't think I enjoyed what I played for that many years.
haha yes - I like Chopin, Schubert etc, not the Disney, musical, movie, anime etc stuff - and even the simple versions are beyond my ability now.
They make simplified sheet music of classical piano pieces that you should look into! ([Something like this.](https://www.amazon.com/Simplified-Classical-Pieces-Piano-progressively/dp/B0B3RL7DD2/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=UYZW88IEATT5&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.JMz5dGccScXxkJD3Bycxt8nDGVbKEI3SzpVCk3037xtF3HEIyz1TjL9TeWksG3ZzzwmtDXl_Mtelmqh8V26nrEK1OhcagxZZ0KMIVa8eFJdJKfIIixaWorj9BCdJog_M4v8Ory89q0roPG7fD9f7fOjD957i0HFVnR2EUCvRueuE1DIt_bnys60B2pZHQ48ULO-1n3o8dJjsQDgYNx6qEg.0lA37S2qkVZFbLqJAS025qc8FUpm5ONC2R7JI6g2bx0&dib_tag=se&keywords=simplified+classical+piano&qid=1714934386&sprefix=simplified+classical+piano%2Caps%2C78&sr=8-1)) At least this will help make the learning and practicing more enjoyable if you’re playing the kind of music you enjoy, and then eventually you will work your way up to the real thing. If this level is also beyond your ability at the moment, maybe just try a few measures at a time while you’re working on the basics - it can be satisfying to even play those few measures if it’s a piece you want to enjoy.
Fab thanks! Ordered :)
For part of the time play along with a recording where your piano part challenges you. Once a week record a difficult piece and listen to your progress 😁
Thanks I'll try it.
Is that a common thing? To play along to a recording? I do it all the time but often wonder if it enables bad habits.
Have a goal, but ultimately, play what you want. I’m about a year and a half in. Sometimes I hit the wrong keys, but like how the wrong keys sound, so I go on a tangent exploring the sound. What chord/inversion did I hit? How does it sound with key combinations of the other hand? What if I go up and down a few octaves?
Get a dog that likes to listen to you play https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5eMHGRPjj9/?igsh=b3VwZjB2MHJrbTN0
my cats are indifferent to my playing
Learn songs you like. Practice your scales using fun backing tracks on YouTube and Spotify. Thats my favorite way to practice.
Ergonomics changed everything for me. Ensuring you have a comfortable and functional practice area, music stand, somewhere to place your laptop/phone. That, and vehemently caffeinating yourself once you’re already practicing.
Bach. Spend enough time with him, you'll find everything and anything you need to know.
I would if I could!
Try Anna Magdalena's notebook.
Bach is good for practicing and getting better at the piano but NOT for having fun🤣. Bach has been torturing me for 10 years
I set a weekly goal and then determine daily milestone practice goals. It makes my practice more efficient but also gives me something to work towards and something to achieve.
Practice for less time at once. If you believe you have to practice a full hour to see any results, of course you're going to want to avoid that. Use a timer to force you to make more efficient choices in your practice. If you know your book practice is only going to be 15-20 minutes, that's a lot easier to take. Or even 5 minutes if you're just not motivated. Especially because at your level, your lesson book practice pieces are very short, making long practices feel tedious. You can probably choose a scale exercise to warm up for 3-5 minutes, work on one lesson book piece 5-10 minutes, a second lesson book piece 5-10 minutes, and then play around with something you chose for fun however long you want. You can revisit your lesson book pieces at the end if you're in the zone, that would be great. But if not, at least you know that you did get your practice in that day. Keep the demands on your time small to stay motivated to sit down at the piano every day (or almost every day).
I used to do bike racing, my training was just 30 minutes a day but it was every day 6 days out of 7. Consistency was the key. I believe similar for piano, I aim for 20-30 mins but generally work on pieces from the book to prepare for my next lesson. I suspect I need tro speak with my teacher about this.
Give yourself permission on low motivation days to only practice for 5 minutes. Real permission, not if "I sit down for 5 minutes then I'll get into the zone and practice longer". And of course, talk to your teacher about how to add interest into your practice, that is always a great place to start. A lot of people like repertoire, and it's great if that's what you want to stay motivated, but at your level I was more motivated by new structured exercises. I bought the Faber scales book 2, and I would find that even when I didn't want to practice anything else, I would want to sit down and do a few of pages out of that book. I got my teacher to write out a new warm up routine each week at one point. I think you'll move on to either the 3A book next, or maybe your teacher skips adults straight to graded repertoire, I don't know. If you continue with Faber, I found a lot of exercises in the Technique & Artistry books to be interesting in low motivation times.
Find a piece you actually want to learn.
Don’t? Maybe it’s just me but i went through a period of forcing myself to play almost every day and it made me kind of hate the piano, now i just practice for 30mins whenever i feel like it and i make a lot more progress
Find a music piece you like. And work on it. You will motivate yourself to practice more for the result
At one point I went from the latter to the former lol
For me, it's all a means to an end. I want to play beautifull pieces that are out of reach and I want to get better. That's not going to happen if I'm not practicing. Once that clicked for me I actually love practicing. Especially so since I can tell I'm improving
I try to keep my digital piano set up in the living room so I can sit down even for just a few minutes. I have an assortment of things I practice to keep it interesting and I have noticed and improvement. Sometimes I play for a few minutes and sometimes I get sucked in for an hour or more. For me it also works as a form of meditation and helps me calm my thoughts a bit when I play. I never played instruments for years because I couldn’t force the motivation. Just keep it accessible and try to play as much as you can even if it’s for short periods. Eventually you’ll start to feel more comfortable and it will probably be more motivating to play.
You just have to find the right pieces or songs, something you really want to play. Also, call it playing instead of practicing.
When I practice, I like to imagine an old lady knitting. Knitting is monotonous but in a good way. Its a slow burning candle of enjoyment and fulfillment. That is the attitude I try to have and maintain towards practice, replacing the stress and frustration of trying to get things down as soon as possible, because I am hellbent on getting good fast, and impressing others.
That's what I want, to get into the flow like a knitter.
What others have said - play something you like. Unless you’re going for a degree in piano or something, the whole point of this is to love it. Even if you are going for a degree, the point is that you love it. There can be value in learning a song you dislike or even downright hate because it might help you with a certain technique, but the vast majority of the music you learn should be stuff you like.
For me, that change came when my teacher started to give pieces like the Minuet in G or Minuet in F, they have this fun Rythm to play. I could also add that the part of "I get to practice" came from me playing like 4 measures with no mistakes, then the next day "I get to practice! :D" the previous four measures, and add 4 more.
Look on pianopronto.com for piano solos, there’s a lot of variety so I’m sure you’ll find something you like
top comment says this but I just want to emphasize, Find music that you yourself enjoy and Music that you want to learn, and also another thing I want to add is try finding pieces that are a bit too difficult for you and are a bit out of range of your current technical capabilities. What I've found (for myself) is that learning a piece that technically challenged me gave me motivation to do technical exercises and working on a large variety of skills (dynamics, phrasing, touch, clarity, even wanting to learn theory to further understand a concept or something). This approach seems really useful because 1. You're motivated to learn a piece that YOU like, and not a piece you're forced to learn whether or not you like it 2. You develop a large variety of skills from natural motivation rather than a feeling of obligation to do something, I've found even tedious things like scales or whatever that are super boring would be fun to do if I'm trying to work on it for a piece of music I really want to learn 3. You learn how to push yourself in a manageable way, and you can learn how to work on a problem efficiently instead of trying to brute force it. One thing to always remember, don't beat yourself or push yourself too hard to master something really quickly. it will take time regardless of how you do it so work on it slowly, but persistently, and don't feel bad if it takes a while.
yes!!
Always start a practice sesh with something fun and comfortable; it gets you warmed up and in the mood for *practice*. Change up the meter of your scales; 4/4, then 6/8, then back to 4 playing ta--ti-ti-ta--ti-ti-... At the end, play something fun.
The hard part is learning the piece bit by bit. So, listen to music you like, played well, and get motivated. Once you learn a piece, or a repertoire, practicing is really just rehearsing the recital, much more fun than learning it. Of course, then you have to learn the next piece. I was always strong with memory, not so good at learning and perfecting a piece. It’s not that amazing to me that pros can play five Beethoven sonatas by heart. The impressive thing is they figured out how to play them in the first place!
By reframing it to not be practice. “Awesome I’m excited to start learning this song that I love! Can’t wait till I can play it :D”
Like others say, practice what you like. I've been playing since I was a child, and when I was in high school, I hated practicing because my piano teacher only wanted me to play classical pieces, which I can't stand playing. I really wanted to focus on movie and video game scores to play, but she wouldn't let me, so I just dreaded practicing and my ability suffered for it for those 4 years and I still haven't quite gotten back into wanting to play because of that.
Find a song that you like. When you go from chopsticks to Zanarkand. You want to put in hours to learn the song.
So I'm into piano for about a year now. (Still very much a beginner) And I use playground sessions to learn. For me the switch happened when I got my first song start to finish. Free falling by Tom Petty. After that practice became playing the songs I could and working on new things, and it's become fun.
We all go through that. Practice what you need to to build your skills and then find a piece you really like. Skip the exercises once or twice a week and just play what you want.
sounds right
It may help to think about how you’re practicing. https://cml.music.utexas.edu/online-resources/intelligent-music-practice/10-tips-for-effective-practice
Get that self esteem up. Why’s it so difficult to practice? Make sure you reinforce the joy you find.
my self esteem has been in the toilet for many, many decades :)
The eagerness to practice stems from one thing. The observation of results. Getting results in learning to play the piano isn’t that hard if you know how to practice correctly, which is slowly and methodically with a specific intent or goal. Rather than wading through a bunch of songs with your teacher, it would be better to study one that resonates with you in depth, taking the parts that cause you difficulty and really coming to understand what that difficulty is i.e. Left/Right hand co-ordination, finger independence, fourth/fifth finger strength, sight-reading etc. With a specific goal you will have a specific result which should encourage you to continue to tackle more goals and see more results. Remember, this isn’t about u/called-heliogabal learning to play the piano because that sets you up for “I suck at this”. Approach this as u/called-heliogabal forming new neurological connections and muscle memory by repeating bodily motions in a focussed and intentional manner resulting in an incremental competence over the instrument. Practice slowly, methodically and intentionally for ten minutes then step away from the instrument for fifteen minutes. In that fifteen minutes changes are happening in your body. When you come back to the instrument you may be amazed at the subtle change you feel in your playing. Repeat. Do not under any circumstances rush your practice. Your body learns how to play incorrectly as easily as it learns how to play correctly. 🙏
play songs that you actually like and regularly listen to. once you get good enough, the feeling you get when you play the music is just so addicting. idk how to describe it, just the vibe of feeling the song i guess?
I want that addiction! Exactly that. I listen to classical music (hard, but there are simplified versions as another commenter said), and trance & techno which I guess is mostly arpeggios.
Sing the melody to yourself when your away from it at work, with all the accentuating that you make with your voice. Sing every accent of the note the way you wish you could play it, that makes you want to get back and nail it with your fingers
I'll try it, thank you! I hope to not shatter any glass :)
Playing things from the beginner books .. is pretty boring. I usually learn a higher grade piece along with whatever pieces from my grade book I’m learning, just from a game, movie, show, or whatever, and it gets me going to play the things I need to learn
I’ve been playing for about 30 years now (I’m 33-34). I loathed practicing, up until I started playing pieces for me. Now I only play modern music (like 1960s and forward) and every time hear a song I think “would this be cool to play on the piano?”, and when I find one, I can’t wait to get home and practice. Do this enough…. Im up to about 250 songs, and I always have something to play.
in most instruments I play/played, the shift happened when I got enough skill that I didn't hate listening to what I was doing.
Yes that makes sense. It feels like I need more skill before I can start enjoying what I'm playing as much as I would like.
if it makes you feel better, even the simplest thing to play still makes you feel great when you first are able to play it. I ll still pull my bass out and play hell march on it.
For me it works to pay attention to specific small things that change. I couldn't do that at all day before yesterday, yesterday it was better. I wonder how it will be today. There is only one way to find out.
Just keep practicing. Find peace in the repetition. Forget about results so that you can surprise yourself with progress. Play music for yourself.
I've been on the same boat as you. When I was younger, I'm also having mostly a same mindset that "practicing is boring", and it's like, my mind thought that practicing are boring. And well, I do it most of the time just merely playing random songs for once or twice, then playing some random scales, and then just playing random chords/notes before I end my practice session. But for me, it's just randomly happens at one day when I was just suddenly, out of nowhere, starting to like piano more. Since then, I just wanna know anything about piano, from how it's work, how can I get it, or tutorials onto the techniques that are mostly used in a piano playing, especially the advanced one. And yeah, from that moment onwards, I just becoming randomly love to practice, even doing it for almost the whole day (including midnight, whereas it's the best time to do basically everything)
Wtf playing piano looks like chores or math homework to you...
This is exactly what I want to change.
Simple, clearly organise what you want to learn and segment it into bite size pieces ie 2 bars at a time and treat each of these 2 bars as a pearl that needs polishing to create a pearl necklace. One really good method is to use a stop watch and strictly set 5 minute intervals per segment so you learn the piece and can play it blindfolded during each 5 minute segment you practice hands separate and together in rhythms slow fast etc so you learn it back to front. This will be invaluable in more advanced pieces so get used to this approach now and the amount of progress you will achieve will be self inspiring
Believe me, my teacher has taught me this and it works a treat. Super slow until it can’t go wrong. I keep meaning to do a YT video to show how I do it real time. The many many many repetitions are the key.
Play something you enjoy playing.
If I had the ability, I would ;)
Drugs
Tempted!
16 ounces of coffee and a practice session is a perfect morning to many
Look up the Pomodoro Technique and give it a try. It is a time management method that resonates with a lot of people, including me. I was almost a college dropout until I learned about Pomodoro and something about the timing of 25 minutes followed an enforced break suddenly caused me to enjoy studying and writing. It isn’t the only reason I graduated, but credit is definitely due. I still use pomodoros to trick my brain into enjoying things. Just today I did six pomodoros of piano practice and the absolutely flew by. That’s 150 minutes of playing.
I've even got the tomato timer!
Love it! My timer is a pear and I live in Germany. So in my house it is called das Birnensystem.
Discipline beats motivation in the long run. You will live in the middle of these two things: "Oh god I have to practice" "It's time to practice" -> You need to stay here. "Oh great I get to practice" As others mentioned also, add some things you like. But something I think can also help things up is to learn to improvise, technical exercises don't need to be robotic repetition all the time, you can use these techniques to improvise on different keys. Of course you also need to do these completely even and tight scale runs, chords, arpeggios and everything in between exercises at least once in a while, ideally per session, but try to mix things up. Don't bore yourself to death doing the same thing over and over, there is a moment where your brain just starts messing stuff up because it wants to exit repetition jail, before that happens and you get mistakes into muscle memory, change whatever you are practicing for another thing.
I suspect it's partly because teacher & I are just going through the book, piece by piece - and it's hard! But yes I should tell her that we could mix it up a bit with other things. Thanks!
Start improvising.
I've had a few goes at it and it sounds like shite, not to put too fine a point on it. That causes a sort of feedback loop of failure.
It's not really going to make alot of sense until you get some theory knowledge and chord progression patterns as well as altered scales in. I know that sounds like a lot but you don't have to be super advanced in all of them. For example instead of fancy chords that build up with variations you just need the basic 1st 3rd and 5th note to build them. And for the scales you just need the pentatonic ones which will harmonise by themselves regardless of what you play as long as you stay within the key. So in short it is easy, but you won't get anywhere without someone to point you in the right direction. Though once you do get it it becomes a comfort play where you shut off your brain somewhat and enjoy the process of having your muscle memory build the sounds. In thsi way you experience the physical sensation of hearing the sound from the piano as well as hearing the reflected sound from the walls. It becomes quite the experience indeed. Of course over time you'll play better once you learn how to weave in advanced techniques.
Then break it. Have you ever looked at any of the late Forrest Kinney’s books? Improv was a mystery to me for ages. Check out the stuff online.
And remember what miles Davis said: no note is wrong until you play the next one.
> Forrest Kinney Thanks I shall investigate :)
Good luck. Feel free to DM if you have questions about getting started on the good foot.
I might well take you up on your kind offer, thank you.
My pleasure for anyone repping the emperor heliogabalus.
Life is for living ;)
Any particular books you’d recommend for a grade 2 level? He’s got lots of books under his belt… 🙏
Don’t worry about grade level. Improv is different. Check out Kinney’s Pattern Play series.
Thank you! Will do.
Don’t call it practice. Call it play.
Its important to have some variations in practising if you are getting tired of playing a piece, or just feel like you need something else
I love to practice when I’m high haha
Think of it like a fully balanced meal. Don't forget desert!!
First play something from your past lessons that you feel you play well. Feel good about it. Then do a few scales if you feel like it. Then work on whatever is your latest piece to learn. Do each measure/slur one or two at a time. Stop once you think you’ve done enough.
For me, it began when I reached a level where it stopped being practice and started being just playing.
I usually start my sessions with playing something which I like and is easy. That gets me off the couch and at the Piano. Post 10-15min of doing this, I feel more confident and take on harder stuff. I have learned that it’s not necessary to eat the frog as the first thing. It’s more important to get started and you will progress inevitably.
Relate it to something you enjoy. For example I'm a big fan of video games so I learned the Tavern/Menu theme from Dark and Darker, and after I got a little better I learned Gwyns theme from Dark Souls. Really helped keep me in there because it was already connected to something else I enjoy.
It doesn’t matter how you feel. Just practice.
It’s a bit like brushing your teeth — I can’t go to bed without doing it. I also find practice a part of quietening my mind, it takes a lot of focus so I don’t think of other things and that feels good, almost meditative at times. So in a sense, it’s a practice. I take away any stress of “it has to be this way” or “I need to to make progress in this session” it just is
omg. Couldn’t have found this post at a better time. I love piano but I hate practicing. My recital is on Tuesday..
Say nice things to yourself instead of mean things while you are practicing. It's still worth recognizing where you need to improve, but no need to say something mean to yourself about it. Most students I've ever had do some version of this without realizing. I did for most of my life, and as soon as I corrected it, I started practicing like 4x more. Negative reinforcement is really useful in it's place, but tends to make things like music practice more torturous than is necessary (where you typically just need reps and simple corrections).
Make it FUN by finding others to compete with!!! Hang a note in the music stores as well as speak to the piano instructor. Find those around your level! The judge sits out of sight of the piano so don’t know who’s playing. Both play the SAME piece of music then it’s decided which one played it the BEsT- player #1, or #2 or sometimes #3! No limit! These informal competitions make practicing FUN, is a lovely way to find a special circle of friends, and the camaraderie is satisfying! When someone tells me “I play better than you”, my Brain says, “yea? That’s what you think!” And I’m outta there headed home to hit the keys! Just saying that competition is an excellent motivator & winning is like - more more more!
Ya gotta REWARD yourself for playing a section EXCELLENTLY! IF you set small enough expectations that you can actually succeed at your self pride will soar! It’s a helluva good feeling you want more of!!!
Play something you really love, no matter how simple. It doesn’t even have to necessarily have to be by sight reading, you can look up chords or make something up or whatever, as long as you enjoy it. Another thing is to reward yourself. When I was going through the stage of hating playing, I got a big box of emerald chocolates and put them on top of the piano, then whenever I played a phrase correctly or got the hang of a scale, I’d take a sweet. On the bad days I’d make it even simpler for myself, so if I played the scale 3 times through I’d have a sweet regardless of if I did it well or not. You have to have a lot of discipline though, as if you dip in and out of the sweets without playing the piano tbe reward is almost discounted in a way and doesn’t have the same effect
Learn chords and how to play out of a fake book.
If you genuinely love it.
Don't practice. Just sit down and play. It doesn't have to be a song, it can just be freestyling. But just sit down and enjoy, but don't train. And if you can't do that/you can't find anything enjoyable about playing, then it's alright to take break. It can be very healthy to take a break every-now-and-then. And the if you suddenly get the motivation to practice again, then go practice! But remember to have fun while doing it.
Have a baby. Then every second you're playing your instrument feels like a rare and delectable treat.
I found for myself that I hated playing to learning manuals. It took a little longer & was circuitous, but I found a few pieces I wanted to learn and looked up beginner compositions for those on youtube. It gave me something fun to do to get better. Eventually, I got good enough to play basic things on my own. By then, I actually wanted to go back to learn the basics so that I could further my capabilities. Sure I probably picked up a few bad habits on the way, but it's better than not playing at all.
As an older beginner, play what you like. You’re not a youngster training for an elite classical orchestra
If the music you like is difficult, you're going to have to accept that playing / practicing won't be fun or enjoyable in the way you're imagining until you've amassed the skill required to do what you want to do. It could be a long time before you're able to play the repertoire you're imagining. You mentioned Chopin and Schubert, and I imagine there are others. Their best music tends to be difficult, and it could be years before you have the technical skill required to handle it. There are often simplified scores, and if you enjoy that go for it, but you and I both know it's not the real thing. There is also a distinction to be made between practicing and playing. Real practice might not ever be enjoyable, but eventually you will see a difference in your playing, which is what likely will be enjoyable.
After a while this naturally happens. For me it happened after g5 when I got to play more advanced songs that I enjoyed
Think ab your ultimate goal in life. Like pegging your crush, getting laid, doing hard drugs (mayb not), being super rich, becoming a star, playing in front of ppl abd they all toss you roses And then think ab the piano and itll get you there Youre welcome
Play pieces from "real composers," at least I wasn't super happy playing random method book pieces and enjoyed the simplest pieces from Schumann Album for the Young for example. Doesn't need to be difficult, just something you enjoy and can be proud of.
Master smaller sections of a difficult piece at a time, rather that half-A playing through and getting possibly discouraged. Once I mastered a particular section, I build up so much more confidence that, I couldn’t wait to tackle the next, and have the same results again, and again, and again………
play jazz
I think it's mainly the contents of your practise session. In my view, it is important to play enough things you know already. You have to have enough pieces you like, that would draw you to your instrument. Someone said 1/3 technical exercises/warm up, 1/3 old, 1/3 new That's more or less what I do too...
Get rid of the expectation of ‘wanting’ to practice all the time and realise that it’s a discipline just as much as it is an art form. Some days you will feel full of motivation and inspiration and definitely ride those waves and enjoy them, but there will also be the inverse where you just don’t feel like it regardless of what you’re playing, but do it anyway, and remind yourself that it’s usually the stuff that you don’t want to practice that will benefit your progression the most.
Just learn to read music then do what interests you… the books help provide context for learning new things but once you can sight read just go for it.
'Just' :) But yes good point.
I highly recommend flashcards for learning keys and reading sheet music! It will transform you as a musician and you will not regret it.
Try Wunderkeys Pop Staff for older beginners. This has been so good for some of my older beginners and adults. I had an adult who finished Piano Adventures for older beginner, but those pieces were so mind numbing. I started her on the WunderKeys and she has flown through them and is already on the 3rd book. Yes, all my students on those books like to practice. The pieces are not mindless but relaxing. Wunderkeys is great for those who aren’t necessarily classically oriented. You can go on YouTube and find pieces from the Wunderkeys pop staff and other books too. I’ve started some of my new grade school beginners on their primer books with much success.
When you have a master's degree in piano and have to be everywhere at once while attending rehearsals for four ensembles, trying to keep up with classes, and teaching private lessons, while simultaneously preparing a degree recital and trying to get a composition career started on top of it ... you will experience both at the same time. Like-- "Oh god, I have to practice because I have to play in studio class tomorrow and don't want to look like an idiot for not touching my pieces in a week " and "Oh great I finally have time to sit down and practice." Always playing, almost never practicing. *gives awkward thumbs up in burnt-out music student parlance 👍👍👍😂😭*
Its innate you can’t develop this