Piano Lesson: Why Do You Want To Grow As A Pianist?
1. Why do you want to grow as a pianist?
My youngest daughter don't like when I say that she is five
years old. She replies that she is five years and a half.
Children want to grow up even if we sometimes like them to
remain the little cute beings that we are used to lift up and
kiss and mess around with.
I guess this also is true with pianists like you and me. The act
of learning new things on the piano, new chords, new melodies,
new scales and other things is similar to the feeling of being
alive.
2. How can you grow as a pianist?
It is important to have something to improve upon in your piano
playing. An old person to me is someone who doesn't want to
learn things anymore. To have this feeling inside that you are
growing as a pianist and improving you must find ways to
concentrate on a few things at a time and find inspiration to
practice everyday or at least nearly everyday.
But how can you accomplish that? Let me show you a way.
3. What can help you grow as a pianist?
As a young boy I learned classical piano playing with the help
of a private piano teacher. She was an old lady, at least I
thought so at the time, always opening the door with a smile and
treating me like a king.
One thing I remember most was when she played the piano music I
was supposed to have as homework for the week. When she played
the piece of music her fingers seemed to sing and she gave me
the feeling through her playing that the most joyous thing I
could do during the coming week was to learn that piece of music.
Nevertheless I remember that I sometimes didn't practice enough
during the week and walked the stairs of stone up to her
apartment with heavy steps and a bad conscience knowing that I
could have done better. Nevertheless my piano teacher smiled at
me and was kind to me as always. Sometimes she gave me the
homework for one more week but she never yelled at me for not
having done my homework. My bad conscience did that job instead.
The lesson learned from this experience is that a good piano
teacher can help you grow as a pianist by giving you
inspiration, giving you homework according to your level of
accomplishment and giving you a deadline thereby creating
momentum to start working. If you can't afford a piano teacher
you can give yourself a decent homework and set a goal to master
this homework a week later or set another deadline.
4. What my piano teacher teaches you about practicing on the
piano
Practice everyday. Or practice the art of playing piano
everyday. Even if you don't play much try to play anyway so you
don't get away from the habit of growing as a pianist.
Try to make it a joyful occasion when you practice your homework
on your piano. It will help you anticipate your practice
sessions and make it easier for you to maintain your decision to
play everyday.
If you feel positive when you practice a piece of piano music
you will experience that this feeling will be evoked when you
play this piece of music at other occasions.
I guess my piano teacher liked to play the piano and my positive
feelings when she played for me was probably a result of her own
enjoyment as she played the piano.