Lockdown Piano Lessons
Discussion
I used to play the piano, and I was pretty good. Grade 6 or 7, and grade 3 or 4 Musicianship by the time I was 10 years old. But then I stopped, and today (40 years later), I can't even read music any more.
I have an electric keyboard though, a pretty decent one, and I've often thought that, like riding a bike, it might come back to me fairly quickly, but I've never bothered to do much about it.
So what do you recommend for online lessons or resources now that I've got so much spare time? I probably need to start at the bottom, but hopefully will progress quite fast, so I'm maybe looking for something that I can accelerare through as I get back into it.
I have an electric keyboard though, a pretty decent one, and I've often thought that, like riding a bike, it might come back to me fairly quickly, but I've never bothered to do much about it.
So what do you recommend for online lessons or resources now that I've got so much spare time? I probably need to start at the bottom, but hopefully will progress quite fast, so I'm maybe looking for something that I can accelerare through as I get back into it.
Lots of us teachers are offering online lessons using zoom/Skype/FaceTime/WhatsApp.
Not as effective as 1-1 tuition in general, but certainly better than no lessons or learning from YouTube videos etc.
Try musicteachers.co.uk to find one local to you. Maybe start online then go to real lessons once this chaos is over...
Not as effective as 1-1 tuition in general, but certainly better than no lessons or learning from YouTube videos etc.
Try musicteachers.co.uk to find one local to you. Maybe start online then go to real lessons once this chaos is over...
I started again just over a year ago, 40 years after my last piano lesson but I only reached grade 3. I did grade 8 flute so right hand music was OK but took a while to get the left hands notes into my head again.
Finger placing was also a problem but is less so now.
I re-started on hymns (!) but my lockdown pieces are I Giorni and a tricky piece by Philip Glass.
I think what I am saying is that you'll find it's mostly there on your internal hard drive but the mechanics will take a bit of time to get going. I'm rather enjoying playing again.
Finger placing was also a problem but is less so now.
I re-started on hymns (!) but my lockdown pieces are I Giorni and a tricky piece by Philip Glass.
I think what I am saying is that you'll find it's mostly there on your internal hard drive but the mechanics will take a bit of time to get going. I'm rather enjoying playing again.
Doofus said:
I know that makes sense, but I was hoping for something a little more solitary, initially, until I can find out if I still have any talent 
Haha. Maybe have a few proper lessons online to begin with, just so someone can point you in the right direction and point out any bad habits you may have developed!thebraketester said:
If you got to grade 7 then I would be amazed if you don't pick it up fairly quickly. Do you have books or are you after recommendations? My wife teaches Piano so I can ask her.
I have a couple of books of music, but nothing about how to play, because I got that from my teacher when I was young.lockhart flawse said:
I started again just over a year ago, 40 years after my last piano lesson but I only reached grade 3. I did grade 8 flute so right hand music was OK but took a while to get the left hands notes into my head again.
Finger placing was also a problem but is less so now.
I re-started on hymns (!) but my lockdown pieces are I Giorni and a tricky piece by Philip Glass.
I think what I am saying is that you'll find it's mostly there on your internal hard drive but the mechanics will take a bit of time to get going. I'm rather enjoying playing again.
Good to know, and I'm hoping it comes back quite quickly. We'll see....Finger placing was also a problem but is less so now.
I re-started on hymns (!) but my lockdown pieces are I Giorni and a tricky piece by Philip Glass.
I think what I am saying is that you'll find it's mostly there on your internal hard drive but the mechanics will take a bit of time to get going. I'm rather enjoying playing again.
Doofus said:
thebraketester said:
If you got to grade 7 then I would be amazed if you don't pick it up fairly quickly. Do you have books or are you after recommendations? My wife teaches Piano so I can ask her.
I have a couple of books of music, but nothing about how to play, because I got that from my teacher when I was young.and these... https://shop.abrsm.org/shop/powersearch/powersearc...
thebraketester said:
My wife recommends Michael Aaron books....
and these... https://shop.abrsm.org/shop/powersearch/powersearc...
and these... https://shop.abrsm.org/shop/powersearch/powersearc...
Any tips for larger piano music books with a high volume of easyish pieces?
When I was learning classical guitar, I had a ring bounded 'fake book' with 400 pages containing pretty much every short piece of guitar music an intermediate student would ever need. I'm struggling to find something similar for piano.
My sight reading is about grade 4 and my technique is about grade 2.
Modern books seem to contain about a dozen pieces. I understand learning fewer pieces more deeply is the correct path. But I am looking for a large single volume, i can open at random to stumble through a dozen or so unique pieces every time, to probably bed in my bad technique. Perhaps this is more of a guitar thing?
When I was learning classical guitar, I had a ring bounded 'fake book' with 400 pages containing pretty much every short piece of guitar music an intermediate student would ever need. I'm struggling to find something similar for piano.
My sight reading is about grade 4 and my technique is about grade 2.
Modern books seem to contain about a dozen pieces. I understand learning fewer pieces more deeply is the correct path. But I am looking for a large single volume, i can open at random to stumble through a dozen or so unique pieces every time, to probably bed in my bad technique. Perhaps this is more of a guitar thing?
Hoofy said:
Perfect, thanks a lot.Gassing Station | Music | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff