Getting going again

Asry

Hi all I'm Asry. I've done 10 years of classical piano lessons, and was meant to do my Grade 8 with the RIAM in 6th year (2004) but didn't, because of the Leaving Cert and my piano teacher had to move back to the Netherlands.

I'm going to try and sit the exam in December. I've had the book for the years it's been valid, and this is the last one, so I really need to actually do it.

I don't feel I need a teacher, as such, just pointers maybe sometimes. I have a friend who's a piano teacher and she said she'd help me out.

But the thing is that I'm incrreeeeedibly rusty. I just feel I won't ever get the strength in my hands or my confidence back to play.

Do you think I'm biting off more than I can chew?

Advice/suggestions/comments welcome as always

The Mad Hatter

Asry wrote: »

Hi all I'm Asry. I've done 10 years of classical piano lessons, and was meant to do my Grade 8 with the RIAM in 6th year (2004) but didn't, because of the Leaving Cert and my piano teacher had to move back to the Netherlands.

I'm going to try and sit the exam in December. I've had the book for the years it's been valid, and this is the last one, so I really need to actually do it.

I don't feel I need a teacher, as such, just pointers maybe sometimes. I have a friend who's a piano teacher and she said she'd help me out.

But the thing is that I'm incrreeeeedibly rusty. I just feel I won't ever get the strength in my hands or my confidence back to play.

Do you think I'm biting off more than I can chew?

Advice/suggestions/comments welcome as always

Practice like crazy. Particularly your scales, which will build strength back up quickly. You'd want to be doing at least an hour of practice a day. Depending on how quick you learn and how well you read, you should have time to learn everything between now and November.

If you can get the pieces and scales under your fingers, then you should get through the exam, whether you can play them well or not, but you'll probably find that there's quite a few areas you can pick up in if you do manage to get to a few lessons. Also, get your hands on a sight-reading book and start practicing that now. A lot of students freak out about the sight-reading, so it's best to have loads of practice (and practice is the only way to learn sight-reading anyway).

Oh_Noes

You could go through the whole syllabi again starting from grade 3 or 4 and practice as if you're preparing for those exams again, give yourself a little mock exam or so every week until you're happy that you have them all well polished. It might feel like replicating the natural progression that you had already been on and build up a little bit of momentum for the grade 8 exam.

Asry

These are both really good ideas. I was hampering myself with Hanon and all kinds of dull exercises that made me not want to do it. I have the pieces half learned by this stage.

The sightreading's a good idea. I've been fairly trained up in it and have always been good at it, and it might make it more fun than just sitting doing stupid technical exercises all the time

Thanks guys! I'm just feeling kind of stuck out alone with no guidance, but the way my roster works at work, I wouldn't be able to schedule regular lessons even if I wanted to.

The Mad Hatter

Asry wrote: »

These are both really good ideas. I was hampering myself with Hanon and all kinds of dull exercises that made me not want to do it. I have the pieces half learned by this stage.

The sightreading's a good idea. I've been fairly trained up in it and have always been good at it, and it might make it more fun than just sitting doing stupid technical exercises all the time

Thanks guys! I'm just feeling kind of stuck out alone with no guidance, but the way my roster works at work, I wouldn't be able to schedule regular lessons even if I wanted to.

Hanon would drive anyone bonkers:)

And don't be so sure about your roster - a lot of piano teachers will be accommodating - especially in the Summer (hint, hint).

Asry

interesting, reaaaallllly? :rolleyes::DAnd how much would these kind, accomodating teachers be in the summertime?

And yes, Hanon drives me insane. It's just so BORING. But you do feel like a Serious Pianist when you're doing those stupid exercises...:cool:

Doshea3

Asry wrote: »

interesting, reaaaallllly? :rolleyes::DAnd how much would these kind, accomodating teachers be in the summertime?

And yes, Hanon drives me insane. It's just so BORING. But you do feel like a Serious Pianist when you're doing those stupid exercises...:cool:

If The Mad Hatter lives too far away from you I know another lovely accommodating piano teacher...hint hint! But seriously, even if you only have a couple of consultation lessons from a teacher (or even several teachers) it would be wise to get some hands-on advice about technique and interpretation before going in to do an exam, as a professional opinion is always useful. I'd say that even to my professional musician friends.

Hanon...I think it's only worth doing if you do something with it, like practise in rhythms or with finger staccato or something. Finger exercises that are purely motoric in nature are a waste of time in my opinion, as finger dexterity comes about through conscious mental effort, not merely physical exertion. (That's not to say such exercises aren't useful, but mindlessly hammering out Hanon exercises for an hour whilst watching the television will not do much to improve one's technique...in fact, it's probably a recipe for repetitive strain injury. Trust me on that one—I learned the hard way!)

I'd recommend any adult student work most of all on developing a solid technique, especially when returning to playing after several years. However, developing a solid technique is a lot more involved than merely exercising and 'strengthening' the fingers, which will only bring one's playing on to a certain degree. I'm a firm believer in economy of movement, for example, which is one of the foundations of my own piano technique and the one I try to impart to students. Also, I'm a bit obsessed with fingering, legato-playing and tone quality. Though everyone has to have their own peculiarities.

If you don't have much of a problem with reading, then it's certainly worth concentrating on technique in the music you are learning: think about it as problem solving, like trying to find the easiest, most comfortable and economical way to accomplish a particular technical problem, be it a left-hand leap, a run of right-hand semiquavers, a fortissimo chord, or whatever. Applying technical practice to real music as opposed to exercises is a good way to spend your time. I probably sound like I'm not a fan of technical exercises—quite the opposite in fact! Though as I said above they have specific uses, and should be viewed as a means to a technical end, and not the end in themselves.

Try Tankard's book 'Pianoforte Technique on an Hour a Day', which has a bit more variety than Hanon (though when Tankard says don't practise certain things more than ten minutes per day he means it—again, I found that out the hard way!). Pischna's technical exercises are also very good for independence of the fingers...they really require you to think about them as you play, which prevents them from becoming purely motoric.

I spent years searching in vain for a bible of piano technique: I thought at one stage it was Hanon, at another stage it was Pischna, or Czerny, or whatever, but then I realized that we all have different hands and different approaches to learning and so there is no all-encompassing method for developing one's technique. The best approach is to take the best bits of each different method you come across—both the things that make most sense to you and challenge you the most—and work on that basis. That's the approach I try to take teaching students at all levels.

That reply ended up rather longer than I expected. Phew!

If you need any specific advice feel free to contact me, and in the mean time, good luck!

Asry

Doshea3 wrote: »

I'd recommend any adult student work most of all on developing a solid technique, especially when returning to playing after several years. However, developing a solid technique is a lot more involved than merely exercising and 'strengthening' the fingers, which will only bring one's playing on to a certain degree. I'm a firm believer in economy of movement, for example, which is one of the foundations of my own piano technique and the one I try to impart to students. Also, I'm a bit obsessed with fingering, legato-playing and tone quality. Though everyone has to have their own peculiarities.

Thanks for the replies! And yes, I'm very anal about fingering, legato, proper phrases and tone. I have been going through various runs in one of the pieces which is by Mozart and I think that once you break a piece down, section by section, it's doable. Section B usually mirrors D or something like that anyway. Repeats, with runs in the middle like a little obstacle course.

We could have a group learning session. Like My Fair Lady except with the piano. And more than one Henry Higgins....yeah my simile has fallen over. I am tired after work and clearly can only think in terms of Absurdism....

evolving_doors

Oh_Noes wrote: »

You could go through the whole syllabi again starting from grade 3 or 4 and practice as if you're preparing for those exams again, give yourself a little mock exam or so every week until you're happy that you have them all well polished. It might feel like replicating the natural progression that you had already been on and build up a little bit of momentum for the grade 8 exam.

+1 on that

Definitely a good idea to take a step back a little and have a bit of fun with expression with 'easier' pieces rather than going for the 'technique' in harder pieces. Try and track down some of your old grade pieces also, it's interesting to see how you'd re-interpret them after all these years..

I'd say if you're going to go for technique don't be deceived into thinking this means 'speed' as trying to play difficult pieces fast if your out of practice can easily leed to a repetitive strain injury.

Also, find a composer that you like too as it's interesting to try different 'graded' pieces from the one composer,, This will help to build a repertoire and find out your own strengths and weaknesses.
pianostreet.com have loads of forum postings on difficulty levels for each composer, rather than just doing just the '3 grade' pieces every year.

Gluck

P.S. for contemporary piano works have a listen to Chilly Gonzales' 'Solo Piano' album,, sheet music is out for it too..

Asry

O I will I like Ludivco Einaudi, and have some of his sheetmusic. I have been playing some Satie (who I love) and Chopin (the easier Chopin, not the crazy manic hello sweet death to my ability to move my hands ever again Chopin).

I began charting my progress with videos on my blog, but stopped after one video, lol. I'm off tomorrow and Monday though so the house will be nice and quiet, so perhaps I shall pick up where I left off.

Aw man, you guys are so great. I felt so alone with nobody to talk to about this! Sort of without any point of reference. I mean, the exam itself isn't terribly important, it's more just of a reason to make myself play again. It's the playing that matters.