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Actually .. using lead sheets isn't hard for me but basically most of the time I just use my ear..I've been playing 2 yrs(age 54)bought a couple of chord books..and taught myself..do I think it is "hard work" not really..but pop/jazz
standards wouldn't be..since thats what Scotts
method is all about..nonclassical..and no I don't have his course! if a someone wants to go the classical route..that's hard I'll grant that..
I'm 54..why would I play to begin with?..just because I enjoy it..
pure and simple..maybe I'll make it to cocktail pianist..which would be fine by me.." Hey buddy play Melancholy Baby " sure no problem.. Bob

I respectfully disagree. I can read music from having taken piano lessons sporadically, playing clarinet for about eight years, and drum lessons for probably around five years. I'm finding that my reliance on reading has actually trapped me. Playing by ear or with lead sheets lets you create. Here are some chords and a melody--make it your own. Embellish and improvise. I think this is a very productive and practical approach to playing popular music. In the case of playing by ear, reading skills are not required. In the case of lead sheets, the shorthand of chord symbols replaces the need for some reading, but it does help to be able to read the melody.

I'll agree that reading skills are essentially required to play classical music if you're trying to play it as originally written.

Mr. Joshua,
You've missed the point. All of the 'late starters' who have posted here ARE playing piano. They were playing from the moment they started! Walt

You raise a very good point Mark. I had equated sight reading with music theory, but I guess it is possible to have a solid music theory background but not be able to sight read (we guitar players are famous for this ).

Having a solid music theory knowledge will allow you to play freely, and improvise with the best of them. That is true.

Thanks

Mr. J

Hmm...what's the definition of Playing ? If my cats stands on the piano he's pressing the keys down and making sounds...is that playing ? Most people would say not...would the same be true for a person ?

I have had a cat that I believe willfully walked on the keyboard for the enjoyment of creating the sounds. While this might not be satisfying for you or me, I believe it was satisfying for the cat and I would consider the cat to have been playing piano.

Good old cat! Although mine sat on my piano stool and punctured the leather with one of his claws so I have respectfully ended his musical career.

Also, this playing thing is one thing that's puzzled me. I guess the only judge of what counts as 'playing' is based on individual opinion. But if someone is even just playing scales, then surely they are playing the piano.

I've only been learning a couple of years though and I will still always say "I'm learning the piano", not "I play the piano" because I don't feel worthy of that yet at all. Maybe it's because I'm worried someone might produce a piano and demand I play for them, which would lead me to run screaming into the night for want of any sheet music.

Sandy,
Thanks for sharing your MP3 clips. I only tried one so far 'Prelude in D flat by 'Gliene' I have never heard of that composer (I'm jazz man really)such beautiful music though and the melody exquisite.

Will listen to more as it's so inspiring.

Alan

Mr Joshua,

With great respect, I do not agree with your opinion. Age is a statistic not a limit to ability as a standard fact. Yes, joints can become stiff and reaction time (sometimes) slower. The finest thing in life is the ability to look forward to new challenges and always have a positive mind.

I have always had a young at heart syndrome and do not act my age and never tried to.

Of course we all have to recognise arthritus as a factor but diet can greatly help that and many pianists have played competently and professionally at high levels into their 90's.

I am only 78 and have had periods of lapse from the piano due to domestic and workload stress.
Not to mention amateur sports activity.

Since about 1995 I have been largely relieved from my business workload so have found more time to improve the piano playing. Not to say I ever stopped except for top priority tasks away from
leisure.

With more time at the piano I have found my playing ability increases pro-rata to the time spent practicing. For practice I mean playing and bettering my improvisations. I only play by ear and not the classics.

I have recently graduated from a rather tired Steinway Model A to a Bosendoerfer 170 as new!

That in itself has given me a whole new experience of what a top tier instrument can do to one's confidence and sheer pleasure.

Therefore, I would completely dismiss any factors of age in anything you do in life. Do not be age conscious as it will be a simple negative.

Someone wrote a book once called; "The Power of Positive Thinking". Someone in the States, yes?

Good luck to all that play the piano.

Alan

Alan: Norman Vincent Peale..Power of Positive Thinking... glad to hear your another "ear" man..I would like to learn a couple of classical things.. like Moonlight Sonata..wonder if there are easy chord sheets of some classical tunes.. Bob Newbie

Alan -

I think its fantastic to hear that you're playing the piano at 78, and keen on other sports as well. And I whole-heartedly agree that some pianists can perform into their 90's (how old was Horowitz when he passed ?).

Good luck, and keep up the piano...

Mr. J

Hi,

I am new to the forum and although in the UK I thought that I would throw in my two pennies worth! I started playing when I was 6 and HATED every single moment of it! Gave up soon after my tenth birthday after never taking a grade!

But fate wanted me to play, after getting engaged to a Pianist and all round fantastic musican I reluctantly agreed to start learning again.

My Fiance runs courses called the Malvern Hills Piano Holidays, we run a course every other fortnight. Stephen thought it was bad form for people to ask me "what grade are you" and for me to shrug shake my head and scuttle off. So originally my decision to start playing again was a buisness decision!

But I absolutley love it! I started learning in January and took my grade two in june, I passed with a good merit, this meant that when our summer school came around this year and someone mentioned what grade I was I could announce with pride that I was grade two! (the BBC even came to see us this year and filmed a peice called 'Piano a Love Affair' and I could be seen playing on national TV!)

Now I thought that at 24 I was a little too far past my childhood years to pick up the techniques again. But I was rubished publicly by one of our Pianoholiday makers who announced that he had decided to take up the piano at the age of 62!

He put it rater nicely,"I may never be able to enhance other peoples lives by my performance at the piano, but I sure as heck ain't going to stop! I am destined to be a person who died playing the piano"

So anyone who says you are too old then look to our Absolute beginners weekends (we had a recent participant who was starting at retirement as he now had the time to do it!)

So if any of you guys are ever in the UK come and see us in Worcester!

I am off to do some practice now!

Keep Playing

Pam

Yes, I am new too and used to get really embarassed when ppl asked my grade. I remember someone saying once "but isn't that a kids grade??" and I wanted to sink through the floor! Now I am a grade three and can say it with pride!

Hi everyone, this is my first post on the forum. I love the way that some of you sound so positive; if you are enjoying playing the piano, whatever others think, then good for you! I have to say I wish I could play by ear; well, I can a bit but not satisfactorily. I play classical piano and do my best to replicate what the original composer wanted - which takes hours for each bar sometimes. And I am never satisfied with the results; but I still enjoy trying.

There's room for all of us - classical perfectionists or more casual players full of joy for the sounds they make.

Love to all on a misty autumn day near London, UK, from Mary-Rose (learned from age 7-15; had no piano for 40 years; now trying to recapture previous abilities!!)

Welcome maryrose - the good news is playing the piano is like riding a bike.

The bad news is I can't ride a bike to save my life anymore.

When you are ready, please do post something and let us hear your progress.

Again, welcome

Hi,

I saw that program when it was recently shown!

I really enjoyed it, and I guess it's one of the reasons I recently joined these forums.

EJR

I'm a newbie.. sort of... started playing guitar at age 12 because we couldn't afford a piano at the time. Finally, at 53, I'm reacquainting myslef with piano (after 2 years of fiddle), and I could kick myself for not having done it years sooner!
We've had a lovely Samick digital piano in our den for years (in the hope our son would gravitate toward it, which never happened)and i decided it was time to stop treating it like a piece of furniture.
Better late than never i say!

I took piano as a kid, but gave up in jr. high. I was getting to the point where I could tell what the pieces were SUPPOSED to sound like, but I couldn't get my fingers to do it! My teachers all emphasized classical, playing from the score. I never learned how to play from a fake sheet, or how to improvise.

Later, in college, I took piano for my Fine Arts credit, but after graduating and moving from my parents' house, not having a piano meant that I couldn't practice and therefore my skills decayed to the point where I didn't LIKE to play any more.

In 1999 my Mother died and I inherited the family piano. I couldn't bear to sell it--Mother was an Eastman-trained musician, and the piano was so much how she expressed herself that it would have been like selling HER!--but it is stupid to have an instrument one cannot play, IMHO. Hence, I started taking lessons again and am loving it.

I'm a Freemason, and often provide the background music for lodge functions. I have also taken some organ lessons and am working my way up to helping at church.

To me, the piano is something that must always be learned, even for the most expert pianist in the world. He is so right. Most of it is just a plain old burning desire to play.
I began playing simple tunes by ear at a very young age. I took a few years of formal lessons where I became frustrated with canned musical theory. It wasn't until my mid thirties that I truely began to "learn" piano. One day when I was at a grocery store I picked up a classical music CD. Something in song #6 on the playlist stuck in my soul. Dubravka Tamsic's recording of Beethoven Piano Sonata No, 8 "Pathetique" was so masterful and perfect I could not get it out of my head. A purchased the sheet music and painstakingly trained myself to play one note - one measure at a time until I could play the notes from beginning to end. But there was so much more. What was Beethoven thinking when he wrote this? What was his frame of mind? What is my frame of mind when I play? What was it about the way Dubravka Tamsic performed the piece that captured me? Then I spend the rest of my life playing this piece trying to answer these questions. - And I'm loving every minute of it.