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Just wanted some advice as I am a beginner , I am seeing an improvement in my playing on simple pieces on left and right hand and getting more fluent and recognising the notes more easily , I have started a piece that is a bit more challenging for me such as notes starting together on both hands and notes going in opposite directions together , I found myself just staring at the music before my brain registered how to synchronise both hands and I was very slow and pausing but hitting the right notes once it had registered in my brain to my hands , I did think at one point will I ever be able to get this lol is this kind of a normal learning curve that will improve over time ? just wondered if any others beginners have been through this , its more my left hand than right as my right was further on having played keyboard for a few months so my right hand has a better perception of where it is and what to press more than my left

thanks mark

Yes, this is very normal.
Time seems to be the secret to everything with learning the piano. But we all look for instant results.
The increments of progress are so slow we often don't even notice them. Like how you don't notice your children growing when you see them each day.

Once a month or so, take a few moments to reflect where you were this time, 1 month / 6 months / 1 year ago.

thanks I don't mind it taking time one of the reasons I got into it is just a creative hobby with no time and result expectations , I know it will be difficult at times i just wanted to know if it was a normal learning curve which thankfully you say it is

mark

one of my main goals was having played percussion in a band many years ago and learned guitar was to learn to read music i have always admired/ envied people who can read music and i get a real buzz being able to begin to understand it i not fluent with reading music on both treble and bass cleff but i am getting there and can read c scale on bass and up to A on treble sometimes its quite fluent and other times i just look at the note on the music before it clicks more so the further away i go from middle c lol

mark

you are right about the progress , the book i learning from has got harder hence the reason i posted my struggles but i picked up another book i purchased a while ago that i realise now was slightly easier than the current one but when i got it seemed really difficult at that time i only progressed a third of the way before switching to my current one because the teaching method suited me better , when i looked at the first one this morning i was able to play a song pretty much straight off being the first time i had seen the song and it was right at the end of the book so i felt quite pleased about that lol

mark

Well done Mark,
It really helps to have little reminders like revisiting things you once found tough, just to measure how far you've come.
Like you, I would love to be able to sigh read fluently, and I put in lots of practice. At the moment I honestly feel I'm not improving at all though.
So I've put a note on my calendar one month from now to test how many notes a minute I can read.
Simple goals like this help keep me focussed and working towards a long term goal.

Mark. I go thru the same thing. I read a note about keeping a journal. For me it is a good idea. I can read back and see that I am advancing.

Every time I start a new piece I believe it will be the piece that is too hard for me to play. It hasn't happened yet (except for the current crop of new pieces), and it only happens less frequently now because I work on pieces for longer.

It's also a good idea to record yourself from time to time. I looked back at a video of myself playing a few months back and was shocked at my progress. It's very encouraging!

EXACTLY my feelings as well. And every time I am eventually able to play it well enough for my teacher to pass me on it. Some take a week, some take 3-4 weeks.

I think by this time I should know better.

I started 2 1/2 month ago and I feel the exactly same way.. but all the advice and great comments here always go back to "Time"

But I sure do enjoy instant gratification. Nevertheless, I'm enjoying the heck of out this and just taking my time.