Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum The best thing I've learned on Piano World....

I learned about Hutchins & Rea sheet music store in Atlanta: What a wonderful resource! IMSLP is more comprehensive, and free, but one has to use copies from the printer.

Also, I discovered the value of coming in physical contact with the keyboard every day, even if I am not able to take it much further than that (on a given day).

I am pondering the wisdom of not beginning at the beginning of a piece when I practice (though I am not fully certain/convinced why this should be so).

There are more things that I realize I learned here as I go along. Much of the time, I use headphones when playing my Roland V-Grand Digital Piano (DP), since I live in a condo. I have a couple of models that I have tweaked for this purpose and they sound just fine. From time to time, I will use the speaker system during the day. On the V-Grand, it is a powerful system, with 4 60 watt amplifiers and several speakers in a multi-channel arrangement.

A couple of people have mentioned that when practicing on a DP, we should turn the volume up high to approach the dynamics of an acoustic piano, otherwise, we end up learning to pound on the keys instead of finessing them to get the sound we want.

Much of the time when practicing with headphones, I keep the sound turned down, which clearly I should not be doing. I find that when I use the speaker system, I can clearly tell that I am playing the keys too hard, and then I have to turn the volume way up so I can play more softly to get a decent sound and have "headroom" for dynamics.

There are all manner of tips in these forums that can slip by us at the time we read them, but recall when we are looking for a solution to a particular situation we find ourselves in. This is one of those cases. I wonder how many people, when trying out DPs looking to purchase, remember to do this. The sound is much better when we do, as is the dynamic response of the DP, especially on a truly high end instrument such as the V-Grand or V-Piano and the newer line of Roland consumer-market instruments.

Tony

The main thing so far is that my experience is pretty normal. I'm not learning at a very fast rate but I'm progressing. When I'm encountering things that I find difficult this place has taught me that I'm not the first to find those things and I won't be the last.

With perseverance, studious attention and some experimentation, you can find a way through.

For me...it has been the help and advice I have been given by the wonderful folks here on the forum.
Although I am a complete beginner ( age 52 ) with no prior musical knowledge, everyone has treated my ( probably heard a zillion times before )questions with respect and patience.

Thank you all.

David

When I was little, my music teacher taught me the best thing in music; that is learning by ear all the scales, arpeggios, and chords. I thought it was boring and worthless until one day when it suddenly clicks. They make playing music so much easier.

I've only been on the forums for about a month, but have learned a TON:
- that I love geeking out with fellow pianists!
- great advice regarding my purchase of a digital piano (settled on a Roland HP605 - LOVE it)
- that there exist amateur competitions for adults
- that I'm actually excited to give those a shot someday (!!)
- that we have our own quarterly recitals here!
- that in order to be able to play pain-free (long-standing tendinitis injury) I need to re-train with a good teacher
- that this may take a long time, and I need to focus on pain-free playing rather than any other goal right now
- that others here have traveled the same path and can now play without issues
- that there are tons of resources, and folks are happy to help
- that Opus numbers are quite arbitrary
- that everyone at times struggles with motivation (and that reading the forums actually increases my motivation!)
- that there are many ways to learn longer pieces and difficult passages, not just from the beginning, hands separately and slowly - you can also dive into the middle of the piece and work on the most challenging passages first, then reward yourself with the easier ones in between; and you can break challenging passages into tiny pieces each of which is easier and then connect them
- that Mozart isn't "easy" (as I had thought for years), but requires a "cleanliness" and consistency of playing that's actually quite challenging
- and, my favorite one so far (with thanks to Tubbie0075) - that the key to playing Chopin is to always keep the tension going, whether that means slowing down or speeding up, louder or softer; what a PERFECT way to look at it!

So excited to continue my journey here with you all!

For me, as an adult self taught beginner reading lots of posts, the best advice was don't be that affraid of pieces, just be patient and practice a lot!

I learned that nobody on the Piano World forum would ever tell me that I won't make it to become a pianist, although my progress is a total flop. And if I purchase an acoustic piano and upload a photo of it then I will be told how beautiful it looks, although it is just the same black polished wooden box like any other piano is.

In other words, I learned that even fools like me are respectfully treated and this forum is thus the one very best forum in all the Internet. THANK YOU, ALL OF YOU!

I learned that I have a long way to go to become any kind of player.... but I also learned to appreciate the dedication and work others put into it.

That I'm not the only one struggling with [fill in the blank].

I've learned a lot. Number 1 most helpful is about learning s l o w l y and carefully with zero mistakes so that you don't practice them in. This improved my playing immensely. It can't be overstated how much of an impact that made.

Second was how the ignore function works.

I've learned that I'm not the only senior out there re-starting piano after many years of not playing. Since I started as an adult some 40 years ago, I'm also not the only person who never took lessons or played as a child. It has helped me to not feel so alone in my undertakings and has given me the courage to continue. All the practice tips have also been great, especially the slow practice and breaking things down into small segments. I love Piano World.

The most important thing I have learned here is that there is a great book called Fundamental Keys. Which learned me the proper way to learn pieces (slowly and in parts) and how important articulation etc. are to let the music come alive. And which gives me perfect graded classical pieces to practice.

Oh, and one thing I actually learned on this forum is that it is (somehow) okay to make (little) mistakes (as long as you keep the piece going in style) or alter a piece if you can't play it physically. I always thought piano plagers were perfect...

Blanking out randomly - A great thread and the answers on how to recover from a bad note are extremely interesting and works for me.

Patience and the fact that I'm not struggling alone.

The best thing so far , but among many is this.
1. Don’t compare yourself to others unless you can learn something from doing so,
And
Take an easier lesson piece and learn that well (if you're stumped)
and
Take challenges in measures, however long they take to master.

mistaken post....

People get into playing piano / keyboard for all sorts of reasons including reducing stress and maintaining a sharp mind into old age (to prevent Dementia).

Visitors include the absolute beginners to the advanced. Some are just learning the instrument while others perform regularly.

How to care for my piano with regards to temperature and humidity
There are very good brands other than Steinway
What the other two pedals do
I have been introduced to new music

Thank you for sharing your experience, really practice makes us better in the ones we love the most