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Joined: Nov 2017
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Hi All, New to the forum so apologies if I misstep at all with this question, or there is a better place to ask it. I am completely and utterly new to the piano - and, lets be honest here, music in general. Have wanted to learn for a long time and am now in a position where I am able to find time and some finances to begin the journey. Currently I am in the process of looking for a teacher in the Northern Virginia/DC area willing to take on an adult, and alongside this sourcing an appropriate piano. My interests lie in the blues/jazz/rock/popular rather than the classical direction, but given I know nothing about "right" way to develop over time I'm very open to how this will play out. My question (finally ) is what things I can productively do to start learning before I have a piano on hand and/or a teacher. My hope is that there are some things it would be useful to learn as concepts and ideas that will help a complete novice get their head into the right space. Appreciate any suggestions or ideas sc
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Learning to read music. It’s very easy to practice and will help you get started. It’s not as hard as it seems and will be to your benefit. Piano, and music in general, requires patience. I had to learn that the hard way as I’m an impatient person. Congratulations on making the leap as you will find it rewarding. Best wishes,mb
Alesis Coda Pro PianoVideoLessons.com Currently unit 4 Faber All In One -Level 2 Grateful Dead fan since 1987
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Hi, I would suggest starting with a beginners music theory book. I like Alfred's Essentials of music theory. It will teach you the notes on the staffs and other great things to learn. Also I use music flash cards by Bastien to help me with the notes and key signatures. I wish you the best of luck on your journey.
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Hi and welcome! There are so many great teachers in our area, I’m sure you find one very soon! I suggest you do absolutely nothing before the lessons and let your teacher guide you from the very beginning.
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Hi and welcome! There are so many great teachers in our area, I’m sure you find one very soon! I suggest you do absolutely nothing before the lessons and let your teacher guide you from the very beginning. I could not agree more. Everything you do "ahead of time" will be unnecessary at best and possibly detrimental to your progress. Just relax. Find a teacher and let that teacher help you from there on.
Don
Kawai MP7SE, On Stage KS7350 keyboard stand, KRK Classic 5 powered monitors, SennHeiser HD 559 Headphones
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Welcome!! Along to start learning notes start asap with the idea of counting!! I started myself without a teacher and using Alfred's Essentials of music theory (very good book) but I was just putting notes together (when I was able) but without counting you miss the melody. It's like spelling a word rather than reading it.
Good luck!!
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Wait for the teacher to teach you. That will make it less things to undo and reteach. That includes fundamentals like what counting or reading might seem to be. That is always assuming that you will get a decent teacher.
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You may want to read this FAQ about digital pianos. Not sure if you plan to rent or purchase a piano or go digital or not but this FAQ has some good information. https://www.reddit.com/r/piano/wiki/faq#wiki_choosing_a_keyboard
First Lesson Oct. 17, 2017. Now working on Faber Piano Adventures 3B Lesson, T&A, Performance, Theory and Faber FunTime Ragtime & Marches. Kawai MP11SE. My Sound Cloud Piano recordings
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Takes a lot of discipline to get down to practicing every day or often enough during the week to be worthwhile.
Last year got myself into group lessons for adults at a local conservatory. These are weekly social activities. Some of the students would go out with others for coffee after class sort of thing. Private lessons can get rather boring when you are by yourself. I've found other adult keyboard courses through the local board of education. Instead of going through a repertoire book and preparing for conservatory exams, we learn to play easy songs such as an arrangement of "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong and "My Heart Will Go On" from the movie Titanic. Traditional lessons will get you into playing Bach Minuets like "Minuet in G" and Bach Inventions in the first 2 years if this is the route you wish to go.
Good luck...
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Many thanks all, appreciate the replies and very useful links. I'm not one who likes to go into things without advance preparation but I'll take the "Just relax" one as sound advice and see where we go Hopefully the teacher search will work out soon. Sounds like you've found it relatively easy here in DC PerAspera which is good. My research hasn't been very fruitful so far, but I suspect that is down to user error and not looking in the best places!
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Work on learning chords and scale of 3rds and find a lead sheet teacher, suggested.
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It’s never easy to find a teacher, too many things to consider including goals, compatibility, commute etc. It took me two tries but now I am set for the next 10 years I hope lol My goals are learning fundamentals I can build upon till the rest of my life, and that’s exactly what I am doing with my teacher, he’s the best. Have you checked out the music teachers Association website? Where in Nova are you?
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One of the ways to find a teacher:
. . . Contact local community colleges with a music department, . . . . and talk with their staff.
Lots of CC's have jazz/pop music programs. Lots of their teachers will give private lessons.
Those teachers are used to dealing with adults, rather than little kids.
PS (edit) -- the Reddit link, above, gives pretty good guidance on buying a digital piano, IMHO. There's lots of posts in the "Digital Pianos (etc)" forum, here, on "What DP should I buy for $X ?". But you should talk with your teacher, when you find one.
Last edited by Charles Cohen; 11/30/17 01:33 PM.
. Charles --------------------------- PX-350 / Roland Gaia / Pianoteq
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I retired and moved out of the DC area a number of years ago but I remember Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC) in Annandale have a pretty good piano program with emphasis in jazz. Also both Annandale and Alexandria campuses have excellent music teachers that you can take through NVCC or privately.
In addition to finding a good piano teacher, taking a basic music class through the community college is a good place to start and highly recomended. Good luck.
Rich
Retired at the beach Grotrian 192
Anton Rubinstein said about the piano: "You think it is one instrument? It is a hundred instruments!"
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Piano
by Gino2 - 04/17/24 02:34 PM
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Piano
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