Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum What does it mean - to be able to play piano?

What should person be able to do on piano to answer "Yes" when asked "So, you can play piano, wright?". Not all that stuff like "Well... I dont know... may be a couple of pieces" etc. Just firm "Yes".

That's a trick question - there is no right answer

When somebody asks me, I tell them I mostly practice piano

Coincidentally, MrsD raised this question too in her post of a few hours ago!

I say yes, playing piano is part of my Alzheimers prevention regime.

i think that is a great question, and have often pondered on this thought myself. I usually say, yea i play a little bit...lol though i play quite a bit in spurts


but i think it may seem the if you can play something means, you can play ANYTHING at will...that i cannot do, i practice...

however, i do have the ability to play after practice... so i can?

but its kind of similar to question to "can you play by ear", i have never seen people play classical or similar by ear, only pop or similar melody and chord based things arranged to their own liking.

Wow. Didn't see it.

"at what point can you answer "yes, I can" when asked if you play the piano? When you nail Twinkle Twinkle? When you can perform Moonlight Sonata flawlessly?"

I wouldn't make emphasis on exact pieces. I think we should consider variuos piano skills in general...

I guess you are trying to kill some time ?

Not interested in practicing, today ?

HAHA! , no one has asked "can you practice piano"

DMD , PianoStartsAt33 has an interesting thread.

It's strange, but this question came to me half an hour ago, right when I practiced "Bermuda triangle" piece from Duck Tales 2 game (NES)

PianoStartsAt33 :

"Can you practice piano" ?

if the answer is yes.

...

WOW (chuckles..LOL)

Me too.

#dementiaprevention

I've never understood this though. I guess I could understand if one were retired. But I don't believe either of you are retired. Why would learning piano be any better for dementia prevention than just having a job that requires a lot of thinking? (or maybe your jobs don't require much thinking... LOL)

To play the piano or any instrument is to understand the relationship between the keys and the sounds (music) that one imagines and to be able to use one's body to transfer those sounds through the instrument via this understating. Degree of complexity is irrelevant though they more one plays the easier it may become to create music through the instrument.

Simple - (s)he should be able to play something with both hands (assuming he/she isn't one-handed) with good coordination and rhythmic accuracy, whether or not he/she needs to use sheet music to play from.

Notice I didn't mention a recognizable melody or even a tune at all.

Totally off topic, but I've always wondered about the word "play" when applied to musical instruments. How did that word usage get started?

So I looked it up, at etymology online



So even the Old English used the verb for "make music".

Back on topic, I play piano...

Sam

An interesting question.
In my opinion, if there's one piece of music you can produce on the piano the way you want, then you can play the piano. Even if the piece is 4'33" by John Cage.

It's like with other skills, like chess. If you know the rules of the game, then you can play chess. Even if most of your opponents checkmate you in less than 10 moves.

A more tricky question would be: "How well can you play the piano?" (or chess, for that matter). This then becomes a matter of evaluation. I know that there are plenty of threads about it on PianoWorld.

Possible answers without formal evaluation could be:
Well enough for me.
Well enough to impress most people.
Well enough to enjoy it.
And many more...

"What does it mean to be able to play the piano?"

Do you think this question is too hard for me? Do you think that if I thought about it for a long time I would be able to answer it?

And for some, that's what's most important. A frequent question which pops up about once every week or two on Reddit's r/piano subreddit goes something like this (paraphrasing): "What is the piano piece which is easiest to play and yet sounds the most impressive to people who don't know anything about the piano?"

I tell people that because it's a response they aren't expecting

Benefits of playing an instrument on cognitive therapy are well documented. It introduces different areas of your brain than are used in employment.

Benefits of music on brain

NCBI overview on music and cognitive function

Our own DFSRN has written on the subject as well. The topic came up in our Pen Pal Thread which predated you're visit to the forum.