Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum While I wait for my piano: Things I should probably do?

I have zero experience in music (kind of). My wife is way better off than I am starting off, lol. She still remembers all of the comprehensive parts of music I have long forgotten about. I did play Alto Saxophone in Junior High (was even first chair the entire time!). I'm 34 now, but I don't even know how to read music anymore. I do have rhythm, and have been told many a time I have "good rhythm". Other than that, I am realizing I probably need to get some things down that don't require playing the instrument to make things a little easier and not so "all over the place".

Here is some things I am thinking about out loud:

• Should I at least learn how to understand sheet music again?
• Learning the keys and note locations?
• Piano, and general music terminology? I'm sure that's something I could do.
• Music Theory? (Is that even a thing?)
• Anything else I am missing?

Some random inspirations to aim for in time (not anytime soon, obviously):

• I love Chopin, and really wish to one day play his crazy madman etudes (will probably die before that happens! Bring it on! :D)

All insults and advice is welcome, lol jk. I'm a good sport, I can take it. Thanks. <3

Are you planning to take lessons or learn by yourself? If the first option, a good teacher will lead you on the right path. If the second option, I suggest using one of the method books for adult beginners or possibly an online course for beginners. I can't suggest specific ones but if you start a new post here or on the teacher's forum, I'm sure you'll get many suggestions. Good luck!

Yeah I got some books queued up on the old Amazon account. I have been thinking about a teacher, because I absolutely need fundamentals for anything I do. I'm like one of those nerds who can't sleep at night if I don't have fundamentals. My wife actually knows several teachers who she has suggested I check out. Thanks for the ideas! I did get a Udemy "Pianoforall" class. It was like $10 on a black Friday sale. It seemed to have good Google hits and reviews. Being a Network Cloud Technician, I should be less lazy than to trust Google now-a-days. I'm sure since I don't have much to build from anyway, it probably doesn't hurt to grab some popular "trends" in learning to try out. I'm sure I could find some good YouTube material to binge.

U17
The internet can be a wonderful resource or a repository of junk
A few reputable piano tutorial sites

Piano tv
John mortensen

You might be surprised how much knowledge is still there. I played elementary/middle school flute in 1965-1968. Reading the treble clef & basic notation all came back right away. It was shocking, considering how remembering new things so quickly fades away now that I'm nearing 66 years old. Also, I played guitar from 1966-1973; I can still mentally hear chords & remember fingering, so can figure what I need to play.

To gain note reading speed & to learn bass clef, I found a $5 app very useful: Complete Note Trainer from Google play. You can either use its virtual keyboard to pick out notes as they scroll along the screen, or because the app hears notes, you can use it with your keyboard (it also connects via USB midi). It's a good exercise for spare moments. It helped a lot.

Oh yeah, I forgot about John Mortensen! Thanks man! I'm bookmarking these right now.

I agree with No Expectations. If you don't have experience with the bass clef, that's one thing you can learn now. Also, refresh your knowledge of the treble clef, but again, I agree with No Expectations that if you played sax as a kid, it will come back to you very quickly and very well. That's what happened to me.

BTW, I also played sax as a kid and started to play it again last year before the pandemic. I play the piano too, of course.

I think you listed out a few great places to focus on. You could incorporate rhythm while you learn how to sight-read through rhythm clap and that sort of stuff.

You can always find apps on your phone that will teach you the notes and getting faster and faster at recognising notes, intervals will translate to your playing as well.

Lastly, you could learn theory from books/youtube videos and maybe improve your understanding of the different genres Hope you will have fun and you'll get to rock them Chopin etudes in no time

Vacuum the house.
Clean the bathroom.

Once the piano is delivered you'll want to be playing.

I second the piano tv suggestion. That’s probably been my favorite.

Never heard of John Mortensen I’ll have to check that one out.

I suggest you to consider 1st option as prioritized option because we can progress quicker and easier with a GOOD teacher. Some piano players are very talented and can play very well just from lesson on Youtube but not my case. I am a late re-starter (I stopped practicing ~30 years), I practiced by myself during first 4 years and found out I created unpleasant sounds. I had decided to have a teacher and he recognized some of my technics are wrong and take so much time to fix them. However, studying music method ahead as advices from other members as above is also helpful to your practice anyway.

Ha ha ha....You have no idea how funny that is. I was just telling my wife last night about this exact thing, then I come online to read this. Lmao....... sometimes man, you just gotta clean and do those other reality tasks that aren't going away. Good stuff! Best advice ever!

A good jumping off point would be reading about correct posture, positioning and technique to be conscious of before even touching the keys. This prevents bad technique that can hamper your advancement and cause potential injury. Sounds incredibly boring but is important and, once learned, will become second nature for your movements.

Definitely not boring for me. This is super important, because even when playing the saxophone years ago my teacher was a stickler on posture. It's pretty fundamental in making sure you don't hurt yourself with long periods of playing. Thanks for bringing that up.

A good read that I skim over from time-to-time but helped bring these things to awareness is "What Every Pianist Needs to Know About the Body" by Thomas Mark. It doesn't teach you a specific technique but helps you understand the anatomy and correct movements that should be employed.

While we are on the subject of anatomy, I'm not exactly the most dexterous person. I can tell you right now, that I will be a heavy handed individual. Along with posture and discipline, should I be exercising my hands or get some stretching tools to loosen up? I'm probably going to be a lunk at first. I probably need to think about this anyway, because I am a computer person by nature. This may even help me type faster!

Please do NOT use stretching tools- not only is it unnecessary but you risk injury
No special hand exercises are need

1000x this!!

I injured myself years ago using a 'Powerball' device whilst learning violin. It has caused me intermittent tendonitis and RSI in both forearms for which I'm only just beginning to properly rehabilitate from so I can actually enjoy my piano. The body doesn't need additional stretching or strengthening tools as playing the piano correctly doesn't require additional strain or force ouside the limits of the body's natural capability, just correct application of technique.

Normal stretching and warming up before sitting at the piano is always a good idea but only needs to be light enough to free any tension, not to strain any muscles or tendons.

Dexterity and correct use of force comes with practice, nothing more.

Got it. Thanks for the words wisdom!

You can always get a jump on practicing rhythms with clapping and tapping, etc.