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Hi All,

I've been coming to this forum for over a year now and it's taken this long for me to work up the nerve to ask about this subject.

a little background on the case:

I taught myself the treble cleff at about the age of 19, from there I taught myself the common "fake Book" chords so that I could play pop music (I've never mastered the rolled-two hand chord method though). I was a budding singer-songwriter in my 20's, but like alot of other people ended up on the "rock and Roll" heartbreak highway. LOL (just think a guy I admire and met named Corey Hart is on it too now) sad.... To be honest, a person's musical talent is less than half of what makes them a rock celeb. I'm a shy sometimes wallflower person and I also lacked the "stab 'em in the back" attitude that is a large part of the rock music industry. Enough of that garbage already... I still write, sometimes record, and sing though.

I also had to give up the piano at that time (after about 20 offical lessons from one of my best musical/personal friends, we never got beyond what I had taught myself, except a few time sigs.), because my parents constantly complained (mainly my mother) about the noise it was causing. I switched to guitar and beyond playing chords I do not have a knack for it. I use it to sing (write songs) with, but the piano I enjoy in an all around manner, esp classical that doesn't need a vocal. Of course now I have my hown house and lived in "Keep the noise down" apartments before that.

My interest in piano is about 75% classical music now, but jazz, blues & pop too. I saw the movie "Immortal Beloved" and that was all it took. Also studying the "Romantic period" in college made me curious about classical music.

I do not own a piano now, but I'm getting a Charles walter studio soon (next couple of months). I had to give my Radio Shack keyboard up, because, it was teaching me a few bad habits. The action and key size are just all wrong compared to a "real" piano. It served it's purpose well until it started to lead me in the wrong direction. I taught myself to read the bass cleff on it (I'm still slow at certain notes though not in the staff), so that right there is a great thing to me.

Now I am at a fork in the road. The road is open for me finally concerning the piano. Lessons or method books is the big question for me now. What does everyone here think???? I need some musical advice and I can't think of a better place to ask about it. This is the nicest group of any piano message board that I know of.


Thanks for reading,


Freddie


p.s.; Last year a guy was playing piano on tv and my mother looked at me and said out of the blue "I'm Sorry for complaining about your playing the piano constantly, it was horrible of me". I accepted it and that was what I needed to hear to heal at least one of my musical scars.

i think the most important thing you can do is get a teacher! and get a good one too! my first teacher was just a neigborhood 'from church' type teacher, and when i got better teachers my interest in the music and my ability skyrocketed. check out the universities in your area...the piano majors always teach and they can get advice too from their big shot teachers for particular problems if need be...that's one good place to start looking.

[ January 04, 2002: Message edited by: Rodion ]

I've had good luck with teachers. A good teacher can be very inspiring and give you an idea of how you can develop yourself far beyond what you think yourself capable of. A teacher also can be very good at recognizing and correcting bad habits that might otherwise creep into your playing and take years to undo. Last, but not least, the discipline of having to shell out $50 to $100 per lesson gives me a short term goal to take seriously.

I would say definatly get a teacher! It will take you a while to be able to play some classical music but if you really work at it, it won't be too long. Good Luck and keep us posted!

Hi to everyone,

I know how you feel AK, your not alone in that by a long shot. I believe music changes a person's life, but maybe I'm wrong about that. It seems to me that most people who play the piano have a more positive outlook on life in general. Boy, the piano is best stress buster ever invented!!!!! I'm convinced that playing the piano contributes to a person/child being smarter than if he or she never played. It's hard to convince a non-musician on that issue(like my parents for example,) but we know differently, don't we Pianist Corner members?!!!

Freddie