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I'm pretty sure you misunderstood Jytte. I believe Jytte's "unqualified" had a different definition than how you are interpreting "unqualified".

I believe she meant it with the definition of: "not modified, limited, or restricted in any way; without reservations: unqualified praise." Or she might have meant: "absolute; complete; out-and-out: an unqualified liar."

You've interpreted it with the definition of: "not qualified; not fit; lacking requisite qualifications: unqualified for the job."

Oh, geez, Sorry. I guess I should not use words that can be misunderstood.
Definition of 'unqualified comment': An unqualified statement is clear and unequivocal. As in with absolute certainty, not up for discussion. That's what I meant.

Now, please let's not hijack this thread with OT endless discussions.
This was not my intention, nor was it to offend anybody.


Dogperson, that's an excellent idea, why don't you start a new thread with your original comment here (or something) and we can all enjoy hearing from those who have succeeded this way. I'm sure many of us could learn from it.

I've been around PW long enough (far too long, some would say ) to know that some people (not just in ABF) have very odd ideas of what "self-teaching" means.

A virtuoso pianist who won a prize in the Tchaikovsky Competition claimed to be self-taught, yet on closer inspection (= interrogation), he was well taught from a very young age, then stopped lessons (i.e. "taught himself"), then a few years before the competition, hitched up with a Russian pedagogue. Yes.....he was self-taught all right.

Someone in PW who was self-taught won prizes as a child. How? Well, it turned out she had a teacher then (but 'self-taught' since then) but apparently learnt nothing from that teacher. So.....she was self-taught all right.

So, I suggest that anyone who is self-taught should never have had a teacher, any teacher, not even of any sort (not even virtual). A year's lessons at the age of four = "taught".....even if you learnt nothing from the teacher (obviously, otherwise you'd now be a self-taught concert pianist). Your mother "showing you" how to play the piano when you were a kid = "taught". Every little counts - especially when you were a child.

In case anyone thinks I'm harping on this for too long (obviously I am ), it's because I'm fed up of hearing stories of people claiming to be self-taught, yet as "adult beginners", never developed bad habits or tension, and remarkably, posted a video of themselves playing Ballade No.1 within one year of self-teaching........and giving every true adult beginner a completely false idea of what self-teaching can achieve. (Every single time, it turns out that this 'adult beginner' had several years of lessons as a child, but never learnt anything from his teacher.........of course).

Rant over - for now.

Ok guys, my apologies. English is not my first language. I'm glad it's been shared by someone. Also as I stated, I won't keep debating about this anymore, as I believe my idea is clear and there's no more to be added. I'm sure Ankee knows what I meant by now.

I meant "I'm glad my thought is been shared by someone".

Day 25
Streak: 25!

Oh wow, things have definitely blown up today! Thank you for all the contributions, read through all of them even if I can't reply to everyone.

I'm definitely not planning on staying self-taught, after exams are done I'll be starting classes. I won't do a 180 and just do scales while I'm not taught though. I don't mind doing my scales each day, but doing just scales would kill my enjoyment for the instrument.

Don't think any of my bad habits will be too hard to fix given that I haven't been playing for long enough.

There's no doubt I'll see a lot more improvement with a good teacher, self taught is currently a necessity rather than a choice

In the meantime, I'll keep trying to progress as much as possible, even if my playing is a far cry from perfect or even good, I'm seeing progress each day, and right now that's a huge motivator to fight the struggles I'm going through

Started "Why am I so Blue?" today, and got this as my best try -> https://youtu.be/2JRtEAIicWA

The song is actually growing on me even though I hated it at first. Still very shaky, and the last measure feels incredibly awkward soundwise.

Not done with the rest of the repertoire, but felt like playing something new.

Ok, since I haven't been able to deter you for now, I will give you the last hint. I hope you don't mind. In the last RH bar you start playing before the 1/4 rest is over. It's a good sign that it sounds awkward to you. Play it separately and adjust your counting. Do it slowly and I'm sure you will see where the mistake is.

Ankee
If you intend to keep going through new repertoire, you need to dig out the metronome, practice with it. Record yourself and play back while looking at the music. The rhythm needs to be correct. Maybe we are only seeing snapshots, but it appears you are moving to new repertoire too soon—- think about it 😊 and decide for yourself.

It's a good thing to keep on top of, and playing with a metronome (with a different tone on the first beat if you need) and reviewing your recordings with sheet music in hand are great exercises for fixing the problem. At the same time, it's also a perfectly normal and easy thing to do for a beginner when you're trying to just work out the notes and timing and the pieces sound very unfamiliar and have very little groove or rhythm to them. So yeah, imo it's not some massive red flag that is a sign you're heading down the wrong path and are doomed to failure or are even progressing too fast.

Once you get to some of the latter pieces where you do start to polish them a bit and they do start to sound like actual music you will start feeling the pulse and flow of the music much more and timing errors will become very obvious.

Just for a laugh... After all that was said here about posture, look at the posture of these 2 unforgettable great pianists... The forearm angle goes up rather than down! Everything is subjective and talent goes beyond any rule.
https://youtu.be/4uX-5HOx2Wc
https://youtu.be/eaRzAh1AMMo?t=2330

About progress.
When my teacher has made me play the same piece for three weeks before she gives me a pass - that is when I have made progress. I have learned something that was hard for me to learn.
Progress is not playing "far from good" but still moving on to the next piece.

Day 26
Streak: 26



Oh, definitely! I believe I wasn't very clear. I'll keep working on the pieces I enjoy and intend on keeping in my repertoire, even if I'm not very good at them yet, by continuously practicing them, even without a teacher, I'll get better

Should hopefully start classes in about 2 weeks.



Thank you for your advice! I'll have a closer look at it

I'll start practicing with a metronome and see where that takes me, my rhythm is definitely becoming an issue and I should be working to correct that.

Had a light session today with mostly just going through each of the songs in the current repertoire, have the worst of the exams today, so focus will be on that.

Day 27
Streak: 27

Played a bit with the metronome as suggested and oh man was that a huge difference. My rhythm was indeed all over the place and I just don't have the knowledge to judge it without external help, be it people or the metronome.

Set it to 90bpm and played until the rhythm felt like the natural way to play the song and rerecorded it.

Why so Blue -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd2uWSuZz1U

Don't think I can, in good conscience, practice without a metronome from here on out, at least while I'm learning the rhythm of a song, thank you so much for making me see that!

Have a good day everyone, back to studying for me!

I
Hello again. You're just twisting my arm...LOL
You keep making the same mistake on the last bar: you don't let the rest complete the beat, that is. I have the impression you're not counting. It feels a bit strange that you understand how to play sincopato, yet still make that basic mistake. Anyway, in the hope this will help you, if you look at the pic, try and play those notes instead of the rest. That will hopefully make you understand when you actually need to play the first note after the rest. And one more thing: judging by my ear and looking at your fingers on the keyboard, I think you're playing those last 2 notes in the red square 1 tone lower.
[img]https://www.screencast.com/t/duLycsiKAL[/img]

Sorry, posting the image again as the red square now marks correctly the 2 notes I was speaking about.
[img]https://www.screencast.com/t/SAOmmcIeZHG[/img]

Oh. That actually explains a ton. My version of the song is slightly different!

All in one version - https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/330818664943321090/639175976227438623/IMG_20191030_185605.jpg

As you can see, those two notes are absent from this version, which is a tad weird. I was indeed playing the chords one tone lower though, I could've sworn I read them this way the first time and then just stuck to it haha. I'm sorry for the pain I must've caused, I can't blame you!

Corrected version with the right chords: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd2uWSuZz1U

I'm afraid you misunderstood my intent. My Alfred's book is the same as yours but I added those 2 notes to be played INSTEAD of the rest, so you will understand when the notes after the rest are supposed to come. In other words, those 2 notes highlighted in yellow (well, 4) that I added will fill the rest and help you with the count, so the next double note (F#-D#) will be played at the right time, rather than too early. I hope I made myself understood this time.
By the way, you posted the same youtube link as before

Hi Ankee,

Piling on to wouldloveto, you're still rushing the final measure!


Visual counting aid: https://imgur.com/RU96HfF
If you count it out:
one-and-two-and-three-and-four-and
You're starting the two eighth notes on the first 'and', whereas they should begin on 'two'!

Often times when these rhythms are tricky without a teacher it can be helpful to listen to an instructor version of the song to get in your ear how it's 'supposed' to sound:
Like here, for an example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkfwl5XiS8s

Good luck!

Ankee, I wanted to commend you for the dedication you have for this new instrument. I don’t think I’d have been able to balance this while preparing for my exams. Keep it up

It’s good that you are starting to work with the metronome. It’s a hateful little bugger, but necessary sometimes! I would also suggest you count, in case you aren't doing that. Only mentioning it because, I used to ignore this in my first month.

Haven’t compared your recording with the page in the book, but if you think there are some rhythm issues in the last measures, try working on just those measures with the metronome. Since you have already worked on the whole song, it doesn’t really matter imo, whether you chain those measures with the entire song. There are many songs in the book. Working on rhythm, counting, metronome etc., are ongoing things. And it gets better by and by. What I feel is important is to consciously and conscientiously work towards bettering it. Day after day.

The channel Lazarus linked above is very good, and often interprets the song in a more interesting manner (mostly related to pedalling) than what’s written. She always mentions the changes she makes in the description. There is another one called "TinyMozarts". This channel stays very true to the dynamics as written, and you can check this one also, if you need help in that aspect. Another channel called "Let’s play piano methods" has tutorials for all the songs in the book. At the end of his tutorials, he has a play-with-me section, where he plays the piece at a very slow tempo. I have to admit, I never tried this play-along thing, but there were other tips there, that I found useful.