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Okay, PianoWorld members seem friendly, supportive and knowledgeable with well thought-out responses - except for a thread about Ludovico Einaudi.

This may seem like a humble brag, and perhaps it is partly, but I think my piano teacher is pushing me too far, too fast. My first lesson was at the beginning of Sept 20 and now she’s got me playing one of Grieg’s Lyric Pieces (waltz).

My question is should I worry about missing out on fundamentals or should I just go for it? She says I could splash about in the shallow end for longer but there’s little she can do for me down there. She is an ABRSM ex-examiner so I presume she knows what they talking about.

Full disclosure - I did take a couple of years lessons about 40 years ago until I failed Grade 2 and have subsequently played guitar, saxophone, ukulele and did some choral singing.

If my teacher is reading this - hi!

I don't have any advice for you about your specific question, but


I always love a good shout-out!

Actually, I do have a comment about your question. Given your musical background, and the fact that playing actual repertoire pieces is a great way to get fundamentals, I don't think she's pushing you too fast. If the pieces you're working on are so hard that it takes forever to get them playable and it's hard to maintain your motivation, then probably those pieces are too hard. But if you're moving along a pace that works for you, it's probably fine.

When I restarted piano I thought my teacher dropped me in the deep end by presenting pieces that took months to learn. If you can play this lyric piece from the music in say one month perhaps it is ok, anything very much longer and I would suggest it is too difficult.

If you can read music in both clefs, and all your fingers are working fine pianistically, you might be OK.

If you're still struggling after two or three weeks to play the notes slowly, tell your teacher you need to go back a few steps. (Grieg's Op.12/2 is ABRSM Grade 4 standard).

Teachers teaching adults - especially those who have had lessons as kids - often start them playing pieces at intermediate level quickly, probably because they might get bored otherwise. What other pieces have you learnt with her so far?

Thanks for replies - I’ve been playing this thing for a few weeks and I can get it together okay but the tempo is more adagio than presto. It sounds lovely at that speed - like a nocturne.

I do practice a lot (2-3 hours a day); but I think I’ll talk to her and tell her that at this point my goal is enjoying myself rather than progressing as fast as I can. I want to be a complete pianist rather than just be able to rattle off classical repertoire.

Once again, thanks.

Pieces must not be overwhelming for a good progress. They must seem difficult but doable.

A good teacher will instil the basics whatever material you're using. They apply to all music from the simple to the advanced so if you're missing them your teacher can find the holes and fill them in.

Only if you're self-teaching will you need to include the most elementary material to avoid overwhelming yourself - and even then you may not notice the lack of fundamentals yourself because you don't know what they are or know how to get them. Josh Wright, for example, lists the right notes, rhythm, articulation, voicing and dynamics with appropriate pedalling, rubato and tempo. How you acquire these depends a lot on correct posture and ergonomic motion. The best we can do as autodidacts is to avoid wrong notes, rhythm, etc, and inappropriate pedalling, rubato and tempo.

Not a piano teacher by any means so take this with a grain of salt. Your experience is similar to mine, you have a lot of musical background, just not on piano. I’m also learning most of my fundamentals from repertoire and have been pretty much since I started (with scales and some hanon type etudes.) I’m quite pleased with my progress 4 years later

Assuming you’re playing Opus 12 No 2, I think it’s actually a reasonable piece at your level. Your musical background should make the rhythms no problem, so the triplets probably aren’t as hard as if you didn’t have that background. It’s mostly 2 note block chords and introduces some small jumps in the left hand. There isnt really any unusual fingering and it has some interesting dynamics to learn how to play. And she’s having you take it very slowly, which is appropriate. Seems very appropriate to me and is similar in nature to some of the earlier pieces I played.

I do have some music background. In my school days I got into playing violin. I learned to read the treble clef reasonably well. Back in those days I had limited exposure to piano and never thought I have enough hand coordination to get into it.

Fast forward 3 decades I decided to take up piano as an adult. In the beginning, I can read through pieces with a treble clef on the top & bottom lines. Being proficient reading the bass clef took a while. I never regret all the hours of practice I put into learning my pieces on my own. The teacher came later.

Now I have a balance between playing exercise pieces for learning techniques including Hanon & Czerny Etudes, easy arrangement of Classical & Jazz pieces. After a holiday break in December, I'll be connecting with the teacher through Zoom again until the middle of the year at least.