Hi everyone, Okay, when you leave and go on vacation for a few weeks, and you will not be able to be near a piano, what do you do?? The person who teaches me seems to feel I should make those lessons up and get a portable keyboard to practice on....

I'd really much rather not have to worry about it because I'll be on vacation, out of state, with family I havent' seen in a very long time...

it's not been a problem in the past because i've only taken a few days here and there and it just worked out well, because I was able to catch up the lessons...but this is different...

anyone got any advice? am I being unreasonable? I know it's hard for the teacher to lose two weeks of pay, but I don't know what to do...

My teacher recommends moving your fingers in the air while looking at your or thinking about your music. She says this can help you play your pieces better. It sounds strange, but I'm going to try it in Hawaii in September. She recomends that one use very large finger movements.

Although I don't take lessons, I was away from home for 1 week and I decided to take a break. That means not bringing along my sheet music to visually practise.
When I got back I felt refreshed and it did some good to actually not play. But mentally I was going through the pieces but without the sheets.

Peter

Play wathever your working on in your head once in a while, visualise reading the score and your fingers hiting the keys.
But i would not worry to much about that, to me taking a break, even if just for a day or two, makes me play even better.

Remember, even tough you will not phisicaly play, your brain will still be learning the pieces and will be building sinaptic links that reinforce your memory of them. And the best thing you can do to help is to relax, after all it is your vacation!

Whenever I go on vacation, I manage to track down two very important components of my life......a gym for daily workouts, and a piano. When I was in England in 2001, I went to the Steinway Hall in London and paid for a practice room for several hours. I was on vacation the year before in the Caribbean, and mentioned to the Resort manager that the only thing that could make my experience there even more perfect was to have a piano to play. An hour later she came to get me to tell me that the owner of the resort, who was a very wealthy surgeon living on an adjacent island, would be honored to have me come to his home to play his piano. They arranged for the ferry and taxi to get me there. I played for his family and had lunch with them afterward. It was really a case of going above and beyond to accommodate your guests. You can take the time off, or you can get creative and find a college music department or dealer that will let you play for a while. It's totally up to what you feel your needs are.
Dan

Hi Jann,

For me, not being able to play the piano for "a few weeks" would be sheer torture. I am getting the impression, though, that it would not be such for you, and that, in fact, you might even be looking forward to taking a break and enjoying time with family.

If that is the case, you should enjoy your vacation without guilt. When you come back, you'll probably be a little rusty the first couple of days, but it will soon come back to you.

If you genuinely want to practice while you're gone, however, there are other options besides buying a digital. You could call piano dealers in the area and see if they have a practice room you could rent, or a digital keyboard you could rent. You could call around some churches and see if they would let you play a few times in exchange for a donation. Perhaps some friend of your family has a piano they wouldn't mind if you came over and play. There are options.

As for your teacher, you may need to ask about her policy. Many teachers, with good justification, expect to be paid whether or not the student shows up. You're paying for the time slot, in other words. There have been several threads about this over in the piano teacher forum.

i wouldn't worry about lessons if i were on vacation. everyone would take vacation sometimes, and a teacher takes vacations too. if your vacation just last a few days, then you can just take a break from piano and it might do you some good; otherwise, taking a keyboard with you would be fine for occassional practicing. but don't make it a burden on you or you feel obligated to play it for your teacher. do it for yourself and enjoy yourself while you're away.

You're playing the piano for pleasure; feel free to take time off while you go on vacation. Taking time off can even sharpen your senses, and you may find when you come back that after warming up a bit you play better than you did when you left. A break gives you time to soak everything in, and it will only help to rejuvenate your interest.

thanks so much everyone! you've all given me something to think about. I guess I'd better work, work, work....until I go away for the two weeks, that is. *S* but I won't expect the teacher to go without pay...i'll just plan on paying for the time, since she obviously has that time slot planned for, and I know it's hard for her to have less income than she'd planned on.

I believe I would try and practice if I were going to be somewhere where they is a piano, but I know I won't be at all. I don't think though I'll fall too far behind. I've done pretty good at keeping up so far. thanks for the advice on playing music in my head, so to speak...visual work. I will do just that...

thanks again,