Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Another stab at playing the piano...

Chalk me up as a charter member of the "if at first you don't succeed..." group. Like so many of us I first was exposed to the world of Piano as a child. My mother used a neighbor who was an ex-nun and ran a piano studio out of her basement. They found an old upright for free (common during the 1950's) and instead of putting it into the basement they put it at a friend's house down the street. Of course lessons then were BORING for an intellegent youngster... you can see where that went.

Some years later I, along with about 99% of the pre-adolescent male population, took up guitar... and for some strange reason I still play it.

A few years ago, I ran across Noah Adams' book "PIANO LESSONS" and that got me interested. I bought an electronic keyboard (a Kurzweil SP88) and started lessons with a local teacher who worked with adults. I did fairly well, worked my way through the first part of Claire de Lune, as well as several other pieces. But I always had trouble concentrating, and couldn't focus on the daily practice grind. So I quit trying and quit playing the piano.

One night recently I was talking with Connie (my wife) about my inability to focus and she thought it might be ADD... she has a son who was diagnosed with it and is quite familiar with the symptoms. I agreed that this might be the problem, so got a reference from a friend (who also was diagnosed with ADD) for his doctor and made an appointment for early March (this year). More on this later...

A couple of weeks ago Connie had to be downtown to take a test for a job, and since I had nothing else to do (I am currently unemployed...) I checked out the downtown library for any interesting books on piano technique (yes, I still want to get the rest of Claire de Lune into my fingers) and found a couple of interesting books, The 20-Minute Piano Workout (by Douglas Riva) and Pumping Ivory (by Robert Dumm). They looked interesting enough to buy and while I believe that both are currently out-of-print I was able to acquire both from Amazon. I started with the Workout book this morning and if I can keep up the interest (maybe a daily playing of a CD of Suite Bergamasque will provide the inspiration) it just might work.

Hi Bee Dee, the good news about piano is that you can work on it in smaller chunks if you find it hard to concentrate for long stretches.

Hope it works for you this time around! Hang in there, and keep practicing.

Hi Bill--It was great to read your introduction. I also read Piano Lessons, which led me to "Playing Piano for Pleasure" by Charles Cooke, which you might enjoy as well. He specifically mentions Clair de Lune in that book.

Good luck with your playing. It is a wonderful hobby.

Nancy

Way to go, man.

Since things worked out with the guitar, you've got a good chance with the piano, ADD or not. I agree with the suggestion to take it in small chunks - add to that progress in small, but obvious steps. Keep inspired and motivated by listening to piano versions of music you like. Hearing them all the time helps too!

I am on medication that definitely interferes with my attention span, but I find that breaking my practice up into smaller chunks scattered through the day works out pretty well. I also made a checklist of piano goals for each day, and check them off as I do them, so that my scattered practices all add up to cover my major goals.

I did start doing some of the exercises in the 20 Minute Piano Workout book... got behind and need to kick myself in the rear. Once I get into the habit and start making some progress I'll restart formal lessons. However, NOT with my former teacher. Oh, well, live and learn (sometimes!)

Hang in there Bee Dee and Tangleweeds.

I also have attention span issues too, and I find by taking frequent breaks has helped me to concentrate.

- Mark