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I started taking piano lessons in January 2007 and now two years later I approach the end of another term. My teacher has spent a lot of time on exercises and pieces but all this reading and practice is making me think that there must be another way for a adult to approach the instrument.

Yes you can go several ways.
1. Classical by rote.
2. Pop by rote.
3. Lead sheet single note melody and chord name. Normally left hand doing block chords and right hand furnishing the melody. And of course you can flesh this out.
4. Chord piano. Chord accompaniment patterns on both hands and leaving the melody to others. Perhaps your vocals will provide the melody. AKA playing from a fake book "strumming" your keyboard.
5. Then there is improvisation. Pick a key and have fun.

Which way would you like to try?

Malcolm

Malcolm, if I sit at the piano I can play many chords and left hand bass notes. I can also play melody that connects the chords to give the listener and idea of what song I am actually playing. What do you meany by 'rote'?

What is it you're looking to accomplish or what is it that you feel is lacking in your current lessons?

Obviously there is some void there or you wouldn't be bringing this up. Do you feel the excercises you are doing are not providing value? Do you enjoy the pieces you've learned? What exactly are you working on?

As someone else mentioned, you really have to have some idea of what you want to accomplish on the piano. Without that, you may be in limbo ... never figuring out what you want. But just ask yourself what is it that you really want from music. Listen for the answer and follow it. It's your intuition talking and that will lead you where you want to go.

In the last couple of years I have taken individual lessons, group lessons and approached the piano on my own. Here are some observations.

First off, the posters who have said you really have to have a goal or objectives are onto something critical. Perhaps a child can take piano lessons and have his/her goals set for them, but as an adult, you can't duck that responsibility, or you'll up aimless, drifting and frustrated.

Second, there are pluses and minuses to any approach.

The DIY way, relying on this and a number of other highly informative websites is self-paced, self-directed and fun (if you are of that bent). But it is inefficient, and you miss out entirely on the personal coaching that comes with instruction. If you are interested in the other drawbacks of Do It Yourself, on any number of threads piano teachers and other posters have highlighted the disadvantages of this approach.

Individual lessons have their pluses and minuses. A sizable PW contingent feels that they are the only way to go, the best way to go for everyone, etc. I don't want to argue the point, but from personal experience a great deal depends on the instructor and the instructor-student dynamic that develops. And I think it can be very difficult to define good personal objectives in the setting of the individual lesson, particularly if the instructor teaches more children than adults.

Finally, there are group lessons. I found the advantages of group lessons to be as follows: there is a syllabus and curriculum to set an objective or goal, you do get some personal attention and coaching from the instructor (intensity dependent on class size) and (this one I did not expect) you have to regularly perform for your classmates. I doubt that it was possible to give hands-on group lessons before the digital keyboard became ubiquitous, but with headsets and quiet settings it is possible for the entire class to work simultanously on individual tasks while the teacher moves from student to student. So I think there is place for group lessons and that they are something other than an inferior and less expensive alternative to private instruction. That said, after some level of progress, I'd suspect they would have served their purpose and individual coaching might be more useful.

Oh, and without a lot of practice, the best defined objectives and the perfect instructional regime won't get you to where you want to be.

By rote - playing exactly what is written on the sheet music note by note.

Just to clarify, it means teaching or learning by imitation and repetition, not primarily by reading, though there may be some reference to the written notes.

As said before, the next step really depends on what your goals are. I'd say think about that first before you think about the next step.

anz6536,

I was at a similar crossroads about a year back (I've been playing 3 years now). I started with the traditional route, learning to read fully written out pieces, spending anywhere from a week to a month per piece. I found that to be limiting for a few reasons.

1. I had a hard time playing in front of others because I felt the need to reproduce pieces note perfectly, which led to tension.

2. My repertoire was limited because I couldn't memorize more than one or two pieces for a long period of time, especially when working on new pieces.

3. It felt robotic to learn someone else's music, and keep repeating it.

This led me down two paths. First, I tried lead sheet because that format encourages creativity, especially with the harmony. I sometimes took fully written music, and converted to lead sheet format. In fact, I did this for the two ABF recitals I participated in. The second path I'm experimenting with is to pick a key and chord progressions, and improvise. The hard part with this is to create structure, otherwise it tends to ramble. I still go back to written out pieces, now with the aim of learning how others have created music, but with the end goal being improv. For me, this addresses the above 3 concerns.