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I desperately need some motivation today.

Does anybody know of any pianists in the world who began playing piano as a teen or adult? It seems that all the pianists out there had begun playing when they were 3 years old. That's very discouraging for me.

If you know any names then please let me know. I need to know if my goals are practical, or completely unattainable.

Having said that, I have no desire to perform for people. I just want to play for myself, but I want to be amazingly good at it.

No matter how hard I try, my fingers won't move fast enough on the piano!

Thanks everybody.

Hmmm...I have an anecdote. My brother has been a professional musician - he's played piano since he was young, played in successful rock bands; played lounge piano, etc.

He has a friend who picked up piano for the first time at about age 45. Took it very seriously and studied intensely. Some years later (not sure how many exactly, but not a huge time, maybe 5 or 6 years) he's out playing in jazz clubs, and has, in skill, equalled or surpassed my bro' who's played for 40 years (but hasn't really studied for the last 30). I have not heard this guy play, but I'm told he improvises stuff that sounds a lot like Bruce Hornsby improvisations, with a lot of that incredible left-hand/right-hand independence.

Late start, hard work, good teacher, amazing talent. It happens!

Arcadi Volodos got serious when he was in his middle teens and he is compared to Horowitz. Edit: he was fooling around on the piano since he was young however. I don't know if this really answers your question.

There was a pianist named Feng Zhang just today at the Cliburn from China who was self-taught from the age of 9. He did not receive any formal instruction until the age of 15. He is 23 now.

Feng Zhang

If that's not inspiring enough, how about the blind pianist from Japan, Nobuyuki Tsujii? He played all of Chopin's Op. 10 in his prelim recital along with Debussy Images Bk. I and Liszt La Campanella.

Nobuyuki Tsujii

Regardless of how advanced these two are, one started significantly later than most at this level, and the other is working with a smaller "toolkit" of senses than the rest of us.

There's no substitute for a good teacher, and hard work!

dude i'm starting late if it helps cuz i'm 18 but all it takes to reach there is hard work and you will be excellent. i don't think i can play that well but people are still astonished by how i move my fingers, hands and stuff. it actually makes them wanna learn to play the piano. all you need to do to improve your hand speed is practise cuz right now i can pritty fast lol.
hope i helped you

Hi Razzigirl, obviously you are posting this question, not because you really want to know the list of musicians who have made it later in life, but to see if you can successfully play piano yourself without starting at 8 years old.

The answer is a strong YES. I think by the time I've reached my goal of skill level, I will have practiced for 5000 hours. I'm closing on this time period (I've reached close to 5 years now) and I know what I can play. I'm over 50.

There is no difference in what I am able to achieve vs. College music majors who have been playing since they were little kids. I know because my teacher teaches at a university and has told me so.

So age has no consequence. Just put in your 5000 hours...

Great point. When my son started guitar lessons a few years back, his teacher said to him at the first lesson, "Remember, it's not how may years you've played, it's how many hours."

"Remember, it's not how many years you've played, it's how many hours."

What wonderful advice.

Jazzwee, yes, you're right, I guess it's not so much the names that matter, but that I needed to know if it was worth all this effort and expensive lessons.

I need to keep reminding myself that Rome wasn't built in one day! Even 10 or 20 years from now, I'll still be learning.

See sig quote.



Matt

Age may be overblown yet your statement perhaps is too strong. It may have less importance than is purported by many but it is not a mystery that during development the attainment of certain fine skills (such as language etc.) is dependent on when the "brain" (leave it ambiguous) is exposed to exercising these skills etc. I won't pretend to know the extent to which learning an instrument (such as the piano) is dependent on such, but there probably is at least some benefit to beginning your studies during these "critical" periods.

That is not to say that a later beginner cannot attain the goals (s)he wishes, but it is to say that starting earlier MAY have some benefit.

Waltz, I've heard that before and if you're planning being the best of the best and competing on a world class level, then obviously you should have started at an early age because music would have been your life.

But if the goal is play at a professional level (albeit not at the level of a world class pianist), then I am not saying anything too strong.

To me the disadvantage of starting late is I don't have the time to learn a thousand tunes/pieces. It however does not minimize that I'm able to play what I know well. I do believe that the "technical" aspects can be learned after so much practice.

Now presumably, at the professional level, someone would be willing to pay you to play....nothing like money to prove that you've acquired the skills. hehehe....

But I do temper what I say with the fact that probably musicality cannot be taught. Although, my time at the piano has been more limited, I have played the guitar since I was a young kid. I think it is reasonable to expect that if you have a musical frame of mind (creating melodies come easy to you, you can repeat melodies you hear quickly, etc.), then you are probably advantaged when going into the more improvisational aspects of music like I have done in jazz.

I agree that mostly it's about how many hours you put in, not how many years. But for me it's not quite right. Do you ever practice a section of a piece over and over again one day and can never quite do it, but then magically you come back to it after a good night's sleep and play it perfectly?

I think this is the same as saying half an hour a day for a week is better than three and a half hours practice once a week...

nevermind.

I heard a respected conductor of a national orchestra say that if you don't start piano by age 15 you probably will not be able to become a world class pianist.

That may be true if you want to become a concert pianist, but there are probably quite a number of pro players who started late.

I had a music dept chair put it to me like this: If you want to entertain yourself, practice 30 min to 1 hour a day. If you want to play in a band, practice about two hours a day. If you want to be a regional act, practice about three to four hours a day. If you want to be professional, practice about five to eight hours a day. He always told me if you practice a lot, you are going to be good.

Maybe this will help you out. My own personal experience. I began playing piano when I was 16 years old...I am now 23. Here's a couple links to check out to see what you think of my progress so far. Oh, I taught myself to play too lol.

http://www.youtube.com/phillipmills
http://www.phillipmills.com

So, in the classical world the answer is no? That would confirm what I have gleaned from the hundreds of biographies I've read. They all started at age 3-6, even if just poodling about. Oh.., and don't forget, they presumably must have had a piano at home too!

No offense Tobias but this attitude, so common amongst beginners/intermediate, only leads to stagnation. You need to be constantly seeking for the knowledge of how.

Stuff? What stuff (dare I ask)?

Regards, JF

P.S. why do you use periods in your posts when you don't observe any of the other rules of grammar, punctuation or capitalization?

This thread reminded me of a similar feeling I have had with athletics. I used to ride road bikes fairly seriously, but hated to 'measure my success'(with bike computers, etc) so instead had to rely on the way that I felt to gauge my improvement. Bad idea. As the great Greg Lemond said, 'It doesn't get easier, you just go faster'. My husband was the one to point out to me how much I had improved in speed and stamina as he had watched the differences in my riding over, say, 7 years.

My point is that with most really difficult things, improvement is incremental and practically unnoticeable to the practitioner....You might feel frustrated, but you have probably made strides you don't even recognize. Maybe celebrate some old successes? Is there something you can play well today that seemed really difficult last year? Or is there an audience in the house that can encourage you and point out how far you've come?

Celebrate other successes, and congratulate yourself for plugging away despite the annoying sense that there is always room for improvement...perserverence through that is what really pays off.

(sorry for the athletics analogy, but I am still a new piano student myself.... but I am addicted to other things that take time and make you crazy: long distance cycling, ballet, flute...so I can relate!)

good luck!
lvp

cuz hes a pritty fast dude!