I am 38 years old, took classical piano lessons until I was 18. At 35 I started playing again. I have a teacher, now, as of Sept 2009. We are working on classical again, to get me going, again. I am 2 levels "back" from where I used to be at 18. It is coming back fairly quickly, but I NEED TO PRACTICE!!. (I had to get that out of my system, some of you may know what I mean).

I want to learn something else - I think that something else is jazz. I want to learn chords, improvising, putting things together that sound nice...

So, I need your help, because it is a big world of music out there, and I am getting overwhelmed a bit, figuring out where I am and where I want to go, and what route to take. (hence the GPS reference in the subject line.)

I look forward to your feedback, with a lot of anticipation.
Cheers!
Norm F

Well, many of the jazz folks on PW post here in the non-classical, so you'll get some good responses from them. One of them, jazzwee, has a couple of jazz threads in the Adult Beginner Forum that are invaluable for jazz novices. Here's one:

autumn leaves jazz thread

But the whole crowd - jazzwee, Swingin' Barb, knotty, Wizard of Oz, et al - will be along any minute to help you out

Cathy

Hi Norm,

Welcome to Piano World. I too returned after a long piano break -- much longer than your break.

I don't know how long you want to stay with your teacher. When I returned to piano, I decided I wanted to learn something other than classical. I found a method that has taught me how to play from a fakebook. I enjoy playing jazzy ballad style standards and easy listening pop. Check my website if you are interested in this type of sound. As you say, there is a big world of music out there and things can get very confusing.

Hope this helps.

Barb

Do you recommend that I have a JAZZ piano teacher? I may continue with my current teacher, because she is very good, and she teaches good technique, posture, etc. I do wonder, however, if I would be more motivated if I had a jazz instructor. Thoughts?

Welcome to the forum, EastCan. I had two thoughts regarding your situation:

(1) Have you sat down with your current teacher to discuss your goals for piano and the curriculum you'd like to pursue? If not, I'd start there, especially since you are satisfied with how lessons have gone to date. It could well be that she would be more than happy to integrate more jazz, improvisation, etc. into your lessons once you let her know that is the direction you'd like to go.

(2) If you know that your teacher is NOT receptive to changing the content of your lessons, then, yes, I'd recommend trying to find another teacher either instead of your current teacher or in addition to her. There have been several threads in the past describing people's successes in having two teachers, one who specializes in the more mainstream classical repertoire and the other to teach jazz and other topics. The issue of course is whether you would have the practice time and resources to have two sets of lessons going on.

I am always a big advocate of finding a teacher who is compatible with your goals for piano. Life's too short to be spending your time working on pieces you don't like, while yearning wistfully to be taught different pieces or a different style. So if you can't work out things with your current teacher to start studying a more chord-based, jazz-focused kind of model, I'd look around and interview some other teachers.

In the mean time, as Cathy has said, there's a strong contingent of jazz-oriented players here and on the Adult Beginners Forum. (Don't be put off by the name; it's for restarters like yourself, too, and there are some pretty advanced folks who hang out there in addition to beginners.) Hang around and see what you can pick up here.

I studied classical until about age 22, stopped taking lessons, and then in my 50s started jazz. Here are my thoughts:
1. You can't do jazz and classical, or add some jazz and improvisation to basically a classical ciriculum. Jazz is a serious commitment. If you want to learn it, get a jazz teacher. You've also got to listen to lots of jazz and immerse yourself in it. It's one fo the great art forms, but not an easy one.
2. That said, when you say you'd like some jazz, it can mean three things:
(a) you want to play pieces that have a jazz sound to them, with perhaps a bit of improvisation. For this, you really don't need to learn jazz. You can get some good, written out, jazz arrangements, and your classical teacher can probably include this.
(b) You want to play real jazz, solo, piano. To do this, you need a whole new approach to playing, where you start with theory and how to play off a lead sheet. You'll learn chord voicings, scales and how to improvise.
(c) You want to play jazz with ensembles. Same as above, but even more necessary to get a teacher. If you can find the opportunity, this is the most fun of all. Just wait till you get to swing with bass and drums!

Hope this helps give you a bit of the lay of the land.

I always recommend Randy Halberstadt's (Metaphors for Musicians) book for both a way to understand what makes a good jazz sound, how to get your improvising going, plus the nitty-gritty details on chord voicings etc.

You might also go to youtube.com and search for something like "jazz piano tips." There are tons of great videos. Doug McKenzie's clips are the best, but they may be too advanced at this point.

This guy will never make it in the world of jazz.

I would also suggest that if playing jazz, learning how to play over chords and improvizing is the way you want to go you should find a teacher who can help you focus on that as your primary goal, maybe that is the teacher you have now - I don't know. I would recommend finding a teacher who has experience performing in jazz clubs or playing in jam sessions, not all classically trained teachers would be comfortable in that situation and its hard to teach something you have never done.

It sounds like you have already taken enough classical lessons to cover the prerequisites for starting to learn jazz. Don't worry too much about getting back to where you were when you were 18 before you start learning jazz, learning jazz takes time and you will have plenty of time to brush up your technique.

Love it!!

I think you would be much more motivated if you learned something different and you are right, it is jazz. There ARE teachers out there who can teach both, they are difficult to find but worth it.
Playing Bach helps with jazz if you understand the harmonic structures behind Bach.
But you need a teacher to teach you the theory behind complex chords, jazz rhythm etc

Yes, find a teacher that will teach you what you want to play. It's really obvious.
If you play classical for 2 years from now, your abilities to play Jazz or Pop will be very small. Improvising is just something different.

So find a teacher with lots of experience teaching, and one with a method, or a plan, so that he can tell you what you will learn today, in 2 months, in 6 months and in a year. This will give you an idea if you are going in the right direction.

You can learn to improvise through books and these forums. But having someone that will sit and listen to you for 30 minutes a week will make a big difference. Someone that can see exactly where you are and what you need to focus on. The problem with books and forums is the lack of focus, the amount of info.

I had classical lessons through high
school and then quit and didn't
play a note for 20 yrs.

Since restarting as an adult, I've
taught myself. I'm still into
classical and now play some advanced
stuff like the Krakowiak, all learned
on my own.

But I've always been interested in
non-classical, and I've tried to
learn it on my own. And to that end
I tried wading through 3 jazz piano
method books, as well as books on
classical harmony, both types of counterpoint,
form, and orchestration. I didn't
get far. The sheer tedium of plowing
through all of that theory just
completely turned me off. Moreover,
when you read between the lines in
jazz piano books, they seem to say
that it all comes down ultimately to
playing by ear.

So why learn theory when it's all by
ear in the end? In any case, I was
not going to wade through all that
tedious theory. But I still wanted
to get into jazz/popular playing, and
so in Aug. I decided to just start
improvising jazz/popular by ear. And
it has been a revelation. When you
improvise by ear, all of your previous
musical experience comes into play:
your classical repertoire, what you've
heard on the radio and in live preformances,
etc.--so you don't need any theory
really.

Like anything on the piano, improvisation
takes practice, a lot of it. After a
time, you'll be able to home in on the
sound that you want. And you'll really
learn about the instrument and what you
can do on it, and about music, in a way
that you could never learn from a book or
a teacher.

Another shout to Randy Halberstat, another real Seattle musician. His book Metaphors for Musicians can offer you insights and guidance.

These are terrific posts, everyone. Thank you for your suggestions and links to other threads. The Autumn Leaves study group is perfect. I am going to continue with my current teacher once per month.

I certainly keep welcoming suggestions. What a great community.

Sincerely,
Norm F
Nova Scotia, Canada