Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Watched too many good pianist vids, lost my mojo :(

Sigh. I usually find Youtube inspirational, and I like being able to play a fair few of my favourite ones. But I made the mistake of watching some Luca Sestak. He makes it look so easy. But it's not, and I'm just feeling gutted that it's so hard. I haven't seriously sat down and played for a few days now, how silly is that?

Probably doesn't make much sense but I'm finding it so hard to rustle up the motivation to get past the first few bars of Maple Leaf Rag, it's gonna take years at this rate!

I used to run marathons, but when I started, I couldn't run a mile. It was a long, slow, painful, AMAZING and WONDERFUL journey. The marathon itself was just the icing on the cake.

Now that I am learning the piano, I feel just like when I first started running. It is hard and painful, and I wonder how I will get from where I am now to where I want to be. But I do know it is possible, and I do know that despite the learning pains I am going through now, the pain of knowing I gave up would much worse.

Now, I knew when I started running I wouldn't be winning any races, My goal was to just enjoy the experience and prove to myself that I could set the bar pretty high, and still get over it.

I didn't know who Luca Sestak was, but I googled him and yeah... pretty special. =) and I don't think I would ever be able to play like that even if I tried for the rest of my life, but I do believe that I can make some music come to life. It may be ugly 'Walking Dead' Zombie kind of life... but there is art in all styles... and maybe my purpose is to make others look even better in contrast.

Seriously though... take a step back, watch this video, and remember you are contributing a verse to life with your playing. =)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiyIcz7wUH0

I hear you. When I hear a really good player, it will sometimes send me into a similar funk, which you sort of have to ride out.

Basically, there are folks who are innately gifted at the piano, people who can learn the piano given effort and time, and people who will never learn the piano however much they try. If you're not in the first group and you want to learn piano, you have to proceed under the assumption that you're in the second group.

As for "Maple Leaf," look for the patterns. A lot of Maple Leaf has your hands staying in pretty static positions with just movement of the melody note. (Of course, there's some tricky stuff, too!) But when it starts to click, it feels really satisfying under the hands!

as a New Zealander you are allowed to do this before each practice session

http://youtu.be/YS_iBV3ljxI

I hadn't heard of him, so I went to youtube and his website. Looks like he started taking classical piano lessons since the age of 9 and still takes lessons, so roughly 10 years of lessons. What is your background? I'm sure it's different, and that's not a bad or good thing, that is your story. Not his.

Unless you can stop yourself from unfairly comparing yourself to someone else who has a different story than yours, you may be better off not doing any listening for a while. Kind of like how horses need blinders when they pull a carriage on a busy street with cars. They'll get spooked and freak out without them. You need blinders so you can focus on putting one foot in front of the other.

earl of mar - I have family in NZ, and my sister-in-law here made her second grade class "video" pals with my NZ niece's class. And a NZ rugby team visited here and did a haka for them

Cathy

I am sure that must have been great fun. I love kiwi's they have such great senses of humour, but don't get them started on rugby...talk about fanatical

Hahaha that gave me a giggle! Thanks

I'm lucky I guess, I get to play with the native birds chirping outside and the smell of the rainforest in our backyard, it's blissful. Haven't done the Haka yet though! That's something to aspire to LOL

That is true, thank you for the perspective!

For what it's worth, I had 9 years of lessons as a teen, got Grade 6 Trinity then stopped before committing to taking Grade 8. I've returned after a 17 year break and am finding my way around again.
But this time I'm playing for the love of it, it's a totally different dynamic and attitude now

I find Luka just so inspiring, the way he can't stop dancing to his own playing, and has so much fun with it. Just have to find my own zone again I guess

Just enjoy it as music. I don't give up after seeing a vid of Horowitz either

We were told at the London OLYMPICS THAT nEW zEALANDERS DON`T FEEL pain . . . I think you`ll find your way back. and Maple street rag will be appropriately dealt with in the fulness of time.

Haha yes GGRRRRR that's right! Push past that Lactic acid ache! lol.

It happens to me all the time, and I'm sure many others have been in similar situations numerous times.
Just keep at it or try a different style of music to help get you inspired/motivated, a little variety never hurts anyone.

Now that I have a better idea of your background, I think UKIkarus has a great idea here. You are starting after a long break from piano, after achieving quite a bit. It's easy to think back and remember how well you could play when you were in the thick of it and expect that to just come out of your fingers.

My recommendation is try some easier pieces, and LOTS of them. When I returned to piano, I really didn't pick up where I left off. It was really slow-going at first. But the more pieces I worked on the better I felt about it and I was able to surpass my previous level of playing.

Why not set the Maple Leaf Rag aside for the time being and get yourself a good compilation of shorter works to do? Perhaps something from the Celebration Series would be good - often these pieces are short but offer a lot of variety that you can cover in a short amount of time. Once you've done something like that for say, 6 months, then pull out the Maple Leaf and I'm pretty sure you will feel it is easier. If it's easier but still a struggle, then keep going with the other stuff and return to MLR a few months later. Use that piece as a gauge of your progress.

You'll know when it's ready to be worked on again, but usually it's when you can play through it at a moderately fast tempo with relatively few spots where you have to slow down.

That happens to me every time I come to this forum. LOL! I hit more brick walls in my progress than I like to admit but I also went through this process with the guitar many years ago and know that it is essential. Key for me is to realize that my progress is mine alone. It's not a race and I really try to not get frustrated by hearing a virtuoso make it look easy. When I hear an artist perform and am inspired by that performance I find myself asking, "What is it specifically that struck me?". Then I spend time examining the techniques employed by the artist that appeal to me. It's not fool proof I've found as many of the techniques are well beyond my current capabilities, but it does give me something to strive for. That is how I am navigating my musical learning experience on the piano.

Dear God, what do they do? Sign the contract, and then spend the first year learning choreography? Obviously, I would never be able to play for this team.. I can't dance.




Jess- why not put the Maple Leaf aside for now? It's a great piece, but a year is really too much. I might recommend focusing on the technique issues that are causing the delay and addressing them first. Might take a year, but at the end of the year, your technique will be better and you'll learn this piece in a much shorter amount of time.

PS- try the shouting and dancing thing. Who knows? Maybe the piano will get intimidated!

Interesting advice that I noticed at the beginning of one of the several method books that I am using as a beginner:

" Remember not to judge your success in piano study by comparing yourself to others. You are successful if you love music and enjoy playing the piano, regardless of how difficult your pieces are or how many pieces you learn each year. "

Personally, I really enjoy watching some of the very talented pianists and the videos they make. For myself, that tends to be the exceptional performances of relatively contemporary music, as opposed to classical.

And yes, some of the complexity is currently beyond my current abilities, but it gives me something to aim for, and something I can enjoy watching. I often listen to mp3s of some of the pieces I like being played on the piano.

The other point I'd make is that sometimes it's easy to debate and look into an interest, when our time would be more productively spent just doing it. The pianists I watch on youtube, have many videos, I can't imagine they get much time for debate or watching others, in order to be able to perform like they do - that's probably a lesson for many of us, in itself.

UKIkarus yes good idea, I have been immersed in Einaudi since I started last year, he was what got me hooked again. Boogie Woogie is the only thing since, that has remotely caught my ear.

Morodiene Yes definitely, I have perhaps been coasting a little though? Staying with 'safe' pieces that I can mostly sightread through first, so they're not too scary. (except Questa Notte, that was a stinker lol) I was starting to think I was being a little lazy in my choice of pieces though, hence branching out.

Arizona Sage I like that train of thought too- looking at what it is that catches my ear.

Derelux It's awesome eh? I actually remember teaching a simplified Haka to my 10 year olds when I was a teacher and we loved it! It's quite a primal, captivating thing. I will probably chomp through Maple Leaf afterall, I've got a day lined up with my Aunt to pick her brains on it next week.

EM Deeka thanks for that quote, I like it

Lester Burnham Yes I like watching both classical and modern, I was taught a mix of both and have a soft spot for Chopin and Beethoven especially.
You're right, let's just stop worrying about it and go do it!

What a learning experience it is though, to have a performer pretty much reach through the laptop screen and slap the smug off my face with a nice dose of reality: no matter now good we get, there's always something more to learn!

Jessiebear, play because you love it; play because it makes your soul sing; play because it takes you to that magical place where everything is perfect for you and you are loved be the music. As my Mom would have said "Rome wasn't built in a day." You will make progress when you move forward step by stpe in your playing. There is no crime in starting with easier things. Eventually the things you really want to learn become the "easier" things.

Be happy!

Play with all your heat!