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What would you tell your past self?


Hello all I’m new here and come for advice hehe c: I’ve been playing piano now for 9 years and I’m the classic didn’t practice scales, sight reading and just did my own thing haha. So I’m still young 17 years old and I am getting more seriously into piano. I’m learning classical songs no “Chopin Impromptu No.4 “ more like “Chopin Prelude, No. 7, Op. 28 in A Major” I’m not really into the “Showy Aspect” at the moment I more want to develop my sight reading skills, rhythm and technique. I think classical music is the best to start with as time goes on learn other genres.

I wanted to ask what you would tell your past selves that would benefit you now. So I can maybe take some suggestions and apply it now while I’m still young ^_^

I would tell myself to nag my mom into getting me a piano, make her realise tgat I really need one! Id be playing by now if I'd had one back then!

My signature line sums this question up nicely for me. But I'll expand on it a little more, since you asked:

Fail faster. (Another way this is worded is, "Take more risks, sooner.") If there's something you want, don't wait. Eventually, you'll either go after it, or you won't. And then, you'll either keep trying until you get it, or you'll wish you had. Don't wish. Do.

This really applies to the very young "me", because I started to learn this lesson in my middle and later teens.

I would have begged for lessons as a teenager. Then I would be an advanced player by now.

I'd say "practice less, and think more". And start recording yourself earlier.

I would have begged my parents for a better piano and a much better teacher.

There are a few things that would have made me into a better pianist, but none of them were things I could have changed by telling my past self :

1) Start learning to play six years earlier (I started at 10 - and only because my parents wanted to keep up with the Joneses, i.e. my uncle's family).

2) Grow up in a musical household (there was no music - of any sort - at home).

3) Have a better piano to learn on (my parents bought the cheapest vertical that was available new).

4) Have a quiet room to practice in (I had to compete against the TV most of the time - my practicing was a distraction for everyone else from the serious business of watching TV).

But - luckily, all my teachers were good, and even more luckily, I was sent abroad to an excellent boarding school within a few years, where at last I could hear (and take part in) as much good music as I wanted.

Was there anything I could have changed that was under my control when I was young, that would have made me into a better pianist today? Probably not, as I had no gift for music, and we know that we can't change our genes, nor even our parents . So, on balance, I did make the most of the opportunities I was given. I could have spent more time practicing while at school, but that would have been at the expense of my studies (sports of any sort didn't figure, because I was hopeless at all of them.....) and I was realistic enough to know that I wasn't good enough to make a living as a classical musician.

Demand lessons, don't ask or wait to be pushed.

But OP is already there...don't quit!

I would have asked for a better piano& teacher...would have asked to take part in some competitions too; those were scarce then here

Good answer, I believe. Can you however provide more detail about your thinking?

Many thanks-

Learn to be a good businessperson.

I'd tell myself, "You're not going to believe this, but I am you, 50 years into the future. So at least you know you made it that far, in spite of all the odds. The only advice I have is to get to know yourself as thoroughly as possible, and be as honest with yourself as you can at the keyboard. Oh, and take up tai chi."

Two words....

P R A C T I C E S L O O O O W L Y

Get a medical degree.

NOT!

I spent a good time of my life thinking that playing the piano was above all a muscular activity. I'd spent hours sitting on the piano mindlessly playing through the Liszt exercises, although I already had good finger independence, scales, arpeggios, the basic stuff...
Today I believe that it has much more to do with the brain. I try to practice as much as I can without the piano, like the maestros do. I'm trying to be a musician, and not just a pianist.
And for the piano, I'm sure it helps too. Instead of playing trough a difficult passage a million times trying to adjust myself to it, I adjust it to myself. I try to stop and think what are the difficulties, and how can I overcome them (ie changing fingering, hand positioning, etc...).
The recording thing is because I spent a good deal of my life without hearing myself. In my head I played beautifully, but when I finally listened to a recording it sounded... boring. No dynamics, color palette = 0, the usual... Today I exaggerate A LOT on dynamics.

And not just because I'm a huge fan of fnork, I'll go with him on saying that slow practice is THE ONLY way.

Good idea

Definitely I would've said to get a good quality grand piano. There is no way you can control tone and dynamics better than on a grand, and just so many other things you can't do on an upright imo. Practicing for years on a grand instead of an upright would've really been nice, but oh well.

Thanks for your comments, Francisco Scalco.

Best regards-

If you know you have to perform a piece you learn, pick an easier one that you can handle. Being able to impress people in casual situations with a hard piece is not worth being embarassed on stage.

(if it's just for fun anything is fair game)

I would say, " Don't take as much notice of experts and teachers as I did. Don't dream the dreams of other musicians, especially boring dead ones. Listen to the music in you and to it alone. Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. It will lead to true happiness in music when you reach my age."

I am talking solely to the young me of course, not giving general advice to all and sundry.

Learn at least one simple piece with a glissando

Thank you all so much this is wonderful!

I would tell myself to be more selfish in what I want to play and learn, in addition to what I am learning (classical piano, technique theory), which, I will one day come to realize is the foundation and cornerstone of everything and anything I want to learn.

Go for it!

And, 15 year old Barbara, its ok if you decide to be selfish and throw your life into your passion for piano, instead of marriage and a family. Either way, your piano and music will always be there for you!

.... kill yourself. You have started piano way too late to be able to become proficient at it, also your life will get worse and worse and eventually you'll wan't to kill yourself - so why wait?

Uh, that seems a tad extreme as a remedy. Besides, you never know what else in life may turn up to delight you.

What delights me is the Presto - ma non tanto from Chopin's 3rd Sonata. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42NSIDFakf8

And nothing else?

Uh, there might be something to the idea of starting late preventing you from becoming a super-virtuoso, but starting late willl NOT prevent you from becoming proficient. I personally know someone who has gone from nothing to playing Chopin ballades in his 20s, although through a lot of hard work. And other people who have gone from nothing to proficient at an older age (although less proficient because they worked less hard)

>I wanted to ask what you would tell your past selves that would benefit you now. So I can maybe take some suggestions and apply it now while I’m still young ^_^

Keep your brain (and the rest of the body) healthy and fit. Don't consume alcohol or other toxic and addictive stuff.

Whatever you do, make sure you can be proud of yourself when done. There are no second chances.

Or did you want advice regarding pianos

Motivation comes from the outside, not the inside. (I learned this from Anthony Robbins)

Don't wait for motivation to practice to well up inside you and spur you on to practice. Do things to your environment to create motivation from the outside.

Examples:
Get a good piano
Change teachers
Listen to music
Sign up for a competition
Look for work as a pianist
Study other styles
Search out other people who share your interest
Search out other people who do not share your interest
Go to concerts
Jam
Etc,





Also, I have developed my "Circus Tent Analogy" for describing how musical skill develops.

A circus tent has many poles. They are needed to hold up the tremendous weight of the canvas.

In my analogy, each pole is another musical skill.

If you want to be really good at playing classical music on the piano, it is like you are raising only one pole. Eventually, the weight of the canvas on that one pole will be too much to lift, and your progress will slow down.

Other poles could be completely different, like learning to play harmonica, or studying jazz arranging, or it could be closely related, but different, like learning pieces from different composers, or neighbouring eras.

By raising other poles, when you go back to the first pole you were trying to raise, it will seem easier.

It is something I've noticed with my own musical development, but may not be the same experience for others.





Practice playing fast, by playing slow.




Don't practice your mistakes, but every now and then, practice with mistakes without stopping.



Hope these help.

Mark! You finally decided to chime in on the pianists corner. Welcome.

Thanks Michael. I like the variety of topics here.

Ignore advice like:
It can't be done.
It's never been done that way before.