Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum When you started out, did you have any piano playing goals?

I want to play like Oscar Perterson. Is that a goal or a pipe dream???

Enjoy

When I started, I knew it was to late for me to learn to sight read (won't live long enough), but as a kid I remembered how a few aunts could play what someone wanted to hear at the drop of a hat ... I guess that's what I was interested in doing.

I didn't know it at first, but all I needed to do was learn what people who play by ear think about, listen for, then throw in a few basic music rules plus ten fingers, one foot and some elbow grease and that should do it ... and it basically did.

Now, goals generally have something to do with learning to play different rhythm patterns for upbeat tunes I enjoy.

I think you are right - "you need to do it all the time". My niece and I started playing at about the same time and
I've seen how well she does this. She is always singing along with her playing - has done from the start. I couldn't get my brain around it.

Mind you....she's more than 40 years younger than I am. I suspect that makes a difference too.

! No problem. In fact I was agreeing with your comment. Actually, my first reaction to your paragraph was: Why does he want to play golf at the Masters? Hee hee. !

My son (40 years younger) and I started playing at the same time. (Actually, he started playing, and I had always wanted to play too - so I started.) The differences in learning are sometimes rather dramatic (sigh). He learns fingerings and complex phrases so quickly and easily. He memorizes quickly. And plays with a flowing, reckless abandon. His internal timing is amazing. At the same time, I think I approach the material much more thoughtfully and emotionally.

I wanted to learn the piano because of this CD my parents had when I was young, I think it was called "Mad About Piano", and it had a lot of the "popular" classics, the Pathetique and the Moonlight Sonatas being among them. We used to play the CD incessantly at my home and I grew to love the pieces although no one in my immediate family played the piano (we didn't even have a piano at home). So my dream was always to be able to play those tunes I remember from my childhood, nicely enough at least. Today, I have this long list of pieces that I *hope* to be able to play *eventually*.

I never got the opportunity to learn to play the piano until I started working and was able to finance my "piano education". It was a stroke of luck that one of my cousins decided to upgrade her piano and so donated her old upright to us!

I started about two years ago. For a long list of reasons I thought I would be terrible at piano, so mostly I just wanted to enjoy it and to continue writing original music. Most goals that others may have had seemed foolish given my starting conditions (repetitive stress issues, tinnitus, no affinity for harmony despite exposure and training, little aptitude for sight reading despite some attempts at learning).

Some of the negatives stay, and limit what I can realistically attempt. I continue on the two I started with, to enjoy it, and to continue to write original music. My signature link has most of my accumulated work for the past two years.

Yes, I had very specific goals, I wanted to learn to play myself some of my favorite piano pieces, including some Chopin preludes and etudes, the Barcarolle and a few Nocturnes, pieces from Scriabin, Balakirev, Franck and a lot of Scarlatti sonatas. And I wanted to play them well...

My goals pretty soon were forcibly lowered to a more realistic level. Then I just wanted to learn to play at least a few pieces I like... No Chopin etudes I'm afraid

I guess my overarching goal was to learn to play, as I'd wanted to as a child but wasn't afforded the opportunity. But I knew I needed some smaller, more concrete goals in the meantime, so I started lessons in July 2012 and hoped to be able to play Christmas carols from a level 1 book by December.

I'd also thought about being able to play popular music, but strangely, that goal has pretty much gone by the wayside. Once I'd worked my way through the first book, my teacher started printing out classical pieces, and I'm absolutely hooked. It takes me months to get through them, but the excitement of hearing some of my favorite music from my own hands is worth it.

As an aside, I, too, have had the experience that the first year was much easier than the second.

I restarted in 2007 after a lack of practice of twenty years.....my only goal enjoy music......relaxing, discovering new compositions that I never played......

I was churchorganist from 1967-1987.....starting from 2007 mostly piano.....

Best regards,
Johan B

Always wanted to play a song from a game which I loved when I was younger but just like everyone else I was too lazy. Now I’ve always thought piano was the ultimate instrument to learn and best sounding . When I started listen to covers on YouTube , I thought wow that looks so hard. After a while I couldn’t take it anymore and decided to give it a try.

Cool! ... and I think that's a familiar story! Gotta learn how to play that song!

Yes. First was to learn how to play piano and not just a few favorite songs. Second was to keep at it until I reached goal #1. Third was to only play what I enjoyed, practice time included.

All's on track so far other than K545 which my husband adores and I don't like at all but I promised I'd learn it (for him) and it's really not fun. Ugh.

I was playing by ear simple left hand chords and right hand melodies, fun but it was clear that I wasn't getting better by myself. So I started taking lessons with what I thought was a simple goal. Take a standard course of lessons and continue until I could play chords with the right hand as easily as I could with the left hand. Well, seven years later, and guess what. Still haven't reached that goal. Not complaining, just saying one can set a goal, but sometimes what seems like a good plan becomes irrelevant.

My goal is now just a milestone that I expect to someday pass by with just a brief acknowledgment. Today my goal is simply to enjoy the journey.

I was spending a lot of time on Microsoft Solitaire on the computer, so my first goal was to make better use of my spare time. Now my goal is to play adequate cocktail bar piano.

I have just started piano a few months ago.
I have a list on my phone of songs I would love to learn to play, and I put them in a rough order of when I expect to achieve them.
I am nearing the end of my Alfred's book one so hopefully in the next 2 months I should achieve 2 of them already.

Here are some examples:

Short term (hopefully in next 2 months)
Over the Rainbow
Singing in the rain

Medium term (Hopefully achievable)
River Flows - Yiruma
This year's love - David Gray
A few Disney songs (Wish upon a star etc.)
A few Christmas tunes

Long-term
Claire de Lune - Debussy
Pink Panther

Very long-term (probably never get there but would be cool)
Flight of the bumblebee
Waltz in C# minor - Chopin
Minute waltz - Chopin

According to my list Claire de Lune is grade 7 as is the two Chopin pieces. As far as getting there, no reason why most people could not with a bit of hard work. All the best and see you there......

Quick question: What "list" are you referring to?

Thanks to another forum member I was introduced to the RCM learning levels. What's nice is that at the two beginner levels there are specific pieces and exercises that I am learning (or have learned) in the Faber series. Therefore without actually taking the tests I know I'm somewhere near the point that I could start playing RCM Level one material within the next few months or so.

Not sure if there are other achievement scales besides RCM?

Hmmm.. Forgot to add my thoughts to this thread.

No specific goals or pieces. I know I'm not interested in playing non-adapted Chopin nocturnes or dense classical pieces.

However, I have already played adapted pierces by Chopin, Mozart, etc. and really enjoyed them.

Eventually, I would like to be able to pick up a typical music book with either popular, movie, or jazz music and be able to learn and play known pieces that will impress myself and my family.

However, I'm not limiting myself to anything at this point. Too early for that.

Now that I think of it, being able to play "Linus and Lucy" from Vince Guaraldi would be pretty sweet

You can get ABRSM syllabus at: http://us.abrsm.org/fileadmin/user_upload/syllabuses/pianoSyllabusComplete13.pdf

All the Charlie Brown music by Vince Guaraldi is amazing, Linus and Lucy especially so.