Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum No music backgroun but Play for my girlfriend.

Hi everyone!!

My girlfriend's birthday is in two months. And, as a present, I got the idea of playing a music that I really love just for her.
But here's the deal: I don't play the piano and I can't read music!

But I'm determined with this and don't mind spending 2 hours a day on it.

My questions to you are the following:

1) Do you think it's possible? If yes, what's the best way to do this?
I've tried once to play this way:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sxQWq7CfJ0
What do you think?

2) Here are the songs I prefer by order. I'd love to learn Via Purifico but I heard some comments on how hard it is. Let me know whcih one is reasonably doable:

1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD-j4jBFt4w&list=PLA9281E60D25EDD6E&index=10

2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLU2xQ4nkk4&index=1&list=PLA9281E60D25EDD6E

3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NTO_3UZzVY

I'm dead serious about this. But I want your professional opinions

Thanks Everyone!!

Certainly I am no professional but can give an honest opinion. I have been playing for eighteen months and still do not have the capacity to learn one of those pieces well in two months.

If you already tried to play To Zanarkand once you will have found out just how difficult it is. A recent discussion here put that piece at Grade 7, requiring a number of dedicated years to get to that level.

It is not about spending x amount of hours per day either although being determined can get you far. However it is more about training hands and fingers to do things they have never done before and this just takes time.

No, not this music. FF is tricky to play, and often video game music is not well-written so it doesn't sit well in the hands, feeling awkward. I've been playing piano for 35 years, and if I wanted to play all of that music, I'd feel comfortable with 2 month's notice. If I had one month, it could be done as well. But that's me with 35 years of experience. You have 0.

It's a great idea, but why not plan to do it for your girlfriend's birthday NEXT year, and only plan on playing one piece? Then you can devote your time to learning how to play well starting from very easy pieces and working your way up to your goal piece - and even then you will want to choose something easier, but maybe one of these pieces would work.

Just some perspective: most adult beginners (or young ones too) after two months are still playing one hand at a time. Maybe they can play a measure or two with hands together, but mostly one note at a time, one hand at a time.

It's got nothing to do with using a tutorial, it has to do with building neural pathways between your mind and your individual fingers that have never been built before. That takes years of 2 hours a day.

At the beginning, you can't really benefit from spending 2 hours a day because there will be a limit as to what one can accomplish in one sitting. Then you must rest to allow those neural pathways to solidify. After sleep, then you go at it again, but there will always be that threshold after which you are wasting time because you won't progress any further until you sleep.

If you love the idea of playing piano, then go at it correctly: get a decent instrument (not a keyboard, but a piano), and get yourself a good teacher that can help you get to your goal in the most efficient way possible, and then do whatever they tell you to do.

Hi, thanks for the feedback.

I never intended to learn all the songs. Just one of them. The easiest one.
Basically, you're telling me it's impossible, right?

Yes and no.

In that you can learn to strike the correct sequence of keys, which will sound kinda like the piece.

This is rote learning. It has some huge weaknesses though.

You won't be able to play anything else.

You will forget it quite quickly meaning you need lots of reinforcement.

If you mess up or make a mistake because it is simply a sequence you may well be unable to play unless you start it again. As you can't gaze up at your sheet music and see where you are at.

2.5 years ago now I learned to play by rote, Moonlight Sonata via rote, its not exactly a difficult piece, but looking back I had no idea about the expression and simply put a brick on the sustain pedal. To my ears back then it sounded good, but to my ears now (as I recorded them) it looked horribly clunky.

I don't want to learn or get into the piano. Just focusing on one of these pieces for two months, for her. That's it. I'm not trying to remember it afterwards.

I'll make mistakes, I'm sure of it. But are you telling me it's really impossible to get in done? I just want your honest opinion.

What is your vision of "playing a piano piece for my girlfriend" that makes you want to do it, when you have no interest in playing the piano? What are you hoping to achieve, or impress her with, or will happen after you do this? Why pick playing a piano piece as your expression? What is different about playing the piece for her instead of listening to it together? What is different about playing the piece rather than doing something else that you already know how to do -- I don't know, making her an elegant meal, cleaning her apartment top to bottom, going on a drive to a beautiful lake, whatever...?

In thinking of the answers to these questions, you may find there are other ways to achieve the same effect.

Because I'm stubborn and this is what I want.

There are other ways, PianoStudent88. But I like this one better.

The reason? Personal.

Thanks for understanding.

Do you have any musical background? Have you ever played an instrument before? If yes, that might make things a little bit easier, but only a little bit.

No one has told you it's impossible (yet), but if we're being honest, we probably should just say, yes, it's impossible. Especially if you want to play a piece of music for her that sounds musical and is expressive and will become a treasured memory for her. If you want to just hit the notes and don't care if you sound like a robot, then it might not be impossible, but what would the point of that be?

Or, another way to think about it is this: it might be possible but involves a great deal of work and access to numerous resources. Here are some things that determine whether this is possible or not:

1) Are you able to devote several hours a day, every day to practicing? (if you have a job, the answer to this is probably no)

2) Do you have daily access to an acoustic piano that's in tune and playable, or to a decent digital piano with weighted keys?

3) Do you have access to a professional teacher who can coach you, preferably a few times a week?

4) Do you have very strong will power and patience?

5) Do you have an open, ego-less attitude that is willing to accept the teacher's advice and do as he/she advises every step of the way?

If the answer to all of these questions is "yes" then you might have a chance. If the answer to any one of them is no, it may be best for you to consider a different idea for a present for your girlfriend.

Playing the piano is no easy task that can be conquered quickly and easily. There's no benefit to underestimating the difficulty of it. And because it is so complex, very few people become able to play without being motivated by a strong desire to play. There are people who start piano because they want to play one particular piece, but those who are successful and continue tend to come to enjoy the process of learning to play itself. If your only motivation is to be able to play one song, one time, for your girlfriend, I seriously doubt that is enough to propel you forward.

I don't mean to sound harsh, nor do I want to discourage you. But I think you are underestimating the difficulty of what you're describing. Now, if you would like to prove me wrong, by all means, give it a go! I will be the first to congratulate you if you succeed. Or, if you decide that you would like to learn how to play the piano as a general goal, then stick around because this is the place to be for great advice and ideas for beginners.

Whatever you decide to do, best of luck and I hope your girlfriend is happy with whatever gift you decide on.

ShiroKuro,

Thank you for your advice. I will consider another option. But I wanted a fair answer. And yours seems the most straightforward and clear.

Thanks

If it's for HER birthday make sure it's something SHE really loves

+1. To the OP, perhaps I wasn't clear with my response (I thought I was), but I thought I pretty much said it was impossible. Sorry for not just coming out and saying it.

There are many other ways of doing something special for your GF that can be thoughtful and not require you to be extremely talented. Best of luck to you.

Piano playing is an on-going process. It seems silly to learn one piece and then just move on.

You're obviously a romantic at heart so piano playing might be just the thing for you. I say go for it. Give it a try.

I have about 2000 hours on the piano over almost 5 years, a really good teacher, and I did get some sleep in between, but that music is still beyond me. Still, you are not me.

By my calculations, there are about 720 hours in a month, so you have 1500 hours, assuming you don't need to sleep, so you'll be practicing 24x7 for the next two months. It's not the 2000 I've done, but who knows. Let's just say you are a super prodigy like Mozart. Let's say you're really young like 13 (believe me that is a big plus), you could maybe, well, no. You know why? Because you don't want to play the piano. You just want to do it once to impress a girl. That's why it's impossible.

By the way, do you like own a piano?

we are such a supportive bunch it is hard for any of us to dash anyone's hope or ambition.

As an aside but pertinent to the overall question, when I first started here at PW it seemed there was an "arms race" to bring down the presentation time of the Bach Prelude in C Major. I did my part in the race and brought it to recital at 5.5 months but I think there was someone playing it at four months. I remember getting a compliment for not using the pedal in my version but the truth was I couldn't even use the pedal lol. I have seen this work graded at everything from grade 2 to 6 but what ever your view, it requires some pretty tough dedication to get it playable in your first six months of learning piano. I should add that for my attempt at the piece I had to develop a minimum technical ability which took almost four months.

I was hired to do a tutorial for a guy once for this same type of situation, but it was a MUCH easier song than these are.

Yes, you're talking about rote learning, watching a tutorial and trying to mimic the actions. Extremely hard, even for simple pieces because you're relying 100% on memory, which tends to give out after a few measures. i know tons of people who can play the beginning of a song but can't remember anything after 10-20 seconds.

So impossible? Maybe not. But highly improbable. You would have to get someone to create the tutorial, playing one of the pieces slowly for you, then you would have to learn where the right notes are, then practice striking the right notes by memory (how's your memory skills?). Best guess, in 2 months you might get 30 seconds of one of them down. I think the first 30 seconds of the third song sounds the most doable, more of a repetitive pattern than the others. There may be an easier section, but I didn't listen through the entire songs.

But unless you have an amazing memory that has the ability to remember a specific sequence of many notes, I'd say it's a pretty difficult task.

Similar to Earlofmar, and a few others, I never like to dash hopes. I seem to recall similar plans in my youth. But don't recall it working out well.

Mistakes? Yes, plenty. But, no, not impossible. Love is a powerful emotion, of course. I believe wars have been started over it.

A better option may be ... as the many already offered.

However, if you still end up going for it and you actually pull it off, I think you will be having second thoughts of never playing the piano again. When the bug hits, it is out of your control. Similar to your current feelings for GF.

At any rate, best of luck.

Well, I'll do it for you.

OP, you will not be able to do this. Give up.

Maybe it isnt possible, well from a musicality point of view..

But i agree with another poster, why not just go for it.. who knows , you may get the bug and want to pursue the piano for your own pleasure afterwards...

Then in the future you could compose an origianl piece for your lady

Thanks Everyone!

I decided to give it a try.

I'm no Mozart, I'm not special. But I guess the best answer to it is to test it myself, something I usually do as a film director.

My sister owns a huge keyboard. I'll start from there. I'll let you know in two weeks if there are any progress at all.

I'm thinking of playing the Third song, for a minute grand total.