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True

As someone with informal training (very informal ) .. I would assume that these years certainly affected his performance style and interpretations.

In informal training, the pianist is less bound to teachers and the standard approaches and "rules". Maybe this is why we have Richter's unique interpretations today.

Paderewski did not start late. He studied privately as a child until he enrolled in the Warsaw Conservatory at the age of 12.

Well, I have just started back at piano lessons...... I'm 29, have been playing since I was 8 but never learned to read music properly until recently. So in that case, I will definitely be touring Europe and beyond when I'm 40........

I agree that you should take each day at a time, I used to get discouraged when I coudn't play really difficult pieces that kids half my age would be able to breeze through. Regardless of where you are at you should make little 'milestones' to measure yourself by, to keep your interest and to ensure you don't get discouraged.

The confusion is because he started with Liechetizky in his 20's. Liechetizky said he was too old and would never make the grade. He was already a well known composer.

Bauer played for Paderewski, but I don't think he formally studied with him.

I think your right there. Bauer was, no doubt, a superb violinist. He would have had a virtuoso's ear.

Volodos started playing the pianos at age 15. His parents being professional singers poor Arcadij was expected to become a baritone or a conductor. He recieved formal vocal lessons but finally dropped singing to take up the piano.

Volodos seems to have started the piano at 8, even though not "seriously":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcadi_Volodos

Still, a bit different than starting at 15.

Being a successful performer requires great genius and great luck.

If you are not a lucky genius, there simply is not room for you as a successful performer. As much as I hate saying that, I fear it is the truth. There simply isn't a big enough audience.

However, that does not mean you should stop practicing. You have an opportunity to make something beautiful. Everyone who doesn't care is just too ignorant and short-sighted to garner the benefits of listening to great music produced by a truly passionate individual.

-Colin

So what are we considering studying seriously?

I'd like to study composition.

Because of my clinical depression which resists treatment, I fear I will not be able to make it through college with any degree, let alone something as demanding as music. I also suffer from wrist pain.

I suppose you can tout "others have it worse" and "happiness is a choice" all you want, but that doesn't correct the chemical problems in my brain.

I'd like to have private lessons with a composer. Grading and academia is, for the most part, obsolete and standardized hodgepodge from the 20th century.

-Colin

Antonius,

you are right. But Volodos never practised until he decided to become a pianist at age 15.

I had ONE golf lesson in my life, 5 years ago, and never played again. Am I today a golf player with 5 years of experience?

According to an article in an Etude Magazine in 1923 Bauer studied a year with Paderewski. "In 1892, however, he went to Paris and studied the piano under Paderewski for a year, . . . ." This is from a short biographical entry in Wikipedia.

http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Bauer%2c+Harold

http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/people/A0806512.html

He, Bauer, was one of my teacher's teacher, along with Olga Samaroff and Percy Grainger.

Bauer played orchestral reductions for Paderewski. Here are his own words: from Gerig

No you're not. Here's a problem of equal difficulty for you to solve:

I only reported what I found in Wikipedia, and the article didn't say anything about how much Volodos had played or practiced before the age of 15, only that "he had played the piano from the age of eight". The question is, did I say Volodos never practiced until age 15 or that he had only one lesson until age 15?

By the way, could you reveal your source regarding your statement about Volodos never practicing until 15? Or perhaps you could let us know how good Volodos was at age 15? Information such as, which pieces he was able to play decently at that age, would be considered sufficient (when coupled with appropriate sources). We wouldn't have to go into the difference between 'playing' and 'practicing', as Wikipedia's "he had played the piano from the age of eight", seems to imply that, whether or not Volodos had practiced during those years, he sure had played the piano during those years (8-15).

'Seriously' seems like an euphemism for 'formally'. It would of course be better to use the latter to avoid misunderstandings and general vagueness. But guess which the marketing people prefer? People like rags-to-riches stories, in all their variations.

Antonius,

here we go:

At age 16, Volodos studied Rach 3. Source: Piano News, Interview, 2/2007

And:
Arcadi Volodos Interview

with Süddeutsche Zeitung -- March 20, 1998, excerpt:
"Süddeutsche Zeitung: Most pianists have been on the stage for 10 years. Why was it not until you were 16 that you first started to play the piano seriously if you wanted to become a professional pianist?

Arcadi Volodos: I never did want to become a professional pianist. I never even thought about becoming a musician. Of course I tried to take after my parents who are both singers, and concentrated therefore on singing. I also had a serious go at conducting, until my teacher suggested that I have another try at the piano.

SZ: Can technique still be learnt at the age of 16, or is it inherited?

Volodos: It is not too late at 16. In the end it depends on how you deal with the music. I have never practised scales and I always got bad marks for technique. ..."
Full text to be found at

http://www.sonyclassical.com/news/volodos_int.htm

In fact in St. Petersburg Volodos attended a school that focused on choir music. Of course every child would receive formal training in music as a whole.

"For centuries we have not seen such virtuoso playing by any piano wizards."

The good people at Sony Classical sure know how to hype... A really nice source you got there, Mick. But it still only says Volodos didn't start seriously until 15, when he decided to "give another (serious) try" (the piano instead of conducting, this time). So that's when he started to work his butt off to increase his playing technique, with a teacher I suppose, becoming a formal student of the piano. So he started "seriously", as the ad--ah, I mean interview, said. It didn't say Volodos never practiced before 15. It conveniently didn't say much anything about anything much.

Yeah, it's all a conspiracy, guys. What's so hard to understand?

I just realized there are more than one person here who has trouble understanding what he reads, so here is some further clarification:

At age 16, Rach 3. OK. And that also was more or less when he started "seriously" (a fact given below). Sounds like he was pretty good already when he "started seriously", even assuming some months' variance between starting to study seriously and starting to study Rach 3.

OK. He started "seriously" at 16, because his teacher suggested that Volodos give a serious try at the piano. Volodos says "another try", because the conducting was the first (serious) try. If you want to argue that he actually meant "another try at the piano", please explain the lack of referent. Even assuming that "another try at the piano" was what he tried so vaguely to express, the statement would tell little about how much he had played the piano before the age of 16.

OK. The penultimate step with your reading guide takes place in the darkness of the forest, use a hooded cloak and don't get hurt: "Can technique still be learned? Yes, yes it can." Question and answer, neither of which suggests that there is no technical foundation to start with.

OK. So Volodos, in your argument, was formally trained in the art of piano, since he was formally trained in the art of music in general? Logic, I'm afraid, doesn't work like that, as the famous apple said when it tried to fall towards the sky. Or are you just saying you didn't notice we were talking about the formal or serious study of piano, not just formal study of music in general?

To conclude, you have failed miserably to provide me with what I asked for. You don't want to try again? That's a shame...