As many of you know, six months ago I returned to the piano after a break of over 35 years. I bought a Yamaha digital piano and started to play a lot of my favourite songs on the piano by a mix of sheet music and ear. If the sheet music was too complex I'd simply play the chords and chord inversions and get a bit of a bass rthym going. Then I started going to lessons every week. My teacher is great and we skimmed through a lot of theory and scales and I spend many days practicing. Recently I believe that I have got so bogged down with perfection, sight-reading, key signatures and scales that I miss the old fun I had of just knocking out the songs I have known for years. Am I more suited to Piano Magic style and are there any benefits in joining piano magic as well as attending lessons?

I can't attest to PM (but there are succcess stories on here for that!) but for the "regular" lesson stuff, here's a suggestion with the caveat that it don't work for EVERY student:

Forget perfection. Like the pre-boiling pot, don't watch it. Like a playful puppy, the more you "ignore" Perfection and just go with it, the closer the puppy will come to you till finally it's cuddled up in your lap, asleep. (Disregard the above if you plan to become a concert pianist!)

Next, re-shape your practice time: ALWAYS have stuff on the music desk that's "yours" and not part of the regular lesson source (think of it as supplementary materials.)

You might focus less on rote and drills and more on melody and fun (as long as it doesn't interfere with what you HAVE TO get done before the next week's lesson!)

Have a piece on your desk that is easy and fun, and have one that's just a weee bit beyond where you are right now so you'll have to stretch a bit (but not so difficult that you become frustrated and give up. If you find that your difficult piece is TOO difficult, just file it in your music files for "later when I'm a little better" and revisit every couple of months.)

The secret is to enjoy.

Like kinky sex and diet food: if it's "painful" it ends up costing you more in the long run

Why can't you do both ?

Just carve out a bit of time each day to do pianomagic type stuff, and then keep working on your lessons also.

If you like what you're getting out of the lessons, and you like playing pianomagic style also, you should absolutely do both.

i agree, why not just do both? you can always do something different from your lesson stuff on the side.

i never have a jerome kern or cole porter or victor herbert fake book far from "regular" music.

Sightreading is so tedious for me. I have to take frequent breaks and jam. Sometimes I even turn on the auto-accompaniment and do one-finger stuff just to blow off steam.

Just played one this a.m. as a matter of fact:

Music to Watch Girls By."

as the song says - "My oh my!"

Dang it now I have to go find that music. I'm going to be humming that song all day and dancing around in little Bossa-Nova steps.

Cozy I have it in a fake if you want me to e-mail it to you.

I'll find the song on iTunes and then write it out. I feel suddenly groovy!

i was playing it all day. your post made it where it didn't go out of MY HEAD.