Please, help me to make a decission on my learning path

Danieru

Hi,

I am coming back to piano after a long break. I have a background in piano jazz and classical, but never took formal piano lessons with a teacher, only a few lessons of jazz piano. At the moment I can play pieces from grade 3 with ease (RCM grade)

I have purchased a tonebase lifetime subscription. After some time using it I have realised that it has been a terrible decision because there is not much content for early intermediate, the gap between pieces is too wide, and the quality of the tutorials is actually not better that many free tutorials you can find for free in youtube, at least at my level. Also, the technical support is poor, taking 1 week to get an answer even when they advertise 24h. It has been more than a month and they have not added any new video on repertoire, only webinars. I have requested a refund.

I believe I am really good at self teaching (my jazz piano teacher was impressed). I am making good progress at the moment on my own. When I make mistakes, it is because of memory slips (I am a bad sight reader) but never because it feels difficult. I feel I can make progress on my own, but at the same time it feels a very lonely journey so I think I am seeking courses more for a motivation rather than for a real need.

Now the decision, when I take my money back from tonebase:

Piano TV School: I really like her style and enjoyed the reading of her book on designing your diano path. She does weekly video review of students playing for feedback. I have considered other options. Piano Career Academy looks great but it is too expensive for me.
Take1h/month lesson in person for guidance (this is my budget)
Continue on my own and send videos to teachers for feedback, at my own pace.

During my little experience with in person jazz lessons I noticed that I got nervous and performed way below my real level, so I think I would not take full advantage of in persons lessons and for my particular case I think videos would work better. So option 1 is at the moment my choice

My goal is to play for myself in my room as hobby. Classical for some years ahead but coming back to jazz at some point in the future.

I understand that nobody can decide for me but maybe somebody went through similar situation and want to share her/his experience.

Thank you for reading so long.

Animisha

Danieru at the same time it feels a very lonely journey

When you work with a teacher, it feels much less lonely.
I would advice you to take a look at Preply. Search for music, specialty piano. There are some teachers there who charge as little as 12-15 usd for a lesson. Sure with this price you can afford a teacher every two weeks, or even more often?
If you would like a personal recommendation for a really good teacher (25 usd for a lesson), tell me and I will send you a PM.

Another thing you can do is ask for a piano buddy here on the forum. You may find someone with whom to talk about practising the piano, and whatever else may come up. I had that a couple of years ago. We lost contact, but it was lovely.

Animisha

Danieru After some time using it I have realised that it has been a terrible decision because there is not much content for early intermediate,

PS Thank you for this feedback. I've been glancing at Tonebase to see if it's something for me, I now realise that, at least for the moment, it's not for me. Yet! 😉

Pallas

Animisha I now realise that, at least for the moment, it's not for me. Yet! 😉

Same. I really appreciated the feedback on Tonebase.

Simonb

Hi Danieru

Firstly don't beat yourself up over making mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes.... and to some degree everyone gets nervous.

If your wish is to take Classical seriously for a few years, I would advise you to find a Teacher and have one to one (in person) lessons once a month. More when you can afford it. I find lessons once a fortnight works really well for me.

In terms of non-classical (Jazz, Blues, Rock) I think you can make better progress without the need for a Teacher. In that area I'm largely self-taught, and although I'm certainly nowhere near professional, I've done lots of gigs (150+) over the decades in those genres and would be happy to give you advice. But that would be a long long post, so PM me if that's of interest to you.

Cheers

Danieru

Thanks all for your replies.

I would like to clarify about the beginner to intermediate content in tonebase that the problem is on the repertoire at that levels, not for technique and music theory, where you can find a lot of information for all levels. But repertoire is key for me.

BartK

Definitely in-person lessons are the best choice. The immediate feedback if you do something incorrectly is something you can't replace with any video. Remote lessons are slightly worse because the teacher can't see and hear exactly the same way as in-person but it's still better than videos.

About performing worse in person, that is true of everyone. Teachers know about it and can see through it despite the errors. Don't worry about it.

Stub

One-on-one lessons will be your best investment in time and money, imo. Twice a month would be better than once a month, but even once a month will be helpful. You will in effect be self-teaching for a good portion of the month, but you will have an in-person tutorial where you can bring your questions, problems, and get feedback on those "you don't know what you don't know" issues. As for playing not up to your level for the teacher, that is common and even anticipated phenomenon. My own take on that is that, in reality, I'm somewhere between what I feel is my "real" level (how I play at home) and how I play for the teacher (mistakes). Playing for the teacher stress tests my playing and is perhaps a more true measure of how firm and deep my abilities are with a particular piece. I long ago resolved not to say "I played that better at home" because I know my teacher hears it a lot. I have been pretty good at keeping my resolve. I do sometimes say, "I can do better. May I try that again?" That gives me a moment to draw a deep breath and refocus--and play it better the second time through.