I came to the piano late, via the saxophone, then guitar, before deciding to attempt the piano, which, by the way, is harder to play than either the sax or guitar. I shunned my parentsā piano in an attempt to be cool by embracing Beatlemania, joining a band, not realizing that if I had leaned more towards guys like Bill Evans and Dave Brubeck, I would have been the coolest kid in the school.
I donāt play Bach, Chopin, or any serious classical, and the metronome and I are not friends. I try to play what are commonly known as āStandardsā, and mostly ballads. I figure out tunes by blowing up sheet music on a 24 inch monitor, 2 or 3 lines at a time, and have at it. Some tunes I just put together from memory, by ear. I make lots of mistakes, both when trying to learn a tune, and even after I feel I can just sit down and play it. And I make mistakes on songs I āknowā when I hit the record button. So, Iām actually better than I sound on any of my recordings. But I have no way of proving that.
I get bored with learning just one tune, so I work on 3, 4, 5, or 6 at a time, although not always in the same practice session. Sometimes, a tune clicks, and I make rapid progress; sometimes not. But my method for handling mistakes, or difficult parts, is to play from the previous measure VERY SLOWLY, then add measures, then play the whole line, then 2 lines, etc. I donāt count how many times Iāve made a mistake, nor how many times Iāve played the song correctly all the way through. Putting a number on things I try to play would surely end in giving up, not just the tune, but the piano.
For me, learning a tune starts with being able to āplay itā in my head, so I know exactly how I want it to sound; not always possible with sheet music, but hearing the song right, goes a long way toward playing it right. I spend āvirtual practice timeā by hearing songs in my head, while doing other things, away from the piano. This helps a lot when I sit down to play, but may not work for everyone. Some songs Iāve tried to learn just donāt come together, and I move on to another song. Maybe someday, if I become a better player, Iāll revisit them.
Iām envious of those of you who have a human piano teacher that you can learn with.
Aside from being able to āhearā the piece, is knowing whether or not I have the fundamental ability to actually play the piece. Many times a part is difficult only because I havenāt worked on technique, a certain scale, maybe, to comfortably execute the part. So, having the technical aspects sorted out, like scales and chord structure, will allow a player to play more than just the piece in question. I know, scales and chords can be boring. But all music is made up of pieces of scales and chords, and if youāre familiar with them, your fingers will feel the similarities when those bits pop up in songs.
In Malcolm Gladwellās book, The Tipping Point, he talks about the āten-thousand hourā rule, pointing out that people (including musicians) who have spent that much time working at their craft become exceptional. Those of us who havenāt spent that much time at the piano can cut ourselves plenty of slack. Take a deep breath. Enjoy your time at the piano.
