How long will it take me to play piano well if i continue…?
If I continue at the rate I am going. I’m 15 and my teacher is using Alfred’s Basic Piano library the « recital » book and the « lesson » book. I’m currently on Book 3 of both of them and I have only been playing for two months.
I keep hearing things like you can’t play well unless you’ve been playing for years and years and year which is understandable, but since I am putting in 2 hours daily to practice do you think I will eventually catch up before college? I’m a sophomore.
Thanks! I know it’s a hard question to answer since you don’t know and haven’t seen me play.
This is an interesting question. I grew up in a musical family and I’ve played for longer than I can remember! I was even working « professionally » (getting paid) while still in high school. I was in college before I realized that I wasn’t that good and really didn’t know much about music. I was always around music but didn’t pay that much attention. I could « play » several instruments, but I started running into people in college who could play so much better than I could. I even taught several people to play guitar because I had taken about a year’s worth of lessons. Two of the people I taught were playing better than me in less than a year!
The moral to this story is that your interest and desire will help you reach your goals. If you are really practicing two hours a day, you are ahead of most people! If you really like music and want to become a better player, it will not take that long. You won’t have any trouble catching up to the college level if you keep working like that. If you like it and want it, you will keep working. As you get older, you will probably find it even easier to focus on your practicing.
An interesting aside, because I have thought about this a lot: I realized I had to work at it if I really wanted to play. Then I found it was not so much like « work », and after many years of practice, I still enjoy learning more about piano. But some people don’t have to « work » on it. In my professional career I have been surprised by several people who had no formal training on an instrument but could just sit down and play! One guy as a teenager, with his family, frequently stayed at the resort hotel where I played in my father’s band. One day, this young guy said to himself, « I can do that. » He sat down at the piano and played with no effort at all. Years later, as an adult and a medical doctor who had a practice on the East Coast and on the West Coast, he revisited us at the hotel and played with our band. He played just like my father! And quite well. He did take some formal lessons down the road, but he started out with just the desire and interest. Now he also has a jazz group on the East Coast and on the West Coast. I have met others as gifted as he is, young ones and older ones.
By the way, I have also taught piano, and the Alfred system is very good!
Alfred’s Basic Piano Recital Level 2, Rondo
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1 PARTITION ANCIENNE MON RECITAL POUR PIANO ALFRED FRANCAIX €2.80 |
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Alfred’s Basic Piano Library Recital Book Level 1A Willard Palmer Morton Manus A €12.47 |
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Alfred’s Basic Piano Library Recital Book Level 1B Willard Palmer Morton Manus A €12.31 |
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Alfred’s Basic Piano Library, Piano Recital Book Level 2 Willard Palmer Morton M €12.47 |
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Les Grands Pianistes du XXème siècle (Brendel I) €16.98 … |
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Historic Organs of Montreal €21.99 … |
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Piano Works €41.50 … |
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Alfreds Basic Piano Recital Book Level 3 … |
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Alfred’s Basic Piano Library: Recital Book Level 1B €2.27 The Recital Books congratulate students for a job well done by providing correlated repertoire to their Lesson Books that are based on concepts they’ve already learned. As a result, the pieces are quickly mastered. Included in Recital 1B are the folk tunes Camptown Races and For He’s A Jolly Good Fellow, and imaginative originals like The Elephant and the Flea and March of the Extra-Terrestrials…. |
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Piano Recital Book Complete Level 1 €2.69 … |
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Alfred’s Basic Piano Library: Recital Book Level 1A €2.36 … |