Reentering the World of Music

[Cheeniyil Ramachandran]

I should be very grateful if anyone could review my case and advice on how to proceed. I have learned electronic keyboard for many years. By that, I mean music with accompaniment and block chords on left hand. I went up to the third grade in Trinity Guildhall, but I was very envious of Piano players I used to see around me. However, before I could start my lessons in those, I got busy with life, and I have been away from instruments  for about five years now. I have a fairly good understanding of music theory. I miss playing, and I wish to return to it with either Piano lessons or Violin lessons. I know they are completely different beasts, but, those are the instruments I am most fascinated by, and I should love to be able to one day play anything on either (or, wishfully, on both). I am now in a position where I can afford to rent a Piano, and I went through a lot of blogs online and was scared by all the statements they make, particularly about the decades it takes to become a decent player on the instrument. My left hand never became flexible as a pianist, and I never got much good at sight reading. That being said, those are the only two major issues I have facing me now. I shall turn 26 now, and I expect to be stationary in my location for at least the next five years. I really love the idea of renting a piano and taking lessons, but, given that I shall only have around 2 hours per day to practice, I am a bit nervous about the whole endeavour. Having heard all that, where would you say I stand in the spectrum of Piano students? If on the other hand I decide to take up Violin lessons for now, there is the fact that I am left handed and there will be some sort of learning curve for the tutor themselves as for myself to teach such a student. Violin, I am told, is a difficult instrument to master, and I am not sure whether my schedule would allow me enough time for that. But, I could be wrong. By the way, I am currently located in Brussels, so if anyone is in the locality who can tell me in detail about these things in person, that would be amazing too!

[Michan]

Hi Cheeniyil!

 

I would recommend you to do whatever you feel more motivated to do. Having said this, I really believe that, since you have more experience with piano, it will be much easier for you to take it.

 

When I was a child I learn to play organ (that it's slightly similar to electronic keyboard) during just 2 years, and when I got older (more than 10 years later), I picked up piano, and just because I had some skills in hands from the organ, I learnt to play super fast, and after a couple of months in lessons they put me with second year piano students. There are lots of books with activities to get hand training and also for improving sight reading speed.

 

Also, with piano, if you can get an electronic one for your place, with weighed keys, you can also practice at home with headphones at "weird" times, and increase your practice time. Casio and Yamaha have quite good pianos like this, for about 600 euro, with sustain pedal and sometimes capacity to implement the soft pedal and sostenuto (but you wont need these ones most of the times, at least at first). You can can do "acoustic" piano maybe a couple of days per week in an studio, if any available, and/or in your lessons.

 

For becoming a professional able to play perfectly a piece at first sight you need a lot of time and practice, but for being able to properly play the songs you like it's not that complicated, it's just matter of practice. After 2 years of piano I performed Inventio 14 from Bach (not a difficult one, but nor easy neither) quite successfully in my school concert! It took me a lot of effort to do it properly, but with teacher's help, motivation and practice everything is possible!

[Cheeniyil Ramachandran]

On 3/25/2019 at 6:15 AM, Michan said:

Hi Cheeniyil!

 

I would recommend you to do whatever you feel more motivated to do. Having said this, I really believe that, since you have more experience with piano, it will be much easier for you to take it.

 

When I was a child I learn to play organ (that it's slightly similar to electronic keyboard) during just 2 years, and when I got older (more than 10 years later), I picked up piano, and just because I had some skills in hands from the organ, I learnt to play super fast, and after a couple of months in lessons they put me with second year piano students. There are lots of books with activities to get hand training and also for improving sight reading speed.

 

Also, with piano, if you can get an electronic one for your place, with weighed keys, you can also practice at home with headphones at "weird" times, and increase your practice time. Casio and Yamaha have quite good pianos like this, for about 600 euro, with sustain pedal and sometimes capacity to implement the soft pedal and sostenuto (but you wont need these ones most of the times, at least at first). You can can do "acoustic" piano maybe a couple of days per week in an studio, if any available, and/or in your lessons.

 

For becoming a professional able to play perfectly a piece at first sight you need a lot of time and practice, but for being able to properly play the songs you like it's not that complicated, it's just matter of practice. After 2 years of piano I performed Inventio 14 from Bach (not a difficult one, but nor easy neither) quite successfully in my school concert! It took me a lot of effort to do it properly, but with teacher's help, motivation and practice everything is possible!

Thank you, Michan! 🙂 I feel a lot more comfortable with the idea now that I have had such encouragement. I think I shall be leasing an upright piano here, for it seem really a reasonable thing to spend around 80 to 120 euro per month to have an instrument for practice whenever you need. Once I find a good instructor, I am all set! 🙂