Ravel's Radical Rivalry

I wrote this out for a different question. I thought it applied here so I copied and pasted it. I think it is good advice for any beginning piano student.

Find a teacher - a very good one who will work with you in all aspects of technique, sight reading, theory, ear training, scales and arrgeggio exercises. You will always need to run through the infamous "scales and arrpeggios" even after college. If you stay fresh with those then you will be able to spot runs and things in music and be able to play it effortlessly with the correct fingering. Also, the more theory you know the better off you are. You can read chords and key signatures, time meters and modes much more efficiently with the theory. Do not strictly play by ear. It is so hard to reteach yourself rythmn and counting when you are stuck on playing by ear. Just don't do it. DO NOT DO IT ON YOUR OWN. You may be able to plunk out some notes afterwards, but you will not be able to recognize your own faults and you will not grow musically. If you also start to notice that your hands tire to easily and you seem to be loosing speed then you are in trouble. This means that your hands are not relaxed while you play; i.e. your hands are full of tension while stretching for octaves and playing the scales and arrpeggios. This is bad because you can start to develope joint/muscular problems in your hands - even carpal tunnel syndrome if you continue for a long period playing with poor techinique.

The only other thing is always play classical recital pieces. You can play something "fun" in between, but you should learn to play the masters works all the time. However I think the classical masterpieces are the most fun to play anyway. For instance, Chopin and Rachmaninoff - Beethoven and Mozart - Bach and Rachmaninoff all give you Etudes and things that are perfect studies within themselves. All you need to do is sit down with some great music and a well-educated piano teacher and give it all the effort you've got.

By the way, start with those korny basics books like the Alfred series, *sigh*, but as you progress abandon them and start studying specific classical pieces for what they are most diffucult. Chopin's Etudes are great piano studys (of course because an Etude is a study and Chopin wrote his Etudes for his piano students. Could you imagine Chopin as a piano instructor?!) Look to apply all of your technic, theory, chord, arrpeggio, and scale knowledge to each piece you study. Also, you should get to the point that you can learn the notes and fingering and technical aspects of a piece in at max a week. The real work and fun is in the musicality of your playing. That is what should take center stage. I like to learn the notes, dynamics, and fingering and all the technical aspects first (and do it as quickly as possible), and then settle down for a real study of the personality of the piece, and the composer himself. It is never harmful to read up on a short biography or sumation of the composer you are playing at the moment.