Piano Question

Chopin's etudes are just as educational, so why choose Hannon, which is boring, over something beautiful such as Chopin? Not only that, but Chopin WROTE his music in the best interest of a pianists fingers since he composed by improvising on the piano. So although his music seems hard, it is actually quite easy to play. I have learned that playing pieces that you really enjoy listening to can help motivate someone to practice instead of dreading it. If you choose Hannon, you most likely will dread to practice...but that is of course MY opinion.......

If you are a beginner, you probably should start off with some kind of grade level 1 piano book and play simple, but fun pieces. These pieces are edited for beginners.....because even easy Mozart pieces can be quite difficult for a beginner. Sure, learn the scales, key signatures, but play simple pieces so it looks like you are progressing. As you play more pieces, you will learn to pick up key signatures anyway. If you blindly learn key signatures and scales, you WILL forget. However, if you can associate a piece you learned to a scale or key signature, you will remember it much better.

I'd have to agree with Chopin here.

If you are a beginner, you probably should start off with some kind of grade level 1 piano book and play simple, but fun pieces. These pieces are edited for beginners.....because even easy Mozart pieces can be quite difficult for a beginner. Sure, learn the scales, key signatures, but play simple pieces so it looks like you are progressing. As you play more pieces, you will learn to pick up key signatures anyway. If you blindly learn key signatures and scales, you WILL forget. However, if you can associate a piece you learned to a scale or key signature, you will remember it much better.

And also: listen to music from genre your aiming for, and listen to various artists' interpretations of the pieces. And if you're a beginner, I strongly recommend learning by the intervalic method.

I actually picked up the piano with a fakebook, and then started the classical method later on.

Yes, fakebooks are good. Particularly as a guitar player, you'll want to know the chords sooner rather than later.

Scales, arpeggios, chords, cadences, scales in octaves/3rds/6ths/10ths, Hanon, Pischna, Dohnanyi, and Czerny... the essentials to obtain a solid technique. Start SLOW. Too many people make the mistake of wanting to play fast, and they sacrafice clarity and control for their speed..... definitely not a good way to start. Piano takes patience, and focused work.

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.

Yupp i agree with chap, Hanon is really good.
And you should know the basic scales:
C Major/minor, C# (Db) Major/minor, D major/minor, D# (Eb) major/minor, E major/minor, F major/minor, F# (Gb) major/ minor, G major/minor, G# (Ab) major/minor, A major/minor, A# (Bb) Major/minor, B major/minor.

This should give you a nice base, there are of course other scales, but the basics should be enough in the beginning.

I would memorize the all the keys, and start scales going up the in the circle of fifths. My first piece was... Well actually, it was some kiddy pieces from a little book I found, but I really started playing at Fur Elise, which is a piece I really liked playing and had fun throughout it. I also started with Czerny excersies. Take stuff slow, keep your fingers flat while you play, and play lightly and loosely. If you tighten up your entire hand to play, it'll come out with you gritting your teeth for every note.

Oh, and one more thing. Have fun!

- By the way, I think Chopin etudes are quite difficult. I don't think they'd be good for beginners, but they do give good techniques. I wasn't aware there were many easy ones. I would start with some easier stuff first.