Let's Go Back to The Beginning...

​Why did you start playing the piano? 

Listen to your first response...what comes into your head as the answer to that question? 

• Did you want to become a professional pianist?
• Did you want to learn how to play a song that you love from your favorite band?
• Did you do it just to add in a hobby?
• Do you have to learn piano as a part of your college degree requirements?

Now...think about where you are on that journey, and how close are you to achieving your original goal? 

Maybe you've surpassed your original goal and you're moving on to harder challenges as you're able to play more on the piano. Maybe you're still working on a couple of things that seem to be holding back your growth. 

Sometimes it is really good...to just pull back and observe how you're doing with your piano playing and whether it's really adding quality to your life. It's important to do this in a nonjudgmental way so you'll really benefit from what you discover. We tend to be very self critical as human beings so it's important that you avoid this while you are doing this exercise. 

First off...look at things like this. 
Since the time that you first started playing the piano...

• Have you learned to read music?
• Have you learned what a time signature and a key signature is?
• Do you know what a chord is?
• Can you play any scales on your piano yet?
• How many pieces have you learned already?
•  Can you play any minor scales?
• Do you know where all of your notes are on your piano keyboard?
• Are you practicing a little each day?

Answering "yes" to any or all of these items will definitely help you see how far you have come since you first started playing the piano. If there are a couple that you haven't accomplished yet, try adding them in to your daily work so you can check them off. 

Next, we want to look at things that are challenging to you at the present time. Things like:

• Playing evenly with both hands together
• Reading all of your notes without hesitating
• Using the foot pedals
• Counting more complex rhythms and time signatures
• Reading different types of chords and inversions
• Sight reading harder music

Whatever is making you stumble in your playing...make note of it so you can devise a plan to master those challenges in the coming weeks and months. 

Finally, we want to go back to the question at the top of this post...why did you really start to play the piano? This has to do more with the "big picture" than the literal aspects of physically playing...this has to do with your heart and your dreams, and why you felt led to the piano in the first place. 

Notice that the journey is double-layered, so to say. There's the physical part...which is necessary because it brings your dreams into reality. We practice because it helps us play better...we have to do that so the inner dream can have a vessel to flow out into the world through. 

Your attention to the physical part on a daily basis will keep the bigger picture in front of you, and the big picture will be your inspiration! 

Did you want to learn piano so that you could play professionally? Then keep your eye focused on that while you put in the amount of practicing you need to do, to accomplish that. Before you know it, someone will ask you to play for their wedding or to accompany one of their students in a recital. 

Did you want to learn your favorite song from a band? Great! Find sheet music for it...learn to play the scale that the song is in, practice that...learn any chords that you need to, and you'll be ready to learn the song. After that, you'll know how to do this and learning another one of your favorite songs will be even easier!

Do you want to become the pianist in your church? Practice music out of your hymnal. 

You see how checking in with both the physical aspects and the inner desire of your piano playing needs to happen together? They are intertwined and actually support each other's growth. 

The main points here, are to go back to the beginning when you first decided to learn the piano and either reconnect with that dream, or engage with it in a stronger way. Remember that it helps you to keep at the daily work that is needed to reach that goal. 

Also keep a check list of where you are in the specifics of playing. It can even help to write down what Key Signatures you know and then add in the new ones to your list as you learn them too. Do the same with rhythms, chords, really just about everything including the pieces and exercises that you have already learned. 

Acknowledge the growth you've accomplished! <---that's really important. It doesn't help us, to only see what we still need to do. The discouragement that we feel from this will hide our original goal from us...so be brave, and be willing to give yourself a pat on the back. 

And as always...stay Tuned to PianoLessonsOnTheWeb as we share your dream and goal of learning to play the piano!


 

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