https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p00zsi71t6I This YouTube video, titled "How To Start Learning The Piano - Self Taught!" by Matthew Cawood, offers comprehensive advice for individuals who want to learn the piano without a teacher. The creator, having learned self-taught himself, aims to share insights on what he would …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p00zsi71t6I This YouTube video, titled "How To Start Learning The Piano - Self Taught!" by Matthew Cawood, offers comprehensive advice for individuals who want to learn the piano without a teacher. The creator, having learned self-taught himself, aims to share insights on what he would do differently and how to avoid common pitfalls.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Self-Taught Learning * Advantages: Self-taught learning allows you to play what you want and is cheaper than learning with a teacher. * Disadvantages: Without a teacher, you may not know what you need to learn, and you can run into long-term problems if you don't understand key concepts or skip important practice elements like sight-reading. The video aims to alleviate these disadvantages.
What You Need to Get Started 1. An Instrument: It's best to get a digital or acoustic piano with 88 weighted keys and a sustain pedal. An instrument with these features will last a long time. 2. A Clear Goal: You need an idea of what you want to achieve by playing the piano. This could range from being able to play songs you like, reaching Grade 8 piano, or using the piano for music production and theory. Your goal should dictate what you learn; for example, learning to work out songs by ear is different from reading a Bach Prelude.
Setting Goals for Motivation To stay committed and motivated, the video recommends setting three types of goals: * Long-term Goals: These should take around 6 months to a year to complete (e.g., taking a graded piano exam or learning a Beethoven Sonata). They are typically outcome-related. * Short-term Goals: These should be input-based, focusing on what you actually do, rather than the outcome. An example is practicing four times for 30 minutes this week. * Very Short-term Goals: These are also input-related and focus on what you will do today. * Goal Alignment: Very short-term goals should serve your short-term goals, and short-term goals should serve your long-term goals. For instance, if your long-term goal is Grade 1 piano in six months, a short-term goal might be to practice 6 days a week for 30 minutes, and a very short-term goal might be to practice two scales and four bars of a piece today. * Continuous Goal Setting: Once a long-term goal is achieved, you should immediately set another achievable long-term goal to make practice a habit.
What to Learn What you learn depends on your goals, but there are five main categories: 1. Sheet Music Reading: This allows you to visually understand music and how composers intend for pieces to be played. Reading music expands your interpretation skills and provides more "tools". 2. Scales: Music is made from scales. Knowing scales (like major and minor) makes it easier to work out notes in a piece and helps you develop hand dexterity and automaticity with note patterns. 3. Chords: Learning common chord patterns (like triads or seventh chords) is crucial because they appear repeatedly. Recognizing these patterns allows your hand to automatically know where to go, as much of piano learning involves pattern recognition. Experienced musicians often see music as patterns rather than individual notes. 4. Music Theory: Understanding how music works makes it easier to write your own music, create transcriptions, or change keys to fit a vocal range. 5. Aural Skills (Listening Skills): This involves learning to hear different notes and their relationships, as well as how different chords sound. It's beneficial for improvising, playing with others, and working out music by ear.
Common Problems and Solutions The video highlights several common issues faced by self-taught pianists: * Tension: This is a major problem where hands may not do what you want, leading to forcing and rigidity. * Solution: Notice tension when it occurs (e.g., hands ache or become rigid). To combat general tension, practice scales by shaking or wobbling your hand with each note to prevent tensing. If tension occurs in specific parts of a piece, stop and wobble your hand on those notes. * Sitting Too High or Too Low: Incorrect posture can lead to awkward movements. * Solution: Your arms should be just over a right angle or 90 degrees at the piano, allowing your hands to sit comfortably without weird movements. * Using Weird Fingers: This happens when pianists don't plan their fingering. * Solution: Learning scales helps you learn correct finger usage. Generally, if you run out of fingers, you need to change the fingers you used earlier in the piece, rather than randomly jumping. Plan your fingering. * Looking at Hands Instead of Music: While not inherently bad, it hinders learning to read music and causes you to miss details. * Solution: Once you start to memorize a piece, consciously follow the music with your eyes rather than looking at your hands. * Covering Mistakes with the Sustain Pedal: Using the pedal can hide errors, preventing you from recognizing and fixing them. * Solution: Practice pieces with and without the sustain pedal. If mistakes are present without the pedal, fix them directly instead of relying on the pedal to cover them. * Trying to Learn Too Quickly: Forcing progress by attempting overly difficult pieces or skipping foundational steps leads to burnout and obvious deficiencies in playing. * Solution: Be careful not to skip too many things to get quicker results. * Using Stickers on the Piano: Stickers prevent you from learning the keys themselves and associating notes with specific keys. * Solution: The recommendation is not to use stickers on the piano.
Recommended Resources * YouTube Videos: * "Piano From Scratch" channel: Has a good first lesson for absolute beginners on key location. * "Musicians Inspired" channel: Explains the Landmark system, which is considered the best method for learning to read sheet music and note locations. * Matthew Cawood's own channel: Offers a "complete guide to using the piano pedals" and "top 10 most asked piano questions". He also has videos on how to learn to play by ear. * Books: * It's Never Too Late to Play Piano by Pam Wedgewood: Recommended for adult beginners due to its clear explanations and appropriate pacing. * The Complete Me and My Piano Book: A good option for children. * Matthew Cawood's Sight Reading Book: Available on his website, it contains hundreds of progressively harder exercises to improve sight-reading ability, addressing the common problem of insufficient material in other books. * Music Theory Books: Discovering Music Theory series or Music Theory in Practice series by ABRSM. These follow a graded system (Grade 1 to 8), allowing beginners to start with Grade 1 and progress methodically. * Courses: * Udemy courses by Victoria Williams: Covers music theory grades and are well-explained. * Matthew Cawood is working on a "playing music by ear" course.
How to Keep Going and Improve Long-Term * Goal Setting: The initial excitement for a new skill can lead to burnout if you practice excessively. Setting long-term and short-term goals helps with accountability and prevents burnout. * Recording Progress: Record yourself playing monthly or weekly to visibly track your improvement. You could even start a YouTube channel to document your journey. * Quantifying Success: Set measurable challenges, like a "60-day challenge" to practice 30 minutes daily for 60 days, to clearly see if you succeeded. * Getting Feedback: * Join Facebook groups with other beginner pianists for peer feedback. * Ask other musicians for their feedback. * Ask questions in the video's comments or book a session through the creator's website for personalized improvement advice.