Why Some Piano Students Fail and Others Thrive | One Simple Thing That Makes All the Difference

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@FingersKungfu 2 ай бұрын

Thank you for sharing your teacher's perspective. When I started piano as an adult, I was always comparing myself to other people's progress. I also set rather ambitious goals for myself. And then I learned that many adult beginners are too ambitious and they eventually get burned out and quit. I since then resolved to have one single goal: that I'll never quit playing no matter what. It turned out to be the most important goal for a beginning student, the "X factor" as you describe it. I also learned to listen to the teacher more carefully and follow his advices without questioning them (too much). Some piano techniques can be questionable (like always playing the black keys with "hook-shaped" finger). But every technical advice has its own reason, and when you discover that reason on your own, it can be pretty epiphany.

@TheTattooedPianoTeacher 2 ай бұрын

I love that you made that resolution. Thanks for sharing your story!

@silak33 2 ай бұрын

Start out forming a habit. It's not important to start out strong, it's more important to get into a rhythm that you don't break. - General advice about getting into anything really

@TheTattooedPianoTeacher 2 ай бұрын

Yes so true

@MsGailACM 2 ай бұрын

As a piano teacher currently taking guitar lessons I felt called out for a second in regard to how I am as a student. =) I definitely went from practicing everyday to just trying to noodle on exercises in my downtime/ keeping my guitar out in hopes that I pick it up. It's been good for me to get to know my habits as a student and then apply them to what I tell my students.

@TheTattooedPianoTeacher 2 ай бұрын

I have also taken lessons on an unfamiliar instrument as an adult and can attest to this experience!

@geraldquist2209 2 ай бұрын

This is really great information that is backed up by your own practical experience. Absolute GOLD! Thank you for posting this.

@TheTattooedPianoTeacher 2 ай бұрын

Thank you!!

@simonjhudson7378 2 ай бұрын

Due to my children growing up I had a lot of spare time on my hands so decided to go back to learning the guitar which I had played to a decent level at school some 35 years earlier. Every time I tried my previous experience got me quite far and quickly until I hit Barre chords. When I was at school I had been able to play them but couldn't get them right again and it became so frustrating that I would put the guitar to one side for a day or two and this would then turn into a month or two until I picked it up again and started trying to play until I once again reached that point in the cycle and this went on for a few years. I then decided to give the piano a try which having never played it before, has been tough from the outset. However I think because of that I'm handling difficult elements a lot better and I think it's kind of a snowball effect (Maybe virtuous cycle is a more appropriate phrase for it). Because I hit a problem earlier with basic skills, it wasn't as big of a block to work through. For example after only a week or two I was having real difficulties with pieces with quavers but after a few lessons where I appeared to make no progress I managed to work through it. Since then I have had many progressively harder problems but because of getting through difficulties earlier ,when a harder problem arises I already have the encouragement that I had pushed past a problem before. It seems to feel that the later in your progress you encounter something tough, the harder it is to get through it and subsequently the chance of giving up is higher. While if you struggle early on with things that are more easily resolved you get to build up a lot more resilience for when you encounter tougher problems. Anyway that's my experience. Might be interesting to see if this has remained the case in a few years time ;)

@TheTattooedPianoTeacher 2 ай бұрын

I appreciate your in-depth assessment of your experience with guitar and piano. That is interesting to think about the piano presenting ongoing challenges whereas the guitar can seem easy to progress quickly up to a certain point. Best of luck in your piano journey! ("Virtuous cycle"...brilliant, love it 😄)

@WaynePower-jf6gj 2 ай бұрын

I love your videos, you are a motivator, i been learning piano for sense 2007. I have a teacher once a week and i am making progress but its super slow. Keep posting thanks.

@TheTattooedPianoTeacher 2 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for your encouragement! Hopefully your teacher is also encouraging you in your progress. Keep going and I'll keep posting. 😄

@eschiedler 2 ай бұрын

Very nice video. As a grade school student, I listening to a lot of classical and world music, and took a lot of piano lessons but I just never had any interest in the piano or any instrument and I pretty much ignored it. I strongly disliked adults asking me to play or practice and never liked recitals. This is despite being a straight A honors student that graduated #2 in my class. What I did get out of it was a near instant ability to type on a typewriter or keyboard and a lot of hand finger dexterity that I still use for other tasks. Hope that anecdote helps your students.

@TheTattooedPianoTeacher 2 ай бұрын

Interesting! I am a fast typer...could this be why? 😅 Thanks for sharing!

@lawrencetaylor4101 2 ай бұрын

I started after 65 yoa with zero musical experience. Choir teachers told me until 2nd y Secondary school to move my lips and not make a sound. In University summer school, my opera singer friend encouraged me to at least get a stage voice. The Singing Professor asked me my range, I told her I didn't know. After plunking notes on the high, middle and low ends, several times, she asked if it was too late to be reimbursed. It was. She apologized and tried to teach me the fundamentals, but the damage was done. 2 zears ago, I looked at a piano teacher on the web, paused the video and bought a piano. Since then I have two lessons a week with two different teachers. I breezed through John Thompson Book 1, then was in Book 2, but was having problems. So I went back to book one. Several times, and am now really learning musicality. And I'm starting to sing. In fact, for the last two songs in JT, I sang them when I had problems playing them, and now I'm ready to start into Book 2 (again!!). Am I happy with my progress? No, I am chuffed.

@TheTattooedPianoTeacher 2 ай бұрын

I love that you found your own path and are making progress! Be encouraged that JT 2nd Grade progresses quickly...you're doing great. Thanks for sharing your story!

@thepianoplayer416 2 ай бұрын

As good as a teacher can be, ultimately it's up to the student or the parents of a child to decide whether he/she should continue with music lessons. People pay to have lessons with a teacher and the cost can be expensive for some people. Some would choose to learn on their own using either a program like "Piano Marvel", "Simply Piano" or "Flowkey". In the beginning many people rely on the teacher for instructions. They learn to play by reading sheet music. There are many factors involved when comparing 2 people using a simplified set of criteria. Some people are good at reading music while others play well by ear.

@philipp3174 2 ай бұрын

Okay great. So for me as an ADHD patient, I have mostly all of the traits on the left side of your list but a desperate lack of consistency. 😅 So any advices to cope with this are very appreciated. Making plans, or reserve timespots or whatever is useful or neurotypical people is not the solution.

@shaunreich 2 ай бұрын

Best advices for that is find ways to keep it exciting. You are doing to lose interest playing through method books all the time. You have to in order to get decent, but you should definitely have songs that inspire you. Also, Begin immersing yourself in the skill, this applies to anything, but once you immerse yourself for example subscribing and watching piano KZbin videos that are teaching you topics. Not the same as practicing but at least what you are consuming is keeping your brain thinking about it. Maybe even getting excited about it. Maybe once a week you see a video from some piano guy playing songs from the latest TV show you like... Other things is, you need to reduce the friction. Keep your instrument out in a place that you can play it. Make sure everything is ready to go before you actually sit down to practice. If you sit down and you don't know what to practice, you've already lost, the hardest part especially ADHD is starting and then maintaining after novelty. Also use pomodoro timers. A lot of people make the mistake of sitting down and spending an hour or two straight. Then they're so burnt out. But also, it's not even the way brains learn well. They work best by 20-30 min sessions which can then form "check points"of learning, where it seems to save and recall better. Break up your practice throughout the day too. I probably have some other tips but that should get you started. Also, ideally get lessons as that'll hold you accountable and maybe keep you regularly interested

@TheTattooedPianoTeacher 2 ай бұрын

Awesome advice, @shaunreich

@TheTattooedPianoTeacher 2 ай бұрын

I hear that. And I totally understand that there is no magic solution for consistency that works for everyone. Consistency is great, of course, but honestly not giving up is more important, if that makes sense. It's easy to feel so discouraged that you haven't touched your instrument in weeks--that's where most give up because they feel like they've failed. But bursts of practice followed by periods of "drought" is better than giving up entirely! Thanks for sharing!

@JervisGermane 2 ай бұрын

I'm guessing anyone who's being forced to learn against their will is bound to fail. That's always been my excuse, anyway.

@vrusimov917 2 ай бұрын

I don't know how much you can really do...or how far you can go on 5 - 10 minutes per day. If 10,000 hrs marks an expert/advanced level then you would simply NEVER reach it on 60 hrs per year (if it's every day per year). It would really be a waste of money on lessons (if that's the case). It would take 5 - 10 minutes just to warm up the fingers...before any real work even begins.

@FingersKungfu 2 ай бұрын

That scenario alludes to 5 - 10 minutes as a beginning student. The moral of the story is that you don't quit even if you don't have time. As you progress, you will put in more practice time. When I started piano, I read that 1 hour a day is enough. But two years into the lesson, if you want to improve in all areas, you'll need three hours daily.

@TheTattooedPianoTeacher 2 ай бұрын

I see your point and I agree 5-10 minute practice sessions are not ideal for growth, but it does amaze me how much students can accomplish with tenacity and consistency despite limited time to spare. Years ago I did an experiment to see if 5 minutes of practice a day could really accomplish anything. I ended up learning and partially memorizing a Ravel piece over the course of a month. Granted I already had experience at the piano, but I was quite surprised myself.