Thanks Davina! Learning without direct help is tough for sure but it also feels more rewarding whenever you succeed at something. You keep your journey up too :)
I love your energy and enthusiasm! I think that you have achieved a lot in your year of learning to play the piano. Speaking as a piano teacher myself I would strongly recommend that you have a teacher! Did a lot of self teaching when I was first starting out and I ended up developing some bad habits that turned into strain injuries later down the line. After studying at university with a teacher focussed on technique things got a lot easier for me and I was able to return to a good amount of piano playing. The longer you leave mistakes the harder they become to undo. I can see from the video that there are aspects of your technique that will most likely create problems down the line. Also there are instances where you could be using a different technique to make things easier and more distinct at the piano. A perfect example is the Mozart that you played. You played with fluency and feeling and it came off well but I noticed that you were using your fingers for the Alberti bass passages. You could use a rotary technique instead. This will make it easier for you and also create a greater sense of the separate voices in the music. Your right hand finger technique seems pretty good but there are other aspects to your technique and posture that could really benefit from regular observation by a personal teacher. My strain injuries got so bad that I couldn't play for years and it was soul crushing for me. When I sorted out my technique problems and could go back to playing it was like being born again! Now I teach piano myself and I always focus on technique with the hope that my students won't have to face the same problems that I encountered. If a personal teacher is out of the question there are many videos on UA-cam that deal with proper posture and technique. PianoTV, Josh Wright, PianoLab and Graham Fitch and some of my favourite channels. Keep practising and all the best to you! You play with musicality and feeling which will serve you well in years to come but that is only part of the puzzle ;)
Hey, thank you for the compliment, I appreciate it! :) I hear you on the technique advice. There's definitely some areas where I recognize some tension such as my forearms and wrists, I don't use enough rotation to enable movement but rather just swing my entire arm around the place which isn't sustainable in more challenging pieces. Stiff upper body is another one. Anyways I do see the benefit in a teacher, however the costs for a qualified teacher here are astronomical. As a student, I can't afford this. You suggested a few channels which can help with this, I know Josh Wright and Graham Fitch but hadn't heard of the other two yet, I'll check them out! I do take posture and technique seriously as I know how devastating it'd be if an injury prevented me from playing. Will do my best to correct my technique. If I can't manage to do it myself, I might have to opt for a teacher.
@@thomaspiano I find videos by “Learn Piano with Jazer Lee” to be very helpful as well. Find a pianist that inspires you to play as well, they will motivate you to continue to get better. For example, Kyle Landry and Rousseau are my personal UA-cam inspirations! Listening to Kyle was what motivated me to work on more difficult pieces after I had plateaued for around 4 or 5 years straight, and then Rousseau inspired me to learn classical pieces.
We’re all headed to hell man. We need to trust in Jesus and that he died for our sins on the cross. I hope you think about this because just like me, you have sinned. And when you have to face God on judgment day you are going to be guilty. This is why you need to trust in Jesus alone and that he died for your sins on the cross. I pray you actually think about this. Much love.
Thanks Wendy! I fully agree, if someone puts their all into learning they can achieve a whole lot. Personally, I feel that I could've put more time and effort in than I did, but I'm happy with the result regardless.
Nice video and I recognize many pieces. The mozart sonata k545 is on my list to learn (already bought the Henle score) but at just 4 years learning it is beyond my ability. I learned a grade 5 piece called Elegy in Autumn by Arvids Zilinskis in my 2nd year without a teacher or other help - it was far from grade 5 skill and I only was able to learn it from good score reading skills (taught by teacher from day 1)...its just okay but I will return to it in years to come. I think learning from the score is of great value for performance directions and really understanding the structure of the piece.
You should be very proud of yourself!! The piano is a beautiful and very pleasuring instrument to be able to play. I like how you played He's a pirate, that theme was the reason, alongside Sadness and Sorrow, I first got interested in playing the piano. Very encouraging!
That's awesome to hear, thanks! Yeah both of those were some of my goal pieces when I started, didn't expect to be reaching so many of my goals so soon into my journey tbh, but then I didn't expect to play as much as I have either. For me there's a lot more piano goals out there. Enough to spend a lifetime achieving. I hope it's the same for you, good luck on the journey 😉
Congrats! You have showed great progress, especially for being self taught! I've been playing piano for 10 years and I love it. Keep up the great work.
I started off as an adult without a teacher. It's inspirational to see so many adults like yourself learning songs and enjoying music. In the video the piece that stands out is Beethoven "Fur Elise" which you included more than half the piece. The rest you only included up to 10 sec opening. You probably enjoy playing this piece more than others. A few years back I was at a party. At least half the people in the room took piano lessons. Some even passed conservatory levels. There was a keyboard in the room but nobody volunteered to play a song. Many people played for their teachers during lessons but are not comfortable performing in front of others or making recordings. I started making recordings early in the learning process. Not all the recordings sounded great but encouraged me to keep practicing. Keep up the good work...
It's OK to take a piano break I do and have been playing for decades. Yes, Mozart is very transparent. You can't hide any false notes they stick out even for veterans. .
Wow this is amazing, I've been playing for a year also but I'm not progressing that fast. 🙂 Are these pieces in a book where did you get the sheet music? thanks
Congrats to you for coming back to the piano! I tackled The Entertainer, my favorite piece, but it was too advanced for me I never really went back. Maybe someday...
Wow keep up the good work, so much respect for a fellow musician! I'm a firm believer it's never to late to start music, plus you're still very young. Been playing the piano since I was a kid but just took on the violin this year as a 33yo adult. In fact, my teacher actually started at your age and she's great! I am glad you had the courage and patience to show us your progress. I found a lot of myself in your video.
Fully agree, never too late to start! Taking up a new instrument is something I've considered a few times (and am likely to do in the future), sounds like a lot of fun -- good luck with it. Also love that story about your teacher, it's nice to see people who don't take the traditional route prove that it's possible by succeeding 😄
Thank you! I consider myself far too inexperienced to be selling any type of advice haha, just wanted to put my experience out there and hopefully inspire or motivate someone.
I love this. I’ve been playing piano since I was 6, and I too am completely self taught. You’re doing a fantastic job so far! Keep playing, I promise you’ll surprise yourself with what you are actually capable of playing when you put in the effort! Great job!
@@hotcat6687 I mean it’s not like I was a child prodigy or anything😂I believe I started teaching myself to read sheet music once I was about 8? Up until then I learned everything by ear, and then when I was 8 I applied that to the notes on sheet music in order to learn how to read the notes. I don’t have perfect pitch or anything, just had pure persistence lol.
Great job Thomas! I'm really impressed of what you managed to learn during only one year. Even though I don't have so much time to practice (work, kids, etc), I decided to buy a digital piano and start to play. Videos like yours are really motivating. Cheers!
This is literally me this year! Or at least, it will be me.. at the start of next year :D You did awesome! I hope my progress will be at least as well as yours was.
Looks like you made quite a good amount of progress! Excellent work here Thomas! You've covered a lot of great songs here and it's so cool that you tracked your progress this way. (:
Thanks Kalynn! Yeah I'm happy I chose to track it on video, helped motivate me a bunch throughout the year and it's something I'm sure I'll look back on fondly in a decade.
Really very impressed, Thomas … love your choice of music … engaging too. I’m now inspired to give it a go … thanks for posting. Best wishes, Steve, Bristol, UK
Wow! You progressed so much in just a year! Congratulations! I noticed in Arabesque...if there is a sharp, (or flat) it carries through for the entire measure, so if there is a G sharp, then the next G in measure is also a G sharp. Sharp does not need to be written in again. It carries through the whole measure. You played a G sharp then a G natural. Both should have been sharped.
Thanks! And that's interesting, didn't notice that. It makes sense though, my reading of sheets wasn't as good back then -- I imagine I made quite a few other mistakes. It's still not amazing, can't sight read properly for example, but those basics are down now haha.
Hey, don't sweat it. I did have lessons as a kid for some months as Zandman pointed out, this did help me get started again as I didn't have to spend as long learning a few of the basics. Other than that, keep in mind I probably recorded 10 times to get that take, my average level of play in week 2 was likely much lower than yours now 😅 Keep up your learning and you'll definitely see results, good luck!
Hello, and thank you for your dedication and for posting this progress video, I think you have made amazing progress in one year. I have been struggling on my own , after maybe 3 years of lessons by a very strict teacher, that I was very nervous to play for, but I didn't give up and have continued on my own even through a bad case of tendonitis, I'm not sure that I can play the Mozart sonata much better, and I practiced the Beethoven "Fur Elis" so much I think that's why I got tendonitis . But it was all worth all of what I went through because I sing in a choir and this helps so much with singing. please post more videos of continued progress !
Thanks Frank, appreciate that sentiment! Seems rough to deal with tendonitis, a recurring issue among pianists sadly. Sounds like you're doing just fine though, if you've learned with a teacher then although the peak pieces you've learned might not be above my level, other skills definitely are. I can imagine you've put a lot more time into technique, posture, sight reading, etc. than me. All aspects which I'll have to focus on at some point, which will then thwart my progress as far as show pieces go. I don't doubt you're ahead of my level at 3 years with a teacher. Anyways you're right, piano is such a great instrument to accompany singing skills -- and any other musical skill tbh. Sounds wonderful. I definitely will keep posting!
@@thomaspiano You should get at least one online teacher, because (don't take this personally, it's just advice) you didn't play a single piece to a presentable level, they were all 50-60% complete and some of them you'll never complete because the difficulty is in aspects that you don't even know (for example, mozart), If you want to continue alone , I recommend that you try some studies (maybe Czerny op.299) and be extremely critical of your playing because you don't have anyone to point out your mistakes, so try to correct them as soon as you notice them. them, with just the basics you will be able to play decently (strict tempo, no random accents, respect the dynamics and avoid unnecessary tensions)
@@thomaspiano I have a question for all of you who are self taught. Can you pick up a music book and just start playing it? I'm wondering if when your self taught you just practice certain songs but aren't that good at reading music. Or am I wrong? By the way I am a very very new beginner, one month in... Using a piano teacher and learning to read music ect. Im 56 years old.
I got all my 8 grades before I was 16, piano and theory a long time ago, and I had a piano around from age 3. I’m very confused by these 1 year learning videos. Adults I know really struggle to learn to read music, and when they discover there’s a bass clef to read as well, they’re really defeated. Some even take time to understand where the notes are on the keyboard, and what they’re called, then relate that to what’s on the page in front of them. Then there’s the problem of fingering and not just playing with two fingers, knowing how to use correct fingering is another challenge. Yet most of these one year videos, seem to have already tackled all those things, so how long did it take to do that, before they decided to start timing the beginning of the one year?
Wow this video is really stunning! can's guess how much you practiced and how much you love playing❤️ playing piano as a hobby takes so much effort I respect you!
Definitely had some (too) long finger nails at certain parts of the journey haha, especially earlier on. Appreciate the compliment too, being compared to Glenn Gould in any way is an honor 😂
Hi Thomas, thank you very much for sharing your progress, it is definitely amazing and insrpiring !! Would you like to share a bit of your study plan ? How was it like ? Thank you. -Best
Check out Brian Crain Morning Light album and Piano Opus and Ludivico Einuadi, William Joseph A Mother's Heart and Helen Jane Long as well and Jon Schmidt - His albums before he joined piano guys.
You have a beautiful piano there 😄 ahh i can relate so much to that "burnout break"... Glad you found your way back into playing! Love the piece selection. Amazing dedication and effort, you also have a great sense for music looking forward to ur next progress! 😁👍🏻
Thanks Nikola, I appreciate it! Yeah I love the piano, lucky to have it. As far as burnout goes, I'm really glad I got back into it as well. In some ways, the break helped me figure out which parts of playing I enjoyed and which I didn't, it's definitely the reason I have a more balanced approach to piano these days. The piece selection is very similar to those in your video, I think we have similar taste haha. Some of the pieces you did are ones I'd considered, and I'm actually working on Chopin's Waltz in A minor now which you've also learned. Likewise to the dedication and effort, will keep progressing and hope to see you around as well :)
@@thomaspiano I totally agree to that 😃 Good luck in learning it! Its beautiful, i always played pieces that i like. Did try to force some but didnt work out so well... One time i felt like i need to practice even if i was not in the mood, that led to frustration and burnout. Now i practice because i love it xD It takes some time to get into right mentality to play the piano :D Thanks man, wish u all the best!
Thanks! Had lessons for a few months as a kid, this helped with picking up aspects such as hand posture. Also went through a lot of youtube guides to help with the basics again.
If this is real and not one of a plethora of fake progression videos, two stand out moments are the ability to breeze through Für Elise after only 4 months like that (I've never seen anyone play this piece as well in such a short period) and then, at month 10 - having taken a two year break no less, he can rip through Mozarts Sonata 16 so completely effortlessly, and without sheet music. Quite extraordinary, and verging on the very hard to believe...but, benefit of the doubt n that. Well done.
Some realistic and inspiring progress there👍🏻 Looks like you caught on to the whole hand independence thing rather quickly. Perhaps you were a better listener as a kid than you thought;) I only had a tiny keyboard and no teacher as a kid and while I did somehow perform Xmas songs in front of the whole class it was all pure memorisation. Much later I got a 49 key midi board so I could try and play some of my favourite soundtracks. But I was way too ambitious and impatient and sucked at hand independence. So I heavily preferred melody and mostly played right hand only. It's not like the dang thing had any polyphony anyway. Fast forward many years again and I finally invested in a proper digital piano so I could practice at any time, without feeling conscious about annoying the neighbours with scales for hours. I got it on Halloween, so I'm two months in on my adult journey. This time with a solid method and focus on technique and theory. Mixed in with some UA-cam and some of my favourites that are far beyond me but nice challenges. You do seem to be pretty good at memorisation, I was wondering if that got in the way and how well your sight-reading was at month 7? I think it would contribute to a burn out if you feel you need to cram everything in there. I know, cuz it's definitely something I was prone to as well xD
You might be right haha, even if it goes in to one ear and out the other, some of it clearly stuck and helped me get started quicker this time around. Sounds like you have quite the history with piano and wanting to learn yourself. Hope it works out for you this time, you got this! As for the memorization, you're spot on. I was (still am for a large part tbh) not sight reading and trying to learn pieces where I'd spend a week on a couple of bars. Not sustainable and that led to burnout. My reading has improved but I'd like it to get a lot better, it is one of my goals for the third year especially to dial back my pieces heavily to focus on sight readidng instead.
@@thomaspiano Thx and good luck to you as well👍🏻 It's a tricky beast, the pieces that are easiest to start sight-reading practice on are also easily memorised. I've been trying a couple of apps to practice it at speed with a time limit. I seem to be getting the hang of the basics at least. I am hoping that it'll give me enough of a foundation to work with once I get to pieces that aren't so easily memorised, yet are quite hard to read as well. As with any language, I'm sure it'll be a lifelong process beyond that anyway.
@@CitizenMio You're definitely right, my work on it so far has been playing through the children's pieces books I have at home. The pieces are easily memorized so having to move on quickly makes it a tough skill to train. I fully agree with the last comment you made though. Not even just sight reading, piano in general. Consider it as a set of skills you can and should keep training for a lifetime. There's plenty of time to keep making steady progress and revisit certain parts. When I view the whole process of learning piano like that, it's much easier to stay motivated than my initial mindset of expecting quick results. For reference, what apps would you recommend for sight reading? You seem to have gotten off on the right foot on learning it and I like the idea of using an app since it has nearly unlimited pieces to show you.
@@thomaspiano Yeah patience is definitely a virtue and one I didn't start out with either xD I think the trick is to keep it fun, mix up the various subskills, challenge yourself but also chop your goals in little pieces so you can experience many big little rewards. Anyway, as for your question, I enjoyed the aptly named "Complete Music Reading Trainer" the best. It felt like the right amount of gamification and challenge for me at the moment.
This is an extremely good start! Lots of potential! You might want to get a few lessons with a piano teacher just to work out the kinks and rework some technique. Also to give you some ideas on how to time your pedaling a little better. It's a very admirable effort! Well done! - Sincerely, a piano teacher.
Thank you, appreciate that compliment a lot! You're absolutely right, there's some aspects of my technique and posture that need work. A regular teacher is unfortunately too expensive for me, but your idea is a good one. I'll definitely look into options to work with a teacher temporarily, with a heavy focus on reworking technique and posture so I can learn without risk of injury, and to enhance my potential in the future. Thanks for the suggestion!
Hey there, thank you! I don't follow any established method or book, however I can explain my own method to learning and the online resources I used. Firstly, my method ever since I restarted after the burnout is as followed: I learn what I like. This means I'll usually have 3-5 pieces, movie soundtracks, etc. I'm listening to on repeat and I will always pick one of those to play. By playing something I genuinely enjoy, I prevent getting bored and burning out. Aside from that, I always identify what my weak points are as far as technique goes. What have I practiced less or noticeably struggled with recently? I'll try to pick one of the pieces which has that element incorporated, so that I can practice it. Lastly, I'll look for an arrangement that is around my level. So you could say my method is that every piece I pick should be around or above the level of my previous piece, and tackle unique technical aspects which I struggle with. Furthermore, it should be a piece of music I genuinely enjoy listening to outside of playing piano. ------------ As for online resources, I used all of these regularly throughout my journey and I'd highly recommend them for any advice, tips, tricks, etc...: - Pianoworld forum - r/Piano subreddit - Josh Wright TV (youtube) - Jazer Lee (youtube) - Graham Fitch (youtube) I hope that helps you, good luck on your learning! 😃
I am really glad you shared that about burn out because I have a tendency to try to do too much at one time. This is good advice to help me avoid the same thing happening to me. My intention is to practice one hour per day and hopefully within a year I will need in good shape but will still have a long way to go. Thank you for sharing. Do you mind if I ask which UA-cam training videos you learned from.
Glad to hear it's been helpful to you! I imagine many people struggle with some form of burn-out throughout their journey, I think it's important to share what went right and what didn't. If you're putting in an hour a day of practice with intent, I'm sure you will make good progress. As for videos, I think channels are a better recommendation -- I have a few that I regularly visited to learn; - Josh Wright - Jazer Lee - Graham Fitch Now all of these focus on technique, practice methods, general tips and advice. They each have more or less a library of content to consult on your journey. Other than that, I used forums such as pianoworld or the piano subreddit to find a bunch of information regarding pieces, techniques, etc... Hope that helps, good luck on your learning!
Hey man, you look like a quick learner. Did you follow any particular books to learn the notes? I’m currently leaning myself as well, well not entirely true, I did do an online teacher once.. still have reservations there but any books that you found would be helpful.. I’m going with some method books, boring as hell.
I did, left hand definitely did not appreciate the attempt at the time 😂 Kept at it for another month or two though and it ended up improving that left hand a good bit
It's been very inspiring for me as well. Honestly, for me the piano improvement is only one aspect. Thinking about myself in the first few clips, it's crazy how much has changed in my life since then. Mostly for the better, thankfully. Currently I'm practicing about 1-1.5 hours per day. It does vary depending on how busy I am and how motivated I am though. For example, if I'm just starting a piece then I could be playing for 3 hours a day or if I'm busy as little as 30 minutes.
I have autism, and I've been playing the piano for 8 years and for people with autism, learning an instrument is VERY different. Much more difficult. I still can't do songs like that. Congratulations, hope you keep improving.
I can't say I know what that experience is like, but everyone has their own journey to learn. 8 years is a very impressive amount of time for anyone to be dedicating themselves to something, I respect that. You'll get to the point you want to get I'm sure. Good luck on your journey and improvement as well 😁
If you have autism, this means you are a visual learner. So you need to watch some great pianists and then close your eyes and visualise what they did. You can also visualise the music and learn it by heart that way. After reading or visualising the music, rest your hands on the notes, without actually playing any notes at all, and just visualise yourself playing the music, and FEEL what it would be like to play it. Imagine it, while your hands stay still on the keys. Repeat this a few times, and slowly allow small movements to occur. Believe it or not, you are a gifted learner - and more so than other learners. You have just not yet been shown how to use your gift!
I can smell some bullshit whining. Autism is mostly about being obsessed with patterns and hating what doesn't fit. The hard part is the feelings part of high quality music interpretation. But the piano and its complex finger patterns is autism paradise. Pure bliss in learning new complex patterns that are somewhat similar to patterns in previous pieces. Slowly improving your finger sequence until it clicks. So no, zero excuse for autism making it hard to learn the piano. Keep your excuses for why you struggle at transmitting feelings and emotions with nuanced intonation. And in my hardcore autistic experience, music is a good way to reduce the limitations of autism as your desire for perfection will lead to finding the desire to crack feelings transmission. To become perfect, you'll end up learning to listen to your own feelings.
This is a video that you can be proud of for sure! A while ago I started on my own as well, had a few years of music lessons (no instrument) when i was younger. The simple songs went really well, so i quickly bumped up the difficulty onto things like the Canadian anthem and found my expectations of my abilities run past my actual abilities pretty quickly. A bit like what you said happened to you in the video, my practice time went down until today. I feel like i've just lost it all again... although this video works pretty well as an inspiration. Do you consider this as doable for an average person? (As in, do you think you have a talent for playing the piano?) Again, really enjoyed the vid :D
Thanks, that means a lot! To be honest, I think your (and my) story are pretty common. It's easy to get a bit ahead of ourselves, or perhaps we just want to play something challenging. Either way, too much of that is bound to burn you out a little at the least. Do I think it's doable for the average person? Absolutely. I would say I am an average person as far as piano goes. However, I do have a good amount of experience in learning a similar skill -- largely focused on muscle memory and building precise motor skills. A lot of becoming good at piano (or any skill really) is knowing how, where and when to practice. Much of that experience I had and just needed to adapt to piano. On this front, there's still plenty I didn't do very well so I'm sure others can achieve better results. I spent about 600 hours throughout the year on playing. That's not accounting for time spent learning away from the piano though. Here's some good examples of what one can do away from the piano, I think these helped me a lot: 1. Looking at a bunch of videos and other tutorials on how to deal with a section or even specific technique. After 5 tutorials, you're bound to come across one you relate to and/or great tips. Not only does this help learn, but also motivates you to try it out. 2. Memorize pieces or sections by going through them in your head. Personally I did this a lot right before bed or while commuting. I recommend doing it right before bed. I can't explain the science behind it, but in my experience it seems to process better when I sleep and I wake up with some vastly improved memory of the piece. The exact solutions vary for everyone, since everyone is different. However, I do advise to figure out what the smartest way to learn for you is, and apply that. If you manage, I guarantee you can achieve amazing results.
Another thing I'd like to add for the motivation part. Here's my two cents on motivating to get back into and enjoy the piano more than before; Play anything you want to. Sounds simple, but tbh there's a lot of guides and people out there who tell you follow a certain order. First play this, then that, they establish an order for improvement. And yeah, that might be best on paper, but ultimately making sure someone keeps playing and enjoying themselves is more important. Of course I advise against extremely difficult pieces, but generally I've had a great time doing this. Just rewatched a movie and an amazing soundtrack is stuck in your head? Great, find or make an arrangement around your level and play it. In my opinion, focusing purely on enjoyment and sidelining improvement as a 2nd goal is the best way to go about it if you're feeling in a dip. Try to let go of any of the pressure, comparisons to improve, etc..., that will all come if you're enjoying yourself. I hope you get back into it man, good luck!
Don't worry about it, most people struggle with it (myself included). I would recommend searching some youtube videos on memorization techniques. There's some wonderful guides which I used to help. Just a few pointers I apply regularly from those are; hand separate memorization, alternate between for example legato and staccato, play very slowly, play a part away from the piano in your mind, etc... There are many tricks to help your brain memorize.
Sounds really nice, and sorry for those who don't believe it -- it totaly is achievable with some hard work. You would benefit a lot from a teacher, to help you with technique and relaxation. Needless to say that Mozart K. 545 is above your level with just one year practice, but it was a nice attempt. I understand because i did just the same, playing pieces that where too hard when I was starting with the piano. Great work so far.
Are you playing Fur Elise from the score? If so, when did you learn to read music, just four months ago ( from the time of the video? ) How did you learn to read music, online course? I see the video was made a year ago. Where are you at now? Have you tried Moonlight Sonata third movement? Have you considered making it a career and becoming a concert pianist? If you can progress that quickly you should find it easy to take grade 8 by now, then apply to go to a music academy, and start giving recitals. It seems a shame to waste a gift like that when you find it so easy. I would visit a teacher as soon as possible and ask them to assess your grade and let them guide you from there.
Hi! I have started learning the piano, i want to know how do you get better at hand independence. Do you have any recommended youtube guide or some practice routine?
Hey! First of all that's awesome, hope you achieve all your goals on the keys. For hand independence there's a bunch of guides out there. Personally I used Hanon exercises to strengthen my hand's individual ability. This took away a lot of issues with hand independence. Secondly, I recommend practicing hands separate on every piece first. Once you get better this might not be necessary for you anymore. However, it helps with hand independence as you focus on their individual parts before throwing the difficulty of coordination onto it. Lastly, you can try some improvised exercises. My idea of practicing hand independence is just playing a different pattern or rhythm in both hands. This can start as simple as playing a C on your left hand and a chord on right. Add more notes to it, start playing a slow melody in one hand while pressing a note in the other. Make it a chord in the other, so and so forth. Keep increasing complexity of what each hand is playing when you get comfortable. By playing something wildly different in each hand, it forces you to consider them as separate and train your hands individually. In general I recommend Jazer Lee and Josh wright as far as piano tutorials and tips go. Don't let that restrict you though, a quick youtube search on hand independence should give you a bunch of guides which may help. I hope I was of some help, good luck with your learning! 😉
Hand independence is a myth. What exists is hand coordination. You learn every single finger action. Then you learn every single hand combination of fingers. Then you learn every couple of one left hand finger pattern and one right hand finger pattern. Then, you learn basic sequences of 2-hand combinations. And in the end, memorising a piece is memorising a sequence of basic sequences. The so called finger independence is nothing more than having painfully learning a catalogue of all possible 2-hand finger combinations. You can start playing with both hands the first few days. What happens afterwards is that your catalogue of combinations grows and grows. The secret is just to play ultra slowly (one action every 3 seconds), with a very clear idea of what combination you're playing.
@@thomaspiano Thank you so much! Usually piano pieces do not catch my attention but this one playing in the background while you spoke really did. I know you can achieve learning this one day!
I'm nearly 69, and started playing again at 62, with a 50 year gap. Can't believe you manged to get this good in one year, you must be extremely gifted.(or natural) As I'm not this good yet. Although it is harder as you get older, as you're hands/eyes/brain don't co-ordinate as well as when a person is young. So if you actually did get that good in a year good luck to you, I still play my piano on average 2 hours a day, and will continue so as long as I can, just love playing.
He must have learnt to read music before he started, also learnt fingering, and the names of the notes on the piano, unless it’s ALL by ear 😂. Funny he doesn’t say HOW he progressed at this rate. I can tell he hasn’t had lessons. I suppose if you can read treble and bass clef reasonably fluently before you start you could progress at his rate with practice. I don’t believe most of these videos. One lad made a video about seven years ago showing brief clips indicating he had become an advanced player in one year. Yet he is now learning a piece for an exam, which just happens to be a piece currently set for grade 8 piano exam. That would suggest it has taken him 8 years to be as good as he was making out he was seven years ago, after one year. If he’d been telling the truth, he would now have completed his studies at the Royal Academy of Music and be performing at all the concert halls, not studying for grade 8 which is about A level standard. Remember you’re doing it for the love of the music and the person who wrote it, not for vain admiration.
@@marinka424 I play because I love music, it's an enjoyment, albeit I am practising grade 5 music(Burgmuller, Knight Errant) It's hard but love trying to conquer it. I don't want no bits of paper to say how good I am, just to be able to play some nice tunes.
@@welshwizard55 I think that’s fantastic. I know of adults who gave up long before you. If you’re doing it because you love music then that will constantly keep drawing you to overcome any challenges.
Self-taught? Fur Elise and K.545 in one year? Insane progress! I'm a classical musician - those made me very very happy. Also nice subscriber count lmao
I forwarded this to my nephew who is probably about your age, he want to learn to play piano. This will help push him to get started. Great video. Thanks.
Thank you! Sadly I didn't, still can't sight read properly now either. In all honesty the reason some of the pieces in the first 3 months were doable, was pure rote memorization. Was spending 3-4 hours a day purely focusing on that one piece to get it down haha.
@@thomaspiano thanks for responding! You did really well I am super impressed with what you played! How many pieces at once were you doing and how long would it take you using only memorization?
@@bodaciouscans Thanks again haha I'd say almost all 2-3 min pieces ended up also taking me around 2-3 weeks to finish. The exceptions are Fur Elise and the K545 sonata, as those were both above my level at the time of learning. Both took about 6 weeks from start to when I recorded. Many of the shorter 1-2 minute pieces took me around a week to complete. Up until Fur Elise pretty much everything was a relatively short, few days to a week piece.
@@bodaciouscans Yeah absolutely, tons of youtube tutorials. Probably every piece I watched at least 20 renditions of it being played to get some inspiration. For any tough sections of a piece, usually as many tutorials on it as I could find to figure out a good fingering and other tips. Even if there's no tutorials, watching a good pianist play it in slow motion is still useful. So yeah, without youtube tutorials and piano forums to help out, it wouldn't have been possible for me to progress as much.
Can you sight read from music scores, and do you?? Is that part of your self-taught learning? For example, could you pick up a church hymnal and start playing any song (not super difficult, but requiring moderate skill level), given your progress to date?? Thanks for vid!!
It depends what you calls sight reading. Deciphering a music you've never heard before vs playing the proper notes of a music you have in your head is different. Deciphering isn't hard, just like a 6 year old chil can decipher text speaking syllable by syllable. Very slow, but it works with little knowledge. Then, there is the part where you play without looking much at your fingers. You can help that by playing the eyes closed some piece you've fully memorised. Sight reading is nothing more than the ability to decipher + the ability to mostly look at the sheet instead of your fingers. Then, practice, practice and slowly you'll decipher faster and faster and you'll look less and less at your fingers. I don't understand why so many people struggle about it and speak of it as something binary "can you sight read". I could sight read from day one in the beginner book. How else would I play anything? It's just that I was sightreading suuuuuuupeeeerr slowly on super easy pieces. Since then, my reading speed improved.
Great results! Thank you, Thomas, for sharing your journey, it's inspiring! Do you have any advice for somebody who just started learn to play piano and struggles, especially with playing right tempo: metronome freeks me out and I can't play fast enough or the right notes in the beat, so the music piece I'm trying to play does't sounds good and sometimes I can't progress and stuck. Do you know any decent exercises with metronome? I'd be very grateful! Thank you! Sincerely, Lia.
Beware! If you stop playing for a long time, you will lose the motor skill for your pianistic technique. I went 6 years without practice (1965 - 1971), and within a short time I recovered my technique. After 6 months, I was playing Beethoven's Pathétique (far from perfect!). I learned many pieces, and even performed for audiences. Then I went 20 years without practice (1978 - 1998). It took me six years to regain my technique! Only in 2004 I could play pieces like Beethoven's Sonatas no. 8 & 23, and Brahms Two Rhapsodies (op. 79). A hand injury sidelined me for 16 years. I began playing again in June 2021, and again, I have not yet fully regained my technique, but I am playing better and better with each passing week. Only the lingering hand injury slows me down. I may have to abandon Beethoven, and play mostly Mozart sonatas, and short pieces of Brahms, Chopin, Schubert & Mendelssohn. Beethoven is too strenuous for a partially disabled right hand. I have had to entirely abandon playing the flute (mostly Bach & Mozart). Flute & piano together is a hand and wrist killer.
Em 2 semanas ele tem total controle do dedilhado, inclusive dos dedos 4 e 5. A postura das mãos é boa e ele sabe como aliviar a tensão nos pulsos e dedos. Quem acha que ele está mentindo dê um like.
Thank you Itay! My average throughout the first year would be around 2 hours a day. However, this varied a lot. My first months were quite extreme, practicing 3-5 hours a day. Later in the year I definitely practiced less, closer to a 1 hour a day average. I'm now in my second year and I try to stick to around 1 hour a day. Hope that helps!
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I'm self taught and I know how challenging playing the piano is. I think your progress is amazing 👏 ! Keep up the excellent work Thomas! 👍
Thanks Davina! Learning without direct help is tough for sure but it also feels more rewarding whenever you succeed at something. You keep your journey up too :)
Jesus is the only way man. We are all sinners and headed to hell. We need to trust in Jesus and that he died for our sins on the cross. Much love.
Awesome progress! Hope you're doing well and are still enjoying the playing.
I love your energy and enthusiasm! I think that you have achieved a lot in your year of learning to play the piano. Speaking as a piano teacher myself I would strongly recommend that you have a teacher! Did a lot of self teaching when I was first starting out and I ended up developing some bad habits that turned into strain injuries later down the line. After studying at university with a teacher focussed on technique things got a lot easier for me and I was able to return to a good amount of piano playing. The longer you leave mistakes the harder they become to undo. I can see from the video that there are aspects of your technique that will most likely create problems down the line. Also there are instances where you could be using a different technique to make things easier and more distinct at the piano. A perfect example is the Mozart that you played. You played with fluency and feeling and it came off well but I noticed that you were using your fingers for the Alberti bass passages. You could use a rotary technique instead. This will make it easier for you and also create a greater sense of the separate voices in the music. Your right hand finger technique seems pretty good but there are other aspects to your technique and posture that could really benefit from regular observation by a personal teacher. My strain injuries got so bad that I couldn't play for years and it was soul crushing for me. When I sorted out my technique problems and could go back to playing it was like being born again! Now I teach piano myself and I always focus on technique with the hope that my students won't have to face the same problems that I encountered. If a personal teacher is out of the question there are many videos on UA-cam that deal with proper posture and technique. PianoTV, Josh Wright, PianoLab and Graham Fitch and some of my favourite channels. Keep practising and all the best to you! You play with musicality and feeling which will serve you well in years to come but that is only part of the puzzle ;)
Hey, thank you for the compliment, I appreciate it! :)
I hear you on the technique advice. There's definitely some areas where I recognize some tension such as my forearms and wrists, I don't use enough rotation to enable movement but rather just swing my entire arm around the place which isn't sustainable in more challenging pieces. Stiff upper body is another one.
Anyways I do see the benefit in a teacher, however the costs for a qualified teacher here are astronomical. As a student, I can't afford this. You suggested a few channels which can help with this, I know Josh Wright and Graham Fitch but hadn't heard of the other two yet, I'll check them out!
I do take posture and technique seriously as I know how devastating it'd be if an injury prevented me from playing. Will do my best to correct my technique. If I can't manage to do it myself, I might have to opt for a teacher.
@@thomaspiano I find videos by “Learn Piano with Jazer Lee” to be very helpful as well. Find a pianist that inspires you to play as well, they will motivate you to continue to get better. For example, Kyle Landry and Rousseau are my personal UA-cam inspirations! Listening to Kyle was what motivated me to work on more difficult pieces after I had plateaued for around 4 or 5 years straight, and then Rousseau inspired me to learn classical pieces.
We’re all headed to hell man. We need to trust in Jesus and that he died for our sins on the cross. I hope you think about this because just like me, you have sinned. And when you have to face God on judgment day you are going to be guilty. This is why you need to trust in Jesus alone and that he died for your sins on the cross. I pray you actually think about this. Much love.
Impressive! I started my journey yesterday so I'll see where I'm at in a year, game on 😁
Thank you! Hope yours goes well, good luck 😉
bro, did u learn how to play?
Great I do believe u. If anyone lives to learn and practice daily. Good for u.
Thanks Wendy! I fully agree, if someone puts their all into learning they can achieve a whole lot. Personally, I feel that I could've put more time and effort in than I did, but I'm happy with the result regardless.
That’s like practising everyday in one year your playing grade 4 songs when I’m in my grade 4 piano and been playing for 5 years
Nice video and I recognize many pieces. The mozart sonata k545 is on my list to learn (already bought the Henle score) but at just 4 years learning it is beyond my ability. I learned a grade 5 piece called Elegy in Autumn by Arvids Zilinskis in my 2nd year without a teacher or other help - it was far from grade 5 skill and I only was able to learn it from good score reading skills (taught by teacher from day 1)...its just okay but I will return to it in years to come. I think learning from the score is of great value for performance directions and really understanding the structure of the piece.
You should be very proud of yourself!! The piano is a beautiful and very pleasuring instrument to be able to play. I like how you played He's a pirate, that theme was the reason, alongside Sadness and Sorrow, I first got interested in playing the piano. Very encouraging!
That's awesome to hear, thanks! Yeah both of those were some of my goal pieces when I started, didn't expect to be reaching so many of my goals so soon into my journey tbh, but then I didn't expect to play as much as I have either.
For me there's a lot more piano goals out there. Enough to spend a lifetime achieving. I hope it's the same for you, good luck on the journey 😉
Congrats! You have showed great progress, especially for being self taught! I've been playing piano for 10 years and I love it. Keep up the great work.
Thanks Lindsey, appreciate it! I've watched your progress video as well, you've had quite a long and amazing journey yourself :)
I have been watching videos about piano practicing all this Christmas holiday. Maybe I'll start practicing when I get home in couple of days.
Definitely do so, it's a great way to spend your time and lots of fun. If you do, good luck on your learning!
well done! definitely felt a bump at Month 4. Thanks so much for sharing!
I started off as an adult without a teacher. It's inspirational to see so many adults like yourself learning songs and enjoying music.
In the video the piece that stands out is Beethoven "Fur Elise" which you included more than half the piece. The rest you only included up to 10 sec opening. You probably enjoy playing this piece more than others.
A few years back I was at a party. At least half the people in the room took piano lessons. Some even passed conservatory levels. There was a keyboard in the room but nobody volunteered to play a song. Many people played for their teachers during lessons but are not comfortable performing in front of others or making recordings. I started making recordings early in the learning process. Not all the recordings sounded great but encouraged me to keep practicing.
Keep up the good work...
It's OK to take a piano break I do and have been playing for decades. Yes, Mozart is very transparent. You can't hide any false notes they stick out even for veterans. .
Great progress Thomas! Keep up the excellent work!
Thanks Greg, will definitely do that :)
You can do it!
Don't ever give up.
Good luck.
Thank you haha, I won't give up 😁
@@thomaspiano good! You can check my chanell if you want. I also play piano but not much nowadays.😬
The guy played the hardest part of Fur Elise in four months!!! So much TALENT!!
Wow this is amazing, I've been playing for a year also but I'm not progressing that fast. 🙂 Are these pieces in a book where did you get the sheet music? thanks
Congrats to you for coming back to the piano! I tackled The Entertainer, my favorite piece, but it was too advanced for me I never really went back. Maybe someday...
Wow keep up the good work, so much respect for a fellow musician! I'm a firm believer it's never to late to start music, plus you're still very young. Been playing the piano since I was a kid but just took on the violin this year as a 33yo adult. In fact, my teacher actually started at your age and she's great! I am glad you had the courage and patience to show us your progress. I found a lot of myself in your video.
Fully agree, never too late to start! Taking up a new instrument is something I've considered a few times (and am likely to do in the future), sounds like a lot of fun -- good luck with it.
Also love that story about your teacher, it's nice to see people who don't take the traditional route prove that it's possible by succeeding 😄
It is great that you are not selling any piano method!! An honest video wow! Thank you for sharing your experience.
Thank you! I consider myself far too inexperienced to be selling any type of advice haha, just wanted to put my experience out there and hopefully inspire or motivate someone.
I love this. I’ve been playing piano since I was 6, and I too am completely self taught. You’re doing a fantastic job so far! Keep playing, I promise you’ll surprise yourself with what you are actually capable of playing when you put in the effort! Great job!
You taught yourself how to play piano when you were 6 yrs old? wow...
@@hotcat6687 I mean it’s not like I was a child prodigy or anything😂I believe I started teaching myself to read sheet music once I was about 8? Up until then I learned everything by ear, and then when I was 8 I applied that to the notes on sheet music in order to learn how to read the notes. I don’t have perfect pitch or anything, just had pure persistence lol.
Great job. Certainly you have the skills -give an experienced teaching program to guide your obvious ability . excellent !😊
Bravo, warming up for 5 or 10 minutes will keep your fingers more and more agile.
All the pieces are good picks. I like your performances a lot.
Thanks Meggie, glad you like the pieces as well!
Reasonable self taught progress. Strengthen your sight read sure helps. It is time to find a good teacher correct your weaknesses
Great job Thomas! I'm really impressed of what you managed to learn during only one year. Even though I don't have so much time to practice (work, kids, etc), I decided to buy a digital piano and start to play. Videos like yours are really motivating. Cheers!
This is literally me this year! Or at least, it will be me.. at the start of next year :D You did awesome! I hope my progress will be at least as well as yours was.
Hope so too for you, good luck and enjoy your journey!
Hey how’s it going?
Looks like you made quite a good amount of progress! Excellent work here Thomas! You've covered a lot of great songs here and it's so cool that you tracked your progress this way. (:
Thanks Kalynn! Yeah I'm happy I chose to track it on video, helped motivate me a bunch throughout the year and it's something I'm sure I'll look back on fondly in a decade.
Jesus is the only way guys. We are all sinners and headed to hell. We need to trust in Jesus and that he died for our sins on the cross. Much love.
IF YOU LOVE LOR, YOU ARE ON THE RIGHT WAY! CONGRATS!!!!
The music of the beginning is one Liszt study and this is just for talented students with at least 8 or 9 years of study.
Good for you! I hope to do the same. Thanks for the tip on Pianoworld.
You absolutely inspired me. Thank you, good job!!
Thanks Linda, I'm glad to hear it! Good luck on your own learning :)
Really very impressed, Thomas … love your choice of music … engaging too. I’m now inspired to give it a go … thanks for posting.
Best wishes,
Steve, Bristol, UK
I appreciate it Steve! I hope you enjoy learning and reach the point you want to get to, good luck :)
Wow! You progressed so much in just a year! Congratulations! I noticed in Arabesque...if there is a sharp, (or flat) it carries through for the entire measure, so if there is a G sharp, then the next G in measure is also a G sharp. Sharp does not need to be written in again. It carries through the whole measure. You played a G sharp then a G natural. Both should have been sharped.
Thanks! And that's interesting, didn't notice that. It makes sense though, my reading of sheets wasn't as good back then -- I imagine I made quite a few other mistakes.
It's still not amazing, can't sight read properly for example, but those basics are down now haha.
Keep it up!!! Thanks for posting!
Thank you, I will definitely keep going! :)
Hey Thomas, almost 3 months in and I still play like you in week 2. I can't only dream of this kind of hand coordination!
He had lessons as a kid for months. I think you don't or did you?
Hey, don't sweat it. I did have lessons as a kid for some months as Zandman pointed out, this did help me get started again as I didn't have to spend as long learning a few of the basics. Other than that, keep in mind I probably recorded 10 times to get that take, my average level of play in week 2 was likely much lower than yours now 😅
Keep up your learning and you'll definitely see results, good luck!
Hello, and thank you for your dedication and for posting this progress video, I think you have made amazing progress in one year. I have been struggling on my own , after maybe 3 years of lessons by a very strict teacher, that I was very nervous to play for, but I didn't give up and have continued on my own even through a bad case of tendonitis, I'm not sure that I can play the Mozart sonata much better, and I practiced the Beethoven "Fur Elis" so much I think that's why I got tendonitis . But it was all worth all of what I went through because I sing in a choir and this helps so much with singing. please post more videos of continued progress !
Thanks Frank, appreciate that sentiment! Seems rough to deal with tendonitis, a recurring issue among pianists sadly. Sounds like you're doing just fine though, if you've learned with a teacher then although the peak pieces you've learned might not be above my level, other skills definitely are.
I can imagine you've put a lot more time into technique, posture, sight reading, etc. than me. All aspects which I'll have to focus on at some point, which will then thwart my progress as far as show pieces go. I don't doubt you're ahead of my level at 3 years with a teacher.
Anyways you're right, piano is such a great instrument to accompany singing skills -- and any other musical skill tbh. Sounds wonderful. I definitely will keep posting!
@@thomaspiano Thank You Thomas
@@thomaspiano You should get at least one online teacher, because (don't take this personally, it's just advice) you didn't play a single piece to a presentable level, they were all 50-60% complete and some of them you'll never complete because the difficulty is in aspects that you don't even know (for example, mozart),
If you want to continue alone
, I recommend that you try some studies (maybe Czerny op.299) and be extremely critical of your playing because you don't have anyone to point out your mistakes, so try to correct them as soon as you notice them. them, with just the basics you will be able to play decently (strict tempo, no random accents,
respect the dynamics and avoid unnecessary tensions)
I’ve been self taught for 12 months too and you’re almost at my level,this is believable
Great to hear! I too think it's a realistic result for anyone who puts in the time, despite what others might believe.
Good luck on your journey too!
I there. I'm self taught but better than all three of you. Thank you
I am a self taught pianist and I am better than all four of you
Thats funny, im self taught and better than all five of you, but keep it up guys :)
@@thomaspiano I have a question for all of you who are self taught. Can you pick up a music book and just start playing it? I'm wondering if when your self taught you just practice certain songs but aren't that good at reading music. Or am I wrong? By the way I am a very very new beginner, one month in... Using a piano teacher and learning to read music ect. Im 56 years old.
Getting the Fur Elise in 4 months is absolutely gargantuan in scope
Reading music in the second week 😆
Sehr schön! Weiterhin viel Spaß und Erfolg! 👍🎹
this is so inspirational ❤ I’m on my first month. 🙌
good luck and best wishes!
Good luck on your journey! Don't forget the real treasure is the journey itself fellow strawhat :)
I got all my 8 grades before I was 16, piano and theory a long time ago, and I had a piano around from age 3. I’m very confused by these 1 year learning videos. Adults I know really struggle to learn to read music, and when they discover there’s a bass clef to read as well, they’re really defeated. Some even take time to understand where the notes are on the keyboard, and what they’re called, then relate that to what’s on the page in front of them. Then there’s the problem of fingering and not just playing with two fingers, knowing how to use correct fingering is another challenge. Yet most of these one year videos, seem to have already tackled all those things, so how long did it take to do that, before they decided to start timing the beginning of the one year?
Wow this video is really stunning! can's guess how much you practiced and how much you love playing❤️ playing piano as a hobby takes so much effort I respect you!
Wow, I didn't expect this! Amazing job ;)
Thanks very much :)
I wish I was as good as you 😕
I started from scratch during lockdown.
So inspiring! Thanks for sharing!
I am on month 4 and still struggling to read music and move to different keys, I was only practising twice a week so putting more work in now.
So encouraging, thanks!
Thank you and no problem! Good luck on your learning as well :)
Thanks for sharing!
No problem, appreciate it and thanks for watching 🙂
Awesome work!! Finally a progression video that's real. You sound great Thomas.👍
9:00 ------ Nice. You have a bit of Glenn Gould in you !!!!!!! Although ----- some piano key clicking - maybe finger nails need clipping hehe
Definitely had some (too) long finger nails at certain parts of the journey haha, especially earlier on. Appreciate the compliment too, being compared to Glenn Gould in any way is an honor 😂
Amazing! You are in inspiration.
Thank you, I appreciate that a lot :)
Hi Thomas, thank you very much for sharing your progress, it is definitely amazing and insrpiring !! Would you like to share a bit of your study plan ? How was it like ? Thank you. -Best
amazing :)))) I am also learning piano on my own! great fun! I like your Mozart 16th Sonata!
Appreciate it! Yeah I love that Mozart sonata, I still play it almost every day haha. Good luck on learning the piano, rooting for your success 😁
So amazing you are taught yourself how to play the piano 🎶💚
Thank you Bonnie! I think anyone can do it with enough effort, lots of resources out there which helped me and many others learn :)
Check out Brian Crain Morning Light album and Piano Opus and Ludivico Einuadi, William Joseph A Mother's Heart and Helen Jane Long as well and Jon Schmidt - His albums before he joined piano guys.
Amezing improvements! Keep it.
Thanks Ramon!
You have a beautiful piano there 😄 ahh i can relate so much to that "burnout break"... Glad you found your way back into playing! Love the piece selection. Amazing dedication and effort, you also have a great sense for music looking forward to ur next progress! 😁👍🏻
Thanks Nikola, I appreciate it! Yeah I love the piano, lucky to have it.
As far as burnout goes, I'm really glad I got back into it as well. In some ways, the break helped me figure out which parts of playing I enjoyed and which I didn't, it's definitely the reason I have a more balanced approach to piano these days.
The piece selection is very similar to those in your video, I think we have similar taste haha. Some of the pieces you did are ones I'd considered, and I'm actually working on Chopin's Waltz in A minor now which you've also learned.
Likewise to the dedication and effort, will keep progressing and hope to see you around as well :)
@@thomaspiano I totally agree to that 😃 Good luck in learning it! Its beautiful, i always played pieces that i like. Did try to force some but didnt work out so well... One time i felt like i need to practice even if i was not in the mood, that led to frustration and burnout. Now i practice because i love it xD It takes some time to get into right mentality to play the piano :D Thanks man, wish u all the best!
Amazing progress man. Also, I completely forgot about the lotr songs. The fellowship theme sounded so good, definitely will give that a try.
Thanks, appreciate it man! LotR themes are always a banger and absolutely worth the time, good luck with it 😉
Week 2 perfect hand posture
Thanks! Had lessons for a few months as a kid, this helped with picking up aspects such as hand posture. Also went through a lot of youtube guides to help with the basics again.
Great progress, keep it up!
Thank you, I appreciate that! 😁
If this is real and not one of a plethora of fake progression videos, two stand out moments are the ability to breeze through Für Elise after only 4 months like that (I've never seen anyone play this piece as well in such a short period) and then, at month 10 - having taken a two year break no less, he can rip through Mozarts Sonata 16 so completely effortlessly, and without sheet music. Quite extraordinary, and verging on the very hard to believe...but, benefit of the doubt n that. Well done.
Some realistic and inspiring progress there👍🏻
Looks like you caught on to the whole hand independence thing rather quickly. Perhaps you were a better listener as a kid than you thought;)
I only had a tiny keyboard and no teacher as a kid and while I did somehow perform Xmas songs in front of the whole class it was all pure memorisation.
Much later I got a 49 key midi board so I could try and play some of my favourite soundtracks. But I was way too ambitious and impatient and sucked at hand independence. So I heavily preferred melody and mostly played right hand only. It's not like the dang thing had any polyphony anyway.
Fast forward many years again and I finally invested in a proper digital piano so I could practice at any time, without feeling conscious about annoying the neighbours with scales for hours.
I got it on Halloween, so I'm two months in on my adult journey. This time with a solid method and focus on technique and theory. Mixed in with some UA-cam and some of my favourites that are far beyond me but nice challenges.
You do seem to be pretty good at memorisation, I was wondering if that got in the way and how well your sight-reading was at month 7?
I think it would contribute to a burn out if you feel you need to cram everything in there. I know, cuz it's definitely something I was prone to as well xD
You might be right haha, even if it goes in to one ear and out the other, some of it clearly stuck and helped me get started quicker this time around.
Sounds like you have quite the history with piano and wanting to learn yourself. Hope it works out for you this time, you got this!
As for the memorization, you're spot on. I was (still am for a large part tbh) not sight reading and trying to learn pieces where I'd spend a week on a couple of bars. Not sustainable and that led to burnout. My reading has improved but I'd like it to get a lot better, it is one of my goals for the third year especially to dial back my pieces heavily to focus on sight readidng instead.
@@thomaspiano Thx and good luck to you as well👍🏻
It's a tricky beast, the pieces that are easiest to start sight-reading practice on are also easily memorised. I've been trying a couple of apps to practice it at speed with a time limit.
I seem to be getting the hang of the basics at least. I am hoping that it'll give me enough of a foundation to work with once I get to pieces that aren't so easily memorised, yet are quite hard to read as well. As with any language, I'm sure it'll be a lifelong process beyond that anyway.
@@CitizenMio You're definitely right, my work on it so far has been playing through the children's pieces books I have at home. The pieces are easily memorized so having to move on quickly makes it a tough skill to train.
I fully agree with the last comment you made though. Not even just sight reading, piano in general. Consider it as a set of skills you can and should keep training for a lifetime. There's plenty of time to keep making steady progress and revisit certain parts. When I view the whole process of learning piano like that, it's much easier to stay motivated than my initial mindset of expecting quick results.
For reference, what apps would you recommend for sight reading? You seem to have gotten off on the right foot on learning it and I like the idea of using an app since it has nearly unlimited pieces to show you.
@@thomaspiano
Yeah patience is definitely a virtue and one I didn't start out with either xD
I think the trick is to keep it fun, mix up the various subskills, challenge yourself but also chop your goals in little pieces so you can experience many big little rewards.
Anyway, as for your question, I enjoyed the aptly named "Complete Music Reading Trainer" the best. It felt like the right amount of gamification and challenge for me at the moment.
This is an extremely good start! Lots of potential! You might want to get a few lessons with a piano teacher just to work out the kinks and rework some technique. Also to give you some ideas on how to time your pedaling a little better. It's a very admirable effort! Well done! - Sincerely, a piano teacher.
Thank you, appreciate that compliment a lot! You're absolutely right, there's some aspects of my technique and posture that need work. A regular teacher is unfortunately too expensive for me, but your idea is a good one.
I'll definitely look into options to work with a teacher temporarily, with a heavy focus on reworking technique and posture so I can learn without risk of injury, and to enhance my potential in the future. Thanks for the suggestion!
Excellent! Could you share which are the methods or books you are using to learn? Thanks!
Hey there, thank you! I don't follow any established method or book, however I can explain my own method to learning and the online resources I used.
Firstly, my method ever since I restarted after the burnout is as followed: I learn what I like. This means I'll usually have 3-5 pieces, movie soundtracks, etc. I'm listening to on repeat and I will always pick one of those to play. By playing something I genuinely enjoy, I prevent getting bored and burning out.
Aside from that, I always identify what my weak points are as far as technique goes. What have I practiced less or noticeably struggled with recently? I'll try to pick one of the pieces which has that element incorporated, so that I can practice it. Lastly, I'll look for an arrangement that is around my level.
So you could say my method is that every piece I pick should be around or above the level of my previous piece, and tackle unique technical aspects which I struggle with. Furthermore, it should be a piece of music I genuinely enjoy listening to outside of playing piano.
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As for online resources, I used all of these regularly throughout my journey and I'd highly recommend them for any advice, tips, tricks, etc...:
- Pianoworld forum
- r/Piano subreddit
- Josh Wright TV (youtube)
- Jazer Lee (youtube)
- Graham Fitch (youtube)
I hope that helps you, good luck on your learning! 😃
love to see it
Thanks Roary!
I am really glad you shared that about burn out because I have a tendency to try to do too much at one time. This is good advice to help me avoid the same thing happening to me. My intention is to practice one hour per day and hopefully within a year I will need in good shape but will still have a long way to go. Thank you for sharing. Do you mind if I ask which UA-cam training videos you learned from.
Glad to hear it's been helpful to you! I imagine many people struggle with some form of burn-out throughout their journey, I think it's important to share what went right and what didn't.
If you're putting in an hour a day of practice with intent, I'm sure you will make good progress. As for videos, I think channels are a better recommendation -- I have a few that I regularly visited to learn;
- Josh Wright
- Jazer Lee
- Graham Fitch
Now all of these focus on technique, practice methods, general tips and advice. They each have more or less a library of content to consult on your journey. Other than that, I used forums such as pianoworld or the piano subreddit to find a bunch of information regarding pieces, techniques, etc...
Hope that helps, good luck on your learning!
Hey man, you look like a quick learner. Did you follow any particular books to learn the notes? I’m currently leaning myself as well, well not entirely true, I did do an online teacher once.. still have reservations there but any books that you found would be helpful.. I’m going with some method books, boring as hell.
Great work mate !
Thanks Luke!
Wonderful, well done.
Thank you, I appreciate that 😃
no way you tried burgmuller at week 6
I did, left hand definitely did not appreciate the attempt at the time 😂
Kept at it for another month or two though and it ended up improving that left hand a good bit
wow. Good job. So what was your learning method? What were your learning matrials? keen to know.
Two year Hiatus? Did you serve a Mission ?
Nothing as special haha, I just burned myself out and didn't end up playing the piano throughout that time.
Good job Thomas..👍👍
Thanks very much, appreciate it! 🙂
Can you please make a video about which tutorials you have followed ?
Congrats ! 😊
Thank you! :)
Seeing your progress is so inspiring and motivating! I`m looking forward to see your future progress. How long is your practice per day?
It's been very inspiring for me as well. Honestly, for me the piano improvement is only one aspect. Thinking about myself in the first few clips, it's crazy how much has changed in my life since then. Mostly for the better, thankfully.
Currently I'm practicing about 1-1.5 hours per day. It does vary depending on how busy I am and how motivated I am though. For example, if I'm just starting a piece then I could be playing for 3 hours a day or if I'm busy as little as 30 minutes.
I have autism, and I've been playing the piano for 8 years and for people with autism, learning an instrument is VERY different. Much more difficult. I still can't do songs like that. Congratulations, hope you keep improving.
I can't say I know what that experience is like, but everyone has their own journey to learn. 8 years is a very impressive amount of time for anyone to be dedicating themselves to something, I respect that.
You'll get to the point you want to get I'm sure. Good luck on your journey and improvement as well 😁
If you have autism, this means you are a visual learner. So you need to watch some great pianists and then close your eyes and visualise what they did. You can also visualise the music and learn it by heart that way.
After reading or visualising the music, rest your hands on the notes, without actually playing any notes at all, and just visualise yourself playing the music, and FEEL what it would be like to play it. Imagine it, while your hands stay still on the keys. Repeat this a few times, and slowly allow small movements to occur.
Believe it or not, you are a gifted learner - and more so than other learners. You have just not yet been shown how to use your gift!
@@yourtransformationgenie Thank you so much for you're advice. I'll try to remember these great steps. And you're right, I do learn by visuals.
I can smell some bullshit whining. Autism is mostly about being obsessed with patterns and hating what doesn't fit.
The hard part is the feelings part of high quality music interpretation.
But the piano and its complex finger patterns is autism paradise. Pure bliss in learning new complex patterns that are somewhat similar to patterns in previous pieces.
Slowly improving your finger sequence until it clicks.
So no, zero excuse for autism making it hard to learn the piano. Keep your excuses for why you struggle at transmitting feelings and emotions with nuanced intonation.
And in my hardcore autistic experience, music is a good way to reduce the limitations of autism as your desire for perfection will lead to finding the desire to crack feelings transmission. To become perfect, you'll end up learning to listen to your own feelings.
This is a video that you can be proud of for sure!
A while ago I started on my own as well, had a few years of music lessons (no instrument) when i was younger. The simple songs went really well, so i quickly bumped up the difficulty onto things like the Canadian anthem and found my expectations of my abilities run past my actual abilities pretty quickly. A bit like what you said happened to you in the video, my practice time went down until today. I feel like i've just lost it all again... although this video works pretty well as an inspiration. Do you consider this as doable for an average person?
(As in, do you think you have a talent for playing the piano?)
Again, really enjoyed the vid :D
Thanks, that means a lot!
To be honest, I think your (and my) story are pretty common. It's easy to get a bit ahead of ourselves, or perhaps we just want to play something challenging. Either way, too much of that is bound to burn you out a little at the least.
Do I think it's doable for the average person? Absolutely. I would say I am an average person as far as piano goes. However, I do have a good amount of experience in learning a similar skill -- largely focused on muscle memory and building precise motor skills. A lot of becoming good at piano (or any skill really) is knowing how, where and when to practice. Much of that experience I had and just needed to adapt to piano. On this front, there's still plenty I didn't do very well so I'm sure others can achieve better results.
I spent about 600 hours throughout the year on playing. That's not accounting for time spent learning away from the piano though. Here's some good examples of what one can do away from the piano, I think these helped me a lot:
1. Looking at a bunch of videos and other tutorials on how to deal with a section or even specific technique. After 5 tutorials, you're bound to come across one you relate to and/or great tips. Not only does this help learn, but also motivates you to try it out.
2. Memorize pieces or sections by going through them in your head. Personally I did this a lot right before bed or while commuting. I recommend doing it right before bed. I can't explain the science behind it, but in my experience it seems to process better when I sleep and I wake up with some vastly improved memory of the piece.
The exact solutions vary for everyone, since everyone is different. However, I do advise to figure out what the smartest way to learn for you is, and apply that. If you manage, I guarantee you can achieve amazing results.
Another thing I'd like to add for the motivation part. Here's my two cents on motivating to get back into and enjoy the piano more than before;
Play anything you want to.
Sounds simple, but tbh there's a lot of guides and people out there who tell you follow a certain order. First play this, then that, they establish an order for improvement. And yeah, that might be best on paper, but ultimately making sure someone keeps playing and enjoying themselves is more important.
Of course I advise against extremely difficult pieces, but generally I've had a great time doing this. Just rewatched a movie and an amazing soundtrack is stuck in your head? Great, find or make an arrangement around your level and play it. In my opinion, focusing purely on enjoyment and sidelining improvement as a 2nd goal is the best way to go about it if you're feeling in a dip. Try to let go of any of the pressure, comparisons to improve, etc..., that will all come if you're enjoying yourself.
I hope you get back into it man, good luck!
You playing sounds beautiful. Congratulations. What series of books did you use to progress as you have.
For me memorisation is my pitfall :(
Don't worry about it, most people struggle with it (myself included). I would recommend searching some youtube videos on memorization techniques. There's some wonderful guides which I used to help.
Just a few pointers I apply regularly from those are; hand separate memorization, alternate between for example legato and staccato, play very slowly, play a part away from the piano in your mind, etc... There are many tricks to help your brain memorize.
Well done!
Cheers Manuel, much appreciated!
Sounds really nice, and sorry for those who don't believe it -- it totaly is achievable with some hard work. You would benefit a lot from a teacher, to help you with technique and relaxation. Needless to say that Mozart K. 545 is above your level with just one year practice, but it was a nice attempt. I understand because i did just the same, playing pieces that where too hard when I was starting with the piano. Great work so far.
Are you playing Fur Elise from the score? If so, when did you learn to read music, just four months ago ( from the time of the video? ) How did you learn to read music, online course? I see the video was made a year ago. Where are you at now? Have you tried Moonlight Sonata third movement? Have you considered making it a career and becoming a concert pianist? If you can progress that quickly you should find it easy to take grade 8 by now, then apply to go to a music academy, and start giving recitals. It seems a shame to waste a gift like that when you find it so easy. I would visit a teacher as soon as possible and ask them to assess your grade and let them guide you from there.
Hi! I have started learning the piano, i want to know how do you get better at hand independence. Do you have any recommended youtube guide or some practice routine?
Hey! First of all that's awesome, hope you achieve all your goals on the keys.
For hand independence there's a bunch of guides out there. Personally I used Hanon exercises to strengthen my hand's individual ability. This took away a lot of issues with hand independence.
Secondly, I recommend practicing hands separate on every piece first. Once you get better this might not be necessary for you anymore. However, it helps with hand independence as you focus on their individual parts before throwing the difficulty of coordination onto it.
Lastly, you can try some improvised exercises. My idea of practicing hand independence is just playing a different pattern or rhythm in both hands. This can start as simple as playing a C on your left hand and a chord on right. Add more notes to it, start playing a slow melody in one hand while pressing a note in the other. Make it a chord in the other, so and so forth. Keep increasing complexity of what each hand is playing when you get comfortable. By playing something wildly different in each hand, it forces you to consider them as separate and train your hands individually.
In general I recommend Jazer Lee and Josh wright as far as piano tutorials and tips go. Don't let that restrict you though, a quick youtube search on hand independence should give you a bunch of guides which may help.
I hope I was of some help, good luck with your learning! 😉
Hand independence is a myth. What exists is hand coordination.
You learn every single finger action. Then you learn every single hand combination of fingers. Then you learn every couple of one left hand finger pattern and one right hand finger pattern.
Then, you learn basic sequences of 2-hand combinations.
And in the end, memorising a piece is memorising a sequence of basic sequences.
The so called finger independence is nothing more than having painfully learning a catalogue of all possible 2-hand finger combinations.
You can start playing with both hands the first few days. What happens afterwards is that your catalogue of combinations grows and grows.
The secret is just to play ultra slowly (one action every 3 seconds), with a very clear idea of what combination you're playing.
What is the name of the song in the intro?
Hey! That'd be Un Sospiro by Liszt, great piece and a future goal of mine for sure
@@thomaspiano Thank you so much! Usually piano pieces do not catch my attention but this one playing in the background while you spoke really did. I know you can achieve learning this one day!
Impressive, but you might try thinking beyond the bar line. Will give your sound more flow. Sorry, I”m a pianist and teacher… but mostly a composer.
I'm nearly 69, and started playing again at 62, with a 50 year gap. Can't believe you manged to get this good in one year, you must be extremely gifted.(or natural) As I'm not this good yet. Although it is harder as you get older, as you're hands/eyes/brain don't co-ordinate as well as when a person is young. So if you actually did get that good in a year good luck to you, I still play my piano on average 2 hours a day, and will continue so as long as I can, just love playing.
He must have learnt to read music before he started, also learnt fingering, and the names of the notes on the piano, unless it’s ALL by ear 😂. Funny he doesn’t say HOW he progressed at this rate. I can tell he hasn’t had lessons. I suppose if you can read treble and bass clef reasonably fluently before you start you could progress at his rate with practice. I don’t believe most of these videos. One lad made a video about seven years ago showing brief clips indicating he had become an advanced player in one year. Yet he is now learning a piece for an exam, which just happens to be a piece currently set for grade 8 piano exam. That would suggest it has taken him 8 years to be as good as he was making out he was seven years ago, after one year. If he’d been telling the truth, he would now have completed his studies at the Royal Academy of Music and be performing at all the concert halls, not studying for grade 8 which is about A level standard. Remember you’re doing it for the love of the music and the person who wrote it, not for vain admiration.
@@marinka424 I play because I love music, it's an enjoyment, albeit I am practising grade 5 music(Burgmuller, Knight Errant) It's hard but love trying to conquer it. I don't want no bits of paper to say how good I am, just to be able to play some nice tunes.
@@welshwizard55 I think that’s fantastic. I know of adults who gave up long before you. If you’re doing it because you love music then that will constantly keep drawing you to overcome any challenges.
@@marinka424 Thank you for your vote of confidence in me. I'll keep tinkling!! the Ivories
Self-taught? Fur Elise and K.545 in one year? Insane progress! I'm a classical musician - those made me very very happy. Also nice subscriber count lmao
Wow !! Great ! Keep it up💪🏻
Thank you! Will definitely do :)
The thing about these progress videos is that they should delve more into background and how much practice time.
I forwarded this to my nephew who is probably about your age, he want to learn to play piano. This will help push him to get started. Great video. Thanks.
That's awesome, thanks very much! Hope he gets into it and enjoys it.
where did you find that lord of the rings piece? it sounds awesome!
Did you learn sight reading as a kid before? The pieces at the beginning are pretty hard! Well done!
Thank you!
Sadly I didn't, still can't sight read properly now either. In all honesty the reason some of the pieces in the first 3 months were doable, was pure rote memorization. Was spending 3-4 hours a day purely focusing on that one piece to get it down haha.
@@thomaspiano thanks for responding! You did really well I am super impressed with what you played! How many pieces at once were you doing and how long would it take you using only memorization?
@@bodaciouscans Thanks again haha
I'd say almost all 2-3 min pieces ended up also taking me around 2-3 weeks to finish.
The exceptions are Fur Elise and the K545 sonata, as those were both above my level at the time of learning. Both took about 6 weeks from start to when I recorded.
Many of the shorter 1-2 minute pieces took me around a week to complete. Up until Fur Elise pretty much everything was a relatively short, few days to a week piece.
@@thomaspiano That is very fast paced! And were you using UA-cam tutorials?
@@bodaciouscans Yeah absolutely, tons of youtube tutorials. Probably every piece I watched at least 20 renditions of it being played to get some inspiration.
For any tough sections of a piece, usually as many tutorials on it as I could find to figure out a good fingering and other tips. Even if there's no tutorials, watching a good pianist play it in slow motion is still useful.
So yeah, without youtube tutorials and piano forums to help out, it wouldn't have been possible for me to progress as much.
Can you sight read from music scores, and do you?? Is that part of your self-taught learning? For example, could you pick up a church hymnal and start playing any song (not super difficult, but requiring moderate skill level), given your progress to date?? Thanks for vid!!
It depends what you calls sight reading.
Deciphering a music you've never heard before vs playing the proper notes of a music you have in your head is different.
Deciphering isn't hard, just like a 6 year old chil can decipher text speaking syllable by syllable. Very slow, but it works with little knowledge.
Then, there is the part where you play without looking much at your fingers. You can help that by playing the eyes closed some piece you've fully memorised.
Sight reading is nothing more than the ability to decipher + the ability to mostly look at the sheet instead of your fingers.
Then, practice, practice and slowly you'll decipher faster and faster and you'll look less and less at your fingers.
I don't understand why so many people struggle about it and speak of it as something binary "can you sight read".
I could sight read from day one in the beginner book. How else would I play anything? It's just that I was sightreading suuuuuuupeeeerr slowly on super easy pieces.
Since then, my reading speed improved.
Damn your so good at teaching yourself,
Thank you Krishan, great compliment to receive! :)
Great results! Thank you, Thomas, for sharing your journey, it's inspiring! Do you have any advice for somebody who just started learn to play piano and struggles, especially with playing right tempo: metronome freeks me out and I can't play fast enough or the right notes in the beat, so the music piece I'm trying to play does't sounds good and sometimes I can't progress and stuck. Do you know any decent exercises with metronome? I'd be very grateful! Thank you! Sincerely, Lia.
Beware! If you stop playing for a long time, you will lose the motor skill for your pianistic technique. I went 6 years without practice (1965 - 1971), and within a short time I recovered my technique. After 6 months, I was playing Beethoven's Pathétique (far from perfect!). I learned many pieces, and even performed for audiences. Then I went 20 years without practice (1978 - 1998). It took me six years to regain my technique! Only in 2004 I could play pieces like Beethoven's Sonatas no. 8 & 23, and Brahms Two Rhapsodies (op. 79). A hand injury sidelined me for 16 years. I began playing again in June 2021, and again, I have not yet fully regained my technique, but I am playing better and better with each passing week. Only the lingering hand injury slows me down. I may have to abandon Beethoven, and play mostly Mozart sonatas, and short pieces of Brahms, Chopin, Schubert & Mendelssohn. Beethoven is too strenuous for a partially disabled right hand. I have had to entirely abandon playing the flute (mostly Bach & Mozart). Flute & piano together is a hand and wrist killer.
Em 2 semanas ele tem total controle do dedilhado, inclusive dos dedos 4 e 5. A postura das mãos é boa e ele sabe como aliviar a tensão nos pulsos e dedos. Quem acha que ele está mentindo dê um like.
Great job! How many hours do you practice a day? ☺️
Thank you Itay! My average throughout the first year would be around 2 hours a day. However, this varied a lot. My first months were quite extreme, practicing 3-5 hours a day. Later in the year I definitely practiced less, closer to a 1 hour a day average.
I'm now in my second year and I try to stick to around 1 hour a day. Hope that helps!