The Real Difference between Beginner & Intermediate Piano Students
Вставка
- Опубліковано 1 чер 2024
- Support me on Patreon: / pianotips
Buy the Books in eBook format: bit.ly/49Di8XQ
Complete Level 1-2-3 in spiral binding: bit.ly/4bLnW39
Join the course: bit.ly/3UJJszc
Book an online piano lesson: piano-tips.com/online-lessons/
Buy my course books on Amazon:
Amazon UK: amzn.to/3QYCRzl
Amazon USA: www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFDCGYGL
Amazon Canada: www.amazon.ca/dp/B0CFDCGYGL
Amazon AUS: www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0CFDCGYGL
Amazon DE: www.amazon.de/dp/B0CFDCGYGL
Amazon FR: www.amazon.fr/dp/B0CFDCGYGL
Amazon IT: www.amazon.it/dp/B0CFDCGYGL
Amazon ES: www.amazon.es/dp/B0CFDCGYGL
Amazon JP: www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0CFDCGYGL
Share your playing: bit.ly/3OE8cUZ
Disclaimer: Some of the above links are affiliate links
I learned early on that a Beginner Level is not automatically attained when someone starts playing the piano. Some students have to be playing for a year or two before they have attained Beginner level. That was humbling, but also a good learning experience. I didn't hesitate to go back (several times) to my Level One Method Books and start at the beginning. Part of it was as a sightreading lesson, but it was also to really learn the exact things Stefan was mentioning. I was using Czerny and hesitated on buying Stefans book, but instead concentrated on Moulin de Ville Opus 100. And I've made it through the first 7 (almost 8) pieces. And I'm staying there until they are "mastered", that is that they are more musical. I am also transposing them into other keys. At first I'm concentrating on the keys with up to 3 sharps or flats, but occasionally I'll try the "harder" keys. I've also transposed Bach Prélude en Do Majeure into Thoroughbass and play that in other keys.
My piano teacher is very supportive, which wasn't always the case with my experience with music teachers. Until I was 65 years of age, I'd joke that I was born with two left ears. I also have a good friend and patient who is a concert pianist. Every once in a while, he'll invite me to the Conservatory if he has a free time slot and he gives me an impromptu lesson. He is chuffed that I am doing the transposition.
Thank you, I really needed to hear this. I’ve been so stressed trying to learn things that I think I should be learning at my ‘level’, and trying to reach intermediate that I haven’t really been enjoying playing. I’ve just bought your level 2 books. I look forward to working through them and enjoying the process of just learning steadily at my pace. Thank you for your videos.
Wonderful video … it certainly makes me much better about where I feel I am … based on this video I am
an intermediate. It takes a long time for me to complete a piece of music because it requires so much time to break things down , analyze the key, the articulation , dynamics and pedaling … putting all this together on one piece ie. Chopin …. It’s a very long process in order for me to feel as if I have finished a piece … in a way I feel it’s never finished because its constant chunking , drills , scales , etc … so much to one piece …I like to “ master a piece “…. I practice each piece along with daily scales, arpeggios , chords , fingering drills etc …. I am enjoying the journey. Thank you
Thank you so much for the heads up!! Very helpful and strangely inspiring!! 🙏🌟
Thank you for making this video. I have been learning piano for quite a while and have to say, I absolutely hate the graded system! Maybe it’s just my personal experience. I have been learning from the start to play the 3 or 4 exam pieces simply to pass the exam. No scales, arpeggios, no chords no improvisation, no aural or ear techniques. Only the pieces and then once “passed” I get told, “great you are now at this grade”!!! And here I am, supposedly at an intermediate level, yet apart from my exam pieces, I can’t play anything!!! I feel I have wasted so much time, energy and money on useless “lessons” not learning anything.
I have now given exams the flick and am starting over again, this time, learning properly. What I definitely won’t be doing is giving my level a definition. Whether I am a beginner or intermediate, to me it really doesn’t matter anymore. What’s wrong with just calling ourselves pianists or piano players? Loving your videos, thanks again 😊
Thank you for your comment, and I'm truly sorry to hear that you feel this way about your music studies. I am a music teacher and it helps reinforce the importance of not "teaching to the test," so to speak, but using a variety of other method, exercise book, and repertoire to bring the student up to grade. I believe that choosing exam pieces should be the cherry on top of all that hard work that goes into getting to that level of playing. Teaching to the breadth and depth of technical requirements of that level, vs. strictly focusing on exam prep.
And there ya go! So many of us fall into this trap. For me it was the desire to play beautiful pieces with lots of arpeggios like Memory from Cats by Richard Clayderman or any of the beautiful Disney pieces. When you focus on that goal, you will eventually get there but it will take a very long time and you will have a repertoire of one! The real work is in technical exercises, scales, chords, arpeggios, and yes theory! Like most I just wanted to play great songs, I didn't want to learn piano! I blasted through Alfred's book one and soon found that I was skipping pieces I didn't like or were just too difficult for me to master. Then I got bored and started looking at what seemed to be very easy classical pieces and I struggled with them. Now I am back in Alfred's and refusing to move to the next page before I can play the current one well and here is the kicker, truly understand it. I ask myself, "Just what is it this page is trying to teach me?" And then, "How can I make my fingers do it?" I am studying more theory, circle of fifths, scale creations, chord formation, chord progressions, arpeggios, sight reading simple one-line exercises, and all of the other boring "stuff." But, I can feel a difference and am starting to look at pieces differently. I am currently trying to work through my equipment jealousy...if I only had the latest and greatest weighted key digital piano or a baby grand, I know, I just know, I will get over that hump and end up at Carnagie Hall! Good luck in your journey!
@@tommaxwell429 Congratulations on not giving up! I think with discipline, we can definitely get to where we want to be with our music. I am making huge progress now which I am finally happy with and playing songs/pieces I enjoy and achieving challenging pieces too. Yes, technical exercises definitely help especially scales. I quite enjoy them actually! Keep on going with your musical journey, sounds like you’re making excellent progress too:)
I’m self taught adult, I been a beginner for 3 years now lol
So true. I started learning to play piano when I was 30 and continued for about 3-4 years. Quite recently (I am now 49), I resumed my piano journey, and to be frank, I really, really enjoy it. I can play some pieces that are above my current skill level (e.g., Ed Sheeran's "Perfect" as arranged by Jon Schmidt, some Chopin preludes, Nocturne in C-sharp minor, Yan Tiersen's "Valse d'Amelie," Peter Bence's "Letting it Go"), but I wouldn't call myself "intermediate." As you said, I lack many skills that intermediate pianists have, especially sight reading new pieces a'vista, which I still struggle with a lot. The reason I can play these few pieces well is that I liked them very much and spent months learning them. But even if others enjoy my playing of these particular pieces, it doesn't mean I can play other pieces well. I see the difference when an experienced pianist takes on a new piece and plays it. I can't yet take a new piece and play it well unless I spend weeks (or even months) on it and fix the mistakes or incorporate feedback from experienced pianists. Meanwhile, I guess almost every true "intermediate" pianist can play such pieces almost instantly. Even with mistakes, the difference is huge. That's where well-structured music education, experience, and years of practice come in. Of course, the lessons learned from these difficult pieces help a lot in learning new pieces, but the road to "intermediate" is still far ahead of me.
This is a great video and I totally agree. I can play Prelude no.1 in C Major from the Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1, which is around Grade 4 ABRSM. I am now learning Chopin's Prelude in Em, yet Mozart's Minuet & Trio in G (K.1e - his first ever composition) is not flawless - nowhere near in fact! I can't sight read immediately, although I can read one clef at a time and get the gist of things.
I'm definitely a beginner despite other people's protestations that I have to be better than a beginner.
I am an intermediate beginner! I quickly learned that there is a big gap between beginner and level 1. It is intuitive that one would start at level, right? Oh no! Try sitting down and playing Hannon 1 as a newbie and see how that goes. There is a long slow preschool before one enters into 1st grade. LOL!
Would like to see examples of beginning and intermediate music.
Until you are into book two of the popular Alfred/Adventure methods, you are pre grade 1, IMO. But what's in a label? How many of us long to be a classical piano performer, which is the only place it matters? I guess there is some prideful benefit to boasting of a certain grade level, but beyond that, music is supposed to be fun, relaxing, enjoyable. In music, the adventure is certainly a journey and not a destination. Few of us will ever make it to a grade 8, 9, 10 or performing on stage. If that is the perceived goal, then most of us will get discouraged and give up. Enjoy the incremental growth and fun along the way. You can show off to your friends playing a simple pop tune just as well as playing a difficult Chopin piece, and to be honest, they will probably be more impressed and like it more. If your goal is to be a performing concert pianist, then by all means go for it! Piano playing will become work, it will be your job, and you may not get the same enjoyment out of it as you do playing a 4 chord pop piece. Just be realistic with what your goals are and how much work you are willing to put into it. Piano isn't just for concert pianists. Just my two cents.
I'm a self taught beginning viola player and I find this video very relevant. I've been randomly cycling through a huge pile of beginning viola method books, one a day, starting at the beginning each time and getting at least halfway through. When I get back to any book in two or three weeks it goes better. My immediate goal is to be a confident and accurate beginner. But should I be pushing myself to advance faster?
Amazing video. So than what makes someone a prodigy?
I am not sure what a level means but what does it matter what level you are. Or is there some kind of system behind it?
Waiting for the new abrsm syllabus Review, greetings fron chile
It's like the dunning kruger effect, intermediate pianists are aware of their lack of knowledge, whereas beginners not so much..
I thought I could play anything when I was a beginner
Is it really fair to use Dunning-Kruger in this case? Dunning-Kruger more refers to when people think they know more than they actually do, which fits what you're saying, but I don't know any beginners who think they know a lot more than they do. I just do not think it's the right expression.
Perhaps better would be to look at the hierarchy of competence. Beginners will be in the unconscious incompetence stage, whereas intermediates will be consciously incompetent, with advanced players being consciously competent and the masters being unconsciously competent.
It is also a character thing imo, the more arrogant people will tend to think they know more and display false confidence.
Very informative video but made me a little depress for taking the blue pill :D... over the years I passed the graded exams with distinctions again and again but felt so inadequate, find every new piece extremely difficult, couldn't relate myself to intermediate/advanced level at all... sometimes even wonder whether I'm really progressing... now I know why. Can I blame my teacher? who mainly prepared me for exam pieces rather than training me to attain higher level skills consistently
Hmm, I was wondering: on a scale 1-8, how would you personally rate each of the 3 movements of Moonlight sonata? You have a very good channel, very good for doing short exercises that build skills. Subscribed 🙂
Part 1 is Grade 8, Part 3 is outside the grading system, it goes into university level.
I heard part one was grade 5 so others are higher.
@@D57ve RCM and ABRSM rate Mvt. 1 and 2 as Grade 8 and Mvt. 3 as Performance Diploma level.
Mvt.1 is relatively easy to "play" but making it sound correct is surprisingly difficult.
I agree with you… also, you can be an advanced player in classics, but not really good in jazz. You can be read really good in reading chords in a fake book and paralyzed in sight reading of a classic piece., and vice-versa. Thats why it is tough to find a good piano teacher.
Nice to address this issue, but is what you say mostly from children/parents at your studio? I think many people (especially adults) are aware of their weak spots in their piano learning and don't dare to come up and boast about their hypothetic level. As adult talking about our hobbies, we often get asked: can you play well? Are you good? Depending to who you talk, those questions cover many innuendo. In this context, talking about level simplifies rather than describe the real thing.
It's quite rare in my experience, to meet people who say they are X grade level because they can play a specific piece. If they do, they show how insecure they are. Deep down, they think they are not so great (an inconscious thing). Among them, I met people who say they can play a grade X piece. As a reaction, I ask them the name of the piece, the composer (which book if it's an arrangement) or just show the sheet music. Then at the end, we focus the discussion on the music rather than trying to feed (or starve) one's ego and it's much more constructive. After all, grade is an artificial division, created long after the actual pieces were composed. So why this obsession?
Intermediate? Beginner? Advanced? It means everything and nothing at the same time. I like the terms novice (or noob to sound cool), competent, proficient and expert. I would rather use them to describe their experience within a specific area of musicianship rather than take it as an identity thing. We are all artists, musicians and pianists. We are all piano learners. When piano was invented, it was at a time when musicianship was mostly a trade. It was treated the same as being a carpenter, a sculptor, etc. unless one was born into a rich family (bourgeoisie, aristocracy) and there, learning to play piano was part of a good education. There some people continued in their adulthood as a hobby.
Nowadays, this obsession to be the best version of yourself (to be more competitive for the labor market), became the one to brag about your achievements even with your hobbies. I don't want to be part of that culture.
Well I have just been deflated. Thank you for the reality check
So how many pieces of a certain grade must one be able to play in order to be considered as belonging to that grade?
My opinion… a piece, is everything but the succession of notes. What is the « recipe », of that piece, ( ex 2-5-1, etc), can you explain the rythmn. What are the important beats 1-3 or 2-4? Is this a AABA or any other form? Would you be able tho begin that piece anywhere. When you practice, do you always begin at the beginning or you can practice only where yoy have problem.
If you play 10 songs of a certain level, without answer these few questions, it only means that mostly your muscle memory is involved.
If these basics questions were answered before you touch the piano, you would progress faster.
TL;DR: You are only at a level when you can learn new pieces at that level with relative ease.
I actually like this definition. Simple, but so accurate.
Good video advice but I wish you’d been more specific. In my opinion, an intermediate student should have complete hand independence; one playing loud while the other plays soft and same for independent touches. Should be able to play with metronome and have musical understanding of phrase; tension and resolution and what harmonies facilitate that.
I get so many transfer students who play for me pieces like The Wild Horseman, Mozart K. 545 so totally wrong it’s upsetting. Why do teachers assign these pieces when it’s OBVIOUS the student isn’t ready or capable? This happens over and over.
The entire video could’ve been 1 minutes, if you haven’t repeated again and again and again.