How Long To Be A Master Pianist?

[stanny]

Sup guys, I'm gonna leave for Thai and will have tons of free time. Thought I pick up playing the piano. How long and what needed to be able to start playing Chopin's Nocturnes. I really don't care about reading notes and certification. I just wanna be able to play Chopin's stuff. I'm in love with him.

[TEFLMike]

Sup guys, I'm gonna leave for Thai and will have tons of free time. Thought I pick up playing the piano. How long and what needed to be able to start playing Chopin's Nocturnes. I really don't care about reading notes and certification. I just wanna be able to play Chopin's stuff. I'm in love with him.

I can see some really good answers coming up on this topic.

There are a few Piano Bars scattered around Pattaya. I know of at least one. They may let you have a 'go'

[steveromagnino]

Sup guys, I'm gonna leave for Thai and will have tons of free time. Thought I pick up playing the piano. How long and what needed to be able to start playing Chopin's Nocturnes. I really don't care about reading notes and certification. I just wanna be able to play Chopin's stuff. I'm in love with him.

I can see some really good answers coming up on this topic.

There are a few Piano Bars scattered around Pattaya. I know of at least one. They may let you have a 'go'

Chopin's stuff is not easy to play; and I am really not sure unless you have extremely good pitch that you can play by ear for this sort of stuff.

Technically, I would have thought 2 hours practise per day daily for about 3 years and you might be getting the proficiency to play Chopin very badly. You probably also need someone to explain the finger changes as well; I vaguely recall writing down the changes for Chopin and Bach and a few others.

After 7 years and reaching grade 7 on the Piano, I still would have thought most of the nocturnes were beyond my grasp to play even remotely well.

There is joy in mastering simpler pieces of music too!

[0Mix1up]

buy a sequencer/sound module and find the midi files- press play

[stanny]

Sup guys, I'm gonna leave for Thai and will have tons of free time. Thought I pick up playing the piano. How long and what needed to be able to start playing Chopin's Nocturnes. I really don't care about reading notes and certification. I just wanna be able to play Chopin's stuff. I'm in love with him.

I can see some really good answers coming up on this topic.

There are a few Piano Bars scattered around Pattaya. I know of at least one. They may let you have a 'go'

Chopin's stuff is not easy to play; and I am really not sure unless you have extremely good pitch that you can play by ear for this sort of stuff.

Technically, I would have thought 2 hours practise per day daily for about 3 years and you might be getting the proficiency to play Chopin very badly. You probably also need someone to explain the finger changes as well; I vaguely recall writing down the changes for Chopin and Bach and a few others.

After 7 years and reaching grade 7 on the Piano, I still would have thought most of the nocturnes were beyond my grasp to play even remotely well.

There is joy in mastering simpler pieces of music too!

Bummer, 3 years 2 hours practice a day? 7 years? Geez, I'm afraid I won't have the time. There goes my option of escaping 9-5, becoming a concert pianist, going from exotic city to city playing master Chopin pieces. Actually hotel lounges and piano bars will be fine too. Take a look at

, playing without scores at all, maybe I still got some hope. I'm 23, alas, she's 8. Edited September 3, 2008 by stanny

[roygsd]

Sup guys, I'm gonna leave for Thai and will have tons of free time. Thought I pick up playing the piano. How long and what needed to be able to start playing Chopin's Nocturnes. I really don't care about reading notes and certification. I just wanna be able to play Chopin's stuff. I'm in love with him.

Hi,

Its very unusual for farangs to chose to learn to play the piano in LOS, having said that I understand that many farangs are

masters on the fiddle.......... :whistling

roy gsd

[elkangorito]

Sup guys, I'm gonna leave for Thai and will have tons of free time. Thought I pick up playing the piano. How long and what needed to be able to start playing Chopin's Nocturnes. I really don't care about reading notes and certification. I just wanna be able to play Chopin's stuff. I'm in love with him.

Are you "musical"? Can you read music? Are you able to vocally replicate a heard "note"? Can you "forecast" a "note" of a musical piece after you have heard it a couple of times?

If you answer "no" to any of the above, then the answer to your question, is a question..."How long is a piece of string?"

Edited September 3, 2008 by elkangorito

[12DrinkMore]

Its very unusual for farangs to chose to learn to play the piano in LOS, having said that I understand that many farangs are

masters on the fiddle.......... :whistling

Far too many Master Baters too.

:D

[AmeriThai]

Chopin's stuff is not easy to play; and I am really not sure unless you have extremely good pitch that you can play by ear for this sort of stuff.

Technically, I would have thought 2 hours practise per day daily for about 3 years and you might be getting the proficiency to play Chopin very badly. You probably also need someone to explain the finger changes as well; I vaguely recall writing down the changes for Chopin and Bach and a few others.

After 7 years and reaching grade 7 on the Piano, I still would have thought most of the nocturnes were beyond my grasp to play even remotely well.

There is joy in mastering simpler pieces of music too!

Bummer, 3 years 2 hours practice a day? 7 years? Geez, I'm afraid I won't have the time. There goes my option of escaping 9-5, becoming a concert pianist, going from exotic city to city playing master Chopin pieces. Actually hotel lounges and piano bars will be fine too. Take a look at

, playing without scores at all, maybe I still got some hope. I'm 23, alas, she's 8.

I agree with Steve that it's not impossible but it still would require an exceptional ability to sit down and start playing Chopin by ear right off the bat. The girl in the video woud be regarded as a child prodigy. There aren't too many kids her age (or even adults) who can do the same thing, which means she's exceptional at what she does.

Why not just buy an electronic keyboard and stand from a music store and play around with it whenever you want? The ones that allow notes to ring after you've released the key are priced a little higher than the usual ones, but have more of a piano sound. There are also instruction books around for learning some of the basics of playing the piano. Anyway you look at it though, you'll still have to start simple by learning the basics before you can leap into learning more complex compositions. Who knows? You might even find you have a natural knack to play by ear.

I'm not so sure about going into a bar or lounge and start plunking "Chopsticks" or "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" would always be appreciated. It might be okay at some places, but not necessarily at all. You'd need to ask first.

[sabaijai]

Sup guys, I'm gonna leave for Thai and will have tons of free time. Thought I pick up playing the piano. How long and what needed to be able to start playing Chopin's Nocturnes. I really don't care about reading notes and certification. I just wanna be able to play Chopin's stuff. I'm in love with him.

You don't say how many Chopin pieces you want to learn, or what your musical background is.

Coincidentally after seeing the classic Nicholson film Five Easy Pieces, I decided I wanted to learn all five Chopin pieces that appear in the film. I was in my 20s then and had already been playing a couple of other instruments (woodwind and string) for about 10 years, could sight read music for those instruments. I hired a good teacher for twice-weekly lessons, and learned to play four out of the five pieces (one of them was so difficult, an etude if I recall, that I gave up trying to learn it rather quickly) in a bit less than a year's time. Nowhere near the best interpretations of a professional classical pianist, but passable, with only the occasional flubbed note (and sometimes none). Good enough to enjoy it, let's say. I've hardly touched the piano since but it was an interesting exercise.

If I hadn't been able to read music I'm sure it would have taken at least twice as long. Some of the shorter pieces you might be able to learn by ear if your ear is really good.

A good instructor is key. I wouldn't attempt it without someone to goad you along, demonstrate shortcuts and critique your playing.

Good luck with it, at the very least you'll know more piano than you know now.

[Boater]

Just become a rapper.. your online personality does not really match a Master Pianist

Sup guys, I'm gonna leave for Thai

reminds me of an episode of ' Fresh Prince of Bell Air

I really don't care about reading notes and certification

I would have thought this was the main qualification to become a master pianist

Any way good luck with what you chose, if all else fails, just start singing Thai Karaoke Songs.............

Edited September 3, 2008 by Boater

[teacup]

I love all kinds of music esp the romantic lovey dovey and good for dancing type.

Eventhough I’m a technical minded person and very good in using my hands and fingers in my everyday job, but I still think….becoming a physicist is relatively easier for me, than being a pianist!

[Jeddah Jo]

Just to say, it is not just being able to read the notes.

There is a level of technical ability required i.e strength and agility in the fingers, required to play these piecces that will take years to achieve.

I used to like Rachmaninov and Chopin's preludes a lot, and I would love to have had the ability to play them. I could bash out a few of them but I am sure it would have been painful to listen to for anyone in a cocktail bar

JJ

[teacup]

Call me oldie and boring......but I just loooove "Richard Chamberlin"

[Mossfinn]

EDIT: Wierd, stanny here, posted on my other account. Shouldn't have switched browsers.

Or have I just misread that comment?

[Spee]

Sup guys, I'm gonna leave for Thai and will have tons of free time. Thought I pick up playing the piano. How long and what needed to be able to start playing Chopin's Nocturnes. I really don't care about reading notes and certification. I just wanna be able to play Chopin's stuff. I'm in love with him.

My recommendation would be to modulate your expectations considerably. I played for about 5 years as a kid up to about the age of 14, at which point I was just starting to acquire sufficient skill to attempt some of the more difficult classics. Scales. Tones. Keys. Beats. Counts. Hand/Foot coordination. Hand speed limitations. It's a lot just to get the fundamentals down. The thought of starting to play again is daunting. I would guess the hardest part would be finding a qualified teacher and then committing to practicing 2-3 hours a day, 6-7 days a week for a couple of years to develop a modest degree of proficiency.

[roygsd]

Its very unusual for farangs to chose to learn to play the piano in LOS, having said that I understand that many farangs are

masters on the fiddle.......... :whistling

Far too many Master Baters too.

:D

Typical remark from a fair weather biker, more likely a Hills angel than a Hells Angel

Roy gsd

[LooseCannon]

Never.

They are born.

At best you will be a 'talented hack'.

[AmeriThai]

EDIT: Wierd, stanny here, posted on my other account. Shouldn't have switched browsers.

Or have I just misread that comment?

Nothing wrong with your reading. I didn't understand it either.

[tangoll]

I'm now 66 years old. I've always been interested in music, marvelled at people who could play some musical instrument, usually the piano, and wished I had that ability. I've never had any music training other than elementary/secondary school singing classes. 10 years ago I bought a nice Ibach upright piano and started to take a few lessons. Didn't get very far, and gave it up after about 2 years. Two years ago, I decided to start again, and began taking lessons at a local Hong Kong piano shop/school, 45 minutes lesson every 2 or 3 weeks; not following the normal grade progression syllabus, but doing different finger exercises, simpler Czerny lessons, and so on.

Now, I try to play everyday for about 45 minutes, doing the exercises assigned by the teacher, and then practicing pieces that I select myself, those pieces which I think make wonderful music. Some of these pieces:

1. Bach's Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring -- this piece I play once each time I sit down to practice, to warm up the fingers, but more, to become proficient in at least one piece so that whenever and whereever, there is a piano and someone asks to play a tune, I would play this piece, usually effortlessly, without looking at notes, and with some degree of proficiency.

2. Ennio Morricone's La Califfa. Took me a few weeks to work thru this one, but can play reasonably well, with notes. Will begin soon on Morricone's Cinema Paradiso (Love Theme) and Once Upon a Time in the West, whenever the music sheets I've ordered online from France get sent and delivered.

3. I'm now working on Alan Menken/Tim Rice's Disney "A Whole New World". Can play through the whole piece (7 pages) but still rough, not smooth, but the melody comes distinctly thru.

4. Just heard Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations - Nimrod, on youtube's Remembrance Sunday videos, went out and bought the 2 page music sheet for this piece, and will start working on this beautiful piece of music.

I've since purchased a Linden brand piano which stays in my Bangkok apartment, while the Ibach is in Hong Kong. Linden is a made in China brand made in the Kawai piano factory. I now can practice in whichever home I happen to be in. Great feeling.

The joy I find in being able to play is that I now understand some of the music vocabularly (terms like pitch, octave, legato, staccato, forte, the notes, etc) and when people start discussing the music heard at a concert, I can differentiate between real knowledge/understanding and utter bullsh!t, and be able to explain the difference. But most enjoyable of all is the satisfaction that I can say to myself, "Hey, I can play that piece" if I want to, go out, buy the music sheet (even if a simpler version), and within a few weeks, know that I can plunk out a rudimentary but recognizable version of the melody.

I will never reach the level of a concert pianist, but if anyone were to ask me to play at their wedding, birthday party, even funeral, I feel that with some longer hours of practice, I would be able to put together a few pieces that others would know is played from the hands and heart of someone who would lend some personal element to the event.

So, if you have the desire, the time, and a bit of money, go and buy yourself a nice piano, a good upright would be sufficient, a traditional piano, not a digital, start taking lessons, but start finding simple versions of music that you've enjoyed hearing, and start trying to play those. You need those small steps of accomplishments to keep you motivated and to see that you are indeed making progress. It's difficult and requires quite a lot of discipline to force yourself to sit down at the piano daily or at least once every other day and practice whatever it is that the teacher assigns to you. Find a teacher who understands your goals and will work with you at your pace to achieve those goals. Good luck.

[12DrinkMore]

I'm now 66 years old....

RESPECT!

Wish I could learn an instrument.

But I would have thought a decent electric piano would be better. No tuning, which must surely be a problem in the humid atmosphere in Asia, a volume control, you can practice with headphones, different tones, built in metronome, and portable.

[geriatrickid]

Have you considered the cymbal ......

[Monroe]

I wouldn't consider somebody who plays pieces written by other people a master, per se. Around my second year playing the piano, I could play Beethoven's Für Elise with relative ease. Of course, it's easier to play than Nocturne, but that's not the point:

My skill at the time was more on par with songs like "the Entertainer," or that one with penguin in it, but I spent hours upon hours dividing that song into a hundred different pieces and learning to play each one after the other because I wanted to say I could play it.

The real goodies are the people who can play and also write their own stuff. Unfortunately, I just don't have that artistic spark (or it's been repressed somehow, because I and others who knew me remember me as expressive and creative--nowadays, I'm in it for the money =) so I've resigned myself from actively playing, but will occasionally instruct somebody.

I've had the same cheap, Casio electric piano for the last 13 years and my only grievance is that the keys are a bit small and they offer no resistance. So if my finger slips even a little, or I don't hit a key exactly center it will result in another key being played. While it is more portable than a traditional piano, it's not something you could easily carry around with you to airports or anywhere for that matter.

To answer the question: it depends, I'd say 8-10 years is a fair bet--though it all comes crashing down if you don't have that creative spark. You'd probably do better dedicating your time to learning a new language, or trying to make a bunch of money.

Edited September 4, 2008 by Monroe

[Nongwahyay]

Some people ask stupid questions on this forum................ other people ask reeeeaally stupid questions...... it´s pretty obvious which category this question falls into...........

[steveromagnino]

Call me oldie and boring......but I just loooove "Richard Chamberlin"

Richard Clydeman?!!!

LOL

My favourite pianists would be:

- Thelonius Monk (and can play some of his stuff, if you understand how jazz is put together it is easier, plus the wrong notes sound right :-)

- Oscar Peterson (my hands aren't big enough to replicate his sound)

- Dave Brubeck

- pianist who plays with Richie Cole the wild man something something

CLassical music is best for someone of the perfectionist ilk, willing to sit down and play the same piece 100 times until it is right.

Jazz and pop more room to improvise and have fun, less emphasis on technical perfection. To play something like emperor concerto it requires perfection or it sounds cr**. Ditto for Chopin.

However, there are some good peices that a decent person could master more easily, Bach's inventions for instance, that sound very classical (actually Baroque if I recall) and impress but are only around grade 3-5 for the most part. And the two hands are similar so easier in that respect as well.

Personally, i think the always popular air on a G string is a must learn, if only so you can say the name!

[teacup]

Call me oldie and boring......but I just loooove "Richard Chamberlin"

Richard Clydeman?!!!

Oh yeah ...him too!

Guess....too much sex last night, still tired

thanks

[steveromagnino]

Call me oldie and boring......but I just loooove "Richard Chamberlin"

Richard Clydeman?!!!

Oh yeah ...him too!

Guess....too much sex last night, still tired

thanks

pics or it didn't happen :-)

[teacup]

P’steve.......why would U want your good thai sister to look like a HOUCHie on the internet?

Didn’t we have enough of them already?

[Mossfinn]

EDIT: Wierd, stanny here, posted on my other account. Shouldn't have switched browsers.

Or have I just misread that comment?

Nothing wrong with your reading. I didn't understand it either.

I read it as having two accounts? otherwise I definitely do not understand it.

[Boater]

EDIT: Wierd, stanny here, posted on my other account. Shouldn't have switched browsers.

Or have I just misread that comment?

Nothing wrong with your reading. I didn't understand it either.

I read it as having two accounts? otherwise I definitely do not understand it.

EDIT: Wierd, stanny here, posted on my other account. Shouldn't have switched browsers.

I cannot find the post??? maybe the Mods deleted his account already?