I have been playing a digital piano (Roland RD2000) for several years. Until recently it was my only keys. Now, the RD2000 is fairly renowned (I think) for having realistic piano action. But...I recently bought this beautiful Yamah U1 upright and I finally get it...there simply is nothing like playing a real piano. I've only owned it a few weeks and I can see some major improvement in my playing...particularly in my finger strength and dexterity. And, I’m practicing more consistently - it's always right there already "turned on" :)

Just so thrilled to have finally taken the plunge and wanted to share.

From the book Chopin: Pianist and Teacher as Seen by His Pupils by Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger, Chopin said this:

”No one will notice the inequality of a sound in an amazingly fast scale, as long as the notes are played in equal time.”

And Chopin goes on to say that evenness in scales and arpeggios depend … ABOVE ALL on a CONSTANT sideways movement of the hands.

How have you perused piano performance later in your life? Did you take private lessons? Self-taught or practiced through it? I love piano and I want to keep getting better and playing harder music but I don’t know how I will do that after graduation.

I'm overwhelmed looking in to it on my own and want to know other people's opinions.

From Medtner - Sonata Minacciosa

original video https://youtube.com/shorts/FbyKFk0KPAM

I found multiple versions of fingering for Czerny740 no 14 (see images). And myself is getting used to the fingering 21 32 52 51 32 52 51 32 for the first bar for example.

Which one should I stick to?

Just sharing the happiness… hope everyone will have an acoustic some day!

it's not particularly high grade as far as pianos can go. i own a 1999 kawai rx-2, and as it was made for the european market, it has a nice all-wood action that's just a bit on the heavier side of average, which is how i like it (though i enjoyed the carbon fiber actions in newer kawais i tried).

it's a great quality instrument with a nice round and resonant tone (though not as complex as some c.bechsteins i tried but did not buy..🥰), and i enjoy tremendously my time playing it every day. the upgrade over my previous b2 by yamaha is massive, it feels like there is a much more direct correspondence between the sound image in my head, that i want to create, and the actual result the instrument can render.

i'm no beginner but nothing worth bragging about either in terms of skill (currently learning one of mozart's easier piano concertos, on a 2 pianos reduction). to some extent, it feels me owning this is an indulgence that is depriving a stronger - real - pianist from a good instrument, and that i shouldn't have bought it because it's 'too much'. even if again, as far as pianos go, this one is far from the top end of the luxury scale.

anyone else feels like this?

Hey, I play the piano and take lessons for quite some while now (and I love it) and I can play a couple songs, but I really want to express myself. I wish I could hop on the piano and translate emotions into sounds.
how long does this take?

I know it’s imposter syndrome getting to me but I’m really in a rut. I’m looking at the top schools in the country with oberlin being my top choice and I just feel like the competition is too strong and I’m not good enough. I’m trying to be realistic but I don’t really have a gauge of what exactly will get me into these schools. I lost a lot of my motivation to practice just because of the stress surrounding everything. My trial lessons have been really hit or miss on whether the professor has good opinions (usually depending on how much i’ve slept or warmed up) so I really have been feeling mixed on my chances. Either way at this point i’m convinced i’m horrible, won’t get in anywhere, and don’t know how to play. I’m at a loss as to what to do.

Been playing for 10 Years, at year 7 I started finding less enjoyment in piano, found it boring but im not letting these years of piano go to waste. I want to play modern pieces but when I do my piano teacher rushes through them, and sometimes even skips some parts of the piece because he prefers classical pieces, I dont know what to do, he only likes classical...

Hey everyone!

I'm a piano teacher, but I'm not too familiar with the digital piano keyboard world. My piano student is looking to replace their Yamaha P-45 that they got when my student. They found 4 pianos on Facebook marketplace, but I'm not sure if any of these are an upgrade or worth it.

• Artesia (likely an AP-8) || $250
• Casio Privia PX - 400R || $500
• Suzuki DP-1000 || $200
• Artesia DP-150e+ || $300

Since this is a more intermediate student who's serious, I didn't know if this should go in the "There Are No Stupid Questions" thread or if it should just be a post, since it's not a beginner student.

My performance after 3 months of practice

I'm at an intermediate level, but 1) am a horrible sight reader, yet have a great muscle memory for pieces. It takes me a long time to parse through the sheet music, but once my fingers do it a few times, I no longer need the sheet music. Even if the music is in front of me while I'm playing, it does nothing.

2) and maybe partially due to #1, I chronically start pieces and move on before finishing them. Latest examples are Chopin's nocturne in e, nocturne in C minor, and Hungarian dance no 5. I learn (memorize) the first couple pages, then my interest in learning the rest dissipates.

I just play casually for fun, so I don't feel an intense need to rigorously practice sight reading. However, it probably would be nice to actually learn a piece all the way through..? Would y'all recommend picking one of these 3 pieces and committing to learning it in its entirety? Or any other advice for this annoying habit of mine?

How do you guys deal with how different the grand piano you take lessons on feels compared to the digital piano you have at home?

I’ve started playing again a month ago after a 12 years long break and have had a total of 2 lessons on an acoustic grand.

The thing is so powerful I feel like the sound, resonance, vibrations and everything else just… assault me every time I try to play it 🤯

The thing is intimidating af and the keys act so different than my digital at home (duh 🙄)

The result is that I don’t perform well on it. The sound I produce is tentative in a bad way and I feel super self conscious and anxious and end up making a bunch of mistakes that I never do at home because of it.

Now… if there was a way to squeeze an acoustic piano and start practicing on it inside my apartment, I would. It is just plainly impossible. I currently have my digital Yamaha sitting on front of my very inconveniently placed AC unit. Which is not ideal, I know. But it is the only solution I found and it couldn’t fit an acoustic there without blocking part of the doorway so I cannot just “turn the AC unit off and place the acoustic there anyways”.

I need to find a way to get used to playing on an acoustic if I want any chance to be able to have the best quality lesson I can without wasting most of the time feeling intimidated by the damn instrument.

Am I the only weirdo having this problem?

I don’t remember feeling like this when I used to play years ago.. but yet again… I had an acoustic at home back then.

What a stupid problem to have 😒

From May until early August I practiced like crazy. I want to go to a conservatory when I graduate (currently going into grade 11), so id been working really hard to progress. It was going great. I started at rcm 6. By late July my teacher thought I was ready for rcm 8. Im doing the rcm 7 test in January instead because I havent taken the exams before so she thinks it'll be less intimidating, but im doing rcm 8 material on the side.

Around the end of August, my motivation has completely gone away. In like the last week there have been 2 days i havent practiced at all. I used to do up to 8 hours a day, now I do MAYBE an hour, but more often less.

As much as i should want to get back to practicing more, I honestly dont want to much. It felt like i was losing my mind the last few months. My world and life was just piano and classical music, so whenever I didnt feel good enough at playing or composing i felt absolutely awful. I would cry and berate myself, and the whole day would feel grey. And I felt like i was always being judged. Whenever I made a flaw, it felt like i was dishonouring the spirit of every classical composer. Really sucked, felt like i never got to be truly alone with my thoughts. Felt like living would be terrible forever.

Since ive been practicing less, I feel honestly great. Ive gotten into a new show (Hetalia 😅) and things feel brighter again. Im not so stressed about everything all the time, i actually feel mostly happy. Even if i havent made new friends since, I feel a lot less lonely.

But im feeling a bit guilty, because everyone was really proud of me. So i have to get back to practicing more, especially if im planning to go to a conservatory. But it sucks because I dont feel in the mood for playing piano. But theres no way around it, I have a lesson on Thursday. I was hoping to have 10 songs perfected since my last lesson in late July, but i only have 6.

Is there anything I can do to bring back my passion and get back to practicing more again? Thanks

I finished Alfred's 1st around a month ago and have just been learning random pieces here and then. What're some good books I could buy at my level(aside from Alfred's 2) to learn better technique, theory, and more pieces?

I found a version of Mrs. Magic and gave it my own twist

My nephew who is 4 has been crazy about pianos. No one in the family has an ounce of musicality in us, or a history of musicians. You could put a $10k piano in front of me and a broken plastic keyboard in front of me and I wouldn’t know a difference.

With that being said, we want to foster his interests without spending a fortune on something he might throw away next week, but also something that will be a decent first piano if he proceeds to be a career pianist or something.

What is a decent price range for such kind, and do you have any recommendations?