I seem to have hit a brick wall. Started the piano in February (took piano for 6 months when I was 14; for 6 months five years ago when I did a heroic restart in my forties) and now have hit the six-month wall ... again.

What is the matter with me? Has anyone else lost their va-va-voom like this? I've just worked out it seems to happen at 6 months and I never get beyond it. I've also hit the wall on my A214 music course - which I have loved doing - until now. Now at the really difficult bit, trying to harmonize a la Bach, and my effort sounds like Bach recycling his bottles - plink, plonk, smash, plonk.

I'm so pedestrian: sight reading is so slow my piano teacher gets quite tetchy, which of course makes me even worse.

Peeps, I'm desperate - any advice on how to push through?????

Untunefully, Peaches

Sorry to hear you've hit a brick wall. It's a familiar feeling to me. Just keep hanging on in there and things will get better.

Ambs x

Hi Peaches,
I think everyone goes through stages when they feel they aren't progressing - it isn't a linear thing. You go through periods of consolidation and you have other times when things suddenly improve. It's a matter of plugging on through the times when nothing seems to be happening, rather than giving up. And if your teacher gets tetchy when you're doing your best, you might consider getting one who doesn't.

Bach chorale style is hard - I've done A214, so I sympathise. At least you're musical enough to realise that your efforts aren't perfect. Do you have any idea what you're doing wrong?

Hi Peaches

Just to say you're not alone. What a shame that your teacher gets tetchy about it, like as if you wouldn't do it better if you could

Can't offer much in the way of advice I'm afraid, other than to stick with it if piano is really your *thing*, consider finding a more supportive and encouraging teacher, and if all else fails, consider a different instrument - if you haven't tried any other instruments, you never know, you might discover that you were made for the cello or bassoon or something.

But it's not the end of the road for the piano - a more positive teacher could help you get your motivation back, and a different approach might help you overcome the technical difficulties you've got with your playing. My new teacher has had a very different approach to my previous teacher, both on the technical front and the supportive front. I thought my old teacher was a good teacher until I read a thread about other people's teachers and realised what I was missing.

Keep your chin up

Could you find someone nearby to play some fun, easy, REALLY easy duets with?

I guess piano playing can be lonely.

You can come and play duets with me but I'm quite a long way away...

Don't worry about your sight-reading... it is pretty normal to sight-read slowly, so you are not the only one! Join my "slow sight-readers" club!

I almost wanted to give up piano this January, just two months before my exam date (which I put myself through because I wanted to get back into the ABRSM line before looking for a teacher). I was experiencing terrible mistakes in my pieces, which only seemed to surface suddenly after about 4 to 5 months of intensive practice. I was so fed up that I stopped playing for a couple of days, because I was convinced I would never improve to exam standard.

Then I took out a very very difficult piece by Schubert, which is simply a beautiful piece out of my reach. I sat down for two to three hours banging it out, concentrating on the notes and rhythms. At the end of the session, I knew I made progress - from scratch to a an audible melody, though it was ONLY HALF a PAGE.
From that, I understood that it is possible to improve with practice. After that I continued with my exam pieces, and things took off from there, because I regained confidence in the positive effects of practice.

I believe you have hit a bottle-neck in practice, and you probably need to look for pieces that you will enjoy. Maybe some pop music, or just repeating slowly by ear your favourite cd songs. You might even record your playing to find out what are your common slips, and work on them. From the recordings, you will also discover the good parts that your have managed to perform. Then you will appreciate the progress you have made over the months.

Any piece you want to look for? I could help you look for them.

As others have said ups and downs are normal.
Having said that if you are having serious doubts after only 6 months I'd wonder whether it's the possible negative feeling form your teacher that you seem to feel and/or that you are trying to to do much too soon that is the problem.
I've not done the OU course but from what I've heard I imagine it would be very difficult after the initial stages for someone who needed the initial stages to keep up... if that makes sense.
I found the later theory grades pretty hard and I had many years varied playing experiences behind me.

You said you are "not even at grade one" - as though grade one was some sort of trivial achievement.

It is not!

From beginner to Grade One is a huge step. I was thinking about this earlier today. If I had to teach a beginner I would not have a clue where to start - there is so much to learn.

So I would not fret about it. Just keep working. And don't let a grumpy teacher put you off.

And as for trying to harmonize "like Bach". Bach was one of the great musical geniuses of all time. Of course your attempts sound rubbish next to his! What did you expect? So do all our attempts. Even Beethoven only really got the hang of writing a fugue in Opus 101 - when he was 46, and had been a world class musician for 25 years.

Thank you for responding peeps ... I just have hit a low and it lifts my drooping spirit to hear voices from the other side.

I have tried to analyze my problem and on the A214 it's mostly because I'm so inexperienced musically and have nothing to fall back on, everything's so new that I have no confidence/experience in manipulating and using the theory I've learnt. I do love the course though, and it's done the one main thing I wanted - got me into music! I shall just have to be a bit more realistic about what I can achieve.

My piano teacher - I suspect that because I told her I'd had a go at the piano before she overestimated my abilities and the pieces I've been working on are mostly Grade 1 exam pieces from the syllabus of a few years ago. As a newbie, however, just reading the notes is an achievement for me and I get in such a mess with the fingering, rhythm, dynamics etc. As she teaches children mostly I think she may not realize that for a forty-something learning can leave you vulnerable too.

Violincjj - you have have hit the nail on the head. The absolute, ultimate reason for my A214 course and piano lessons was because I wanted to play music with other people. At summer school I joined the choir and played in the recorder consort - just to make music with others. I think I'm very lonely musically. I'm just desperate to get into a band or something, but not up to scratch yet!

I think the idea of finding pieces I like might help.... thanks for the suggestion, teoani. Mostly, I've hated the pieces I've done - lots of Kabalevski...

And Mad Tom, I definitely don't think Grade 1 trivial .... it's just that I can't believe I've hit the wall so early... surely it shouldn't kick in until about Grade 3 or 4??????!

Thanks, o tuneful ones

Go and see someone playing the piano who really lights your fire. I went to see Allen Toussaint the other week and he really inspired me. And try playing pieces really slowly so they lock into your head and then play them forom memory. I find tha's a good way to get out of the doldrums.

I think you've done extremely well already to take on A214 and get as far as you have. I've just received a theory book in the post and on the back cover it advertises another book in the series which contains "hints on Bach's chorale style" and it's Grade 8 Very few people go to that level, and those that do have normally been steeped in music for several years. You deserve a medal for getting as far as you have!



If it's five years since you last touched a piano, then it's like as if you're a beginner all over again so that's possibly why you've hit the same brick wall at the same point. I'm a beginner and Grade 1 looks very scary to me - I'd be surprised if I was ready to take Grade 1 inside of a year, if that. I think you hit brick walls at every stage in the journey - I certainly have so far (on clarinet), and I've seen people at higher grades say the same thing. Normally whenever I've hit a brick wall, I've gone back to playing something easier to get my confidence back.



Have you thought of learning another instrument alongside piano - one that lends itself to ensemble or band playing? Is there any instrument in the brass, percussion, wind or strings families that appeals to you and would you consider taking up a second instrument (or even an alternative instrument if playing with other people is what you really want to do)? Or join a choir?


But don't lose heart whatever you do, and try not to be so hard on yourself - you've done really well to take it up again and persevere thus far, not to mention going in for an OU course at the same time

I listened to Kabalevski's "Clown". I think I can understand why you don't like the style. It is not totally melodious, especially when you make mistakes at the start. But it will sound very special once you master it. Maybe it is Grade 1 pieces that you are working on, that's why a composer that writes many children's music keeps appearing.

What composers do you like? I think most people enjoy music from the classical period, so you could try the giants e.g. Mozart and Beethoven. If you like Baroque, of course Bach is going to be a top choice .
There are some sheet music grouped by grades. Maybe you could find something you enjoy

http://www.take-a-piano-sheet-music-break....-beginners.html

I know how you feel. I am working my way through Bach's WTC books 1 and 2; have been for the last 6/12. Some days it's good, other days nothing works, nothing seems to go in. Progress is slow, but you have to be positive and keep plugging away and you will be amazed when you look back just how much progress you really have made. I can now play 47 of the 96 preludes and fugues with very few mistakes and from memory. Not quite up to Angela Hewitt standard but certainly good enough for performance at small gatherings of friends, colleagues and family. Good luck and keep pushing on!!

Days? Months? Years? Please tell.

That is very impressive - however long it has taken you to get that far!

She also had to work phenomenally hard to memorize her Bach repertoire (according to her double CD on how to play Bach - set in the Fazioli factory!) - and she is a full time professional

That'll be months, I'm reckoning - six months. 6/12 is often used as medical short-hand for 6 months (similarly '4/52' would mean four weeks...)

I have been working through WTC since 2001 but only in the last 6 months with any real dedication, by that I mean focusing only on this this work with little or no time for learning any new repertoire (other composers) Time is something I do not have a great deal of at the moment as I am a doctor and have to fit piano time around unusual working patterns. Angela Hewitt is my virtual mentor for the WTC works and I have her boxed set of four CD's; an indispensable study aide.

Excellent suggestions. The piano is great, but not ideal for people who want to play with others and don't yet play at a high level. If you were to take up a more "sociable" instrument, you'd find that being able to play the piano even a little is a big help, because it makes the theoretical side so much easier to grasp. Stringed instruments are ideal for someone who wants to play with others, because they always seem to be in demand. Especially the viola ...

You've had some excellent suggestions here, Peaches .

Er - wasn't it the Slough of Despond?? (Anyone who lives in Slough and reads Bunyan will understand ).

Or watched The Office!


Hope you're feeling better about it all Peaches...

Actually, now you say "Slough" I think you are right. I've always said trough..... well, I do love pigs

I'm still in my trough of despond, but hope it will pass. I've just left the piano alone for a week and watched the Olympics instead. Not a mature approach, but today I am going to face the horror that is my next assignment - which should be at my tutor's by tomorrow.

Thanks for all the excellent advice ...