Piano Lessons

[Murgos]

I know we have some serious musicians on this board (some that don't even talk it up) and some not so serious ones.  Anyway, I'd like to leverage your wisdom for a bit.

I took a semester of piano in college, learned to read a bit of music and most of the basics to the point of playing Beethoven's Fur Elise (The real score not some beginners thing) for finals.  However, that was years ago and I want to start back into playing.

Can someone suggest a good suite of software for lessons that I can dork around with that actually will make practicing fun and is directed enough to feel like I'm getting some advancement out of?  I think I eventually will go back and take some lessons again with a real instructor but I don't want to do that until I can get my bad habits firmly set in stone the simple rote stuff out of the way.

I know that the new Yamaha Digitals come with the Yamaha Education Suite, does anyone have an opinion on that software or can suggest something better?

Thanks!

edit: Just to clarify I'm mostly interested in classical piano, more or less.

[Sky]

Not sure about the software, but sometimes it's good to get an instructor for just a couple lessons to see what your weakest spots are and then dump the instructor and work on them for a while. That's what I did.

Also, think about your goals and come up with a roadmap to get there. I want to jam some blues guitar and due to the way I learned things, I can at times get too bogged down in the mechanics when I really need to be doing more critical listening and repertoire development. So now I'm focusing on that and making lots of progress.

And seriously, kill any bad habits now. You can get away with some as your style, but most bad habits will come back to haunt you.

[Righ]

I can't help you, but here's a nice video:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=200980870777701914

[kimaesha]

Do you love piano? Whew! I just can't hide my emotions of joy!   Thanks to NO, now I can play piano, Mozart and classic. My long time dream was fulfilled! Next time I want to try playing drums. Yey!

--bhodi

[K9]

I think this one is my favourite  Yey!

[Yegolev]

I like how bhodi came up with his little moderation signature.

What of it?

My dad made me stop taking piano lessons because they would turn me gay.  That was the operating theory, anyway.

[bhodi]

I took piano lessons but then I stopped because I was pretty bad.

[Grimwell]

I'm glad this was necroposted, I didn't see it the first time.

I don't know if it is going to do everything it says, but we are waiting on this one to ship in so the kids can use it. I plan to use it too and see if I can't pick up reading music at the same time that I learn a new instrument.

http://www.pianowizard.com/

I'll write more about it when I have it. I did see it at CES two years back and it did look nifty as all get out.

[Yegolev]

Sigh.

[Ingmar]

Please tell me that whatever the spambot linked is the same thing Grimwell just did.

[bhodi]

Please tell me that whatever the spambot linked is the same thing Grimwell just did.

Nope.

[Moaner]

Hanon is all you need.  :)

[Jobu]

Necro! I was about to post this in the music thread and decided, hey.... I should probably search first!

Hey musicians. I've decided to finally pursue one of my goals in life of learning to play an instrument (after horrible trombone experiences in high school soured me on the idea for years). I'd like to learn the play the piano, and I would like a decent beginners book to understand notes and basics before I go to private lessons. I feel I'm a quick enough learner that a private tutor would be a waste of money until I can go in with the ability to at least play some scales and understand some fundamentals. Amazon has hundreds of books, so anyone got any recommendations?

[Sky]

I don't play piano, but Hal Leonard is one of my favorite guitar publishers, maybe one of their beginner books:

http://www.amazon.com/Leonard-Student-Piano-Library-Method/dp/0634066269
http://www.amazon.com/Piano-Lessons-Book-Leonard-Student/dp/063403118X

One is for kids, but might be more accessible, dunno. I really want to learn keyboards, too. Just need to break down and buy one...and find a place to put it.

[proudft]

If you can read music already, go for the gold!  

http://imslp.org/wiki/Mikrokosmos_for_Piano,_Sz.107_(Bart%C3%B3k,_B%C3%A9la)

Public domain in some countries, has links to buy if yours isn't one of 'em.   I am still on Book 2 myself, but it's sure a lot more interesting than Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

[Ingmar]

Another thumbs up for Mikrokosmos here.

[Sjofn]

Bear in mind Ingmar was a total failure at piano in college. 

[CaptainNapkin]

This series is great, is highly recommended all around, and works. It is really geared to adults, new to piano and serious to pick it up.
Alfred's Basic Adult Piano Course
You can get book version, book w/CD version, or I even believe you can buy from Alfred's offical site and download mp3. If I recall correctly it's been a while since I bought this for someone.

I also recommend checking out the Piano World Piano Forums. It's a wealth of info, an extremely active site and has a great Adult Beginners Forum where people will help you get through the books.

[Hawkbit]

Wife just had a Strohber upright grand delivered to the house last weekend.  She wants to learn and it was free ($150 to move it here though).  Needs a tuning and a little hammer work, but otherwise in almost playable condition.  It's a beautiful piece and I'm guessing ~100 years old or so.  Anything more than 100 years old is haunted, so it freaks me out sometimes. 

[pxib]

I've been playing the piano since I was four years old. Lessons until I was 14, and then recreationally ever since. My recommendation is to treat it like learning to play the guitar: figure out how to play the basic chords so you can play the songs you like. Get a book (or look online) for instruction on which keys are which notes, find a reference for which notes are in which chords, and then figure out the chords for some songs and get used to playing them. Learning to read music involves a lot of not particularly rewarding work playing simplistic songs you don't care about... it's best to start by proving to yourself that you can make worthwhile sound come out of the beast. Chords are the secret to music. Learn them and love them.

Once you've got that, grind through the basic piano course and start figuring out how to play what's written.

Upright grands are my favorite kind of piano -- great sound without taking up a lot of space -- best of luck.

[Endie]

My dad made me stop taking piano lessons because they would turn me gay.  That was the operating theory, anyway.

If only he had acted just a little sooner, it could still have worked...

[Righ]

find a reference for which notes are in which chords

I had a great deal of success with this bit the other day - while in Barnes & Noble, I spotted "The Encyclopaedia of Keyboard Picture Chords" on their clearance table for $7.50. It's a nice big ring bound volume that I can keep on the desk next to my keyboard. There are probably better references out there, but this was cheap and good enough for now.

I still haven't found myself a local teacher, but will do so soon.

[Sky]

I have a guitar book of picture chords. I've used it once. It's good for beginners, but you're better served learning how chords are structured off major chords. I'm something of a chord dummy and still rarely need it (had to look up Csus4 fingerings and was lazy).

While it's nice to learn how to read music, I still can't sight read, and piecing something out on the guitar takes forever...and I took several college theory classes.