What are the biggest mistakes you can make when learning to play the piano?
A lot depends on what your ultimate goals are. But the path is the same no matter how far you want to get.
Here is a short, far from exhaustive list of beginner’s mistakes:
- Failure to establish regular piano playing time.
- Practicing without any supervision, if only to know how much time is spent and on what.
- Lack of ability to read notes, to decipher standard musical notation. This will absolutely slow down learning.
- Taking a break for a week, a month, a year….. This usually means starting learning all over again, if you return to it at all.
- Not listening to other people’s good performances, live or recorded. The best results are often achieved by watching them play with sheet music.
- Not listening to your own playing. More often than not, you fail to notice mistakes in your own playing and your own weaknesses. Critical listening to the smallest details is a skill that takes many years to develop. It is best to learn it from the very beginning.
- Not using the correct fingering for each note. You will definitely need the guidance of your teacher to deal with this problem, which is critical for beginners and almost everyone else.
- Inability to practice. You need to learn to set the right goals and achieve them within a certain time. A good teacher will help you do this.
As you can see, my dears, your burning desire to learn to play can be supported by a wise, experienced teacher. And may everyone who lives music have such a mentor! Don’t stop there!
