I Have Been Taking Piano Lessons For About 9 Years?
(I’m 16 now…almost 17)
well I was okay at piano. I never liked it very much because my parents made me play it & I didnt appreciate it at all when I was little so I goofed around.
Last year, my teacher finally made me see how much I really loved piano & I wanted to be better. So last summer, I came to be the best that I had ever been.
This summer, I moved & my parents got divorced so I stopped taking lessons. I still have piano/sheet music but I feel myself getting worse & worse… also I had a 3-month lapse because my piano got lost in the shipment 
So how can I at least mantain my piano skills? I don’t want to lose them…
July 28th, 2010 at 6:11 pm
Teaching piano lessons for the first time – where do I start? says:[...] I Have Been Taking Piano Lessons For About 9 Years? | Piano Answers [...]
July 28th, 2010 at 7:47 pm
well getting a teacher will help a lot check out your school’s music department to see if anyone is giving free lessons. also joining a chamber music group or a band might help too. you will learn how to play in a group.
if that’s not possible how about just practicing maybe 20 minutes a day that’s the best way to not lose them…
it’s a pity you lost your piano in shipment
pianos can be quite expensive to buy so maybe you could buy a keyboard there are some really good quality ones out there.
good luck!
July 29th, 2010 at 1:02 am
GET A TEACHER. You cannot get better by yourself. I started piano at age 6 & my uncle was my piano teacher till grade 7 piano…. in those years he didn’t teach me much except to just play through books til I was done, then go on to the next grade. I got a new teacher, & I’m in grade 10 piano now & I love it. [Like you, I never really liked it because my mom made me sit there & play & I just never appreciated it either!]
Look for a teacher who you think you’ll like & make sure she has her teachers or performers ARCT & ask around to make sure she knows how to teach. This is so important- some people are born to teach & others teach just for money.
If you cannot get a teacher, start your own Theory [try Mark Sarnecki, he is really good] which will help you a lot. Also record yourself & listen to other recordings of the pieces are want to practice- what makes other recordings sound better than your own? Get right into it & find out note by note how you can make it better.
To practice, you need to start out slow & hands seperately. Also what grade piano are you in?
Good Luck!
July 29th, 2010 at 3:24 am
Go back to your notebooks over the last year & do a full review. If you have collections of music at a lower level, practice sight reading, continue the technical work scales & exercises. Learn some new music at the level you are playing at & practice every day. The fact that your parents divorced is enough to throw one off. Use the piano to explore your feelings & maybe a teacher will come along for you even if it is on a by weekly or once a month status. Best wishes.
July 29th, 2010 at 7:38 am
I am very sorry to hear about your parents & your situation. That can be very hard to deal with. I am glad to hear that you want to keep up on your playing. Now that you are 16 (almost 17!) you can understand that taking years of lessons has very little to do with how good you are as a musician. You could continue playing the same old lessons & recital kind of crap or you can take this opportunity to really become the musician you know you are! Start learning songs by popular artists that you enjoy. Expand your musical knowledge & ability by learning real world pieces & as much as possible about music theory & harmony. Start writing your own songs based on your emotional experiences & use the pain that you have felt as an inspiration to become a talented song writer. You can continue lessons too but don’t limit yourself to just playing what a teacher puts in front of you but rather have the teacher help you learn more about music & song writing as well as developing your own unique style