Adult Beginner Piano Progress - 1 Year of Practice
-Timestamps-
1) Mad World 1:43
2) Fur Elise 2:11
3) Dearly Beloved 2:52
4) To Zanarkand 3:20
5) Nuvole Bianche 4:01
6) River Flows in You 4:26
7) Clair De Lune 5:06
8) Maple Leaf Rag 6:09
9) Chopin Nocturne in Eb Major (opus9 no2) 7:10
10) Sadness and Sorrow 8:08
11) Chopin Waltz in A Minor B.150 (opus posth) 8:40
12) Chopin Nocturne in C# Minor (opus posth) 9:06
13) Turkish March 10:13
14) Trying to learn Fantaisie-Impromptu 11:00
15) Mozart Sonata in C Major 1st Movement (K545) 11:53
16) Fantaisie-Impromptu 13:00
-
It’s been 1 year this month since I started learning piano and it’s been an amazing and somewhat life changing experience! You may think life changing is a little over the top… but for me it really is true, as this September I will become a full-time music student at University and I’m beyond excited for that!
I decided to make my own 1 year progress video, after watching so many myself before finally committing to purchasing my own digital piano. Who knows, maybe if it wasn’t for those videos I wouldn’t have ever taken that first step, which is crazy to think looking back now! That’s why I decided it was important for me to record these clips and make a video, in hopes of motivating someone else to take up an instrument, giving it there all and seeing where they can go with it too.
Up until month 8 I used Jane's piano tutorials to learn 99% of the music I learnt. She is a retired math teacher and dedicates her free time to playing through requested pieces by viewers every single day! Mostly all classical pieces have a tutorial and many popular video game, anime, TV shows and movie compositions can be found on her channel. If you really want to learn but can't afford a teacher, I think this would be your best option.
Jane's channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCidvz_O5zdX7z2mr4zkeL2g
There are a few pieces I learnt on my own and for lessons which I didn’t put in the video due to time/not recording, so below is a more detailed breakdown of what was happening every month:
Month 1:
-Random beginner piano tutorials and books (stopped trying to read music and started to learn music through online tutorials)
-Gary Jules – Mad World
-Song of storms from The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time – Koji Kondo
-Beethoven – Fur Elise
Month 2:
-Dearly Beloved from Kingdom Hearts - Yoko Shimomura
Month 3:
-To Zanarkand from Final Fantasy X – Nobuo Uematsu
-Ludovico Einaudi – Nuvole Bianche
-Tifa’s Theme form Final Fantasy 7 – Nobuo Uematsu
Month 4:
-Yiruma – River Flows in You
-Ed Sheeran – Shape of You
-Ludovico Einaudi – Una Mattina
(Started getting lessons at the end of this month)
Month 5:
-Claude Debussy - Clair De Lune
Month 6:
-Scott Joplin – Maple Leaf Rag
Month 7:
-Chopin – Nocturne #2 in Eb major (op9 no2)
-Sadness and Sorrow from Naruto – Toshio Masuda
Month 8:
-Various classical pieces from the book ‘Classics to Moderns #2
-Chopin – Waltz in A minor B.150 (Op Posth)
(Stopped learning music through online tutorials and committed to reading music. Everything past this month I learnt by reading)
Month 9:
-Various classical pieces from the book ‘Classics to Moderns #2
Month 10:
-Chopin – Nocturne #20 in C# minor (Op Posth)
-Kuhlau - Sonatina in C major (op55 no1)
Month 11:
-Mozart – Turkish March (K331)
-Clementi – Sonatina in C major (op36 no3)
-Beethoven – Sonata #20 in G major (op49 no2)
Month 12:
-Mozart – Sonata #16 in C major (K545)
1 Year:
-Chopin – Fantaisie-Impromptu (op66 posth)
List of Books used:
-Learn to play Piano by Alison M. Sparrow
-John Thompson’s Easiest Piano Course Books 1, 2 and 3
-Take Five and pass first time (for learning up to grade 5 theory) -Classic to Moderns Books 1 and 2
-Sonatina Album Volume 1 (Peters Edition)
-Chopin Nocturnes (Henle)
-Chopin Impromptus (Henle)
-ABRSM -A keyboard anthology (Book 1) & Encore (Book 1) (sight-reading practice)
Here's a list of some YouTube channels I found extremely useful when learning:
-Paul Barton: https://www.youtube.com/user/PaulBartonPiano
-Josh Wright: https://www.youtube.com/user/joshwrightpiano
-Cedarville music: https://www.youtube.com/user/cedarvillemusic
-Living Pianos: https://www.youtube.com/user/LivingPianosVideos
-Piano TV: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz0PmHG0RvQHazlEsFU-4uQ
-BachScholar: https://www.youtube.com/user/BachScholar
Pianos used:
-Digital Piano - Yamaha P-115
-Acoustic Pianos - Yamaha U2 (later upgraded to Feurich 125)
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