If you can avoid it do not study piano on an acedemic level
thoughts? stories? disagreements?
There are 3 comments, leave a comment.
my teacher and the juries told me that i will never be a great player and many things like that.
i didn't play piano during 5 years after that. but one day i discovered jazz (5 years ago), and decided to learn by myself.
today, i'm learning in a conservatory, and it goes well... people in jazz are not as "elitist" as in classical. i love jazz, and well-minded jazzmen !
part of going to school is to have periodic reviews of what you've learned: tests, exams, juries.
i'm not sure what it's like at a conservatory because i've never attended one or even visited one, but at the university of washington where i studied both classical and jazz piano, i had no problems with the work load or preparing for juries and such. in fact, i enjoyed the juries especially because it gave me something to practice for when it came to classical music.
one of the things i didn't like about classical piano playing at the uw was that it seemed like a useless waste of time compared to jazz piano. i was gigging at 19 and going to the uw learning jazz piano from marc seales at the same time. everything i learned from marc was immediately applicable to what i was doing in the real world, and that was cool for me.
i think the structured regiment of academic level music classes is great for people who need structure, such as myself at the time, but for those who have enough self-motivation to progress at the same pace on their own, that's great too.
the one pitfall is for those people who don't have the motivation to progress on their own and also do not attend school. i see a lot of people like that who after years of practicing on their own still do not get much better.
the thing about having an academic environment is that everyone is striving to learn and that feeling rubs off and grows with it's own energy.
i think it's worthwhile for any pianist who is entering college, or considering it, to experience music at that level and then make up their own minds about how they want to progress. without the experience, a pianist has nothing to base their decision on except heresay from other people who either did or did not enjoy the situation.
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by Scot Ranney on 02/28/2006, 11:39
the good thing about school is that it keeps you focused and you are constantly learning something new. also, sharing info among friends is a vital part of the process. sometimes, i felt as though i learned just as much from my friends(especially upperclassman) as i did from my teacher.
the one thing about school that you really have to be careful of is a condition i call musical indigestion. where you are consuming too much new material, new exercises, new routines, new rep., etc and you are not really fully digesting any of it. you really have to watch out for this. stick with a particular exercise until you really get a handle on it. sounds like pretty simple advice, but alot of people i know have done this at one point or another. also, don't be afraid to take a step "backward" if you feel (or your teacher feels) that you should.
-j
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