You make it sound as though the piano is easy. I'll tell you what's easy: for guitarists/lutenists to proclaim that their instrument is soooooo much harder to learn than the piano! Please, you're breaking my heart :-( :-( Do you think piano students don't spend years learning to play? Think again. Absolutely the guitar and lute are difficult! So is everything else I think, isn't it?
DR On Jul 6, 2007, at 4:18 PM, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > David, > > --- LGS-Europe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> Lutes and guitars _are_ difficult instruments. >> Guitar pupil of mine of about >> 12, doing well after three years of lessons, >> enjoying it and studying >> regulary at home (!), performed his piece on this >> year's pupils' night. > > Congratulations! Sounds like the kind of student you > wish all your other students could be more like. > >> He >> really did well, no obvious mistakes, played through >> the whole piece without >> stopping, it was musical, he had some tone and >> volume. Afterward his mother >> comes up to me: "Is that all?" > > Ouch! Frustrating! But, as you went on to say, there > are reasons for this attitude. > > Nowadays, I don't deal so much with true beginners, > but I took over a guitar program at a college that had > lagged for years. I set about recruiting new students > and did fairly well in raising enrollment, but many of > these kids, though enthusiastic, had not learned under > a systematic approach. > > It was a real test of patience and humility at the > beginning. For one thing, I was "the new guy" among > the faculty. Then, on the string juries I'd have to > sit through a sophomore violin student's nice > rendition of a Mendelssohn or Bruch concerto movement > or a cello student's several movements of a Bach > suite, not to mention lightening-quick scales. > Meanwhile, some of my most advanced students might be > able to follow them with something like Lagrima or a > short Chilesotti piece which they had been striving to > master for the entire semester (or longer). They > could just about struggle through a major scale doing > triplets at MM=60. The bowed string players would > take up the whole 20 minute exam time, while my > students would be done in 5. Happily, things have > improved dramatically since then and standards have > been raised, but I wonder what the other teachers > thought about guitar. > >> She just started on >> piano and was >> disappointed with her son's result, as she's already >> doing much better after >> the few lessons she's had. No wonder, try playing >> the opening of Fuer Elise >> without piano lessons, my bet is you'll do fine. Try >> to do the same on a >> guitar, my bet is that it'll take several years to >> come anywhere near the >> percieved perfection and easy of your first try on >> piano. > > Frederick Noad talks about this same point in the > preface to his "Solo Guitar Playing, vol. II" book. I > was so glad when I read it the first time. I wish he > would have included it in volume one so that more > beginners would read it. Very encouraging. > > > Chris - Once learned an entire two-minute Bach > invention on piano, but couldn't do it today if you > held a gun to my head. > > > > >> >> Of course, piano music will be much more complicated >> for the advanced >> student, so by that time it's a matter of different >> areas of difficulty. >> And, obviously, the real test of mastering an >> instrument is being able to >> express yourself musically on it, not to play the >> difficult pieces >> technically well, but that's not the argument here. >> >> David - cannot play beyond the opening phrase of >> Fuer Elise on piano >> >> >> **************************** >> David van Ooijen >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> www.davidvanooijen.nl >> **************************** >> >> >> >> >> To get on or off this list see list information at >> > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >> > > > > > ______________________________________________________________________ > ______________ > Shape Yahoo! in your own image. Join our Network Research Panel > today! http://surveylink.yahoo.com/gmrs/yahoo_panel_invite.asp?a=7 > > >
