advice from pianists please...

[anne sheila]

I have been given a beautiful upright piano -

Mornington & Weston, London

and it's beautiful ...

I want to relearn to play - in order that I may help out at Mass in the future - how many hours of practice do you recommend?
Do you recommend any tutor books? I last played properly over 20 years ago.

Thank you

[nazard]

I found myself in this position a decade ago. I went back to the books I used as a child, "Michael Aaron's Complete Piano Course" as a basic tutor, and "Hours with the Masters" as a graded repertoire collection. They are both very good.

Practice as much as you can, adults don't learn as fast as children. I got diverted off onto the organ, which is even more fascinating than the piano.

Don't be put off by how hard hymns are. The easiest are about grade 3, try something like "Be still and know that I am God", and as for the hardest, I now play some organ pieces which have been set for Grade 8, and I still wouldn't play "Christ Triumphant, ever reigning" in public.

Good luck!

[anne sheila]

Thanks v. much - I have now got a copy of Michael Aarons Adult Piano Course - my young son is using Book 1 by F. Waterman and Marion Harewood.

Someone recently told me to play a new piece of music each day.

[Claire B]

I stopped playing for 20 years and started again when my daughter's school wanted someone to play in assembly.

Find someone who wants to listen to you play, then you will be motivated to practice. If you volunteer at your local school, they will have a worship plan, with the term's repertoire of hymns identified. At the infant school, there are only about 6 per term! Possible with practice!

I then started accompanying my daughter's violin practise: suzuki twinkles, etc.

It really does work, and the skill of sightreading returns.

[Dot]

If you can accompany somewhere where the singing is robust, that will help you greatly. There is nothing more nerve racking than playing piano to sparse singing. The hardest bit is always the introduction - keep it simple. (Nazard - if you can get past the introduction of Christ Triumphant, it's OK thereafter).

I do believe in practising. In certain situations your mind goes blank and you almost need to be on autopilot. Try to arrange for a page turner, who may also be able to assist if you suddenly lose your place in the music. It's nice to be able to ad lib around a set of guitar chords, but this again needs practice - a good exercise.

I started accompanying at school just over ten years ago before I had my own piano, after a lay-off since student days. I would hope I have moved on since then, but it is still quite a challenge - wonderful though, when you are enabling the singers and the singers are supporting you.

Dot

[nazard]

One piece of advice I forgot - get a good teacher. It is easy to lern to do it rong...