Climbing and Piano
- April 2011
- Climb
steph,
hi. thanks so much for the wonderful blog/website you have.
great info i’m finding useful. and a neat community.
i’m wondering if you feel the suzuki method of learning piano is a proper route to go for an adult beginner. i have spent the last year trying to learn the common way of learning to read music with a teacher, and it isn’t working out. would you say suzuki is the same as learning to play by ear?
i am aware of a suzuki teacher in my area willing to work with me.
thanks for any insight. my spending money this spring/summer is going towards lessons (i hope), instead of my sojourn in yosemite. yes, this is a huge sacrifice, as you know. i loose a little sleep over it, but i feel i have an ear for the piano and so much want to learn how to play.
thanks,
hank
Dear Hank,
I started the Suzuki method when I was 3. I continued with it until we moved and I switched to regular piano lessons I think when I was around 7. Since I had abruptly stopped the Suzuki method, I did feel at a disadvantage at first because I had not learned to read music right away and had to jump into it late with my new teacher. But that was only because we moved, and I switched teaching methods–if I had continued with Suzuki, it would have been introduced according to their timeline.
So if you are having trouble with reading music, then I think Suzuki would be a great option for you because it allows you to start learning to play without having to deal with reading music at first. That’s why they start children so young with it, because the whole idea is to learn to play before you are ready to connect it with reading, exactly like the way kids learn to talk before they start reading words.
I strongly encourage you to follow this dream!!!!! I think you will have a lifetime of happiness from the piano, and one summer in Yosemite is not much to trade for walking through this new door.
🙂 Steph
