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I experienced this when I first started learning the piano. When I played the first song I had learned for my sister, she was amazed. "Wow, I could never play l

I experienced this when I first started learning the piano. When I played the first song I had learned for my sister, she was amazed. "Wow, I could never play like that", she said, "my fingers don't work that way". But when I broke down for her exactly how I'd learned it -- by breaking the song down into manageable chunks of just a few notes each, practicing each chunk with each hand separately many times until proficiency was reached, stringing the chunks together until I could play the whole song separately on each hand, and then bringing both hands together and repeating the entire process all over again -- her amazement turned to a look of disappointment. It was a mix of both realizing that her brother wasn't actually a genius, and a sort of mild disgust that I'd dedicated so much time to this activity.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
jonfromsf 6y ago
A good magician never reveals their tricks.
pitspotter 6y ago
Yes, which piece was that btw? I'm learning Rachmaninoff's Prelude in G minor, probably the hardest piece for me to date. I'm not timing the process but this must have been going on for six months by now. Practice occurs only when I feel like it, as I walk past the keyboard. Sometimes less than 5 minutes per day. Rarely more than 15 minutes. But it's getting there! If you added it all up, it would be a tremendous amount of work. Doing it to a schedule, or even just filling out a timesheet, would make it too grindy for me to bother with. So I think When it comes to learning, it's really motivation that is paramount. Not getting bored is a superpower. It's the ability to 'embrace grind' by discovering what's interesting about it.
- pixiemagic 6y ago
  I agree. I think pretty much everything (I've seen it with piano, work, exercise) becomes so much easier when you're motivated. For me, it's been more obvious with piano as it's my main skill-based hobby and, although I see similar with work, ultimately I need a job to get paid so even if I'm procrastinating over a boring task, at some point that kicks in to make me get on with it. With piano, I'm only doing it for fun and there are so many pieces out there to learn, so if I realise I don't love a piece then I've now taken to stopping with it after a certain amount of time. At first I would get frustrated for starting but not finishing something, but the reality is that when I find the right piece, those moments you describe when walking past the keyboard and wanting to play happen frequently. With the wrong piece, they happen rarely if ever. Good luck with the Gm prelude! It's one of my favourites which I have yet to attempt to play but hope to one day...
williamdclt 6y ago
Very well put down, I learnt an "intermediate-level" piano piece just like that (a very jazzy "fly me to the moon" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW3w8kV-Xmo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW3w8kV-Xmo) without having ever played piano (I do play another instrument, which helps). It took weeks and weeks of grind, note-by-note, repeating hundreds of times to get your finger to synchronise and memorise, but you get there! Great to show off, people think you're a fairly good pianist, but I can play almost literally nothing else haha :)
dehrmann 6y ago
Most skills tend to look something like this, where dedication and repetition lead to proficiency. Could be piano, chess, video games, programming... What are some skills like this that are high-leverage--skills that help with lots of other skills?
- SixDouble5321 6y ago
  Deliberate practice Critical thinking Time management
Graziano_M 6y ago
This is basically exactly how "The elements of piano practice" [1] lays it out. [1] http://www.pianopractice.org/book.pdf http://www.pianopractice.org/book.pdf
- dorkwood 6y ago
  That's actually exactly the method I used! I had trouble finding the book again, so thank you for linking me to it. I personally think everyone should learn at least one song on the piano using this method. It's such a great introduction to how the brain learns. I was amazed the first time I noticed I could actually get better at a song not by practicing longer or harder, but by taking a break and returning only once I felt the urge again (or even better, after a full night's sleep). It's a strange feeling to suddenly glide through a section that you previously found difficult without any additional practice in between.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

jonfromsf 6y ago

A good magician never reveals their tricks.

pitspotter 6y ago

Yes, which piece was that btw? I'm learning Rachmaninoff's Prelude in G minor, probably the hardest piece for me to date. I'm not timing the process but this must have been going on for six months by now. Practice occurs only when I feel like it, as I walk past the keyboard. Sometimes less than 5 minutes per day. Rarely more than 15 minutes. But it's getting there! If you added it all up, it would be a tremendous amount of work. Doing it to a schedule, or even just filling out a timesheet, would make it too grindy for me to bother with. So I think When it comes to learning, it's really motivation that is paramount. Not getting bored is a superpower. It's the ability to 'embrace grind' by discovering what's interesting about it.

pixiemagic 6y ago
I agree. I think pretty much everything (I've seen it with piano, work, exercise) becomes so much easier when you're motivated. For me, it's been more obvious with piano as it's my main skill-based hobby and, although I see similar with work, ultimately I need a job to get paid so even if I'm procrastinating over a boring task, at some point that kicks in to make me get on with it. With piano, I'm only doing it for fun and there are so many pieces out there to learn, so if I realise I don't love a piece then I've now taken to stopping with it after a certain amount of time. At first I would get frustrated for starting but not finishing something, but the reality is that when I find the right piece, those moments you describe when walking past the keyboard and wanting to play happen frequently. With the wrong piece, they happen rarely if ever. Good luck with the Gm prelude! It's one of my favourites which I have yet to attempt to play but hope to one day...

williamdclt 6y ago

Very well put down, I learnt an "intermediate-level" piano piece just like that (a very jazzy "fly me to the moon" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW3w8kV-Xmo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW3w8kV-Xmo) without having ever played piano (I do play another instrument, which helps). It took weeks and weeks of grind, note-by-note, repeating hundreds of times to get your finger to synchronise and memorise, but you get there! Great to show off, people think you're a fairly good pianist, but I can play almost literally nothing else haha :)

dehrmann 6y ago

Most skills tend to look something like this, where dedication and repetition lead to proficiency. Could be piano, chess, video games, programming... What are some skills like this that are high-leverage--skills that help with lots of other skills?

SixDouble5321 6y ago
Deliberate practice Critical thinking Time management

Graziano_M 6y ago

This is basically exactly how "The elements of piano practice" [1] lays it out. [1] http://www.pianopractice.org/book.pdf http://www.pianopractice.org/book.pdf

dorkwood 6y ago
That's actually exactly the method I used! I had trouble finding the book again, so thank you for linking me to it. I personally think everyone should learn at least one song on the piano using this method. It's such a great introduction to how the brain learns. I was amazed the first time I noticed I could actually get better at a song not by practicing longer or harder, but by taking a break and returning only once I felt the urge again (or even better, after a full night's sleep). It's a strange feeling to suddenly glide through a section that you previously found difficult without any additional practice in between.