Regaining piano skills after leaving it for years

Question

I used to play the piano for about 1 year and a half, from when I was in year 4 to mid year 5. I got up to grade 5 AMEB and was preparing for grade 6 before I decided to quit. I would practice for around an hour everyday, making it 7 hours a week with 1 hour piano lessons. I also used to do scales and arpeggios.

However, after a while I started to really hate playing the piano. I felt so stressed everyday, knowing that my mum would make me practice the piano for an hour. If I forgot to play it one day, she would make me do an extra hour the next day to make up for the previous day. At that time, she didn't know that that was actually quite harsh for a 10 year old to do, until my little sisters started to learn piano too and their teacher told my mum that it was in fact quite harsh.

Now I'm in year 9 and I'm 14 years old. It's been almost 5 years since I've left the piano and I haven't touched it since but I really want to start again. I asked my mum if I could get lessons again but she said that it's too expensive and that it isn't worth paying for since I'm only learning piano as a hobby and it's already been 5 years since I left it. How long would it take me to regain my skills? and how can I persuade my parents to let me take lessons again?

Answer 1

It's great that you want to resume playing again. Just get on with it, quietly, by yourself, and at some point your parents will be thinking it's a good idea to finance lessons again. Or part-finance. You could do small jobs around the house, or for neighbours, if you explain to them why you need the money.Parents have so many drains on resources, they have to be careful the money goes in the right direction, but unfortunately you already gave them the idea that it was not good to spend on your lessons. Pick up from where you were - a good level already - and show them, subtly, that you are capable of doing the necessary practice, without being showy. Just find a good time each day. They may well re-consider after a while, when they hear how your playing is improving just on your own. If the next lot of exams are your goal, that's fine - parents like that sort of thing.

Answer 2

I'm older than you, but I also recently got back into my piano playing. I'm teaching myself by looking at my old books and playing through them. I don't have time for a teacher unfortunately so I have to do it all on my own. I've found that what makes me most interested in playing again is watching myself make progress. I chose pieces that I've always wanted to learn, and just got started working them out. I also made sure that I would play at least 30 minutes per day, and that helped me a lot to stick to my own self teaching.

I'm finding that I'm enjoying piano more now than ever since I'm in charge. I know that I could get better faster with a teacher, but that's not really an option so I'm enjoying just playing for fun.

I think you should try to find some sheet music online that you like, and just start practising. If it's too hard, ask here for simpler pieces that can help you get better a the hard ones.