I've Lost My Motivation to Learn Piano - Tips

Losing motivation is never a good thing. Especially when it happens because learning to play a musical instrument is giving you tough time.


When the phenomena of vanishing motivation occurs, the best thing to do, in my opinion, is to go on YouTube and look up someone who represents your category of musical instrument. The musician has to be exceptional, otherwise this won't work. Now, listen carefully to what s/he plays, and think about this: "Did this person lose his/her motivation? Did s/he give up learning the instrument?" The answer for question a) is quite commonly "Yes." but you don't have to worry about that. If you did like I told you to do above, the answer for b) should be a clear "No."


Now, this may seem like a load of utter manure, but there is a reason why you should do it.


What I am trying to help you do, is to see what you will be able to do if you carry on practicing and playing. I've gone through it. Many times, actually. Even nowadays I may experience a sudden feeling of worthlessness and question the reason I am doing what I do. However, when I see someone way more advanced than me doing magic on an instrument, I realize that it all depends on the effort I put into the music myself. It's something in which you cannot lose anything. Consider the time an investment.


Children


The same thing applies to children, but it is more crucial than with older people. Let them watch some truly amazing video, and they will want to learn how to play the piano or the cello like "that crazy man/woman in the video". This can be used whenever they feel like they're not learning anything. Another little trick you could use is to make them learn any "epic" song, or just a part of it. This will re-orientate their interest back to music and not think too much about the difficulty of the learning process.


Conclusion


Seeing someone else who has worked hard to achieve success is a great motivator. It helps you to see what you can achieve as well, if you are willing to put the effort and time into it. The typical rule-of-thumb "10,000" hours before mastering a skill should be considered here. That would be approximately 15 years if you practiced 2 hours EVERY SINGLE day. However, you should not take this negatively. The 15 years is an estimation for mastering the skill. This doesn't mean that you wouldn't be able to create awesome music before that. I learned to play well after 3 years. After 8 consecutive years of playing, I can play, compose and improvise whatever I like, really.

Keep it up!

Diversify Your Music - Kiwi Tutorial

Diversify your music? What? 

What I want to say by this, is that you should not get stuck into one genre of music. This is what can happen to actors in the world of Hollywood; they act in a series of movies, usually of the same genre, and characters of the same type and personality. This leads them to being typecast in the future. They will be expected to be in the next action movie, being a shotgun whipping, bulked up & cold action hero with extremely high pain threshold like Dwayne Johnson and Bruce Willis. What if they want to act in a fantasy movie? Not cool!


Now, back to music.


This is a kind of a short "Kiwi-tutorial" (I love that name!) that may help you, if you find yourself stuck in one style of music:


Say you're on YouTube, and you play piano, guitar, cello or violin. You don't really want everybody guessing what your next song is going to be like, and be right. It can make you:

a) Boring.
b) Predictable.


Although these two are almost the same, there is a slight difference. Being boring is self-explanatory, nobody wants to watch your videos. Being predictable means that people are still going to watch your videos, but they already know what they will see and hear. It removes the tension and true interest. Do you want that? I am pretty sure I don't!

How to Diversify My Music?

The diversifying can be done in a few easy steps. I've heard this from my father, of whom I inherited my musicality, and every music teacher I've had so far;

• Listen to artists that represent different genres of music. Contemporary instrumental is one of my favorites. Thus, I listen to rock and hip hop at times.
• Try out different styles, don't be afraid to copy a little!
• If something sounds bad to you, or you just don't like it, play it to a friend or a family member and see if they might like it. There are segments of people that might be longing for that specific type of music!

Conclusion

Don't be afraid to be different from your usual self. In this case, "Don't be yourself" would be the appropriate phrase. Continue making music any way and style you like, but keep in mind that your audience may be very wide, and changing your style at times will very likely get positive feedback from your followers and subscribers.

Music for Relaxation & Kiwi-Challenge

I love working whilst listening to music! It helps me concentrate on the work or the studying, but often it has a negative effect. I may get disorientated from my work, and all the distractions will suddenly seem a lot more attracting, like going to get a snack, or go on YouTube, ect. 

What kind of music helps? What kind of music does not?

To be totally honest, this is again something that depends on you. It's all in your personality and the way you work. To make an example of myself; I am extremely lazy when it comes to studying, and that has been seen in my grades throughout the years. However, when I turned away from rap and hip hop, my concentration improved greatly. I cannot explain the reason for that... I'm still trying to find out why. 
After searching a little bit on YouTube, I found out two artists; Yanni, the world-renowned composer, of whom I've made brief mentions before, and Jervy Hou, another artist I've talked about.


Now, what I noticed, was that Orchestra type music, represented by both Yanni and Jervy Hou, is extremely relaxing and entrancing. What I also realized, was that this entrancing effect could be harnessed. As I fell into a state of relaxation, studying became somehow easier, the phrases made sense. I even could translate 5,000 word essays assigned to me by part-time employer, without any stress radiating from me whatsoever. 


After realizing the power of their music, I wanted to hear more. Well, I did find more music. Unfortunately, it was so "epic" that I was totally distracted of my work. Example: ThePianoGuys. If you can concentrate in your work while listening to these magicians, I bow and lift my hat off to you! 

I challenge you to try it! 

What kind of music relaxes you? Any songs in specific? Also, tell me how you managed with the "Kiwi-challenge"!

Playing At Live Concerts - Kiwi Hints

Don't you love the feeling when about 50 to 500 heads turn to you and the eyes just get glued to your shaking face and being? 
I do. That's one of my favorite things in playing music. Live concerts. Well, I am a bit of an attention-seeker on stage anyway, but the adrenaline injection is just earthshaking!

Depending on the venue, the amount of people in the audience can range from the said 50 to 500 people, sometimes even more. Of course, if you are playing in your school concert, there won't be hundreds of people. However, then again, this depends on the size of your school.


Enough of babbling! Getting to the point.

How to stay calm in a live concert?

I have a lot of experience on concerts, especially school concerts, in which I have had to play, often to my own chagrin, before I became a confident performer. Therefore, I can give you a list of things to do to help you calm down before and during the concert. 

BEFORE CONCERT

• The most important one: Learn your song. I can tell you that if you haven't sorted your song(s) out, you will become nervous. Anxiety and nervousness are the main causes for mistakes and errors.
• Play the song to a friend or a family member. This will help you get over the fear of performing in front of a crowd, no matter what size. (Obviously, Elton John-scale numbers are not included!)
• Breathing exercises, a classic! These will come handy during the concert.

DURING CONCERT

     

• Don't think about or look directly at the audience. They don't exist. It's only you and the instrument. Thinking about people will get you distracted and you will likely make mistakes. Play as if you were still in your home, concentrating on what the song sounds like when you succeeded in playing it perfectly.
• Breathe, play and enjoy! Don't think playing as a task. It must not be one! It's a pleasure, and you want to share the music with everyone. If some don't like the music, there are always people who do! Don't get put down by silly comments, laughter, or other attempts of humiliation.
  If bullies don't have enough courage to get on that stage in front of those people and play, they sure don't realize how moronic and low of IQ they make themselves look. This is a true form of self-humiliation perfected over ages!

You can do it!

"How to Improvise Music" Part I - Kiwi Tutorial

What I have tried to overcome in the recent years is the problem a MAJORITYof all musicians have; the inability to read written music. Naturally, this is a bastard to deal with, but I was very fortunate, in terms of musical skills as I learned to play by ear at a young age. Later, this developed into a strange melodic improvisational skill.


From time to time, I get troubled but quite advanced musicians, who can perfectly read sheet music, asking me the same question…

How do you improvise? How can I learn to do it too?

The way I create music is totally dependent on my imagination. Even though I cannot imagine the total ensemble of sounds in my mind yet, I am able to get the beginning note and continue from that.
For piano, the way I would explain it this way: You have scales, and specific chords that sound nice together. Now, once the base is established and you can hear the tempo you set, you start creating a melody staying within the given scale. The harmony created becomes music. Do not think about the notes, just play.


The most important part of it is not to stress and worry what will sound nice and what won’t. Let yourself drift into another reality, carried by the sounds that your mind is subconsciously making. If that is not possible for you, then I recommend listening to music such as the soundtracks of the Final Fantasies. There is no need to stress, even though the level of music those soundtracks represent is quite advanced. The idea is to hear the changes in volume, pace, strength and other distinctive characteristics.


• Be relaxed… focus on the music.
• Don’t think about the notes… “c, d, f#, g, a…” No, just let it flow!
• Use the same chords at first, but later introduce changes. E.g. Instead of playing a C major, just try out C minor. Even slight changes matter.


If you cannot relax enough to hear how the tempo and “colour” of music changes, I strongly recommend to listen to artists like Yanni. He's one of my personal favorites! Relaxation exercises also help… as well as yoga. :)

What is The Easiest Instrument to Learn? - Kiwi Opinions

When taking a closer look at musical instruments, many come to the conclusion that piano would be the easiest instrument to learn. However, this is a common misconception. Learning to play piano is not any easier than learning to play guitar, and although this often depends on the person learning to play, the real difference comes in the achieved level of playing the instrument.

I will be using guitars as comparison because other string instruments, such as violins and cellos, are actually harder to learn, as well as woodwind instruments.

Guitar

Surely, many of you have sat around the campfire and someone has taken out a guitar and started to play. Generally, the music is great and everyone loves it, but the case is often that the "guitarist" only knows how to strum the guitar. Compare them to a flamenco guitarist, and you will see the difference. Anyone can learn to play guitar on a novice level with just a little effort and time. On the other end, learning to play guitar with the technique and expertise displayed by the Spanish "guitaristas" takes years to learn. Therefore, it depends on the level you want to achieve.

Piano 

When it comes to pianos, it may seem like the easy option. Of course, this is a natural point of view, as even little children learn to play piano. There are even some child prodigies that play music Mozart, Beethoven and Bach composed hundreds of years before. This acts as fuel to the fire of viewing piano as the "easy instrument". However, in reality, the amount of time all pianists spend on learning and mastering their skill is astonishing. This includes the child prodigies.

Having personal experience of both instruments, I can prove that correct. I started at 5 or 6 years of age, and I am still learning every day, despite having group classes, private tutors and years of practice. Some people find it exceptionally easy to learn to play any instrument, some specialize in one instrument. There are people who find it unbelievably hard to learn any instrument. Despite the difficulty of learning, anyone can learn to play an instrument.

Conclusion -

My conclusion is that both instruments, as well as any other instrument, require years of practice if you want to achieve an adequate level. There are exceptions, albeit very few. Every person is different, in terms of musicality and they need to find their own instrument, but piano and guitar are the cheapest and easiest to start with. 

An adequate guitar can cost anywhere between $100 to $300. Amateur to professional guitars are dearer, up from $300 to thousands of dollars.


One should consider starting with a musical keyboard as they are portable, as well as a lot cheaper than actual upright and grand pianos. The usual price range is between $120 to $400.

Until next...