piano/keyboard players

[Ulaes]

on av. how many hours a day do you practise?
how long has it taken you to get to the level you are at now?
do you get rusty if you dont play for months at a time?
do you feel any particular way after you play?

 

[FallaciaSonata]

I haven't been playing lately -- been busy with college prep. and work. Normally, I would play for as long as I felt like it. Which could be anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours or more. I like to work on things.

I took classical from age six or so to about twelve. I stopped there and started playing by ear. (Much easier, and *much* more fun.) Now I just learn songs I like. (I have a couple of YouTube videos up. Search for Center of the Universe - Piano Cover, if you like.)

I don't ever go without playing for more than a week or two -- so I usually don't get "rusty". However, if I don't play a specific song for more than a few weeks I usually forget parts of it. (But I'll remember the obvious parts, like the chorus.)

Playing is one of the very few ways I release tension and stress. By putting 100% focus into playing, I can temporarily relieve my mind of all the crap that goes through it on a daily basis. The same applies when I play an RPG or read a book --- gets my mind off of it and allows for some reflection time.

 

[maliafee]

Well, I play 1-2 hours a day when I'm serious. Currently 15 min's to one hour.
I feel very rusty if I haven't played in a while, but get it back fast.
I got to my current level in about 5 years of lessons (been unserious about it since then). I progressed very quickly in that time due to lots of practice and serious enthusiasm (I used to play 3-4 hours/day).
I feel great while/after I play, bad if I don't when I really want to, bad if I don't because I'm being lazy.

 

[Udog]

I'm not sure if you are looking for beginner's input or not.

I've been playing for 15 months, but I had a 4 month hiatus and had lots going on for some of that. I practice 30min-1.5 hours, usually 5 days a week right now. It's enough to progress slowly... I'm just now getting to part where both hands are doing their own thing. The rare times I'm able to put in 1-2 hours a day into it, I progress quite quickly.

If I haven't played more than 3 days or so, I notice some slight rust. It doesn't take terribly long to shake it off, though.

Since I'm learning, I can't play the songs I really want to play just yet. Every once in awhile my book introduces a piece I really like and enjoy learning, and that can cause me to play for 2 hours and really get into it. Otherwise, it's a bit like going through the motions to get to bigger and better things.

 

[GZA]

I tried classical lessons when I was like 7 untill I was 10, and they didn't work out. I didn't like them and didn't really learn anything. I started playing guitar a few years later, and then after a couple of years of guitar I thought I'd try piano again by ear. I didn't really play more than once a week though, and didn't learn anything for a few years. A few months ago I started getting back into it more seriously, once again by ear, and I've improved a lot relatively quickly. I can only really play something if I make it up myself, and I mostly stick to white keys and the key of C major, and I really only have a couple of little things I can play. My sister, who has been playing for quite a long time, says I sound like someone who's been playing seriously for years, but since I can really only play one or two songs well that doesn't really mean anything Currently I play for maybe 15 minutes to an hour a day depending on what else is happening in my life.

 

[Totenkindly]

My practicing went nil for the last two years.

I read well but prefer to play by ear.

I took lessons from 1-11 grade. Then the rest of my life I've just actually played for church (usually) or in a band, until I got really depressed a few years ago and stepped away from it. Now I want to go back.

I used to use music as therapy. When I was depressed, I would go into a pitch-black room and play in the dark, whatever I felt at the time. Music helps me transcend the crap and dirt in this life and takes me somewhere else, I literally am exploring the cosmos if I sink deep enough into it. I feel like I am sitting on a mountaintop and seeing literally everything in the universe and am part of it, my awareness becomes so broad.

Yes, if you don't practice, technique will get rusty. The improve/creative stuff won't diminish as much, but the more situations you musically put yourself in, the more you'll hear and be able to respond to in the future, and the you have to build on with new responses to the music.

 

[Ariel]

I've been playing for about 12 years, around half an hour a day. I tend to get really excited when starting new pieces but get bored quite easily.
I'm currently working on Schubert's Impromptu Op.90 No2

 

[jenocyde]

I've been playing for most of my life - almost 30 years, I guess. I hate practicing (specific music), so I'm always rusty, but after I warm up I get into the groove of it. If my mind forgets, my muscles never do - it's ingrained at this point. It's the only thing that my body can do faster than my mind. I go through 'play every hour of the day' spurts to not touching it for 2 months.

I'm in a zone when I play and couldn't identify a feeling if you paid me. I'm just in it, part of it. After I play, I feel physically drained and emotionally spent, and it's an amazing feeling.

 

[runvardh]

Wow, I'll relate to rusty, as in 5 years rusty. Not sure if I really can play much anymore, but I also never had lessons, my mother figured I didn't need any. :rolli:

It used to feel good playing though, I miss having the inspiration...

 

[speculative]

I haven't really played in about 10 years. Took 9 years of piano lessons. I was not very good at sight reading, and definitely cannot play anything by ear. I would memorize the music before I could actually play it, and then just keep practicing from memory (instead of reading off the sheet music) until I could physically play it...

Got a midi controller and some software to use with it, but I realized that was about 3 years ago now and I still don't really play it. This is something I really wish I could get back into...