I am with most of the people here who initially posted on this topic and say that it does take a lot of practice in order to achieve a level that's satisfactory to play the music you desire. I am by no means a great pianist, but I was lucky enough to have an older brother who was born with a musical gift. I did take lessons when I was a child alongside him, but I didn't have the interest to pursue it. I stopped lessons at 11 in lieu of playing field hockey and being on the chess team. I know, it's kinda dorky, but I believe that it really helped me with other facets of life such as diligence and memory retention. Needless to say, after college my brother moved into my apartment because he was ashamed to tell our parents that he couldn't afford to live on his own w/o help from a roommate or the girlfriend that dumped, then immediately kicked him out of their apartment in Missouri while I lived in Virginia. Taking in my refuge brother, I told him that I'll give him all the time he needs to get back on his feet in return for piano lessons. Let me tell you, 6 months straight of learning scales. That is all I did. I didn't play a single tune: Not even Mary Had a Little Lamb. At the time I was frustrated because I thought he was just messing with me, but when he thought I was ready, he put a piece of music that he said someone with 2 years of experience would be able to play. I looked at him with that "I've only been playing for 6 months" kinda look. The piece was Rhapsody in Blue which was a Dan Coates Arrangement (not nearly as hard as the original, but within a month, I was playing all 3 Preludes! When he left to move back to our hometown, I literally cried. I didn't want him to go, but there was a job in his field waiting for him 10 minutes from our childhood home at the local high school. How could he say no to taking over for his mentor as the Orchestra teacher? Long story (yes, it's a long story I know!) short, there are numerous ways to learn, but the 2 main ways are by sight (reading music) or by ear. I highly suggest learning by sight. Once you master that way of learning, according to my brother you can grab any piece of music within your level of playing and be able to perform it without too much trouble. It's literally another language, but nothing that sounded so beautiful, huh?
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