Building a person who can play piano

Back in 2017 I had been teaching myself piano for about a year and a half. I started writing about my experience thus far, the self-teaching process, thinking I'd start a blog. But I never did. Until now, and here I am in 2025, re-discovering what I wrote back in 2017 about what I'd been up to for the last year.

Piano - Year One: June 7, 2017

I had told my piano teacher 25 years ago that playing felt exactly like typing. There was sheet music, and I had to press the keys to play the dots, and then music would come out. I knew I was supposed to study harmony and theory, and I did, but it never actually connected with what my hands were doing because I hadn't studied chords. I could play somewhat complicated pieces, but even that didn't translate into what I really wanted to be able to do later.

When I retired, I finally had the time. I had read Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hours idea, and I figured I could dedicate an average of three hours a day to practice. The problem was, I knew that if I approached it the same way as before, I would just end up being an efficient typist again.

What I really wanted was to play popular music, or play while I sang, or play with a group. I wanted to be able to play music that people recognized. It wasn't about learning 10,000 hours of any piano; it was about defining the person I needed to become.

So I wrote down the core idea that guided everything I did in that first year: I'm building a person who can play piano.

My analytical side took over. I realized that if the player I dreamed of being could look at a chord name, say "Bb7," and play it, then that was the first thing I had to learn. It had to become instinctive. And because I needed a foundation, I also needed to gather knowledge, getting a feel for the landscape and a sense of where I'd go next. I figured that would be the best way to get to the point where I could look at familiar lead sheet music—melody and chords—and actually play it.

The books available seemed to miss this entirely. There were "play piano in 10 lessons" books where the last chapter was jazz , which was ridiculous. Then there were the series that were too slow, where you had to buy each book, and you could complete the whole course and still not be the piano player you wanted to be. This was not about just playing this piece, then this piece, then this piece.

I decided I was going to provide myself with the year of experience I needed. Set my own goals. I had to dedicate myself to intense training to get up to speed.

In the beginning, I was overwhelmed. I was at the bottom of a huge hill. But I kept two thoughts with me that helped me start the climb:

• "If people do this, I can do this."
• "If not now, when? I’ve retired and I finally have the time."

It’s been over a year now. I still know more than I can play smoothly. My reach exceeds my grasp. I tell myself it’s just a matter of time and practice, for my hands and my brain to catch up to my understanding of facts.

It really is like learning a language. I can spell the new word (the chord) and use it in a sentence (the progression), but only time spent every day speaking the language will make the word become part of my natural vocabulary. That’s the work of building the person who can play.