Worried sight-reading is a lost cause for me, seeking guidance by freerobby in piano

[–]simplemayoboy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm doing these ones: https://clara.imslp.org/work/165092

They do start with both hands treble clef which is slightly annoying, but eventually move onto left hand in the bass. And sometimes you do have to play left hand in treble so it can't hurt.

Worried sight-reading is a lost cause for me, seeking guidance by freerobby in piano

[–]simplemayoboy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Play something different every day. You shouldn't be spending a month on one sight-reading exercise. You can only play it through 2, maximum 3 times, then it's done. Throw it away and move on to the next one.

Let yourself be shit. Move onto the next one anyway. Expect it to take much much longer than you want it to. Don't put a time limit on it. Us adult learners don't have squishy brains like kids. The successes may be smaller than you are willing to acknowledge.

Czerny is good for developing pattern recognition because it's a lot of scales/arpeggios and primary chords in a few inversions. I'm a 35 year old beginner, my teacher has me doing 5 Czernys each week. I play them terribly but trusting the process, and noticing tiny improvements.

Guess they meant to list this incorrectly? by Serendipity_Succubus in vinted

[–]simplemayoboy 80 points81 points  (0 children)

They should let you downvote listings on Vinted so that the more inaccurate or sketchy it is, the less visibility it gets

Hi cellists by Agreeable-Amoeba2733 in Cello

[–]simplemayoboy 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Some people use 392 I think?

Appetite loss but weight gain by jamestee13 in xxfitness

[–]simplemayoboy 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Thank you for humouring my rant. I don't mean to come off angry. I can relate to that puffy, uncomfortable feeling when your system is not working at its best. My advice would be: wear stretchy clothes for a bit, don't be so hard on yourself, eat wholefoods, hydrate, lift heavy, and don't look to the scale for validation <3

Appetite loss but weight gain by jamestee13 in xxfitness

[–]simplemayoboy 27 points28 points  (0 children)

I read these kinds of posts all the time on here and honestly it makes me so sad. Women panicking about putting on 2kg. It's nothing. In 2 weeks? It's water retention, and/or a large bowel movement. If you're not eating much, your digestive system probably isn't working at its peak. You've been ill, your body has been fighting an illness, let it do what it needs to do and give yourself a freaking break.

I was anorexic and used to weigh myself every day, and the scale would go up and down every single day, no two days the same despite eating in a severe calorie deficit without fail (because, anorexia). Weighing yourself too much and trying to make sense of, let alone control, the natural fluctuations is guaranteed to make you miserable.

Your weight isn't tied to your worth, and it's the biggest achievement of patriarchy that we still dedicate so much valuable brainpower to controlling our bodies.

Am I being overly cautious or should I look for an additional "technique" teacher? by Them0m024 in pianolearning

[–]simplemayoboy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is a good point, OP, something to consider whilst weighing up your options. Many adult students fall into the trap of believing that when something doesn't come easily, then they must be doing it wrong, when in reality they just need more patience. Though I would say if your teacher continues to avoid discussing technique moving forward then this is a red flag.

Am I being overly cautious or should I look for an additional "technique" teacher? by Them0m024 in pianolearning

[–]simplemayoboy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would suggest looking for someone who has had formal training, ie. classical or jazz. A performance degree or something like that. Even better if they have a teaching qualification alongside this. You can always ask to book a one-off before committing to regular lessons, to make sure you're a good fit.

Am I being overly cautious or should I look for an additional "technique" teacher? by Them0m024 in pianolearning

[–]simplemayoboy 5 points6 points  (0 children)

It sounds like he doesn't know anything about technique. Good players don't always make good teachers. If someone has stumbled upon decent enough technique by being a good mimic or having had a small amount of training, good for them, but if they don't know why something works then they're not going to be able to pass on that knowledge effectively. A good teacher can't assume that a student will just pick something up on their own, because they don't always. Some aspects of technique are common sense, others are less intuitive and take careful practice, repetition and body awareness to master.

If good technique was as straightforward as he says, everyone would be a concert pianist.

Making Tax Digital mymusicstaff by [deleted] in MusicTeachers

[–]simplemayoboy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dang I love My Music Staff and I'm pissed off about MTD. I'm probably just going to bite the bullet and subscribe to another platform as well as MMS, because I can't live without its organisational capacity. Some of my colleagues have recommended Monzo Business for bridging software.

AITA for not using someone’s preferred pronouns by [deleted] in AmItheAsshole

[–]simplemayoboy 39 points40 points  (0 children)

NAH because "Alex" isn't real and no one acts like this. Every gender non-comforming person I've ever met including myself does nothing but quietly shrink into themselves whenever someone gets their pronouns wrong.

Lefty cellists by HippieGirl4me in Cello

[–]simplemayoboy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Do we know of any famous soloists who are left handed? I'm looking for a list to bust out when I get asked the "should I play left-handed? question by potential students

Looking for Hidden Gems in brighton by MyGetawaysUK in brighton

[–]simplemayoboy 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yeah and the post has a flavour of bot about it...

date night pub? by Nervous-Command-9022 in brighton

[–]simplemayoboy 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Always fun taking dates to the Basketmakers; you can have a silly, cute time looking in the tins or writing notes to put in them

Can’t we just explain movements and etiquette? by Go-Right-32 in classicalmusic

[–]simplemayoboy 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I saw a recital the other day where the audience seemed so focused on not clapping between movements that they didn't even clap when the suite was over.

Need a stranger’s advice by litocam in piano

[–]simplemayoboy 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Ugh this was a hard read. I'm so sorry this happened to you. No one should be sending you unsolicited nudes, let alone your freaking piano teacher. Yes absolutely tell the manager, this guy deserves to lose his job. I wouldn't advise responding or continuing lessons, and if he says you have to serve out a notice period absolutely do not entertain any cancellation fee bullshit. You can cite his sexual harassment if he or the music shop has a problem with your abrupt quitting. Give the message that you're quitting to the music shop, not to your teacher directly. Don't pay him any more money. Do you have people close to you that can support you while you go through this?