hi there.
I’ve been taking classical piano lessons for about 11 months , but recently I’ve started feeling unmotivated and disappointed. It feels like I’m not making progress, and sometimes I wonder if lessons are even useful, since I could just learn pieces at home by myself.
The only real reason I keep going to class is that I’m afraid if I stop, I won’t practice at all and I’ll quit piano entirely.(I should mention that my teacher is very skilled and knowledgeable, and has been really helpful to me.)
Here’s my situation:
- I’m currently working on Beethoven’s Sonatine No. 1 in F Major( but to be honest, it doesn’t feel very challenging for me).
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I also have(and practice) hanon, Czerny Op. 823 and Burgmüller, and I’ve done the first 7 studies in Burgmüller and Notebooks for Anna Magdalena Bach
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my practice routine is: 1-Hanon 2-scales(not chords yet) 3-Czerny 4- piece 5- recently i've practiced Traite Pratique Du Rythme Mesure(by Fernand Fontaine)
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My lessons mostly focus on “play this piece, memorize the notes, and perform it mechanically.(and the dynamics of the piece” There isn’t much deeper analysis or artistic discussion.
before I started taking lessons, I had already tried to teach myself. I used to watch videos of the pieces on YouTube, memorize the keys they pressed, and then play them myself. What I expected from lessons was something more “in-depth,” to change my perspective, to change the way i learn pieces like analyzing the pieces, understanding harmony, chord progressions, and developing musicality—not just learning which notes to press. ( I’m totally fine with finger exercises, scales, techniques, and so on—I don’t have any problem with those. My problem is specifically with the part of the lessons where we work on pieces, which I feel is unimportant for piano lessons"
So I have a few questions:
- In a standard piano lesson, should the teacher also cover analysis, chord progressions, ear training, rhythm training, etc.? Or are those considered “extra” and supposed to be part of theory/solfège classes instead?
- Is it normal that piano lessons feel more mechanical (focus on technique and pieces), while things like harmony, chord progressions, and ear training belong in separate classes?
- Is it reasonable for me to ask my teacher not to work on pieces at all, and instead focus more on skills like ear training or harmony? Or are those simply not part of what a piano class is supposed to cover?
I’d love to hear from others who’ve gone through this—how deep should a piano class really go, and how do you balance piano technique with theory, harmony, and ear training?
Submitted August 21, 2025 at 01:00PM by 11temp11temp11 https://www.reddit.com/r/Learnmusic/comments/1mwf1bb/one_year_into_piano_lessons_and_feeling_lost/?utm_source=ifttt
Javier Rodriguez
Thursday, August 21, 2025