I recently stumbled onto a YouTube video called “How to Start Learning the Piano – Self Taught!” and because it is only 14 minutes long, I thought it would be interesting to watch. Right from the outset he states that he taught himself to play the piano and knowing what he knows now, he wishes that he had learned certain things right from the outset. I thought that this would be interesting to get the perspective of someone who successfully taught themselves how to play the piano, as my background and experience is vastly different.
I thought that this video was well explained and well presented. I also found Matthew to be genuinely interested in giving information to help others to teach themselves how to play the piano, rather than just being a ploy to plug his music books that you can purchase. He does briefly mention his stuff that you can buy, but its not delivered in a forceful way.
Rather than covering the main points that he covered – the video is only 14 minutes long, so you can get the information directly from him – what I want to say is that I agree with most of what he said. The portion that I cannot agree with, is where he recommends certain resources that I am completely unfamiliar with, (because he seems to be based in the UK and I’m Australian) so I cannot have an opinion either way. I do also like tha fact that he recommends resources that are created by other people/companies.
I have not seen any other videos made by Matthew Cawood, but I’m so impressed by the quality and sincerity of “How to Start Learning the Piano – Self Taught!”, that I would recommend watching his other YouTube videos.
I would also like to point out that apart from his YouTube videos, he has his own website matthewcawood.com, where he writes a blog, sells a couple of piano books and you can book online piano lessons with the man himself.
I think that this content creator would be a good one to follow, simply from the fact that he has taught himself how to play the piano and that he would offer a slightly different perspective than the average content producer who wasn’t self taught. This perspective could really be useful, especially if you are trying to teach yourself how to play the piano.