Heya all you guys.. I just stumbled across this thread and thought I'd give a little input...
Personally I've been playing since I was 3 yrs old (Been playing for 14yrs now).
I tell you what - I started out without any lessons or books. Just by ear... by hearing what other people played and playing it back.
So to a certain extent it is possible to develop some skills from being self-taught... however, in my case, and I would probably say other cases, it's VERY VERY EASY to develop bad habits by teaching yourself. Stuff like posture, fingering, tone production and so on. Most people don't realise that music is A LOT more than just pressing the notes correct and in time. Even a computer can do that! It's about shaping the music, your input into it, tone, how you contrast the sections of the piece, and a lot more.
I think that past a certain level, you definitely need a teacher... If you want to progress further, that is. It's not impossible to do it by yourself, but you can learn so much more with a teacher.
Learning also doesn't have to be boring... Whatever people say about classical music teaching/learning or the music itself being boring... Part of it may also be due to having a boring teacher (heh, hope I'm not saying too much). But having a GOOD teacher can make ALL the difference. A teacher who cares, who understands you and can guide you through. Music can become quite a complex and personal thing, and you need a teacher who understands how you relate to music and so on..
I strongly disagree with electronic pianos/keyboards - their touch is normally horrible, they just don't have the feeling of a hammer moving forwards to hit strings, the pedals (if they have any) are terrible (discreet levels of pedalling and sudden changes), and the worst thing - There is NO character in the piano at all. All the notes sound the same! Get an upright (unless you can afford better), doesn't have to be new (my first piano had 6 strings broken and was out of tune).
About people comparing how easy it is to learn/master instruments or how basic they are, I have a different view... Having played in some orchestras & chamber groups, and seeing the styles in which the composers compose their music - All instruments are different, their method of playing, so on. For example, no other instrument can match the piano in its ability to produce colours with chords or its versatility in playing more than one note, or all those fast passages. On the other hand, what can produce that clear tone of the violin, which sings at the top? Or the power and rich tone of the trombone? Perhaps one might be technically easier to master than the other, but musically it might be even harder. Sometimes the simplest of things can be the hardest to master. You can even study recorder as your first instrument in the Royal Academy of Music (or is it the Royal College?) in London.
Don't let anything stop you from wanting to learn music - even my comments. Music is a language - there will be many opinions on it. But for the love of music... don't be discouraged.
EDIT: Just some other things I'd like to add - To me, music is not about exams. It doesn't matter what grades you have, that doesn't tell you much about you as a musician. Your musicianship is just as important. Notice I said "Just as". I'm not saying exams are less important than anything, but that there are also other important things which go along with the exams. Exams are useful in setting a goal and benchmarking yourself - but remember, it's not the thing which decides how good you are.
Oh, and about the organ. Have you heard the pipe organ in KLCC? It's not bad... hear all those powerful notes.. Or even better, try going to a cathedral... There's nothing more glorious than hearing a choir sing their hearts out with the deep sounds of the organ along with the grand pipes hitting you, and then suddenly, a drop in volume with the reverb of the voices echoing away into the corners of the cathedral. Whoops, getting a bit carried away.. hehe
So there's someone hiding under water .. ?
Anyways, until now, I still believe it's not hard to pick up an instrument if you have a decent background in music .. It's not hard to pick up, but it's hard to master it like the back of your hand as I suggested earlier ... The thing is, for example, everyone can play guitar, but how many of them can play like Mike Oldfield?
About the exam, it's just the same as all the exams (SPM and et cetera) we see everyday ... They merely act as a medium for you to venture into further places within the music field as you'll need to have a certain qualification before being eligible to be enrolled into music colleges ...
I haven't heard about the pipe organ in KLCC, but I did visit a cathedral here and I must agree ... The impact of such combination is truly impressive (though I couldn't understand what they were singing in the first place) ...
About the keyboard, there are better ones (but usually they will cost ALOT more than an upright piano) ... Those piano that are used such as stage performance piano (like Kurzweil or Nord), they do have a much proper piano styled pedals and weighted hammer action keys ... As you have been involved in so many events, you surely understand that sometimes, portablitiy comes before quality ...
Dec 24 2005, 09:44 PM, updated 20y ago
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and we're all here just to discuss and exchange what we have in mind 
, and need less mantainance). But even when I compare two grand pianos (For example my school's 7ft Yamaha Grand and 7ft Steinway Grand, both aren't that great, but you can hear the character in the steinway - it has a voice, so to speak). 
That would be useful for me...
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