Piano Q&A: I have no idea what pieces to learn!
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- Опубликовано: 8 июл 2024
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-Allysia
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In order to compensate for being told to work on my piece for another 3 months, I try to sight read everything under the sun for about half an hour a day, spend some time tapping out complex rhythms, working on ear training, and sometimes working on a simpler pieces to semi-memorize them. I need more books with frogs on the cover though.
This is such wise advice, Allysia. I am an adult student and my teacher will indulge me a few minutes each lesson to help me work through a piece that is above my level. It makes me so happy to spend some of my practice time each week learning a few measures of, say, a Chopin Nocturne. BUT I fall into the EXACT traps you mentioned: I memorize instead of sight read, my skills aren’t advanced enough to play the piece the way it should be played, and by the time we’re near the end of the piece I’m so tired of it that I’m ready to dump it before I’ve completely learned it. Fortunately my teacher has me learning smaller pieces that I enjoy, that are at my level, and are reinforcing the theory, technique and sight reading skills I’m learning. But I do crave a shot at those tougher pieces, even knowing that the time I spend on them isn’t exactly helping me advance in my piano skills. It sure can be great fun to toy with sections of those big, beautiful pieces from time to time, just for the pure joy of hearing those gorgeous notes played by my own hands, albeit very imperfectly.
I think Erik Satie is quite good classical music for beginners
He's really not that interesting. Taking simplicity perhaps a bit too far.
I ♥️ Gnossienne No 1❗️My favourite❗️
I learned Gymnopedie No 1, that one is really do able for early intermediate players.
be sure to check out his last three gnossiennes aswell, they are often overlooked.
that would seem so on the surface, but if you dig a bit deeper you will find that he composed a lot of music that gets quite complex, his nocturnes for example. He even made a ragtime piece lol. funny story: Debussy actually accused him at the time of writing music that lacks "form", in return to this criticism he wrote ''trois pièces en forme de poire'' which translates to "three pieces in the form of a pear".
Love you so much ❤
You raise some valid points about learning a lot of easy pieces instead of few difficult ones. However, for some people, the only thing motivating them to play piano at all are pieces of music that happen to be harder than what they are capable of doing at the moment. So for those people, it's not really going to be suitable advice to tell them to go learn a little Schumann piece or something.. sometimes it's not bad to push yourself and spend many months working on a single piece. If you go through with a relatively difficult piece that is above your level and finish it you will find that a lot of of other pieces become easier. Of course, we all have to start somewhere. No one starts piano playing Chopin etudes but.. the point is that pushing yourself isn't always bad as long as it is within reason.
Climbers Of Ice Agreed
The important thing is to be aware of your level of motivation. If tackling difficult pieces doesn't hinder your motivation, then I think it is perfectly fine.
Personaly, at one point, I wasn't happy with how I could play the pieces I was practicing because there were too much of a challenge, so I took a (little) step back.
I agree with that but I've just finished tempest sonata 1st movement at a moderate tempo and am currently obsessed with la Campanella which of course I cannot even dream of playing right now. If I were to attempt to play this I would spend many months maybe even a year or two only to be able to play it at a low-satisfaction level. So what's the point on trying in vain to accomplish something incredibly hard only to be disappointed by the result?
Alexis Mandelias yup I know what you mean.. that's why I said "within reason"
Likewise we can push ourselves to play a more challenging piece like Minuet in G & G minor from the Bach Anna M. Notebook by Christian Petzold. It is a piece in the lower intermediate level... something I'd call the gateway to Classical music. Once you are able to master these 2 side-by pieces, you are well on your way to master more challenging pieces.
Nowadays learning pieces is easier because most pieces we want to play we can find a recording somewhere online. About a year ago a friend of a friend got into playing Clair de Lune by C. Debussy. The only thing he knew about the music was listening to his father who was a pianist years ago and he used online video demos to learn by imitating the correct notes.
Guilty! Perhaps that's why piano was so hard. My sight reading skills were poor. I quit soon after my college Senior recital. Looking forward to starting again after many years. Thanks. You're an inspiration.
Invaluable video that provided me with loads of clarity, especially the bit about learning a variety of diverse beginner pieces versus tackling the one or two big famous pieces just to impress your friends. Such a better use of time.
Love you videos as always :). I think coaching is such a great idea. Look forward to hearing more about it!!!
You are so natural teacher
I really like your comment that you have to play it constantly in order to maintain it. Well said. Thank you.
Bev Childress happens to me with a Chopin piece
Don't need somebody to give suggestions what to play. You just join a sheet music sharing site like www.8notes.com and browse their library. Find an interesting piece, look at the number of pages, Key Signature, listen to the sample audio. You always find interesting pieces to play.
Your videos are the best.. thank you so much
I'd definitely be up for that one on one
Thank you, I think this was pretty helpful advice. I've had a lack of motivation lately, but I think that you have a valid point with doing simple pieces, and the importance of learning how to read sheet music
Hey Giovanni, not sure if you’ve seen the anime “Your lie in April” but there’s this part in it I really like where Kaori asks Arima “What/who are you playing for?” The anime follows that vein throughout and it blossoms into what I experienced as an eye-opening contemplation. I never used to really ask myself why I’m doing something, but it can be awe-inspiring to investigate head on. Maybe there’s another person that inspires you, or maybe like Kaori, you want to live in peoples hearts through music. It might be something fun to explore ☯️
I very much like the deep dive approach, too. At one point I've gone through the entire 25 Easy Etudes by Burgmüller or most of the 36 First Waltzes by Schubert. It's impressive how much your abilities can improve by working through a single book. It also does wonders for music reading and repertoire building.
I never run out of practice material since I subscribed to the Pianist magazine, which has new sheet music at varying skill levels in every issue, often pointing me to composers I never heard of before.
If I didn't have my own piano teacher, that's what I'd follow. Very helpful for someone who's learning on his own!
I've been self-teaching for several years now due to a lack of instructors in my small community. I think your advice is spot on accurate. Yes, challenge yourself with pieces slightly above your level but maybe save Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody #2 for another time (or never). Get those small victories, make some stretch goals, but don't try playing so far over your head that you spend a day trying to learn two bars.
Thank you for your videos, they have been a tremendous help to me over the past few months! This is going to take a few minutes to read, so please make yourself comfortable.
I've been teaching myself piano because I can't afford lessons, but that's fine, because I've been involved in music since I was 9; I started on clarinet, I read music very well, and I'm well-versed in theory. Thanks to you, I have a copy of the RCM syllabus, and I use it so I know what to play next. Problem is, I have this nasty habit of memorizing music as I go (I've been doing that for close to 40 years now), and this gets in the way of piano sight-reading, in the sense that I know the music long before I can really do something with it. My sight-reading is about a level 3/4, yet I'm able to play ragtime to some extent
I'm using the end of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 as an octave-slash-staccato exercise, because it's more interesting than anything Hanon came up with (it works as an exercise if played ridiculously slowly, say 30-40 bpm). I'm also working on the Maple Leaf Rag and the Clementi sonatina Op. 36 No. 1, and I'm enjoying Tchaikovsky's Album for the Young (In Church is my favorite part of the book, I'm finally getting some use out of the damper pedal, even though it's not written in; I have to connect the chords somehow, and don't worry, I'm using it judiciously). It's my goal to be able to play anything at will, for hours on end, whether or not I get paid for it. But enough about me, thanks again for your contribution to the music community!
I think my music is a good start for beginners.
When I started out I didnt know what to play either, apart from the stuff that my teacher gave me of course.
But with each passing month I feel like the pieces available to me grow exponantially and its harder and harder to focus on one thing as I add more and more to my "play list".
Something similar happens to me with my watchlist.
Especially since I'm mostly into movie and video game music and theres a lot of that out there.
But its so much fun to learn this instrument that I dont even really mind that that list doesnt have an ending. Instead what I see is more and more challenges just waiting for me to tackle them.
Deciding to learn piano was easily one of the best decisions in my life.
Thank you for this 💟
You need more subscribers!!!
i highly recommend schirmers piano masterworks series, they have a very very large amount of repertoire in each book and they’re sorted in order aswell. the lower intermediate book is around grade 3, intermediate is grade 4 and 5, upper intermediate is grade 6 and 7 and early advanced is grade 8 and above. they are very affordable too. many people don’t like schirmer because they say it has too many editorial markings, but if you just remember that the dynamic instructions etc are probably
not the composer original, there’s not really any problem.
That is SO me. I burned out trying to learn Beethoven Sonata in G, 8 pages, I did almost 4. Now I am going back to finish the other 50 pieces I left behind in the book, Essential Keyboard Repertoire, by Olson, Volume 1. But I just bought Volume 2, just in case! This time I will work each piece up to the suggested tempo.
Well pick pieces you like to listen to is a start
Mi Les If I listened to you, I'd end up trying Rachmaninoff's 3rd Concerto😂😂😂
dewit xD
i would end up doing s.140 no 4 etude...rip
So Liszt then
Please can you make a video about liszt pieces more? I love your videos 💖
Muy hermosa Alicia💙
In my case, i love classical music and also contemporary music, so at the moment i learned some easy-intermediate level classical pieces, like Beethoven´s moonlight sonata, some preludes from Chopin and Bach; but also played a lot of piano music from the bands that i love the most, like Queen (We Are The Champions, Love Of My Life, Lily Of The Valley) Dream Theater (Wait for Sleep, Space-Dye Vest, The Answer Lies Within), Anathema (Inner Silence, Untoucheable pt.2, Parisienne Moonlight), Rhapsody (Wings Of Destiny), etc. Maybe it´s not the optimal, but in my case the most important thing is motivation and inspiration, especially when someone (like me) decide to learn piano (and music) in the adulthood. At least, i try to mantain the level of the pieces on a reachable level, and learning 1-2 pieces a week, so i noticed that my learning and reading skills has improved.
PD: it is worth pointing that i just have a 61 keys keyboard, so probably when i have a piano I will probably go back to Chopin, Beethoven, Bach (specially his Inventions)... and classical music :D
rcm opened my eyes to so much wonderful repetoire! chris norton tony caramia i started wanting to do just bach which i love but there is much more fun stuff i love jazz and ragtime love it. do what you love.......that my rx and if you don't know start by listening rcm is great so worth it
As a long time self learner I recommend method books, etudes or any progressive learning books, ABRSM, RCM, martha mier, burgmuller etc
It has a lot of benefits in that often there are technical reason behind that particular piece.
Also your presented with pieces that are not too difficult but enough of a challenge to keep you interested.
Also keep revising older pieces as you tend to consider a piece learnt only if "you hit the right notes at the right to time" but don't spend enough time on dynamics, phrasing, pedal etc It's a lot easier to practice these on easier pieces.
Finally with all the popular one's there are some excellent tutorials on RUclips
Ravel prelude in A minor is a nice short piece. Not technically difficult but an expressive challenge.
One of my personal favorites is Manuel M. Ponce's Intermezzo num. 1
I'm up for that
I started last month to learn chopin etude op 10 no 1 and now ended up choosing op 10 no 12, it's like balancing both hands. I've been listening to mephisto waltz no 1, but those ascending and descending around min. 9.xx is (i think) harder than op 10 no 1, but haven't tried yet
You absolutely should do online lessons!!
I've been learning piano for about 6 or 7 years now (I am 13). My first year, my teacher wanted me to play a Menuet by Bach... I had very little difficulty and was done with the piece in just a month. My second year learning, I picked up a Chopin piece (I think it was a Mazurka) and played the whole piece almost perfectly the first time I saw it. I did learn a few other pieces along with that, but the Chopin was my "main piece". Third year, nothing special, just a sonatina by Clementi. After that, I'd never found anything that I'd remotely enjoyed until last year when I came back to Chopin, playing his Prelude in Db major "Raindrop". This one I found tough because of the big chords in the second half of the piece. I'd never played anything in a black key scale up until that point either, so that caught me off guard as well. But, overall I learned it fairly quickly, and had time to prepare my other pieces as well. As of right now, I am playing Chopin's Funeral March from his Sonata op35 no2.
In your opinion, would you think I am pushing myself judging from the pieces I've listed and do you think I should slow down?
It may sound insane, but truthfully my dream was to play Bach's Minuet in G Major (the simplest one) and I did that. That's the dream every beginner would have loved to have only they don't - they want Moonlight Sonata or Fantaisie-Impromptu. How I pity them. Good luck.
I'm an "older" adult beginner mostly following the Alfred book. I have been taking lessons for just over a year but I'm not sure if I'm making good progress. I would be interested in an evaluation/coaching session on how to progress in the basics, leading to both "light classical" and Jazz.
I feel like another thing beginners should do is get the Hanon exercises. There are people who think learning by playing music is the only way to go but, I feel like if you just regard them as exercises and you only think of them as a means to strengthen for your fingers it's good. Hanon definitely improves the muscles in your hands and the Alfred 60 Virtuoso Exercises is great because it starts off very easy and by the end gets really advanced (the 60th exercise being solely tremelo). *Edit it also has all the major and minor scales as well as arpeggios.
I like your idea and would be interested in knowing more. I have a current teacher who I’ll stick with but she’s set in her ways and isn’t open to any new ideas.
Like it
I personally.love impressionist music. So Ravel and Debussy. But I never can pick one piece I would learn completely
i agree with your ideas. as a middle aged novice (5 months), i would never imagine myself trying to tackle any of these difficult pieces
My music teacher for 14 years (Ann Johnson nee Karnofsky) asked me to play certain pieces, so I did. Other people asked me to play things that were quite difficult. For better or worse, I tried them.
I am also an adult beginner with 5 months experience. What pieces are you learning at this moment?
Elena Dobrescu i started with some apps on my ipad like yousician but then i followed her advice and got the alfred’s books for adults. not learning any music yet just following the book
This was very helpful. Now I know what pieces to choose. I was out of pieces to learn (I'm self taught). I was thinking about skipping a few levels ( Rachmaninoff's Prelude in g minor perhaps) but when I saw this video, I'll just take it step by step. I didn't realize that there were so many good easier level pieces. Thank you!
Evego jhvkhvh how long have you been playing for
I've been playing for abou three years.
how long do you usually practice, I am also self taughtish (previous piano lessons)
I practice ~ 15-30 minutes a day, depending on my mood.
Evego jhvkhvh so you’re just teaching yourself as of now or taking lessons
I would love to have one on one conversation with you regarding the pieces I can learn and would love it if I can get that opportunity! I really enjoy all your videos. Thanks!
👏👏 zero dislikes! 👏👏 (from the time I am writing this)
I don't call my self a beginner because I have been playing for more than a year on the piano, but I still have bad fingering and I can't sight read:)
Anyway I'm practicing waltz op69 in b minor chopin and it's been more than a month and I only got a minute n 40 seconds in, it's kinda hard but whatever I need to learn this😂🖤
Do you like the Etude books? Levels 1 & 2?
You mention that 3 songs a year is too low. How many songs, roughly, should I be learning a year? Per month? When picking a song, about how many weeks should I be targeting to learn it?
I would actually be very interested in this "coaching". I'm coming to piano from a very different instrument, made a lot of early progress, and then hit a brick wall.
Hi Allysia, I have been playing piano for 9 years. Do you have any song recommendations at my level?
I have a question.... Ok, I want to learn to play piano. And I actually have been learning to play for about 1,5 years now. And I just chose pieces that I really liked. Of course I didn't choose something that was entirely out of my reach, but still ... My first song was "Comtine d'une otre ete" by Yann Tiersen... I learned how to read music, but of course it's not in "REAL TIME"... here comes the question.
SO WHAT? I only want to play songs that I fully memorised (using muscle memory)...and I won't need any sheet muisc to perform in public (if I have a chance) Do I miss a lot, not being able to really read and play at the same time???
Im interested in the coaching! 👋
What I like too is to have different "mood" in my pieces.
I remember, in the summer of 2016, I was practicing the first movement of the moonlight sonata and the posthumous walzt in A minor by Chopin, so I ask my teacher to find me something more cheerful as a new piece.
(That's when I've started praticing Mozart K545, 1st movement. My first teacher was a little bit crazy with difficult pieces. I've leant it at 6 months of piano experience. I'm diving it again this summer to get a better result. Not that it was bad back then, though, since I've practiced it for 8 months. After that, I've tried Rachmaninoff prelude in C sharp minor.
I'm happy I have taken a step back, even if it is a little step : Bach's inventions, other movements of the K545 sonata, "easiest" Children's corner Debussy pieces. This is less crazy then that Rachmaninoff's!)
This summer, I plan to tackle K545 3rd movement, a piece from video game (Terra's theme, from Final fantasy VI piano collections), work again on K545 first movement, and since I'm used to practice 4 pieces at a time, the last piece will be changing so I can train my sight reading (which is very very very bad!). I'm going for one variation on "Ah vous dirais-je maman!" (twinkle twinkle little star) from Mozart every week, if I can keep that pace. The variations are short, so I hope I can manage to do it!
I do some pure sight reading to. I'm hesitating about printing some Mikrokosmos pieces (like in the volume II or so). That could be good for sight reading.
Next fall, I'll have to dive into my exam pieces, so I won't want to take time on easier pieces for the sake of getting better at sight read. Summer is the right time to do this!
(This fall, I know I want to practice Chopin's nocturne in C# minor and the Golliwog cake walk!).
Jouishy La pianiste maybe a Hungarian Rhapsody or a etude by Liszt later haha
She's not really wrong lol, the point she made about playing difficult pieces instead of doing easier ones, I LOVE Moonlight Sonata so after 2 months of piano playing I decided it would be a good idea to learn it, after getting a teacher I realized how stupid that was, and here I am 5 months in still learning the same piece. Of course I have many pieces under my belt but the Moonlight Sonata just seems to be this unconquerable piece for me, and I keep struggling over and over trying to learn it. It's playable and my teacher said I've made great strides with the piece (which I have noticed) but it's nowhere near the intended level. Just play stuff that's challenging, not impossible. (Even though I wish it weren't true! Welp, here I go, off to learn Chopin's Waltz in B Minor (first 2 pages = grade 4 (woot woot))
What movement of Moonlight Sonata are you learning? The 3rd movement is actually what motivated me to start playing, but I don't have any courage to try and learn it since I am pretty sure it would take forever.
The first, the movement may seem easy at first but the depth lay under the notes written on the page. The first movement is very deceptive + only an experienced piano player (not me) can play it the way it was intended. The third movement is a dream of mine but Chopin is my true goal.
Chopin, so nice! I've been listening to his pieces a lot lately and there are so many that I hope I'll be able to play one day: fantaisie impromptu, waltz in A minor op 19, nocturne 9 op 2 and so many more
Yeah, I can't wait!!
Do your own piece . And play etudes (Chopin :) ,Czerny,Cramer) and do scales ( in thirds ,arpegios,...). Scales are precision , speed ,accuracy and stamina . I know they are boring but its a real upgrade for you . So Etudes ,Scales and try your own music or etude .
Good luck in your practice time .
That's exactly the conclusion that I reached after 5 months of studying the piano. At the beginning I had no idea what to learn so I went with Fur Elise as many people were saying that it's easy, but it proved to be way too overwhelming to be learned in the first week. So I decided to switch to beginner songs.
I think that every beginner should have a little bit of patience and practice those easy songs for at least a month. In my case, at 3 months I started learning the Minuet in G minor by Bach and it took me about a month (without the trills) to play it decent. Now I'm learning the Minuet in G major and also the simplified version of Chopin's waltz in A minor that I found here :D.
Also, if you are a beginner and looking for easy sheet music you can contact me and I will send you what I found so far.
Hi Allysia, for new piano music you can check my piano book 'Samsara' , edited by Euprint in Belgium. A lot of fun piano pieces to play composed by myself: Alex Van de Meulebroecke.
I think i´m an advanced beginner.
Thanks for the video!😘This is really helpful. 😘
I think the reason I can't find any pieces to practise is that I like classical pieces much more than modern ones. I've always wanted to learn my first sonata or ballade……like……completely, not just a part of it.😐That would be so cool(๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧
But for now all I can play is some nocturnes by Chopin, and it doesn't sound like Chopin AT ALL. But at least I can play a small part of the sonatas I like😐
PS:I'm Chinese so sadly I can't buy those books you recommended, they look better than the books I'm using😥
Try Shubert's Serenade from his Swansongs transcribed by August Horn (the Listz transcription is too difficult). It has a real romantic feel too it but I think is less difficult (less free flowing?) than Chopin. You can find it on the imslp website. It is on page 15 of the complete score.
Hey Allysia could you please do a tutorial of Bach minuet in g minor bwv anh 115 ? I love your videos , Thanks :)
I think she already has one.
She has bach minuet in G Major bwv 114 :p
Or you can play little pieces for beginners and also play scales and other exercise and play that one hard pieces that you like. I dont know who plays 1 song for 3 months thats just stupid
Do the easiest and hardest Scott Joplin songs
The Entertainer vs the earlier Maple Leaf Rag.
Adjust your camera to fit your head
How to break your fingers for beginners #1
Learn Godowsky's Passacaglia in B minor in 2 weeks.
You will not be able to write for the next three semesters.......
play bach xD.......... always
a strange and weak-willed question. A bit like saying: 'I want to say something....but what? I need to ask someone else.' :) The piano literature has gazillions of great pieces for all grades, zero to hero, more than for any other instrument, and on youtube you can listen readily to 90 per cent of it, at the push of a button. 15 years ago the only way for me to know was to head to a record store and buy the CDs. Someone who asks such a question will never really be a solid musician. I don't remember which jazz musician said: 'If you don't know, boy, I can't tell you.'.
I like most of your videos, but I totally disagree with most of your comments here. You may be correct if someone's path is to become a musician, but if someone is like me and wants to play to enjoy playing, you should pick a piece of music that you like. This will give you a joy every time you play that piece. I cannot play moonlight sonata after 30 years because a big guy told me it was a hard piece 30 years ago! You have to divide your time for many different pieces including 10-15min sight-reading. Then play what your hearts desire! Ask your teacher to play the price for you. If you don't like it, it's like a dress doesn't fit on you! If your teacher refuses, change teacher. I hated Clemente when I was kid and I stopped playing because of his music. My teacher didn't give me any choice.
In some ways I disagree with you. I am self taught from a young age and then had lessons in college. But because I only played what I liked, I missed out on skill sets, sounds, and techniques that would be useful to me now. I still struggle with a lot of easy(ish) Bach because I didn't play a lot of it, his inventions are almost impossible for me, despite them being well within my grade level. Also, I can' t play a lot of modern (20th century) and jazz music, I can't even read some of it, because of my lack of experience. Curse Khachaturian, my piano professor liked to torture me with his stuff.
You are so Beautiful
This is the opposite of me.
lol i've been playing piano for like around 5 years, and i don't get lessons...and i have no completely learned one whole piece, only parts of like 50+ pieces😂
So fuckin annoying i cant play chopin revolutionary by heart after like half a year training it 😢its easy to play with notes and im pretty good at expressing but everytime i am anywhere else than in front of my own piano im struggling so hard to remember 😡any tips??
You can also injure yourself if you try to learn a piece way beyond your skill level.
Hope you don't mind me saying it, but you look like a very pretty vampire in your cover picture for this video, like in a romantic comedy. Like you might bite me. I think I would prefer only learn what I like, but I'm so slow at learning piano keyboards. I just read, Igor Stravinsky said, "Music is by its very nature powerless to express anything at all." I think it's most likely best to practice pieces musically, rather than with just rapacious repetition.
wtf