What Are You Learning?, ...and how's it going? Options

[Fran*Piano]

I have just made a start on The Reaper's Song by Schumman. It's in 6/8, my favourite. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

6/8 is my favourite too.

I love 6/8, particularly on the violin (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[clavicembalo]

Glad the Debussy's coming along. Beyond me, at the moment, but many pieces look that way until you get down to learning them properly. Pleasing also, how certain elements of technique practised along the way are immediately transferable to other repertoire. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I have a somewhat opposite problem of not being able to give sufficient time to what I ought to be improving for my Dip', having to prepare accompaniments and other repertoire for events inbetween. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mellow.gif)

-I really like John Ireland. I played one piece of his years ago for grade 8 ("The Darkened Valley") and while I find it depressing, it's a good sort of depressing - it's depressing because it's well written to be depressing, if you know what I mean. I want to listen to and play more John Ireland. Now hunting down the sheet music.

Have you tried his Sonatina? Well worth a look. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[corenfa]

Glad the Debussy's coming along. Beyond me, at the moment, but many pieces look that way until you get down to learning them properly. Pleasing also, how certain elements of technique practised along the way are immediately transferable to other repertoire. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Oh, it's TOTALLY beyond me- it's taken me seven weeks to learn seven pages, and I still have another nine to go. I call that beyond me. Then again, I also remember that there's some famous piano teacher (can anyone remember who?) who said that no piece is too difficult if you're willing to learn it slowly enough.

I have a somewhat opposite problem of not being able to give sufficient time to what I ought to be improving for my Dip', having to prepare accompaniments and other repertoire for events inbetween. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mellow.gif)

That is actually why I have put my diploma aspirations on hold. I started working up some pieces with a view to doing ATCL- that's how I got started on the Debussy Menuet from Suite Bergamasque. But then I realised that i was enjoying learning music just for the sake of it, and practicing more "exam pieces" would feel too much like studying. I may yet do it, I'd just like to wallow in the luxury of learning what I want to rather than what I have to. I think I'm still approaching it with a "serious student" mindset, just with no immediate goal in mind.

-I really like John Ireland. I played one piece of his years ago for grade 8 ("The Darkened Valley") and while I find it depressing, it's a good sort of depressing - it's depressing because it's well written to be depressing, if you know what I mean. I want to listen to and play more John Ireland. Now hunting down the sheet music.

Have you tried his Sonatina? Well worth a look. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I have not, but I have tracked down a performance of it on Youtube and it is definitely worth a look. I may wander off to Chappells at lunch tomorrow. Good thing I got paid last week...

[PianissiMole]

Hi Moley, I can now play the first 9 bars reasonably well at about half tempo, despite saying I wouldn't touch it until I finished that bagatelle.... oooops! I'm finding it great fun already! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) What was it you said about those upper bass staff notes in the piece, did you say not to try to play them with the LH?

<snip>

No it was the opposite - don't be tempted to try and play them with the RH (thumb). You might get away with it in the first page, but you'll come seriously unstuck in the later sections!

Good luck (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Panthera]

Glad the Debussy's coming along. Beyond me, at the moment, but many pieces look that way until you get down to learning them properly. Pleasing also, how certain elements of technique practised along the way are immediately transferable to other repertoire. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Oh, it's TOTALLY beyond me- it's taken me seven weeks to learn seven pages, and I still have another nine to go. I call that beyond me. Then again, I also remember that there's some famous piano teacher (can anyone remember who?) who said that no piece is too difficult if you're willing to learn it slowly enough.

I've concluded that the Toccata is waaaaaaaaaay beyond me too. I started off with the Sarabande last year and then on to the Prelude; both I managed fine so I thought I should attempt the Toccata. Teacher warned me it would be "too challenging" (he's too nice to say I won't manage it (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)), but I thought I'd give it a go and well, it quickly went back on the shelf (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

And so I started to learn Mendelssohn's Song Without Words Op.19 No.1 instead.

[corenfa]

Glad the Debussy's coming along. Beyond me, at the moment, but many pieces look that way until you get down to learning them properly. Pleasing also, how certain elements of technique practised along the way are immediately transferable to other repertoire. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Oh, it's TOTALLY beyond me- it's taken me seven weeks to learn seven pages, and I still have another nine to go. I call that beyond me. Then again, I also remember that there's some famous piano teacher (can anyone remember who?) who said that no piece is too difficult if you're willing to learn it slowly enough.

I've concluded that the Toccata is waaaaaaaaaay beyond me too. I started off with the Sarabande last year and then on to the Prelude; both I managed fine so I thought I should attempt the Toccata. Teacher warned me it would be "too challenging" (he's too nice to say I won't manage it (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)), but I thought I'd give it a go and well, it quickly went back on the shelf (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

And so I started to learn Mendelssohn's Song Without Words Op.19 No.1 instead.

Maybe I'll play the Toccata at a forum event in, oh, fifteen years' time?!?! I can play about a quarter of it at half speed, and about eight bars at full speed.

I'm used to working on pieces that are beyond me... I was obsessed with the Gliere horn concerto when I was a horn student and spent five years learning it. When I started there were notes in it that I could not physically produce. I did perform it in the end... playing the piano accompaniment for another horn student (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Mad Tom]

Glad the Debussy's coming along. Beyond me, at the moment, but many pieces look that way until you get down to learning them properly. Pleasing also, how certain elements of technique practised along the way are immediately transferable to other repertoire. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Oh, it's TOTALLY beyond me- it's taken me seven weeks to learn seven pages, and I still have another nine to go. I call that beyond me. Then again, I also remember that there's some famous piano teacher (can anyone remember who?) who said that no piece is too difficult if you're willing to learn it slowly enough.

I've concluded that the Toccata is waaaaaaaaaay beyond me too. I started off with the Sarabande last year and then on to the Prelude; both I managed fine so I thought I should attempt the Toccata. Teacher warned me it would be "too challenging" (he's too nice to say I won't manage it (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)), but I thought I'd give it a go and well, it quickly went back on the shelf (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)
And so I started to learn Mendelssohn's Song Without Words Op.19 No.1 instead.

Maybe I'll play the Toccata at a forum event in, oh, fifteen years' time?!?! I can play about a quarter of it at half speed, and about eight bars at full speed.

Come on guys. It is not THAT difficult. Compared to Debussy's Etudes, or some of the more difficult preludes it is a piece of cake. (There is a slightly tricky 4 v 3 section in the middle, but apart from that there is nothing very frightening here - and even that is not very frightening). But there is a lot of work to do to get it all into the fingers. Lots of slow patient repetition. (And it is rather long).

Forget about speed for now. Learn the notes, a few bars at a time, then repeat the whole thing a few hundred times, accurately, smoothly and fluently, at a comfortable speed. Then put it away for three months. You might have a nice surprise when you try it again.

[1993allende]

having a look at 1st and 3rd movements of mozart sonata k330 having fallen in love with the 2nd movement (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[corenfa]

Come on guys. It is not THAT difficult. Compared to Debussy's Etudes, or some of the more difficult preludes it is a piece of cake. (There is a slightly tricky 4 v 3 section in the middle, but apart from that there is nothing very frightening here - and even that is not very frightening). But there is a lot of work to do to get it all into the fingers. Lots of slow patient repetition. (And it is rather long).

Forget about speed for now. Learn the notes, a few bars at a time, then repeat the whole thing a few hundred times, accurately, smoothly and fluently, at a comfortable speed. Then put it away for three months. You might have a nice surprise when you try it again.

The difficulty for me is not in the comprehension; it is in physically being able to play the notes. That is why it has taken me seven weeks to learn seven pages. Musically it is not near the top end of difficult for me.

And indeed, I am not trying for speed- I'm trying for continuity. I haven't got really bored yet, which is the real indication that I should put it away. I'm still eager to play it every day when I come home. If I'm lucky, I'll get obsessed with a different piece in a few weeks which will train different things, and then I will indeed get a nice surprise when I try it again.

OK, maybe fifteen years was an exaggeration (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[Invidia]

picked some stuff to spend the summer on (no piano lesson until September so lots of time)

Beethoven- Sonata op 57 'Appassionata'- starting with 1st and 3rd mvts as the 2nd seems like something I could probably learn well (by my reckoning) in a couple of weeks then my teacher would have infinite amounts to say on it.

Chopin- Ballade nr 3- can already play this but never worked on it seriously so learning it properly; it's an amazing piece.

Ligeti- Etude nr 6 Automne a Varsovie- not gotten the score yet but looks an absolute nightmare, sounds beautiful though so I'm sure I'll have fun with it.

[Juan Carlos]

I'm learning only a few things at the moment as my Grade 6 exam is coming up on June 25th (!!) but the Gigue in Bach's French Suite No 5 is taking up lots of time and attention and I'm loving it.
I'm also learning some studies by Ettore Pozzoli, an author of many books of studies which I am finding rather hard but useful and quite musical. I wonder if this Italian composer is well-known abroad ... He's got various books of studies at different levels and they are often used as Conservatoire set books for the different grades.

[corenfa]

Juan Carlos - all the best for your exam!!

Meanwhile.. the Debussy Toccata should take less than 15 years =D Over the last two weeks, the piece has become slowly more playable. It actually sits nicely under the fingers and is quite well crafted- I really appreciate this aspect of it as I have small-ish hands. I am struggling a little bit with the last page which is quite chromatic in terms of harmony, but I also remember when I felt that way about the second page (the edition I have is 16 pages), so I live in hope.

I realise it's the first thing I've ever learnt that is all fast notes from start to finish. The practice of this aspect has started to pay dividends in the Chopin Fantasie-Impromptu.

Am also trying to read through the Well-Tempered Clavier. I am finding some of the more chromatic pieces hard to digest- some of the Fugues have so many leading notes / suspensions that it is hard to find the harmony underneath. The last time I tried this (15 years ago), they were utterly incomprehensible. They are now barely comprehensible so that is progress. I'm working up the first two prelude and fugues in book 1 - C major and C minor. C major prelude is one of those overplayed "light classics" but I haven't played it properly before, and I'm rediscovering how lovely it is.

[kingsley13]

I'm learning 2 Chopin Nocturnes at the moment, Eb major and E minor. I love them both, and it's taking a lot of self control to stop me from learning all of the other pieces in my two big books of Chopin! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blush.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[madbassoonist]

Going over arpeggios, contrary-motion chromatic scales and scales in 3rds for fast-approaching exam! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif)
Keeping pieces ticking over.

My teacher's lent me the Fitzwilliam Virginal Books to have a look at - I'm supposed to be getting to grips with the general style of Renaissance/Tudor music. It's surprisingly hard, though, as they often start deceptively with minims, then become semiquavers over the page! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wacko.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[Fran*Piano]

Going over arpeggios, contrary-motion chromatic scales and scales in 3rds for fast-approaching exam! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif)
Keeping pieces ticking over.

Did you decide to go for grade 7, madbassoonist? What pieces are you playing? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)