Since my childhood lessons I havent really progressed with my piano playing at all. I've started to pick it up again but dont have the time or money to take lessons right now. I've managed to learn Ludovico Einaudi's Le Onde, not perfectly of course but its pretty good by my standard. I'm also trying to learn Joplin's Entertainer but cant seem to get it right without fumbling the octave chords.

I'm now looking to learn some other pieces, but I dont know what will be in my grasp. I havent been graded at all - I didnt even take G1 as a child, so I dont know what skill level I should focus on. Obviously i'm well past 'Mary had a little lamb' but not so advanced that I can play most things. Also i'm terrible at sight reading, but once i've learned something I can play it perfectly from memory. So i'd rather not spend hours memorizing most of a song just to get to a part I cannot play.

Does anyone know some solo pieces around the same skill level as Le Onde that I might be able to learn?

Hi Newbie
Like yourself i had lesson many years ago and didn't take grades. Although i started playing again ( in a band) about 5 years ago and about 18 months ago I descided to go back to lessons and take some grades ( I'm now 54) . I though my teacher might start me off from Grade 3 or maybe 4 and on my first lesson she asked me to play for her so she could asses me . Strangley enough the piece i played was the Entertainer which i though i did a reasonable job of and was quite supprised when she told me i had to start again at grade 1. I've spent the last 18 months being beaten up about my poor finger style and have now sorted a lot of technique problems out that i didn't really know i had . I'm now studying for grade six . It's a shame you cannot afford a tutor because my experience is that if your struggling with a peice it's probably because of something of which your not aware. I always now practice with a metronome and always start to learn difficuilt pieces at a very slow tempo . When you can play a section perfectly at that tempo increase the speed a notch and so on . I always ultimately take my speed beyond the reccomended spend to really prove to myself that i can do it . BUT remeber when playing things at speed it can be harder to pick out if somethings wrong and where - best of luck - Bob - Nottingham

Hi bob, thanks for the advice

No doubt I will be taking lessons at some point in the future, and when I do I'm sure i'll be 'beaten up' about my bad habits if my teacher is any good at what he/she does. But for now I just want to play for enjoyment, relaxation, and something to take my mind off my studies (i'm 2nd year engineering student).

I've taken on board what you said about repeatedly practaicing difficult sections at a lower tempo and speeding up gradually. I normally try to practaice a song much faster than i'm supposed to, so that when I play it normally I tend to make less mistakes.

As for new material i've been thinking about getting some of the abrsm exam pieces, perhaps grade 1-4 and see how I do with them. I suppose i'll probably find these at my local music store.

There are several series of books with a variety of music in which more or less go by grade level.
Some of these are

Classics to Moderns
Hours with the Masters
Short Romantic pieces
Romantic Sketchbook

For lighter stuff you might try something like the Up Grade series, Cool Piano or What Else Can I Play?

When I saw the title of this thread I thought "surely this should go in Viva Voice"

What you are looking for are anthologies of pieces.

In addition the the books she suggested I'll add Jazzin about.

However go and browse a music shop. There's tons of stuff there. If you like Einaudi there is the Michael Nyman music from the "Piano". Some of the Music for Lord of the Rings is Fairly accessible.

You need to decide which sort of music you want to play.

Lighter stuff, film and more popular music or classical music.

The world is your oyster, but please, you play pieces, you sing songs.

Making the Grade is another good series of books which have clear gradings. There are lots of different styles in the pieces in each book.

Thanks for these, i'll look out for them. I'm sure I saw 'Hours with the Masters' last time I was in a music shop, but the fact it said 'The Masters' kinda put me off. No harm in trying I suppose.



'Anthologies of pieces' just doesnt have the same ring as 'song book' But yea i'll remember that terminology in the future so as not to confuse anyone.

I've had a listen to some Michael Nyman and some of his stuff sounds familiar, probably from films or tv shows, and some of it seems within my ability so i'll give it a shot.


Thanks, i'm sure I saw that aswel, but wasnt sure what grade to go for. I suppose if I start with grade 1 and work my way up I can't go wrong


I appreciate the tips and advice from everyone. This should keep me going for a while.

That just means it was great composers who wrote the stuff - you don't have to be an expert to play it!

No, no no, no, NO! This is a recipe for disaster. EDIT: June 2011 just before de-registering ... I no longer think so!!

It is OK for "normal"speed, say from Andante to Allegro moderato, but when you have to play Allegro molto, Presto or Prestissimo you will never get there. You will hit a speed wall at Allegro.

It is certainly a good idea to practice very slowly, and in perfect time, for accuracy, continuity, memory, attention to small details etc. It is a good idea to continue such slow practice even after you can play the whole thing at breakneck speed. But once you know the notes then to get up to speed you should jump immediately to the target speed or slightly faster. Not by attempting to play the entire piece at speed - that would lead to a different kind of disaster (total chaos: no dynamic control, lots of wrong notes, uneven tempo), but by playing short sections, a bar or two, maybe just a phrase, maybe hands separate at speed. You may have to play over these sections dozens of times. Then you gradually piece them together. To avoid creating hard to bridge gaps it is best to carve the piece up into sections that overlap slightly.

The reason for this approach is that the co-ordination required for playing very fast and the sensations that go with it are not the same as you need for playing moderately fast, or at intermediate speeds. So you cannot achieve great speed simply by learning the the movements appropriate to a more leisurely pace, and then speeding them up.