I was just thinking how many pieces I have to learn in a year... My teacher is a perfectionist and sometimes I have to practice a piece for a very long time!!!!!

it's quality not quantity...

It varies depending whether I have auditions and things and of course, how quickly I progress.

My teacher isn't a perfectionist at all just as long as i get most of it rite then hes happy

i m the perfectionist so its me who gets the pieces perfect

but we normally do a couple a small pieces a week

then do different 1s the nxt week

For Piano - not so much about 6 or 7 I reckon - but thats like 3 for exams then another 3 or 4 for fun

Singing - much more - 30 + I wreckon - thats individual pieces and choral stuff included -
Like - 20 new pieces for a 40 minute recital - at 2 a year and then other choral stuff for choir etc

Dont get much performing to do on Piano (good job- im pants)

Too many.

as in I can't count.

i can learn alot in a year....but it really depends

i love learning new pieces and am always lookinng for something to play,. so erm...quite a lot!

haha i always get bored so i practise piano for a long time every day..

It depends actually, i agree with liebe_klavier


its quality not quantity

QUOTE (missfabflute @ Oct 13 2004, 12:37 PM)

It depends actually, i agree with liebe_klavier its quality not quantity

thanks for the comment...missfabflute

This is a good question but a bit of an unfair one: I agree totally it's quality not quantity. I play several instruments but only take lessons on 4 of them. With my violin studies I spend a long time on one piece (at the moment it's the Tchaikovsky concerto, which is taking me a very long time) as this is my principal instrument, and I believe in getting things as near perfect as I possibly can (I still have a long way to go, but I'm really enjoying it!)

With piano I get through pieces a lot quicker, but I am not working towards anything specific at the moment - I am doing a lot of work on my major work at the moment (Mozart's Piano Concerto K488 in A major) but am also learning other pieces, such as sonatas, fantasias etc., to add a bit of variation into my playing. I also like to buy pieces and sightread them - these will generally be easier pieces.

With singing I usually sight-read a new piece every week, but am currently working on some Scarlatti and some Kurt Weill.

With the French horn I don't have a teacher at the moment, and haven't had a teacher since February, but have been buying more music anyway until I can find someone new.

With the viola, recorder, guitar and organ, I teach myself.

So, were I to perform absolutely everything I've "learned" this year, it would be a pretty third-rate recital, with some occasional good stuff that I've actually worked on.

What about orchestral pieces? Do they count? Because I spend a lot of time looking over violin parts!

with hymns, organ solo, accompanying choir stuff, singing, horn audition pieces/diploma pieces, studies, piano stuff its so much to count! plus orchestral pieces, do they count?

Never really count how many pieces I had learnt so far. But I love learning new pieces just like Nat, and also challening pieces to improve my techniques.

QUOTE (hornplayer @ Oct 13 2004, 09:39 PM)

with hymns, organ solo, accompanying choir stuff, singing, horn audition pieces/diploma pieces, studies, piano stuff its so much to count! plus orchestral pieces, do they count?

I meant on your principal instrument (one instrument)!

calm down...you didn't make it very clear at first

A full sonata is one piece? What are you crazy?
Lets see you learn the Moonlight Sonata perfectly in a year. Hmmmmm.....


Besides its the standard that dtermines how many pieces you learn in a year. I can sight read the entire G1, G2, G3 syllabus pretty perfectly. All in one day. HEHEHEH. Thats, lemme see.... 27 pieces in a day.

I answered 'less than 5' - by that, I mean pieces that are polished enough to perform in front of people. (I play lots more, for fun, but couldn't say I that I'd 'learnt' them thoroughly).

I usually learn my 3 pieces you know for my exams, then i learn a couple for fun. I get like full pieces for sightreading and if i like them then I'll learn them fully. I also get pieces for compeitions in New Zealand, Chch. Recently it's been taking me a while to learn my pieces but I suppose thats because I havent been practicing as thoroughly I'm lazy!!! I love when I learn a piece and can play it perfectly- give that sorta satisfaction!

right, about 15-ish a year on horn then, cos I'm still figuring out pieces for up and coming recitals and auditions ( ) etc.

QUOTE (Rupayan @ Oct 15 2004, 05:28 PM)

A full sonata is one piece? What are you crazy? Lets see you learn the Moonlight Sonata perfectly in a year. Hmmmmm..... Besides its the standard that dtermines how many pieces you learn in a year. I can sight read the entire G1, G2, G3 syllabus pretty perfectly. All in one day. HEHEHEH. Thats, lemme see.... 27 pieces in a day.

PLEASE use your common sense! If you're already Gr 8 FORGET about learning Gr 1-3 pieces! That's embarrassing! What I meant are the pieces that need more time to learn and suites your level of technique.

As for sonatas, OK maybe I expect too much from you, but some movements are much more easier than the others. Besides, if I like the Moonlight Sonata I'll practice it for hours and hours, and maybe it'll be finished in a few months! I learned the first movement of Op. 14 no. 1 for 3 months, but the rest was completed in only a month! It's your WILL that determines how much time you need to learn pieces besides your technique, how many hours you practice, etc.

QUOTE (Rupayan @ Oct 15 2004, 05:28 PM)

Besides its the standard that dtermines how many pieces you learn in a year. I can sight read the entire G1, G2, G3 syllabus pretty perfectly.All in one day. HEHEHEH. Thats, lemme see.... 27 pieces in a day.

I'm almost certain that you couldn't: do grade 1, 2 or 3 and sightread the pieces in the exam, I'm sure that you won't get 30 for every piece! Even if you did they wouldn't be 'perfect' there'd always be someone in the world that could play it better...

AnotherPianist, I think it is precisely what Rupayan meant in the first part of the post, in which he/she said

QUOTE

A full sonata is one piece? What are you crazy? Lets see you learn the Moonlight Sonata perfectly in a year. Hmmmmm.....

I think the purpose of this poll is just for some people to flaunt how fast they can learn the notes. Of course, we all know the good note reading skill doesn't always coincide with mature interpretation. What is the point of learning 20 or more pieces in their note value, or even memorising them, but not understanding any of them? I agree with you that hardly anything can be 'perfect' but sometimes, in the arena of artistic creation, there is no perfection. Even the composer himself sometimes does not think that his work is perfect. If so, how is one going to make perfection out of a work that its maker doesn't even deem perfect. 'Perfection' to a performer might then be how a performer thinks or feels that a piece should sound like according to his/her preference. In this light, it is possible to read through lower grade pieces in one day 'perfectly'. That's just my opinion, of course.

QUOTE (socks @ Oct 18 2004, 07:03 PM)

'Perfection' to a performer might then be how a performer thinks or feels that a piece should sound like according to his/her preference.

This is true although my personal belief is that no performance is ever perfect: it could always be improved in some ways in the opinion of at least one person. If a person says that they can learn a certain hard piece in a very short time I assume, not that they are a good pianist, but instead that they have very poor listening skills and are a poor pianist because they can't understand where there interpretation is lacking (it must be in such a short length of time).

Some people also say that they find grade 8 pieces easy, whilst I accept that they're not the hardest pieces in existance, this clearly demonstrates that they are either arrogant and showing off or that they don't understand why their rendition of the right notes, with mostly accurate rhythm ignoring fiddly parts isn't good. I know that there are people who can quick study grade 8 pieces, indeed that is a requirement for FRSM, but ask the people who can do this and it's unlikely that they will say that grade 8 pieces are simple but that a proper interpretation would require far more time than the time in which they can quick study it to a reasonable standard.

I don't think that the thread was set up to brag it covers an interesting point: the balance between learning a wide, varied repertoire and between polishing the pieces that one plays.