I've been playing the piano for 5 months, and am taking grade 2 in 3 weeks (EEK)

I'm wondering about asking my teacher if I can stop working on grades for a while, and learn some *proper* piano music.

The graded pieces are always so incredibly boring. The ones I've come across are, anyway, also are the ones my friends are playing. They're always so structured, and uninteresting. I've heard a friend (grade 7) play one of her exam pieces, and it was ok. Then she played something beautiful which her teacher had found for her. It was enchanting.

I know there aren't many I can play yet, but I think it would inspire me to practice a lot more if I have something I LOVE playing. I'd do some more grades in a couple of years, but just to appreciate the piano for the moment.

I basically love anything by Debussy, especially Arabesque and Clair de Lune. I love Moonlight Sonata, and the Entertainer. Also love Chopin's works, but they're a looooong way off in the distance, probably even an impossibility for me.

They're quite well known. But I just love pieces which have character.

Are there any at all that I could play? Could you give me the rough-ish grade standard of some well known amazing piano pieces.

Even at Grade 3 you could begin to look at some pieces which you won't be able to play until much later. I first started on the Moonlight when I was about grade 3. The first requirement for it is probably having big enough hands to stretch the 9ths; once you can do that you can make a start. How about the Eric Satie's Gymnopedies? Again, you will need to be several grades further up before you can begin to do them justice. Also Fur Elise.

Mole

Yes, or the Gnossienes, also by Satie?

I first heard "Farewell To The Piano" by Beethoven played in Dunster last year. It's a very nice little piece...some octave stretches in the left hand. There are a couple of nice perfomances of it on Youtube if you're not familiar with it.

Einaudi is "pretty" and easy to play... You will tear through it and it'll sound good. It's quite easy to read and play

Questa Notte, Passagio, Le Onde, and if you're feeling a bit more adventurous, Bella Notte are all easy to read/play and sound nice

Apart from that, perhaps some Zbigniew Preisner stuff like Les Marionnettes?

EDIT: I look at Clair de Lune sheet music and it terrifies me, so I haven't even tried yet. Gymnopedie #1 might be a good bet though. Left hand jumps all over the place which is interesting!

i would not recommend satie as most of his works are really quite strange e.g. doome of the gnossienes dont even have bar lines

Hey,

I like you have been working to grade pieces and are finding them quite tedious now and have also asked for other more interesting pieces to play. However most of them are not well known.

She gave me quite a lot to choose from but my favourite book is the 'Sea Idylls' by Walter Carroll, they are so beautiful to hear. The pieces do range from grade 2-3 some almost grade 4 but they are really nice and i'm having a lot of fun playing them

Other pieces she gave me are:
*Great Piano Solos - The Black Book
*Really Easy Piano: Abba
*All The Tunes You've Ever Wanted To Play
*Ludwig Van Beethoven: Fur Elise


Anyway hope you find a good piece or pieces and Good luck for your exam!

Lisa x

You might try looking at Tchaikovsky's Album for the Young, or Schumann's Kinderszenen. There are some beautiful pieces in there. However, there is quite a wide range of levels, though you might find that you can learn the easier ones now, then keep coming back to them. (The first of the Schumann ones is currently on the Grade 5 list and I think no. 7, Traumerei, has been set as Grade 7, because it is easy technically but very difficult to play nicely. But don't let that put you off, as I said, there are some easier ones...)

Other than that, Fur Elise is the sort of thing that people expect pianists to be able to play when they are about grade 3/4 upwards, so you could start learning that. (I did, about 2 years ago, but got sick of it, though I have come back to it occasionally since then!) Bear in mind however that the middle section is harder than the well-known theme.

Nick.