Ha, that was my thoughts on it too Solari... until I saw a friend play it all the way through, and I fell in love with it, I'm still not keen on the first section though I have issues with the counting in the middle section, I keep playing eight semiquavers to a bar in the bass instead of six!

Music arrived this afternoon for Haydn Sonata in B minor, Hob 32. I hope to do the first movement for my grade 7 piano later this year. Quite a nice piece I think.

I've just started learning Schubert's Adagio in G for grade 8 (LCM not ABRSM). I think it's a beautiful piece, but it's really hard, especially the triplet bit in the middle!

I have suspended working on the Debussy Minuet from Suite Bergamasque - I cannot seem to get my head around it, even though it is not technically the hardest piece I have worked on. I just can't get the rhythm even even when I play slowly, and even when I play with the metronome (I checked with my recording digital piano).

I don't understand what has gone wrong in my head, so I'm just going to leave it for a while and work on other things to improve my rhythm. To that end I've started looking at the Mozart K545 C major sonata - it's really hard to play evenly, and I hope that some time on it will improve my internal metronome. Am still looking at K332, but it somehow "tests" different things from what I am hoping to improve.

Also added some Scott Joplin, just because it's fun!

I played the Schubert Adagio for my grade 8 in December, it's a very satisfying piece to play. I got my highest mark for this, 17/20. You are right, the middle triplets are a bit tricky but they will come good with practise. The other pieces I played were the 2 studies (instead of scales), the Handel presto & Granados Andaluza. He gave me a difficult sight read for which I only got 8/10. Anyway, overall came away with a merit. I hope you have a good exam, what else are you playing? Best wishes.

I'm learning that at the moment too among other things.

I'm doing Scarlatti Sonata in F# minor, and Maple Leaf Rag (alternative piece). I had a look at the studies and decided they looked too hard so I think I'll stick with the scales!

I have never played any of these pieces, but it sounds like Schubert's Adagio and the Granados piece are worth checking out.

p.s. Congratulations on the fine result in Grade 8.

Still brushing up the exam pieces.
Working on Sonatina in G 2nd movement - getting there slowly
Started Tchaikovsky's Italian song - still learning the notes stage
Am going to start Tchaikovsky's Waltz today (in E flat I think, don't have score to hand) - This is a lovely piece and I hope it's within my capability

Started Chopin's Nocturne in Eb major yesterday, but it's far too hard! I love it though so I really want to be able to play it, and I'm prepared to put the practise in that will make me able to play it!

As for the triplets in the Schubert Adagio, I've practised the first bit of them (up to the cadenza bit) and they don't seem as hard as they first appeared. With practise I can just about get through them, though they still need a lot of work, I'm a bit more confident with them.

It's the voicing in that section I'm not happy with yet though my teacher says it's sounding ok.

shostakovich - waltz from six easy children's pieces
there's some jarring atonal progressions which many would no doubt hate. I love it.

I've made a start on a couple of the Shostakovich preludes, and I too enjoy the tonal surprises. Prelude no 5 is semiquavers throughout. 21 bars long with a metronome mark of crotchet = 200. So it lasts about 25 seconds, but will take me some considerable time to learn and get to anywhere near that speed!!

Jon

Paule Maurice
Waltz of Beauty and the Prince

It's painfully beautiful.

(You can certainly feel the pain when I play it).

I've had a Eureka moment with my Italian Song By Tchaikovsky I am pleased to say.

I had been working on this piece for about 2 weeks and noticed it had ground to a bit of a halt. After changing the way I worked on this piece to phrases/sections and playing each section very slowly but in time/fluent (a bit like sight reading) I have discovered that my brain has time to think about the specific finger movements that it needs to do.

Then increasing the tempo comes quite quickly and is not the issue it has been in the past for me. I know people have been offering this advice for ages but sometimes it takes me a while to really understand why it should be done.

So I am glad to say now I understand (this is in relation to learning, not practicing of course).

And what a difference it has made to the speed of learning the piece. Fantastic!

I think as you get better at reading, the temptation is to go through the whole piece to get an idea of what it sounds like. This has been my downfall of late and I've gone back to practicing short sections to metronome, slowly - it's paying huge dividends, and has eased frustration with certain pieces where I kept blundering my way through... As MT says - speed comes last.

When I look back at some of the harder pieces I've learned in the past year, I've always gone through them painfully slowly at first... It seems my memory became selective at some point and I got into the habit of trying to go full pelt straight off, which doesn't really work!

Isn't it the case with all of us that we ignore the good advice we are given until we learn from our own failures just what good advice it is?

Yes I agree totally, sometimes we have to go through that long slow process of the wrong method to fully appreciate the right method!

Sometimes I think it maybe because at certain stages we are not capable of taking in or applying that information to our learning until we are developmentally ready whether we know it or not.

... although I would rather not say we "ignore" it as that implies a deliberately wilful act. I believe it's more a case of us not fully registering the importance of the good advice until such time as we're ready to take it on board. Which is why I hope my teachers will continue to repeat (ad nauseam) all the good advice they give me as one day it will finally sink it.

Spot on Skylark!

It's been my downfall recently too. It helps me to do sections from different pieces in a session, otherwise i just get too frustrated to do a whole piece in 2 bar sections.

I'm learning (yet another) etude from the Czerny School of velocity, Op 299. I'm learning no 39. The metronome mark is crotchet = 104. I can currently play at crotchet = 60 and it felt really fast . . . until I saw this:
Leslie howard plays Czerny

Will I ever be able to play anything that fast??

Would I want to??

Another youtube video has the same thing, played by a professional in a commercial recording, at about crotchet = 75. personally, I think it's far better at that speed.

You want to be able to, then to have the good taste not to (at least not in public).

Leslie Howard? Well you have to make allowances ... after all he is Australian.

So when he switches hemispheres (global, not brain), does he choose an etude that provides his other hand with a workout?

I can't think of any Chopin etude that I wouldn't rather learn to play well than tackle that one, although I wouldn't mind having the facility to do so.

La Dispute by Yann Tierson. Just started it.

it worked! Leaving it for two weeks and working on other stuff has fixed the tempo problems in the debussy. I still can't play it, but at least I can, erm, play it badly in tempo.

La Petit Negre, Debussy
Erinnerung, Schumann
Solfeggielto C P E Bach
and not forgetting Mozart K545 first movement still on the go.

ooh, me too. I learnt it first when I was 8. I dread to think what it sounded like then

I've given up on playing this anytime in the next few years - it leaves you far too exposed. Hearing other forum members playing Mozart has made me realise how good you really have to be to pull it off...

Well I m deermined to have mine up and running for when I go to Pro Corda, and they will be able to comment on where I can improve further. However, it is already sounding pretty good if I do say so myself, when I think of what it sounded like when I first started. I may leave this little treat for home and close friends though, rather than put my confidence at risk at a forum event.

At the piano playdays, no-one is going to pick you to bits for playing it I wouldn't worry about playing it in front of us lot

I'm determined to finish this Beethoven Bagatelle now so I can start on the Beethoven Pastorale Sonata 2nd mvt... Moley was playing it this weekend and I just can't get it out of my head - absolutely love it!

Indeed.. totally agree. There really is nowhere to hide with this piece.

I haven't heard any forum members play it, but I've heard Mitsuko Uchida and well- there are two possible reactions. 1) I should just give up now or 2) OK at least I have something to aim for.

I did pick 2), but there's still a lot to aim for!!

Schmann - Scenes From Childhood. Tried it first as a sightreading exercise (and don't I need that?) and got sucked into working at several of the pieces.

Good luck with the Pastoral 2, Sol!

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! 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?

I love the Kinderszenen, look forward to hearing you play some of them

PS: Interesting how the ABRSM book has the LH in the Beethoven marked with stacatissimo but my Henle edition just has normal stacatto markings...

Not really learning as such, but playing a bit of Mozart again (think it's too fast!)...perhaps it's the weather changing for the better...

K330: I. Allegro Moderato

I am still trying to learn - or polish, rather - the Klavierstuck by Liszt I chose for my Grade 6 exam in June and I am sytill finding it hard to get the right mechanics in the RH so that the right notes are held while the others sing out the melody and also in the LH so that the leaps are secure and neat and yet not too loud as the chords must sound soft and act as a sort of background to the RH melody, etc. etc. It's only one page but at my level I'm finding it hard ... harder than the other pieces, which makes me feel it almost seems to be above Grade 6, considering the relative ease - so to speak - with which I learnt the other ones.

Never mind. Do persevere with it!

Got quite excited as my new piano book arrived (Diller-Quaile Book 4). Heart sank when I flicked through it. Looks just like real music, so I'm not sure I can get past the first bar or two of any of the pieces. And I don't have a lesson next week because of the bank holiday.

A grade is a very rough indication of anyone's real playing skills. Different skills develop at different rates. Your ability could well range from Grade 3 in some aspects to Diploma standard or higher in others. Familiarity with a particular period, composer or style also counts for a lot, alongside dexterity, musical knowledge, and speed of thought.

I rather like it when I find pages like your "difficult" page in the Liszt piece ... in pieces that I "ought" to have the skill to cope with without too much trouble. It reveals a deficiency, and is an opportunity to do something about it.

As usual, your words have a soothing effect on people when one's discouraged ... I'll soldier on and try to get the piece to the standard I aim at.

To Stetenorve: what seems to you insurmountable may well be the piece(s) you play best in some time ... I can tell!!!!!!

Currently:

Beethoven - Bagatelle #1 from Op.119 (almost there)
Beethoven - Op.28 "Pastoral" Sonata 2nd mvt (first 9 bars are reasonable, have ventured into the next section)
Chopin - Etude #1 from Op.10 (REALLY slowly!)
Tchaikovsky - "June" (Barcarole) from "The Seasons" - Started again from scratch the other week due to me "cheating" and redistributing fingering, amongst other bad things.

I think I'll work through the first 3 of the Beethoven Op.119 as they are all great pieces and present their own challenges

Chopin :Etudes, Op.10 No.2
Trois Etudes Nouvelles

Godowsky :'Quixotic Errantry' (No.28 from 'Triakontameron')
'Berceuse' ; 'Legende' (Nos. 5 & 12 from 'Walzermasken')

Rachmaninoff :Preludes, Op.23 Nos. 1, 4 & 5

The Chopin Op.10/2 is progressing well i.e. notes are secure, fingering comfortable and dynamics under control and being improved. Tempo at the moment, though, is only about half-speed. It is not a piece for forcing the tempo if accuracy is to be secured and maintained.
The other short Etudes : No.2 (A Flat) I learnt years ago having taught it to a pupil and I'm now reviving it.
Of the other two No.1 (fminor) is progressing well, but I think No.3 (D Flat) is the more difficult.

The Rachmaninoff Preludes have reached an advanced stage but I find No. 5 the most difficult of these three. No. 4 has reached performance standard (I have previously performed it in public).

Like Rachmaninoff's all Godowsky's music is difficult but the three pieces I am learning are easier ones and within my capabilities. They are particularly attractive and rewarding to play.

I got through the first four pages of the Debussy Toccata at half speed from memory without stopping. Didn't really plan on doing it from memory, decided to see how far I could get, and made it that far. It was a real adrenaline rush.

Also have been working on three Bach fugues- C major and C minor from WTC I and E flat major from WTC II. Again at half or 3/4 speed but trying to bring out the voices, and to play the themes with similar phrasing regardless of when in the bar they start or which voice they are. Fingers stretching all over the place sometimes more successfully, sometimes less. Getting really used to doing things like 4th finger crossing over 5th.

Ran through some other random Debussy- I'm quite fascinated by Debussy at the moment, the thought has occurred to me that I should be learning some other stuff for balance, but I'm not a music student any more so I guess I am going to play what I want to play! I realised that I have plenty of years left to learn anything else. It's so different to learn music this way when I do not have to worry about the next audition / recital / rehearsal.

Godowskys Alt Wien(Old Vienna), probably his most popular piece, is'nt very difficult, but most of his other music is. His transcription of the Schubert song ''Morgengruss'' is an absolute gem. Heard Stephen Houghs recording, and just had to get it...i'm almost there with it...Godowsky recieved quite a lot of flak from critics about some of his transcriptions, particularly the Schubert ones, but i think they're brilliant.

I like his transcriptions of Bach Violin Sonatas .... tricky all the same!

Glad to know someone else is playing Godowsky. At a passing glance, some of his music looks deceptively easy on the page. When you sit down to play it, you discover otherwise.

Getting better at playing Debussy's Sarabande slowly - now at 5 mins; some 40 seconds longer than when I first tackled it!

Just done a practice - LH only for much of the time. Well worth doing actually, having now put hands back together; seems that much of the timing was in my LH.

Still, must ensure that the opening crotchets aren't rushed!

(Same problem at start of Bach P&F in D, hitting the right tempo, right there at the start.)

My Le Petit Negre (Debuusy) is really coming along now, I am so pleased as I thought that I would never get this one! Solfeggietto (Bach) coming on well, just need to speed up more, Mozart K545, still coming along, still got a couple of bits that my brain just doesn't want to take on!

No piano lesson for me this week as it was Bank holiday Monday and teacher was in London on Tuesday and Wednesday which only left today and tomorrow for her teaching. She was just seeing students that were taking an exam this term, so she saw my son tonight for his flute - but nothing for me .....boo hoo

Update on my new piano book (see earlier post). The first piece is Giga by Corelli. My initial reaction to it was one of "too hard", but a few days later, and with some slow thoughtful playing - it feels achievable. Hope my teacher agrees next Monday!

Hurrah! Moved on to the Beethoven Op.119 No.2 tonight... lots of crossing of hands, which is quite new to me

After a suggestion by MT, I might try to learn all 11 in Op.119, It'd be my first "complete" suite of pieces if I managed to do it - quite a milestone, so I think I need to listen to the ones I'm not so keen on a bit more in the hope that they grow on me.

I highly recommend these pieces, I don't think they are intended to be studies but they tackle all kinds of technical issues, in my opinion!