What works are you learning?

hello, this is my first post on the pianosociety forum


Chopin ballade no.1
Beethoven sonata op.13
Bach prelude and fugue (can't remember :shock: )
Handel suite no.5

The chopin is about half way done, i have the first two movements of the beethoven. I'm going to perfect the first movement before moving on to the third. The handel suite is almost done, I'm just adding some finishing touches. And the bach is pretty new so i havent gotten very far.

I'm also working on Chopin etude op.10 no.1 for a "duel" with a good friend of mine.

I'm going to try chopin 24 preludes op.28 soon.

 

well, I'm pretty young. My user name is future pianist because i want to be a professional pianist when I'm older.

yes i will post my first ballade shouldnt be too much longer

 

Hello

Well, I`m working on...

*Andante Spianato (Chopin, but actually finished I need to keep it alive for a concert)
*Andaluza (Granados, almost finished)
*Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, Transcription for 8 hands (I cant wait to hear how it sounds, just doing my individual piece for a while now...)

I want to start with :
*Fantasie Impromptu (Chopin)
*Lyrische Stücke op.43 - VI. To the Spring (Grieg)

I`ll see how it goes :lol:

Elysium

 

I'm trying to decide what to play in the fall, and this is what I've come up with so far:

Bach Partita in E Minor - I think that I will work on all movements except for the Gavotta and the Gigue this fall. I have to do a recital in the spring, and I'd like to play the whole thing then, but I think the Gigue is the most difficult movement, and I just haven't gotten a feel for the Gavotta yet. Has anyone here ever played this partita (especially the Gavotta) before?

Chopin 25/12 Etude in C Minor - I've been wanting to do this one for a while, but I think it's finally time, since I've been idly learning it for years and can play it memorized at about half tempo with no mistakes, if not more than half tempo.

I always have difficulty choosing my third piece, because I'm not very fond of much from the 18th century (not counting the cuspers like Beethoven and Schubert, which I can't choose because I always have a Chopin piece) and I'm not very familiar with contemporary music. I think I'll end up going with the Rachmaninoff Prelude in D Major Op. 23 No. 4.

Any tips on any of these pieces would be greatly appreciated.

 

Yes, but I've never really seriously worked on it. The Gigue is one of the most audacious things JSB ever wrote, and possibly one of the hardest too, musically perhaps even more so than technically.
I assume your problem with the Gavotte is how the triplets relate to the dotted 16ths ? My approach is to take the dotted 16ths as normal, except when pitted against triplets, then I plaim them together with the last note of the triplets. I believe that is normal practice in Baroque music, and it sounds a bit messy if you try to do it otherwise.

 

I definitely haven't decided on this one yet, and if I do it this fall, that doesn't necessarily mean I'll be playing it for my recital in the spring, because I've got to have a fresh repertoire for the spring semester - I'll definitely want to do the partita for the recital (and I want to start working on it now) but that's the only thing I've decided on.

My fall repertoire will be used for an adjudication at the end of the fall semester where all the piano profs will decide if they're going to let me major in piano performance. They've already given me a good scholarship, but I'll have to play some more difficult stuff for that trial - my scholarship audition stuff was worked up in a hurry.

That's actually a good one - I think I like it more than the other, which was recommended by my teacher. I hunted for a recording, since there's not one posted at piano society, and I found one here (link). I think my Chopin pick is dramatic enough, don't you?

I think I'm looking forward to working on this movement more than any other - I've never heard a recording, but I imagine the eighth notes to be stacatto and the dotted eighths to be accented pretty much throughout the whole thing. Thinking about trying to maintain that throughout is actually exciting.

Yes!

Yay! I hope my teacher approves...

That's exactly my problem - I don't usually have a problem with oddly matched rhythms to this degree, but I've been having the hardest time making something musical out of it, taking it literally. It still won't be my favorite movement - the Gigue and the Toccata are both awesome, and the Sarabande and the Air I love. I even really like the Courante and the Allemande...just not so much as the others. The Gavotte I think will always be my least favorite, but at least I don't have to hate it now.

Fortunately, the Toccata and the Gigue are the only movements that will require real work, lol...

 

Ha!

Depends on what your definition of "good player" is - I think of it more like, I tackle the hard pieces so that I can become a good player...I've messed around with both the partita and the Chopin etude for years, though never really practicing the partita seriously. The etude, I have actually practiced a good deal over the years, and now all that is left is to bring it up to performance tempo. I have four months to do it...

 

No, unfortunately, I don't...and I am even more strapped for cash now than I was before, due to going back to school. I have a friend that is willing to record me, but I have to find a church or something where I could do it, because my own piano is digital and my mom's baby grand is in not so good shape since Katrina. I could ask my friend to go up to my school (1.5 hours away) and he probably would, but I feel bad about asking him to do such things.

 

Right now, I'm trying to record two Chopin etudes.

They're close.

Here's one. (not ready for the site)

Pete

 

The 10/9 is one of my favorites. Unfortunately, I have more difficulty with that one than a lot of them that would probably generally be considered more difficult. In other words, I have more difficulty with that one than 10/3, 10/4, 10/12, 25/1, 25/11, and 25/12. Is it just me?

Anyway, it sounds like it's coming along good, Pete. Which other one are you working on?

 

Yes, the LH is a pain in the you-know-what. I have the notes memorized, I just need to practice playing it. It's quite different to have something learned 'in theory' versus putting that theoretical knowledge into physical action.

The other is the 10/2, the "chromatic madness" etude. That one makes the 10/1 look like opus 28/4.
It's 'memorized' (in theory). I haven't got the fingers to play it right now; practice will fix that post haste.

Pete

 

Yes, the LH is a pain in the you-know-what. I have the notes memorized, I just need to practice playing it. It's quite different to have something learned 'in theory' versus putting that theoretical knowledge into physical action.

The other is the 10/2, the "chromatic madness" etude. That one makes the 10/1 look like opus 28/4.
It's 'memorized' (in theory). I haven't got the fingers to play it right now; practice will fix that post haste. It's pretty close, too.

Pete

 

Aww, I was enjoying listening to your 10/2, and it cut off!

The 10/2 is one of my favorites, too, and I find it easier than the 10/1. Perhaps that is because I have worked on the 25/6, but I also found the 25/6 to be easier than the 10/1.

In my opinion, though, the hardest etude is the 25/4. The jumping in the left hand makes the 10/9 left-hand jumping look mild.

 

Yeah, I cut it off because that's where I screw up! :lol: Bars 25-34 are insecure at this point. This etude is really giving me problems. I can play it slowly and not miss a single note but I want to play it at 144. I may split the difference and aim for 126+-

You know, it goes to show how different pianists encounter differing problems, depending on individual quirks. I find the jumps in the 25-4 not particularly hard to execute, but the 543 oriented fingering of the 10-2 extremely difficult.

A note about the 10-9: I play the LH legato, with the fingering pattern 5-3-1-4-1-3. I can't do the pattern 5-4-1-4-1-4.

Okay, here's something else I'm working on. This is the first time I've recorded myself playing this.