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'Skachatz' means "to download" in Russian? That may be useful...

Ok this group has piqued my interest. I hope everyone does agree on Croatian Rhapsody because I'd like to work through it, and because you've already linked the sheet music. I propose that we do not tackle any pieces that the sheet music isn't linked from this thread, so we're not practicing different transcriptions.

I'm off from work this week, but given I have a day job, it probably will take me until Christmas to learn this...

Can I be added to this as well? sounds like fun!

Opus:

>Question for the group: Does any one else work, >or does everyone have all day everyday to spend >on their piano repertoire?

Don't most of us have jobs? I'm gone from home 11-12 hours a day and am lucky to squeeze in 20 min. of practice a day. Too many other responsibilities. I figure that I'm going to have trouble keeping up if we're all working on the same piece but want to try anyway.

SAS Any takers on Rachmaninoff? (i'm pretty certain that might be way over my head as well) dannylux, how advanced are you? i'm thinking you might be a good technical resource in these groups, yes?

seebechstein, glad you're in...ShiroKuro will be very happy to hear of this interest in Croatian Rhapsody (I'm going to have to give it a listen when I get the time). By the way, everyone won't have to agree on this...just enough folks to form a group. We'll be able to form groups once everyone else decides what they want to work on.

Vanfanel...yes, of course you can be added. It WILL be fun. Learning a difficult and challenging peice of music (at least for me) is such a solitary experience. This group thing should help make that experience a little less solitary.

[Edit: Doggone it, boss says i actually have to do a little work today...check ya later ]

from: Agilita
Don't worry about that Agilita...many of us will be in the same boat...that's why we're taking time to determine what is reasonable for most folks.

I might give the Rachmaninoff a go... can I change my mind later?

Ooh, I thought of another piece to recommend, for New Age types...

"Waterfall," by Jon Schmidt.
You can hear it here: Waterfall

And download the music here:
Waterfall pdf download

The download costs $0.89, I think. You have to scroll way down to find "Jon Schmidt Piano Solos Book Vol. I," then select "Waterfall." In other words, you can download individual songs inside the book, you don't have to buy the whole book.

Rachmaninoffs' Prelude in C is beautiful, but unfortunately it is way above my level. However I am sure there are enough talented pianists on this forum who can handle it!

I took another look at the complete score of the CROATIAN RHAPSODY, and there are measures that I can handle and measures that would be difficult for me. I am not good enough yet in my skills level. I would probably end up being able to play only a part of the song. The tempo would be a challenge and the all the rests in the score would also be a challenge for me! But it sure would be a fun song to play around with! :p
Shiro, maybe some people haven't heard of this song, perhaps you can download it for people to listen to that are not familiar with it? I am sure some people would find it like me, to be a very beautiful song!

Also I wouldnt mind learning the Asokan Farwell. I have the score for it. It is in the Dan Coates book of Complete Advanced Piano Solos.That one doesn't look too hard, I think it is more on the intermediate level. It looks like one of the easier ones to play in that book.
I'd also like the Twinkle, Twinkle by Mozart. I love just about anything by Mozart.

And no, I don't have all day to practice! At most if I am lucky I have an hour a day.

Ok, now that I kind of committed to this I will give some of my thoughts about how to approach it.

I think if it would be coolest if we all focused as one group on the same piece. I don't see this actually happening, so more realistically how about a classical group and one other group. Anyone who wants can be part of one or both groups without us snubbing those that refuse to play classical or refuse to play anything but classical.

I understand music purchases get to be expensive, but I would actually prefer if we did select something that is in hard print. I am one of those old stick-in-the-mud types that believe it is important to support the industry to promote putting out good transcriptions in the future.

My entry to the music pool is:
Ernesto Lecuona: Malaguena

I have wanted to learn this for a while, but have not put the effort into it yet. Someday I will have the motivation, though.

Edit: Forgot to mention practice time. I completely vary from 10 minutes to 2 hours each day. I don't think practice time should be substantial influence in this venture. Everyone is going to progress at a different rate no matter how we work that out.

Good Golly Miss Molly, looking at some of these suggestions makes me wonder what you all are doing in the beginner forum?

Sulking back to his corner and his easy sheet music

Here is the sheet music for Chopin Prelude Op. 28 NO. 15, Raindrop:

http://www.sheetmusicarchive.net/single_listing.cfm?composer_id=4

Mike

Same here! I've heard some of these pieces played by University piano majors

It seems to me that Opus45 is using this concept as a catalyst to make use of this forum as a peer group for specific music content rather than just the current conceptual level. Perhaps the latest visionary for the future of the forum. I don't see any reason why additional groups for each respective skill level could not be formed now too. Since the idea is to apply the knowledge of first hand experience to our learning, it would probably be even more advantagous to the early and late beginners to try and reap the benefits of past miseries and accomplishments.

We might just not actually realize what we are getting in to....

from dk
dk, You are absolutley right about that. There is no reason groups could not be formed for the early & late beginners at this time.

I guess I was being a little self-centered because the intermediate-late intermediate levels are where I will receive the most benefit.

Should that be part of this effort, or branched off into a seperate effort/thread?

Ideas????

Petrof, I was just thinking I should repost the link, because the original thread has slipped back a few pages.

listen to Croatian Rhapsody

You can get a transcrition that is just a wee bit different from this recording here:

Croatian Rhapsody score

Scroll down to the list of transcriptions by Matthew Burrows, and you'll see Croatian Rhapsody there. For anyone who listens to the recording, I think it is not nearly as hard as it sounds, and is very repetitive which means there's less actual music to learn, learn one bit and then it just gets tweaked throughout the piece.

Opus, I personally think we should keep this group as it is, i.e. intermediate/early-advanced. I also think it's a great idea to have a similar group for beginner/early-intermediate. But that should be started by someone at that level, in a different thread, so that said person can get the ball rolling on piece suggestions etc.

And just to repeat what's probably been said about a million times, no one has to play every piece on the list, right? So don't be intimidated. Opus was joking about the not having to work thing-- even if it is something we all dream about!

I am really happy so many are interested in Croatian Rhapsody.

BTW, are there any more suggestions for a fancy Christmas piece? I'm going to order the Virtuosic Christmas book, but I'm waiting to see if I need to order anything else becuse shipping to Japan is pretty expensive, I want to do it all at once.

Opus, thanks again, this is a fantastic idea!

from ShiroKuro:
...I was hoping someone would say that. And thanks for the link to the Croation Rhapsody. Now that I'm home, I'm going to check it out & see what the fuss is all about.

Happy to oblige!

Re Christmas songs, I don't know if it counts as fancy, but I was just listening to David Nevue's version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, and I really like it. I think you can only hear a clip on his site that I'm linking here (though I highly recommend the whole album if you like Christmas music) but it should give you an idea, and the score is available for purchase there.

David Nevue\'s Christmas CD

Who was it who said they prefer print versions? Are you also not fond of purchasing a score on the net and printing it out yourself then? With someone like Mr Nevue, IIRC their scores are only available on the net.

[Edit, re: David Nevue's version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen]

ShiroKuro (and anyone else who might read this)...beautiful version of this carol!!

Thanks for pointing it out!

Opus, even with the new link I posted above? Here's another possibility. This page is almost all in Japanese, but it's worth a try:

Japanese page for Piano Life magazine

BTW, unless you change the encoding for that page, the hpage won't even look like Japanese, it will look like asterisks and other symbols, so don't be surprised. (If you wanted to, you could right click on any empty spot and select Japanese for the encoding, but it'll still just be in Japanese. :rolleyes:

Anyway, there is a column of blue "buttons" on the right side that say "sound" (in english) Click on the 8th button down, that's the link for the Croatian Rhapsody MP3. let me know if that works.

Also, Opus, I think you and I were posting simultaneously, did you see my comment about God Rest Ye Merry Gents? (Nevue's version)

P.S. to find the button, it's in the second one in the second group of buttons, underneath the red page indicator for p 49. (or if you just count all the buttons, it's the 8th button)