Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum I need to pick a new piece that I can learn by January

I was going to play Mozart's K545 second movement for my early February recital. I've changed my mind and want to do something else. The problem is that even though I like the piece, it seems to bore the crap out of people. It's all one tempo with alberti bass on the left hand and single-note melody on the right. I played it for friends on Friday, for instance, and people just kind of wandered off halfway through.

That alone wouldn't be reason enough to abandon the piece, but I'm not looking forward to keeping it in my fingers until February.

So. Any suggestions? I have a lesson tomorrow!

Have a listen to the 2nd mvmt of K279 in C. It's quite romantic, it's about the same length, and it doesn't sound so repetitious as K545.

Malaguena by Ernesto Lecuona

Its cool

Cindy, what musical period do you enjoy the most, ie classical, romantic, impressionistic, etc? A personal favorite is Mendelssohn's Song Without Words Op.67 no.5 "The Shepherd's Complaint". You can find it at The Sheet Music Archive . I haven't tried the real thing, but I wrote my own arrangement for it and love to play it.
Jon

Cindysphinx,

How long do you want it to be?

Not knowing what level you're at, it's difficult to say, but how about Ravel's "Menuet Sur Le Nom d'Haydn" and/or his Prelude? Neither one is too long and definitely NOT boring. (Kenny played the Prelude a few times on my piano when he was here--it was heaven; he played it so beautifully.)

How about one or two Scriabin Preludes? Op. 11 is overflowing with GORGEOUS gems spanning many ability levels. I'm sure you could find a few that would fall at your current level.

maybe playing a fast Scarlatti piece would be a good alternative, such as his K27.

Can't blame Mozart.

Reaction to the indifferent audience suggests a frustrated attitude which, to say the least, could be interpreted as brusque (snap conclusions), high-handed (it's all one tempo") and indelicate ("bore the crap out of people").

Options come hard if frustration is caused by sub par sight-reading and memory skills. The membership is awash with hopefuls searching for the imaginary Holy Grail of piano playing.

Most who make the distance, manage to get a foot in the door, by slaving at and eventually mastering a personal favourite. Initial success breeds the courage and stamina to progress further.

how about traumerai(sp?) by Schumann? it's only one page long and it's one of the first that I learned so i don't think it's too hard. one of the final chords requires that you reach a 10th but i'm sure you and your teacher will find some way around that. or maybe this piece is shorter than you would like...

Traumerai is deceptively difficult to pull off. Part of the problem, beyond the music itself, is that it's very familiar. You'll be "competing" with everyone's favorite virtuoso recording.

Perhaps a Haydn middle movement? One of my all-time favorites is Hob XVI:32's Minuet. It's broken into two distinct sections, a slow melodic one and a pretty fast, dramatic one. Definitely NOT boring, IMHO. Also no Alberti bass, if memory serves!

Nina

Re: btb

"The membership is awash with hopefuls searching for the imaginary Holy Grail of piano playing."

Huh?

Are you sure you're an adult beginner?

Ooooh! So many good suggestions! I've listened to a number of your suggestions on-line, and I've printed out the thread to take to lesson.

Yep, when you haven't practiced for your lesson, that's definitely time to spend the whole 45 minutes selection new pieces!

And Bernard? That Prelude gave me *chills!* Wow! I hope it's not too hard.

Well, I had my lesson.

The upshot is that my teacher recalls a version of Malaguena for two pianos, and she wants to do it with me. ::heart palpitations:: Talk about *pressure!*

She also played the Ravel piece Bernard suggested (she wasn't familiar with it but had the music and sight read it for me). It was pretty darn cool. Perhaps a teensy bit above my ability level for January, but June might be doable. She didn't have the Prelude, so we're going to order it.

I've used up my daily allotment of pieces I can download on ClassicalMusicArchives, so I'll have to listen to some of the other suggestions tomorrow.

This forum is great! It's like having about 50 piano coaches!

How about An Der Weige by Grieg? It's extremely easy and not boring. I had to learn it along time ago for a recital and it took me no time at all.

Cindysphinx,

The Prelude is available for downloading from here: Sheet Music Archive

Glad you liked it. There aren't too many notes in it which makes it a great piece for developing musical expression.

My vote is for Malaguena too.. I'm looking for it for me now for my recital. Am considering The Young Prince and Young Princess by Rimsky-Korsakov, but I'm not sure it interests me all that much,pretty as it is.

Ole!

Gosh, I hate to sound like a broken record (have you stopped to think that kids growing up today don't know what the phrase "you sound like a broken record" means?), but

How about some nice Scarlatti?

The Aria (K23) is approachable. I can send you the sheet music -- and a recording. It was the first Scarlatti piece I learned.

Toss in some dynamic contrasts and it's quite interesting.

Still better than 'you sound like a dirty CD'.

Does anyone know where I can find a version of Malaguena that is not in C#m?

I spoke with my teacher tonight who thinks I can do the original but it is quite difficult. She suggested I look for the easier one.

Hi Bob Muir,
Thanks for picking up on the "awash with hopefuls" comment.

Adult Beginners is the only Forum with "salt of the earth" members sharing the real world of the piano who report on steady progress while dealing with the masterpieces of the keyboard.

The Pianists Forum is loaded with raw schoolboys who listen to CD's and presume to become authorities on the piano while the uneventful Teachers Forum pedantically debate the stuffy foibles of their keyboard instruction with little finality.

This is the Forum to share if you are looking for fresh musical gems shared by people with a heart-felt love of the piano. Forgive my bland comments but I've been around.

Glad that Cindy has settled for Shrimps early suggestion of "Malaguena" by Ernesto Lecuona which helps us to gauge her capability at this stage.
For my money I would have suggested any haunting song by George Gershwin, Cole Porter or Jerome Kern. Nobody has really put a cap on "Summertime", "Begin the Beguine" or "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes". Alternatively any one of the 11 gems in Schumann's "Kinderscenen" (including "Traumerei") or a choice of nos. 4, 6 ("Raindrop"), 15 or 20 from Chopin's Preludes Opus 28.

Cindy needs to come alive by expressing her own music preference and steadily distance herself from teacher's apron-strings.

btb,

Well put. I myself feel some kinship in this forum, even if I did talk Cindy's ear off for her article...

It kind of came out in a Sudnow Method post where I kinda blasted someone for what I thought was an asinine post, definitely notin the spirit of this forum. Really hacked me off..

How about Brahms's Waltz Op. 39 No 15, in A flat major?

it's a short piece and i don't think it's too difficult(although i haven't played it). what an excellent piece. sure it may be overplayed(i don't really know) but who cares?
also someone said scarlatti and that sounds like a good idea. i have no recommendations there because i haven't heard enough scarlatti but i like what i've heard.