Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum "Fur Elise" - who here plays this?

I posted this same question 1 year ago on a Facebook piano forum and got lots of rude replies from young high school kids - "too easy", "the song is a joke", "you should be playing this at age 7", etc. etc.

I thought I'd ask the same here on the grown ups forum.

This was the 2nd piece I learned in year 1, as an adult beginner (yes, the full version). I can technically play it, but not yet beautifully. I think it's one of the best piano pieces ever written!

I'll post a video soon when I perfect it. This will be my winter project.

There is a recent thread started 28 Oct on Fur Elise you might like to read. I enjoyed that thread and I don't think it's too old to revive if you want to continue it, I'd post again

Learning Fur Elise - advice?

I don't play it yet, but it's on my list of "must play pieces." While just about everybody and their mother can claim to play Fur Elise, I believe it takes a lot of skill to play it beautifully, which is why I'm not in a hurry to learn it for now. Fur Elise is considered an intermediate piece, btw so I don't think it's "too easy."

Looking forward to your perfected video

I think Fur Elise is a great piece to learn, I know the first part but that's all.
I to had a rude experience at that forum, I asked what people thought of George Winston and I got the same type of comments, one even said " and he plays the canon in the key of C" , well even in the key of C it is not that easy, I would like to see them play Fur Elise or some of the other so called age 7 pieces, aloha.

Chris

Well said!

Für Elise is clichéd indeed, but there's nothing wrong with it as a piece of music. It's quite beautiful, and playing the whole thing well does require solid technique.

Ask Valentina Lisitsa, who plays it as an encore:

I love Valentina's video! She is the one whom I try to emulate (but fail miserably) when I play this.

How did you embed that image, by the way?

Underneath the description of each video at YouTube lies a URL and the HTML embed code. Copy the HTML (and select any customization options you like, that pop up), and paste it into the text box here at PW. Finally, make sure that you select "Using HTML code" or "Using HTML and UBBCode" in the drop-down menu under the text box; otherwise you'll just post a bunch of unintelligible code.

I think it's a lovely piece, even if it is a bit "cliched" and some people look down on it simply because "everyone plays that!" It's one of the pieces in the Alfred's All In One Adult Series Book 3. I began working on it several months ago. I can play through it, but not as well as I would eventually like to be able to. I also think it's a very lovely piece of music and I will continue to work on it and hopefully, improve!

Of course, not everyone plays it. I certainly don't -- because I can't yet.

I am, however, looking forward to learning it one day.

horowitzian - thanks for the video. once again it's confirmed that there is not a musical piece that is too easy if the music is to touch someone's heart and soul. Traumerei is an "easy" piece technically but didn't Horowitz play it for his encores?

You're welcome! He certainly did. Personally, I wouldn't say Träumerei is terribly easy.

Fur Elise was the first big piece I played when I started taking lessons as an adult last summer. I enjoy playing it. I have started playing it more often recently. I have a friend who really loves this piece and I'd like to be able to play it for her. I also just started learning to use my new Zoom H4n recorder and would like to eventually record this piece as well as several others I have been playing.

I'm an advanced "classical" guy, and I think George Winston is SPECTACULAR.

I remember the first time I heard his stuff -- it was background music in a restaurant (on a tape), and I was like who is that!!!

I would guarantee those people that he could play Fur Elise in whatever key he wanted to.

Not that I'm her but I've played it as an encore too.

IMO not only is it beautiful, but, despite its cliche quality, it's very serious and even solemn.
Years ago, when I first played Opus 110 (for those who aren't familiar with it: It's a late Beethoven sonata, one of his most serious works), I wondered, what can you follow that with? What can you play as an encore after Op. 110 without diminishing either piece? What even works after a piece like that? (Besides nothing.)

I looked through all my music, and didn't come up with much. I felt Fur Elise was at the very top of the list. It remains my usual encore after Opus 110.

(Thanks for that "embedding" info. I've wondered too.)

I watched this video yesterday. Her hand movements are so mesmerizing. When she leans in and it looks like she's pawing at the piano, wow. My favorite part of the piece has always been near the end with the repeating bass notes.

I learned the first part of it by rote from a friend when I was younger, and it has (mostly) stuck with me for the past 20 years or so. I have other things ahead of it on my personal to-learn list, but playing the whole thing and playing it well is certainly an accomplishment to be proud of!

I wouldn't be surprised if most of the people that commented on Facebook have never particularly tried to play it themselves, but just happen to remember the kid playing it on that McDonalds commercial way back when. :P

I'm not an advanced player, but IMO George Winston is more about being able to compose and play beautiful music, rather than technical difficulty. I remember when I first heard his "Autumn" album on a college radio station back in the 80's.
I called the station to find out who was playing that hauntingly beautiful piano. The DJ gave me the name and address of the record label off the back of the album cover, so I could write them a letter to find out if I could buy this album. Sure enough, it was available though mail order...pat

Totally agree. But I feel there's no doubt that he is well up to the demands of Fur Elise in any key, and in fact well well beyond that.

It's hard but it's not that hard.
And he's a fabulous pianist from a basic technical standpoint -- not Horowitz, but, still excellent.