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Jon Schmidt - All of me...

i second shw123. Beethoven's sonata. especially moonlight, considering i am a beginner its gonna take me forever to play Beethoven's sonata

I "third" both of you !
That's why it is one of the first published on the Hao Staff (website).
It will go into the book now !

Thanks,
Jeff

Beethoven Sonata Pathetique

Vince Guaraldi playing Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire). It has the unique combination that makes all music great: You look cool playing it, and the music is absolutely beautiful.

Rachel -- please pardon the brief digression (nothing to do with the Pathetique.... I glanced at your profile, listened to some of your playing (you're terrific!!!), and noticed that you went to Cornell, which makes me wonder if we shared a teacher. Did you study with Bilson?

"Linus & Lucy", along with many other pieces from Vince Guaraldi for the Peanuts specials. My real first interest in any classical music came from seeing the movie "Amadeus".

My exposure to some of the first music that I wanted to learn was from the Ludovico Einaudi thread as well as the old "Cristofori's Dream" thread which was going on at the time that I first discovered these piano forums.

I should add that I stumbled upon these forums when my older sister decided to pick up an old free upright to mainly use as a decorative piece of furniture. I wanted to see if I could play anything on it despite a lack of piano playing experience. I will admit that I'm not a huge fan of classical music but the Einaudi and the Lanz pieces had a simple and yet somehow catching sound to my ears. I've managed to teach myself up to this point and while I'm sure my playing has many faults it still makes for a great hobby.

Who would have guessed I would have ever wanted to touch a musical instrument after the horrible time I had getting stuck with a tuba in the required music class early on in the 4th grade or so. Actually, I don't even remember exactly how I got stuck with that tuba. I guess the whole experience is like a bad car wreck that somehow never gets recorded in memory.

for me it was simply Fur Elise!

For me, it was definitely "The Entertainer". I became obsessed with this piece!

Originally, I wanted to go through the "top 10 piano pieces of all time" list, but then got sidetracked and obsessed with Joplin.

For me it was Chopin's Waltzes and Nocturnes. We had onld records and (ahem) 8-track tapes of the great pianists playing piano pieces. It was Rubenstein playing Chopin that really got me interested. Many years later, I finally got technically proficient to be able to play at least one of the Waltzes, and now finally a good number of the Nocturnes.

John

There are many, but the main ones: Ravel, Pavane pour une Infante Defunte and Chopin, op. 28 no. 4.

Both of which happen to have been superbly played by Richter, and then posted on youtube.

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Also: Schumann's Traumerei (played by Horowitz), Schubert's Sonata op. 42, d. 845 (played by Uchida).

YIKES!! LaCampanella! That's difficult just to read along the sheet music while someone plays it.

The piece that really got me hooked on the piano was JS Bach's Two Part Invention, No. 13.

I was about 7 years old when I heard it.

La Campanella is difficult also because it's so transparent. There's no way that someone could clunk out the notes and get 1/3 of them wrong and still sound decent. I remember going to theory lessons at a music school and listening to someone stumble through it week after week. I still really want to play it, though...but only if I can play it well. I also wish that I could play it on the violin, but that's never going to happen.

I can't remember the piece that first made me want to learn piano...I was asking for lessons almost as soon as I could talk. In fact, asking for lessons is one of my first memories! I do know from my parents that one of my neighbours played and that's where I got the idea. Didn't start until I was almost 8, though.

I've been playing "self taught" chords for about 10 years and was content with that, reading only the right hand. However, a few months ago my SO played Enya's "Tea House Moon" for me on a CD. It has such a simple but beautiful melody that took me back to a time as a little girl that I wanted so badly to learn to play the piano, which was financially not possible. Hearing that song made me want to not only learn how to play it, but to play all of the beautiful pieces that I dearly love. Yes, I am learning to play "Tea House Moon" Sometime in the next 6-months we will be purchasing a baby grand for my studio. The first piece I want to play and play well on that piano is "Tea House Moon".

Great thread. I agree with one of the previous post that "The Entertainer" is one of those songs that really made me wanna play the piano.

Back in the 1980's, George Winston's "Autumn" record album created a funnel of solo piano music directly into my ears. I never appreciated the piano solo until then. He was one the first of my many piano "heroes".

Patrick

I think he's great. I don't have too many non-classical album's but Winston's "December" is one of them.

I wouldn't even know about him except one time in a restaurant, I loved the music that was playing on the speakers, so I asked what it was......