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I pretty much play random stuff that strikes my fancy as being interesting, and every once in a while I come across something that I suddenly just can't stop playing. I usually play for anywhere between 30 minutes and two hours per day, but for the past week I've been playing for closer to two hours than 30 minutes. Why? The love theme from Superman.

Wow. The interaction between the notes in that song is just out of this world.

This has happened a few times before where I just latch onto something and play it for days on end until I eventually have heard it enough, but it can take a while to get to that point.

What have you played that gives you that sort of a shiver, and you just have to hear more?

Hi Frank,

I'm still waiting to be transported like that. There are several lovely pieces on the music desk of my piano, that I can play two minutes of (on good days) before foundering. Next to a method, passion will carry us the farthest, chained as we are to this improbable instrument. Do you find yourself humming the tune when away from the piano, and do you dream of playing it for other folks? (Yes, I've been there, too.)

Enjoy! And please post a recording when you get to that point.

I'm currently in a love/hate relationship with the Trumpet Tune by Jeremiah Clark.

I sight-read it about 2 months ago for practice. Some songs take longer than other to memorize, but not the Trumpet Tune - had it completely memorized within 10 minutes. I find the tune very addictive an at and at the same time so annoying, ha ha ha. Invariably I find myself playing it <again!> as filler during practice

... to add insult to injury, the Scarlatti Sonata the I learned after the Trumpet Tune absolutely refused to stick in my memory!

I guess for me that might be a bluesy version of "Amazing Grace" or slower version of "Echoes of Spring".

What I can't get out of my head is Chopin nocturne op 9, 1. My fingers automatically move to the notes when away from the keyboard, and the melody rattles around in my head.. This has been going on for months. call it my Chopin ear worm.

And yes, I am a Chopin freak.

Debussy Arabesque no. 1 for me at the moment :-)
Ever since I started on it, it's been the piece I want to spend my time on. It takes discipline to work on my other pieces instead (even though I really like them too)

Over Christmas I got a book of Einaudi scores (the Islands book) and I have been playing through several of these pieces (many of which I have heard on here in recitals the last few years, so I am familiar with them). They are very addictive. For some reason I find with each next one I play it gets more addictive. The latest one is Monday.

lycramudra has this on the latest recital 45, entry #37. After the main introductory section, there is a long part with a bunch of triplets in the right hand, very static (not quite of course!) but then when you emerge from that there is just a fantastic part (to me) with just chords in the right. If you are listening to his piece, the triplets begin about 2:40, then about 3:15 the part that I "can't stop playing"

The love theme from Superman--what are you playing that from? I'd be curious to know what it sounds like.

Begin the Beguine....

The Very Best of John Williams Sheet music – April 1, 2002 by Dan Coates

Page 24

Can you link the Piano theme for superman? I am curious

I normally have at least one thing like this that I love. Right now, it's the third movement of op 109 by Beethoven. I've been starting practice sessions for a few weeks with the theme and the first variation and it generally stays with me for most of the day. The first phrase of the theme and the opening idea of the first variation are just magic to me.

Glad you have something that you love like that. Being drawn into the music - especially as you play it - is a wonderful and cleansing experience.

Next one that I'm absolutely hooked on: Theme from The Godfather. That thing is absolutely haunting....

What level would you say these are? I enjoy his stuff but I'm not sure if it's way above my level.

I have only really been obsessed with two pieces in my life. One was from Bastien level 2 - tarantella (I was a teen), and Finlandia from my Alfred's Greatest Hits.

Other than those two, I certainly have enjoyed 99% of my pieces (as an adult), but haven't been swept away.

Schubert's Standchen currently in simplified Liszt's transcription

Lately I keep coming back to Aaron Copland's own arrangement of "Down a Country Lane" from this collection.

http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/piano-album-sheet-music/4090096

Hi sara elizabeth, the great thing about Einaudi is that his work spans the entire range from very easy (e.g., "Limbo", which could be played by somebody with just a couple of months of piano under their belt) to extremely difficult. If you have the patience to read through the very long Einaudi thread (stickied in the "Important Topics" thread), you'll see a fairly in-depth discussion on what pieces are good for beginners. There is also a sheet music collection entitled something like "Easy Einaudi Pieces", but I have some quibbles with that one... it's based on only his later albums, and some of the pieces they include really aren't that easy. I'd recommend you buying the "Best of" sheet music collection and looking at, say, I Due Fiumi, Nuvole Bianche, and I Giorni.

I feel confident in predicting that if you get into Einaudi you'll find yourself swept away routinely.

Monica, have you got a link to the easy einaudi pieces thread? The link in the important topics thread is not working

I can remember as a student the pieces that did that for me were always pieces with dance rhythms. One of the faster minuets from the notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach. Beethoven's Six Ecossaises in E flat (I still play those.) The Stephen Heller tarantella in E minor. Later on, the Chopin C sharp minor waltz. Give me a good dance rhythm and I'm hooked, apparently

I had it backwards. Copland wrote it for piano (on commission from Life Magazine) and then it was arranged for orchestra.

I think it's this thread,

http://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2516629/1.html