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Hello everyone, I have been a frequent visitor here at Piano World and I thought it was time to become a member. I am 20 years old and am a student in college with a music major. I plan on becoming a music teacher and love playing the piano. The reason I am here is because I had a question and needed some opinions and the people here seemed helpful so here goes!

I have been playing piano seriously for about 3 years now and have been taking lessons for 1 1/2 years. My current repertoire consists of the following works:

Chopin Waltz in B Minor Op69 No2
Debussy First Arabesque
Bach Prelude I
Khachaturian Sonatina in C - 1st movement
Mozart Sonata in G 283 - 2nd and 3rd movement

I asked my piano teacher what level I am currently playing at and she said late intermediate. Does this level of skill match up with the pieces that I have learned? Also, I was curious about how the difficulty of the pieces that I think would be very hard compare to my current repertoire and skill level.

Some of the very hard pieces that I am wondering about are:
Any of the Chopin Etudes
Lizst-Un sospiro (sp?)/Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2

So if someone could tell me their opinion on how difficult these pieces are compared to the music that I am playing now it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

To use an analogy, you live in the correct building but in a one bedroom apartment on the lower floors. Where you are trying to go is up to the 5-bedroom penthouse with a river-view on the top floor.

Some of the Chopin Etudes may be only up a few floors from where you are and reachable but you'll be taking the stairs up and not the elevator.

Best advice: Discuss it with your teacher.

Good luck and keep at it.

I woudl agree with your teacher's assessment. Most Chopin Etudes and the Liszt are quite advanced, and I wouldn't recommend you get to them before you're ready. It will only frustrate you and possibly turn you off to those pieces. However, let your teacher know your aspirations so that s/he can guide you in that direction.

Also keep in mind, that 3 years of piano playing (1.5 of studying) is not a lot in the grand scheme of things, so you should be very pleased with your progress thus far! These things take time, and by time, I mean years, so a little patience is required.

Wow, nice analogy Liszt.

Wow. That's deep.

yes, your level does match up with the pieces that you are learning.

The Chopin Etudes and Liszt Rhaspody are much harder and challenging both technically and musically so you should wait, focus on what you are learning now. i'm sure your teacher will tell you when you are ready for those pieces.

I'd say the Revolutionary etude is about 1.5-2 years away if you keep at it.

In the meanwhile, take a look at books 5-6 of the "Expressive Etudes" series by Suzanne Guy or books 5-8 in the Celebration Series "Studies" albums. Both of those contain well-known etudes by people like Moscheles, Moskowski, and Heller that would give you a huge boost in your technical studies.

Everybody should give those books a try - they really are brilliant. There's no reason to wait for or rush into Chopin/Liszt/Rachmaninoff etudes when there are so many excellent ones by lesser-known composers that fit those intermediate and early-advanced levels.

Wow thanks alot everyone. You have really helped me out. I'm sure some of you out there can understand what it can be like to hear a song and really want to be able to play it. Now I will definitely hold off on these pieces cause they are out of my reach and I don't want to get turned off to a Chopin Etude or Liszt piece I enjoy (thanks morodiene).

Also, nice analogy playliszt, it gave me good perspective on these pieces I was wondering about.

Kreisler, I will most definitely check out one of those books and ask my teacher if she will work on them with me.

Thanks again everyone

playliszt:
To use an analogy, you live in the correct building but in a one bedroom apartment on the lower floors. Where you are trying to go is up to the 5-bedroom penthouse with a river-view on the top floor.

Indeed. And remember that building, (that being the one of music and piano-playing) is the best address in town, regardless of where you might be in it at the moment. And one meets a lot of interesting and helpful people here in the lobby too . By the way , if you liked the Debussy Arabesque (and who doesn't?), then perhaps Rêverie or the Prelude to the Suite Bergamasque could be good projects.

-Michael B.