Hi, I'm new to these forums.
I'm 15 years old and do grade 8 piano. Because I do such a high grade, most of what I play is 'classical' (where classical is Baroque/Classic/Romantic or Impressionist).
What I'm looking for is 'epic' sheet music, Bach's Prelude and Fugue no.17 isn't the best way to show off your pianos skills

I would prefer free, downloadable pdfs, but if it's really good, then I'm willing to pay for it. Music that's easy enough so that I can play it without too much practice if preferable (like Solfeggio by C.P.E Bach).
an example of something really good is Here (performed by your truly)
Another example would be Fantasie Impromptu (Chopin)

Here is a recent thread of someone looking for a showy piece for a talent competition. Folks had alot of good suggestions:

https://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubb...20for%20Talent%20Search.html#Post2055277

You can also search the forums for "talent show pieces." It seems to be a common question. Hope that helps!

What do you mean by 'epic'?

by epic, I mean, incredible, amazing. The sort of music that would make someone go, 'wow!' (like the pirates one I linked to). Not something like Gershwin, which really sounds like garbage to a lot of listeners (especially one's around my age). Virtuosic would be another word.
(such as Flight of the Bumble Bee)

The thread pianopaws pointed you to was a good one, with a lot of great pieces. Some may be a little more classical than what you're going for. I contributed a few that might be a little more recognizable to a non-musical crowd. Check it out, but do read through everyone's post. There are some great pieces in there.

Also, consider the false 3-hand stuff, like Horowitz's arrangement of Stars and Stripes, or Volodos' transcription of Mozart's Rondo alla Turca.

Not sure you'll be able to pick it up overnight, like the Pirates transcription, but they are virtuosic and immediately recognizable.

If you're asking us for pieces that fit this description, chances are you don't have the proper technique to really play any of them.

What I mean is, you're looking for ''virtuosic'' pieces. Right? Well, anyone who is able to play virtuosic pieces is probably (and that's a big 'probably') aware of the standard repertoire, and so they wouldn't be asking for such pieces on an online forum.

Do you like any of these?

Luca Sestak:Albert Ammons Swanee River Boogie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ojt7e88g2I

Luca Sestak: Walk with the Devil
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOR_SsYrpTc

Final Fantasy Those Who Fight(Advent Children)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dqH7TQePyI

James Booker:Sunny Side of the Street
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ojt7e88g2I

Kyle Landry: Beauty and the Beast
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyhPxrchntM

Charlie Albright: Gabriel's Oboe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER-8-7Zy25k

Adam Swanson: Maple Leaf Rag(perhaps the best performance of this piece on YouTube)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrjFCu3Xtfw

Adam Swanson: Kitten on the Keys
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY1pRmfw9GQ

Yiruma: The Sunbeams They Scatter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY1pRmfw9GQ

Jelly Roll Morton: Grandpa's Spells
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY1pRmfw9GQ

Albert Ammons: Has Anyone Seen Corrine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL3bWNUXCC0

Kissin:Flight of the Bumble Bee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X4JOo4S9mo

Plowright:Bumble Bee Boogie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gn7gitYnHyk

Gilels:Rachmaninov Bells of Moscow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtuMVBLEWJU

Rubinstein:De Falla Ritual Fire Dance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wj6_5qWZCDY

Kissin:Beethoven Turkish March
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gtg8Gi11nic

Dick Hyman:Jelly Roll Morton The Fingerbreaker
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyT7UJ-5Lzo

Almost all are available free on the web. You can PM me if you need help finding any of them.

@pianoloverus
I really like Swanee River Boogie.
Some of Kyle Landry are really good, I don't really like Beauty and the Beast, but some of his others are really good.
I'll look at the rest of the video's soon (I only looked at the first 5 just then)

@JoelW
I'm still learning piano so almost everything I play is practicing my exam pieces, my skill set expands to fill what I need to learn.
An example of my skill would be Prelude and Fugue no.2, that's probably one of the harder songs I can completely play. Pieces I am learning include Prelude and Fugue no.17(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5zqq_g32cU) and Sonata kv310 (mozart)(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ynxzya0U2_g)

Ah I just heard you play Pirates. You have good technique, yet when I see or hear 'virtuosic' I'm thinking Chopin's 4th ballade/scherzo, anything Liszt, Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit, etc.. which are all much more physically difficult and musically complex than the Pirates transcription. How much of the classical repertoire are you aware of?

My knowledge of classical music isn't very large, like I said, most of what I learn is music for my exams. So that means that, while I can tell you just about everything about Bach's Fugue no.2, I don't even know the key of Fugue no.3.

Khachaturian Toccata?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uycH3ZIZ3pI

since pianoloverus brought up final fantasy, how about this arrangement of one of the more well-known themes:

it's apparently available for purchase at otaku.com under "Final Fantasy Piano Opera IV/V/VI"

The above link is wrong.

PL is referring to the Rachmaninoff Prelude in C# Minor - Opus 3 No. 2

http://youtu.be/Yw1Pd9oojdM

Note: Rachmaninoff himself did not call this piece "Bells of Moscow." I believe the title was thought up by an American publisher.

Haha Bobpickle! I was actually thinking about the same pieces!

Video game music are a bit underrated but most good sounding require some talent. These are the pieces usually give you an orgasm by either listening to it or playing with your heart content.

Some epic playing there of yours, and that Roland seems pretty epic too!

If you want "flashy" or "epic", the music of the Brazillian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos has a lot of good stuff. (This is a repost):



Miudinha - From Bachianas Brasilerias #4 - Advanced
Festa no Sertao - Advanced
Danco do Indio Branco - Cicolo Bras. - Advanced
Impressoes Serresteiras - Cicolo Brasl - Early Advanced
Any movement from (but Bk 1 #2 is a good encore) Prole do Bebe - Virtuosic

Oh, and quite a bit easier than Villa-Lobos is some of the music of Debussy- it's less "epic" in character, but quite pianistic and looks and sounds good without being too difficult. Try "Clair De Lune" and "Dr. Gradus ad Parnassum" and "The Sunken Cathedral."



Oh, and you can't get much more "epic" than Led Zeppelin. Here's decent piano version of Stairway to Heaven with sheet music linked:

C# major. They're in order, with each major followed by its parallel minor, and then the next set a half step up. So, C major, C minor, C# major, C# minor, D major, etc.

This. Is. EPIC.

Robert Palmer's Toccata Ostinato is a great show-off piece. Here's an excellent performance of it with some introductory discussion:

[video:youtube]YIUEzjISFSQ[/video]

I just got a new copy of it after losing my first one (uh, about 35 years ago!). It's still "in print" in that you can order a copy from a sheet-music shop. The publisher will then print it to order. I paid $17.95 at Stanton's Sheet Music in Columbus, Ohio.

-Andy

Andy,

This was awesome in all senses: The work was great, the performance was great, but even more so was his presentation and getting in touch with the audience. It's something that classical performers don't do much and I think that it's really missing from the concert halls!

I will be researching more into this lovely pianist (and the composer actually, Palmer...).

cheers again for that.

While we're discussing video game music, does anyone have/know of an arrangement of Super Mario 2?

Um, anyone else take exception to this? I can't think of anyone who wouldn't be impressed by excerpts from "Rhapsody in Blue," and I certainly don't think it sounds like garbage! The Preludes are really nice, too. I especially like Prelude No. 1, and it is a great piece to show off with.

I found the Preludes beautiful but discouraging.... I can't reach a tenth, and rolling them never sounded right to me.

But for people with big hands or more tolerance for rolled tenths, Gershwin is unbeatable.

-Andy

Glad you liked it. I remember the day my piano teacher gave it to me. She said it was a great show-off piece for competitions. I never mastered it, but this time around I'm hoping I will. It's not generally all that difficult if you can play compound rhythms, but some of the right-hand jumps are going to take a lot of practice. At 1:39, for instance, it's F#5 and F#6 down to G3.

Wikipedia has a nice article about the composer, Rober Moffat Palmer.

-Andy

Yep, I feel your pain. I can barely reach a ninth, but I like to play Gershwin anyway.

While you play it extremely well, and it is great fun to listen to, some here might feel that Pirates of the Caribbean is of questionable quality. Different strokes for different folks !! But I agree with you that Gershwin might not be the right fit for your intended audience - and that you can find something a bit more dazzling !! .

Actually, I personally like Gershwin (at least, what I've played of his).

I'm actually learning Prelude no.1 right now, but most other 15 year old's prefer One Direction.
Thanks everybody for all the suggestions

I would suggest you look at vkgoeswild on youtube. She has numerous transcriptions of music which could be considered "epic". http://www.youtube.com/user/vkgoeswild
or http://vkgoeswild.com/ Sheet music is available from her website.

This. Is. Epic:

Epic enough?

By any chance you mean this?



I could only remember this melody and the ending melody.



My favorite starts at 0:35.

Anyway if it's a short quick impressive pieces, I would think this might be one of those...

Plowboy, that was the most disturbing piece I've ever heard, because it feels really structured to me, like the intervals and voicing should be right but are profoundly wrong. And I can't stop listening to it.

whizbang: They are not 'wrong'. The piece is just structured in a different way than more tonal classical music!

But plowboy: Why oh why this video? Andreson is SO full of himself in every video he makes... I don't mind it too much, but it's the music, not the pianist for me!

Some might think of it as cliche, but for a certain audience it's bound to be considered epic: The Bach Toccata and Fugue in D-minor:

Not as epic:

It's like a car wreck, you don't want to look, but you can't help it. It is mesmerizing.



Because I can't find one with Jeremy Denk playing it. And besides, I like the contrast with the companion video:

Epic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XsYuHbXZUk

Yes, but I think there's a better arrangement of it. I found a website with free videogame sheet music arrangements, but I'm not sure the arranger did such a great job on this particular one.

the zelda theme is totally epic. i don't know if it's the overworld theme or the title theme? but it's the one that open with lots of chords. here's the 8-bit version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpEzYEoV9qY

you can imagine the sound the piano makes when you're just striking those opening chords. the sheet music can be googled. every now and then i just sit there and just play the opening for a couple minutes just coz it's fun.

We turn to the underrated piano music of the Final Fantasy series of video games. This is an epic battle theme. Turn up the volume and the resolution to HD720!

Doesn't get much more epic than this!

[video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=nnCqcfu28H0[/video]


You don't have to perform the whole thing, just extract the parts out of it that are more 'flashy' - 2 minutes tops. This is very much inline with the "Pirates of the Caribbean" genre. This will definitely get your audience's attention (no matter what age) and is sure to be a showstopper.