Choosing Repertoire

[thepianist2008]

I'm looking to find some repertoire that is within my level. My teacher tends to be a little overconfident in me, meaning the pieces she gives me are too hard. How do I know? Do you think you should be spending six months on a piece(Sonata Pathetique, 1st Mvmt; Heroic Polonaise) just to get the notes down, and not even have them solid under your fingers after that?

I'm pretty sure that's not the way to learn the piano.

Plus, I have a senior recital coming up at the end of May. I don't want a whole concert riddled with flubs b/c the music is too hard technically for me. I want to have some pieces in there that I can rattle off without a thought.

I was thinking I could learn The Girl with the Flaxen Hair by Debussy, Humoreske by Dvorak, and Playera by Granados, but they might be on the other extreme, too easy. What's a good way for me to assess a piece myself and determine whether or not it's within my level?

[gerryjay]

try these links:

http://www.abrsm.org/?page=exams

http://www.trinitycollege.co.uk/site/?id=1050

http://mercury.tvu.ac.uk/lcmexams/Subjects.htm

in everyone of them you will find graded syllabus (grades 1-8) and performance diplomas (advanced). to me they have been very useful to choose repertoire, and to plan my future studies with a higher independence from a teacher, even if a want to continue my lessons way further.

[hwangs]

Yes-- I would agree with you that if it takes 6 months to get just the notes under your fingers, the repertoire is definitely too hard for you (speaking technically). For recitals, you should play pieces that you're very comfortable performing; if you're thinking about the notes, it would really hinder you from playing musically.

While no one can judge your level by listing what you currently play (unless they hear you), it seems like you're pretty advanced and probably fit in somwhere between Grade 6-8. Dont ever think that a piece is too "easy" to learn (technically)- if you like it, you should learn it. For instance, some movements in Bach's English/French Suite and very easy, but when I learn a suite, I learn the whole thing no matter how "easy" it seems. So that Debussy Prelude may be a good choice; I'm sure professional pianists would perform any Debussy Prelude, even if it's "easy". Just a note--

And those links that gerryjay posted are pretty good indicators to think about the difficulty of your repertoire.