I'm not comfortable playing the "fur elise"

[fermata_88]

I am going to play "fur elise"  tomorrow in my Piano Pedagogy class. I'm also going to play it for the juries next week. Frankly, I don't like it because it's overplayed but I don't have a choice because my teacher wanted me this piece. I do like this piece but a lot of people know about it and I'm not just comfortable.

[Bob]

Makes sense.  If you like it, play it.  So what about everyone else?  It's for your education.  It's a piece everyone knows, so you should probably know it too.  Just play your best. 

[shortyshort]

I only play this for my Mum now. 

But, yes, everyone should know it. 

The only problem is that, because everyone knows it, they will all hear any mistakes made. 

[fermata_88]

I only play this for my Mum now. 

But, yes, everyone should know it. 

The only problem is that, because everyone knows it, they will all hear any mistakes made. 

that's the only thing that I'm worry about that they will easily catch my mistakes. I just wish I could play another piece.

[hyrst]

All the best with your playing.  Sure, it is over-played and I don't like it either for that reason - but there is a reason why it is over-played.  It does have a beautiful yet simplistic harmony and melody line.  Try to capture that. 

And, remember, no performance is ever perfect and a good musician will hear a mistake even if they don't know the piece.  It is not about the mistakes, it is about finding the heart of a piece and bringing others into it with you.  If you can do that, your audience will forget  the mistakes. 

Good luck.

[fermata_88]

I agree with you Hyrst. When I first played this piece before I was so happy that I can played the first part. And now I played it again then I realized everyone knows this piece yet this piece is powerful. Even though I played this piece a couple of times there is still missing with my playing. One thing that I like this piece is I can freely express my feelings. I just hope they will see that.

[dan101]

Ask your teacher why he/she wants you to play the work. On the surface though, it seems that you should be playing pieces that you feel and desire to play. Good luck with your upoming events.

[fermata_88]

probably he wants me to play this piece because I already memorized and he feels like I'm comfortable with it. But I do not know. 

[gyzzzmo]

Stop with that 'probably', just go talk about it with your teacher. I think you have a very good reason why you dont want to play that piece and unless your teacher has a very good reason too, he should give you another piece (or propose a piece yourself).

[casparma]

well, even if it's "fur elise", or "marca alla turca", or "fantasie impromptu", etc etc, those well known pieces, you can play them bad, or you can play them really good with lots of feelings. You can sometimes even hear the difference when, say, "fur elise" is played by Horowitz for example, although I doubt you can find him playing that. :-)

Even so, it's possible to see other prominent pianists who've played any of them.... like mp3s online...

[slobone]

well, even if it's "fur elise", or "marca alla turca", or "fantasie impromptu", etc etc, those well known pieces, you can play them bad, or you can play them really good with lots of feelings. You can sometimes even hear the difference when, say, "fur elise" is played by Horowitz for example, although I doubt you can find him playing that. :-)

Even so, it's possible to see other prominent pianists who've played any of them.... like mp3s online...

No, but he did play Schumann's Träumerei many many times -- in fact it was his usual final encore. And that's not any harder than Für Elise (I wish people would stop referring to pieces that require umlauts...).

He was also particularly fond of a Mozart sonata that I played at the age of 10...