Why teacher WHY!!

[happyface94]

Why does my teacher think the Rach 1 is just a notch harder than the mendelssohn G minor
?! Is there some trick in playing this piece because I just spent 30 minutes trying to understand how 1 page of the cadenza was composed and I bet tomorrow I will have not progressed.

The Rach 1 cadenza alone is a whole new piece to learn.

[alzado]

I suggest you might just put it aside and try something else.

Also, how can you be that advanced a pianist and still allow your teacher to dictate to you like that?  On selecting pieces to learn, don't you have at least a shared decision making on the matter?

I don't know any details, such as your age, so perhaps I should not imply criticism of your teacher.

[pianohopper]

I have only briefly had a chance to look at the score for the first several pages and it does look difficult.  It sounds this way also.  But does it really matter how it was composed if all you must do is play it?  The octaves seem to be the easiest part (at least for me.)  And if you have any background in Liszt, I would use the same learning technique to play this cadenza as with Liszt.  and of couse, there was a method for Rachmaninov's composition of this one, buried as it may be. 

My advice is not to try and learn it all at once.  If you think it's like a seperate piece, treat it like a seperate piece; i.e., break it into pieces and learn those one at a time, then put them together later when they're ready, but not until then becuase that will waste the time you've put into it.  You cannot rush the learning process of a piece such as this!

But I do love the song.

[happyface94]

Actually I was able to propose concerti to my teacher, I proposed a few, she chose none of them :/. She apparently think I can play the Rach 1 because I am good on piece that require chords/characters.

I proposed :

Bach F minor
Chopin 1
Chopin 2
Schumann
Mozart 20th
Beethoven 3rd

She then proposed to me the Rach 1. I replied saying it was too hard, then she gave me another choice, the Mendelssohn, claiming it was a bit easier and fit for me. Of course, being a dumbass that I am I said I would take the Rach 1 because I found the ending of the Mendelssohn in G minor too "timid".

I am 18 btw.