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Topic: Beginner Classical Sheetmusic  (Read 3304 times)

Offline RiskyP

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Beginner Classical Sheetmusic
on: July 27, 2003, 06:29:15 AM
I would like to buy a book (collection of sheetmusic) with beginner classical music BUT music that is actually emotionally full. I am 19 and have been playing for 5 months. The hardest piece I learned was the first movement of the moonlight sonata and it took about 2-3 weeks. Hopefully that gives you a pretty good idea about my level.

I would like a book that has music oriented toward developing the technique needed for emotional classical music. Also, I would like some diversity, not just Bach for instance. Fingerings would also be nice. What would you recommend?

Offline zhovey

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Re: Beginner Classical Sheetmusic
Reply #1 on: July 27, 2003, 06:39:21 AM
Try Rachmaninoff. He made that is very beautiful called the Moscow Waltz.  Adagio C# minor Opus 3 #2  Easy and impressive.

Offline chopiszte

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Re: Beginner Classical Sheetmusic
Reply #2 on: July 28, 2003, 03:04:00 AM
Actually for five months firsat movement of moonlight is impressive, so you can get books that are above your level, you will be able to play them soon enough.

Anyway, don't get books.  If you want classical music find it on the internet.  

www.sheetmusicarchive.net


Try Some of the easier Chopin preludes, such as (opus 28) numbers 4, 7, 15 (this one especially).

Some of the waltzes and mazurkas may also be in your grasp and there is a nice Beethoven sonatina in G which sounds much more difficult than it is.

Good books if you really want books are the Joy of Classical music and the Joy of Beethoven.

Offline dreamaurora

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Re: Beginner Classical Sheetmusic
Reply #3 on: July 28, 2003, 05:26:41 AM
Hi, I would suggest you try buyin Keith Snell collection of classical music. The collections are divided into different types ( baroque & classical, romantic & 20th century, etudes ), and they provide good incremental difficulty progression, the books are graded from 1-10 according to the American system.

Anyway, regarding the first movement of Beethoven Sonata, I do feel that it's too early too you, it is much more technically and musically difficult for beginners, one thing that most people do not realise is the difficulty of voicing and the pedalling. I would say you are just "playing" the piece, not actually mastering it musically well  :)

Anyway, do check out my thread repertoire progression in Student's Corner, so you can get a better idea of proper repertoire progression that you can learn from piano.

Offline RiskyP

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Re: Beginner Classical Sheetmusic
Reply #4 on: July 28, 2003, 05:36:52 AM
Thanks for the compliment. The first movement of moonlight was pretty hard for me to learn and it took quite a while, but I am now very satisfied with my playing of it.

I thought that since it took me so long to learn this piece, I should play easier pieces. I am currently trying Chopin's prelude no. 7 as suggested... notes are easy to learn, but I find it quite hard to play it even satisfactoraly (I have been working on it for about 6 hours). I am also trying Bach's two-part invention no. 8 in f major - is this one a beginner piece?

Anyways, I think that most of the stuff on sheetmusicarchive.net (I have a ton downloaded) is too difficult for me to learn. I was looking for a lot simpler material that is not "too" simple as far as musically. Please recommend some sheetmusic on sheetmusicarchive.net that is easy and fun to play!  

EDIT: dreamaurora, I just read your post. I have read many books on voicing, pedalling and believe me, I took extra time just to practice that. I learn very slowly because I try to play everything musically... if it is not musical I usually quit. I think I have a pretty good interpretation of this piece though. I know it's cheating, but first I also tried very hard to imitate Horowitz's playing and then added my own interpretation. Anyway, you are right, that I should still learn easier pieces. I played it for a piano teacher here in town and she said it was perfect... I can't be certain if she was just being nice, or if she meant it... but really, this piece is very dear to me and I would've quit a long time ago if i wouldn't be able to play it well.

Offline dreamaurora

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Re: Beginner Classical Sheetmusic
Reply #5 on: July 28, 2003, 06:07:19 AM
Well, RiskyP, I understand how much you love this piece. Regarding piano teachers, I do agree that different teachers have different standard of performance, that is why it is important to find a good teacher, one that preferably concertise a lot. When I learnt my Chopin Nocturne op 62 no 2 during my previous teacher, she said it was perfect, but when I bring it to audition to my current teacher , he said that I didn't do justice at all to the piece and it is rubbish. Nevertheless he saw my potential and still took me in ( luckily ).

When you learn piano, your ears are your best friend and worst enemy. Never ever be satisifed with what you hear, often pianists are satisfied with the sounds they produced the first time by their fingers. I will usually play the music on my mind when I'm free or relaxin, my mind is a much better piano than the real thing, that's why mental playing is very important in mastering the piano. Playing mentally can produce the tone and intepretation that we want, while we must tell our fingers consciously to achieve that sound. For me, I set a very high standard for myself, because eventually the pieces I'm learning I'm going to perform them. It takes hell a lot of time learning the music, usually I will be able to learn the notes in a few weeks, but it will take from a few months to half a year before I deem them fit enough to be performed.

It is good that you are trying out easier pieces. For me, an easier pieces played musically is much better than harder pieces played with technical and musical struggles. Don't compete with others about how fast or how difficult pieces you can learn, you will only be depriving yourself the chance to make good music. Don't care if someone else spend much shorter time learnin a piece, just tell yourself in the end you will make much better music than that person  ;)

Offline RiskyP

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Re: Beginner Classical Sheetmusic
Reply #6 on: July 28, 2003, 06:27:54 AM
Thanks for the support. This is exactly the reason why I quit trying Rachmainoff's Prelude in C# minor, Mozart's Sonata K.545, Mussorgsky's Promenade I from Pictures at an Exhibition, Rachmaninoff's Elegie Op. 3... and the list goes on. I only learned about the first half of a page of each of these and I quit because I simply couldn't play them as I can in my mind.

That is why I would like easier pieces. Learning to voice the chords in moonlight and to make dynamic differences in the voicings took a long time. I would like pieces that I can learn more quickly so that I will have a greater reportoire... currently it consists of only 2 pieces! I have a book called keyboard fundamentals, and I went through all the theory  and little pieces in there. Those pieces are very easy, but musically dull. Wish I could get my hands on beginner music that actually has some emotional depth.    

Offline dreamaurora

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Re: Beginner Classical Sheetmusic
Reply #7 on: July 28, 2003, 06:53:57 AM
Hmm, lemme give you a more realistic suggestion of repertoire. You can try out Robert Schumann's album for the young, a lot of the pieces are great for beginners. I personally recommond you Little Study ( op 68 no 14 ) and Melody ( op 68 no 1 ) , very beautiful pieces in my opinion.

Clementi's sonatinas ain't bad, and Bartok's Mikrokosmos are great learning materials too. And if you would like trying something more challenging, you can try out Grieg's easier Lyric Pieces.

Offline RiskyP

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Re: Beginner Classical Sheetmusic
Reply #8 on: July 28, 2003, 07:16:45 AM
What a coincidence... I would really like to learn Grieg's Lyric Piece - Ballade Op. 65, no. 4. But your other suggestions seems very good too... please include those in teh repertoire progession post too!

Offline bachopoven

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Re: Beginner Classical Sheetmusic
Reply #9 on: July 30, 2003, 11:43:57 PM
May I suggest Henle's edition of "Easy piano pieces volume 1" and "Piano repertiore, for early intermediate level"?

The first book has 52 pieces, including 11 short Turk pieces and includes Clementi sonatinas. The second has 100 easy to intermediate pieces.

The nice thing about these books is that they both come with CDs so you can listen through and select your favorites to learn.
"In the beginning was rhythm." - Haydn.
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