Hard piece that wadn't so hard after all...

[mrdaveux]

Has it ever happened to you that you start a piece you thought was gonna be tricky, and it got so easy ?

I started the other night Chopin Waltz in G-flat, op. 70 #1 (supposedly one of his hardest) and thought it would take me a while, but after 1 practice session, I had most of the notes down, and by the end of the third session, I had the whole thing running at tempo (not perfect yet, but pretty decent...). And I'm not even that good of a pianist (I don't practice nearly as much as I should...).

Do you feel that sometimes we kind of put some pieces on a pedestal of fear, and that stops us from playing them when, after actually trying them, they're not as bad as we thought?...

[nanabush]

Chopin Black key Etude.  Well wasn't 'easy' but still 'less hard' then I would've expected.  It looks much more difficult than alot of his other etudes which are much more difficult.

Edit:  Also Fantaisie Impromptu, which also isn't easy, but is easier than it looks...

[sonatainfsharp]

Sometimes this happens--this is also why it is very difficult to "rate" a piece in terms of difficulty.

For example, I have Maurice Hinson's rating for the difficulty of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas. I thought the entire "Tempest" sonata was very easy--almost sight-readable to me, but I can't even begin to play half of the sonatas that are supposed to be "easier" according to Hinson.

There are so many factors involved that it just works out that way.

[musicsdarkangel]

I love it when that happens.


For me, Mephisto Waltz (I only got through half though, so maybe I'm speaking too soon) was a lot easier than I thought it would be.

I had finished La Campanella, and expected this to be far ahead, but it really isn't.


However, I should really finish it.

[espresso]

La Campanella is definitely one of them.  I really loved the piece as a kid, and it took me only one afternoon to learn all the notes.  However, I wouldnt call myself a fast learner, there are pieces that takes a long time for me to learn, especially some bach and beethoven's late sonatas.  I was learning Op. 110, and somehow the notes just dont stick.

Scriabin's Op. 42 No. 5 Etude took me only a week to learn 5 pages, now I only have the second page to do.

[thierry13]

Tchaikovsky - Andante Maestoso.

[nicko124]

La Campanella is definitely one of them.  I really loved the piece as a kid, and it took me only one afternoon to learn all the notes.  However, I wouldnt call myself a fast learner, there are pieces that takes a long time for me to learn, especially some bach and beethoven's late sonatas.  I was learning Op. 110, and somehow the notes just dont stick.

Scriabin's Op. 42 No. 5 Etude took me only a week to learn 5 pages, now I only have the second page to do.

I am actually really impressed that it only took one afternoon to learn all the notes. Does this mean you had now memorized them completely? It normally takes me days-weeks to memorize music (longer if it is a difficult piece). Whats your technique for memorizing the notes for an entire piece in what is probably a few hours.
Have you got any tips for speeding the process up?

[invictus]

To learn the notes for me is to actually just play the whole song and each of the itsy bitsy notes. Playing the notes is just the like base of a pyramid, then you have got to do dynamics and other important things, known as interpreting the music, which seems easy.

memorizing music just comes into you, you don't try to remember it, i never actually tried memorizing, but i practice more and it becomes natural and therefore, its in your mind, it comes naturally

speeding up? easy, practice more, read the score when you are in the bathroom, just don't dirty it

[sklebil]

La Campanella is definitely one of them. I really loved the piece as a kid, and it took me only one afternoon to learn all the notes.

Sorry I hate to be impertinent, but .... I don't believe it. Can you post a recording?

[Waldszenen]

Rach C Sharp Minor prelude


End of story

[bearzinthehood]

Rach C Sharp Minor prelude


End of story

I second this.

[dmk]

Allegro Barbaro

[espresso]

I am actually really impressed that it only took one afternoon to learn all the notes. Does this mean you had now memorized them completely? It normally takes me days-weeks to memorize music (longer if it is a difficult piece). Whats your technique for memorizing the notes for an entire piece in what is probably a few hours.
Have you got any tips for speeding the process up?

Sorry I hate to be impertinent, but .... I don't believe it. Can you post a recording?

Yes, that was when I was 13 (Im now 22). But please let me stress LC is not a difficult piece to memorize and to learn to notes (could some one who learnt this piece back me up on this so I dont sound like Im bragging??) It has same harmonic and melodic structure throughout.

I can still play it from memory anytime, having showed off with this piece so much as a youngster (although I could never play it with 100% accuracy).  Like I said, I dont learn that fast with every piece.  Liszt, Chopin and even Haydn are quite natural to me, Beethoven and Mozart takes a lot of time, but generally, easy to memorize.

I tend to memorize quite naturally, and usually dont really think about it. Perhaps its to do with the way I practice which is to concentrate on small sections (no more than a few lines).  Moving them quickly from short term to long term memory, and move on.  In a sense, I memorize as I learn.

And about posting a recording... do I really have to? its not going to show that I learnt that piece in one afternoon.  unless what you are doubting is my ability to play the piece, to which I should tell you many people can play LC, its not the impossible piece you think it is..


p.s. Lugansky apparently learnt Rach 3 in 3 days... THAT is a bloody amazing feat.



 

[sklebil]

Yes, that was when I was 13 (Im now 22). But please let me stress LC is not a difficult piece to memorize and to learn to notes (could some one who learnt this piece back me up on this so I dont sound like Im bragging??) It has same harmonic and melodic structure throughout.

I can still play it from memory anytime, having showed off with this piece so much as a youngster (although I could never play it with 100% accuracy).  Like I said, I dont learn that fast with every piece.  Liszt, Chopin and even Haydn are quite natural to me, Beethoven and Mozart takes a lot of time, but generally, easy to memorize.

I tend to memorize quite naturally, and usually dont really think about it. Perhaps its to do with the way I practice which is to concentrate on small sections (no more than a few lines).  Moving them quickly from short term to long term memory, and move on.  In a sense, I memorize as I learn.

And about posting a recording... do I really have to? its not going to show that I learnt that piece in one afternoon.  unless what you are doubting is my ability to play the piece, to which I should tell you many people can play LC, its not the impossible piece you think it is..


p.s. Lugansky apparently learnt Rach 3 in 3 days... THAT is a bloody amazing feat.

 

Well we are talking about different things then. First, I don't have any reason to doubt your ability to play this piece.
I also don't doubt that you MEMORIZED LC in one afternoon - what I doubt is that you learned to PLAY it in one afternoon.

[sevencircles]

The Rach.  transcription of the Flight of the Bumble Bee is one of the ultimate examples.

The minute Waltz is another one especially if you have the C transcription (and you thought it was the original key).

 

[cherub_rocker1979]

Scriabin's Op. 42 No. 5 Etude took me only a week to learn 5 pages, now I only have the second page to do.

I know!!! The second page is the hardest with all those notes in the right hand.

[guru_of_time]

The Rach.  transcription of the Flight of the Bumble Bee is one of the ultimate examples.

*agrees*

[espresso]

Scriabin's Op. 42 No. 5 Etude took me only a week to learn 5 pages, now I only have the second page to do.

I know!!! The second page is the hardest with all those notes in the right hand.

Yip, when I first heard the piece, i thought its going to be really difficult.  It turns out that the rest of the piece isnt too bad, except for that second page.. still dont know how to play it.. im stuck...

[pseudopianist]

Yip, when I first heard the piece, i thought its going to be really difficult.  It turns out that the rest of the piece isnt too bad, except for that second page.. still dont know how to play it.. im stuck...

You people really suck at quoting

[thierry13]

You people really suck at quoting

Hahaha amazing CG 

[klavierkonzerte]

arensky etude in eb minor op41, it sounds alot harder than it actually is.

and the piano intro of the 3rd movment of rachmaninov 2nd piano concerto i thought it's impossible but it fell naturally under my fingers, by the way i didn't learn the concerto i just worked on the intro of the 3rd movment.

and the rev. etude.