*sigh.....*

[randmc]

I'm getting a little bored with my piano practicing......I need to expand my repertoire. I only know a few composers,you know all the featured ones: Chopin, Mozart, Bach, Mendelsson, Handel, Rach, Prokofiev, Debussy, Joplin, Scriabin......etc. Sooo....what do you recommend I play? right now I am quickly learning Chopin's Polonaise in A Major, Polonaise in G# minor, Nocturne in C# minor, and Nocturne in E flat Major....oh and Scherzo in B flat minor by chopin. Piano's about the only thing that interests me these days....and that's even getting a little boring...

[Souza]

I'm getting a little bored with my piano practicing......I need to expand my repertoire. I only know a few composers,you know all the featured ones: Chopin, Mozart, Bach, Mendelsson, Handel, Rach, Prokofiev, Debussy, Joplin, Scriabin......etc. Sooo....what do you recommend I play? right now I am quickly learning Chopin's Polonaise in A Major, Polonaise in G# minor, Nocturne in C# minor, and Nocturne in E flat Major....oh and Scherzo in B flat minor by chopin. Piano's about the only thing that interests me these days....and that's even getting a little boring...

You could "polish" a long forgotten piece ...you could play early pieces or studies....or new pieces of brazilian composers for example...Vila Lobos....take a look at this beautiful piece , very suitable for this  boring moment  of your life... VALSA DA DOR...(i don't know how to translate it...perhaps  Sorrow Valse?!)

https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005RT4P/103-4481540-6316655?v=glance&s=classical&n=507846&vi=samples#disc_1


Another suggestion is Lorenzo Fernandez... Ponteio  - Moda  - 2nd Brazilian Suite....or Valsas de Esquina - Francisco Mignone...sorry I have no samples... 


Perhaps you  really needs to become involved in another focus ...

Let it be !

Pedro

[rc]

Everybody gets bored from time to time, ya can't do the same thing for too long without it happening. Learning five pieces by the same composer probably doesn't help either

Sometimes it's just a state of mind for me, I just have to go for a walk until my mood improves. Sometimes I need to get out and socialize like a human being. Sometimes I just don't like what I'm learning, so I drop it.

Two days ago, on a whim, I decided to learn to draw. That stimulated my creativity more than anything I can remember. It's spilled into my music and gave me a bit of a fresh perspective and energized my practice. Unexpected. Maybe there's something that you've really wanted to do deep down that you've got to get out of your system?

[mikey6]

I found a virtuosic arrangement of  that wonderful  Richard Cleyderman hit "pour adeline" (can't remember where i got it from though), if you want a laugh or get extremley bored, you could seek that out.

[randmc]

I found a virtuosic arrangement of  that wonderful  Richard Cleyderman hit "pour adeline" (can't remember where i got it from though), if you want a laugh or get extremley bored, you could seek that out.

i'm not interested in getting more bored .....but anyway, does anyone recommend any composers??

[prometheus]

Stop playing and start listening.


Or maybe give a performance for friends/familiy. Or learn and play a piece in a duet/trio/quartet/quintet.

If you can't kindle your love for music so that you are very excited to learn and play new music it may be a good choice to find something else that does excite you.

[alzado]

Check out Erik Satie's OTHER works (besides the Gymnopedies).

I had lots of fun with Edward MacDowell.  Try his book of short pieces, "Woodland Sketches."  Or "Sea Pieces."

Try some transcriptions -- one example, Richard Schultz's transcription of the Pachelbel Canon in D.

Good luck to you--

[randmc]

Stop playing and start listening.


Or maybe give a performance for friends/familiy. Or learn and play a piece in a duet/trio/quartet/quintet.

If you can't kindle your love for music so that you are very excited to learn and play new music it may be a good choice to find something else that does excite you.

I am excited to learn, It's just I'm a person who likes to be challenged at things. Not all my pieces are challenging (i.e. Nocturne in C-sharp minor). I really don't have anybody to play duets/trios/quartets with that are my level....

Check out Erik Satie's OTHER works (besides the Gymnopedies).

I had lots of fun with Edward MacDowell. Try his book of short pieces, "Woodland Sketches." Or "Sea Pieces."

Try some transcriptions -- one example, Richard Schultz's transcription of the Pachelbel Canon in D.

Good luck to you--

I've played some Edward MacDowell pieces. Let me think.....ummm.......oh ya i played that Alla Tarantella by him and his piece called Bluette..that's about all.

[thalbergmad]

There has been some good suggestions here. Learning 5 pieces by the same composer would not keep me excited.

What keeps my interest, is learning somthing that nobody plays as opposed to something that everybody plays.

Hence, the time i spend on Thalberg, Tausig and Kalkbrenner.

[pianote]

yea... having all those pieces by the same composer will get tiresome after awhile. I'd recommend learning various songs from all periods or at least 2+. I've taken a liking to baroque and 20th century music in these past few years- I used to hate both.

I'd say variety is key- no pun intended.

[mlsmithz]

Your current repertoire does sound a bit one-note (no pun intended); I don't mean to criticise (I went through a phase lasting almost a year when I only played pieces by Chopin despite my teacher's best efforts to persuade me otherwise), but it does seem to hint that a bit of variety might be helpful.  Unfortunately I can sympathise with the problems of finding participants for chamber music (I've had to advertise quite aggressively to find anyone, and the only reason I received any replies was because I'm a graduate student and hence have a whole university to which to advertise), but it may still be worth a look, at least.

And branching away from early Romantic would definitely be a good idea - perhaps some Impressionist?  I admit I was very relucant to go anywhere near Debussy during my Chopin-centric phase but when I finally stopped resisting my various teachers' suggestions that I give him a try, I knew they'd been right and I'd been wrong.  It sounds as though you could quite handily learn the Arabesques, the Suite bergamasque, or some of the Images.  Or you could try looking through some Ravel, or Faure - Faure seems to be unjustly neglected next to the other two, some of the Barcarolles and Nocturnes are particularly charming.  If you'd prefer something with a bit of fire, perhaps some Prokofiev, or Rachmaninov? (I can't readily suggest specific pieces by those two but there are plenty of people on these boards who can, so perhaps one of them will speak up.)

If you go back in time instead and look at some Bach, don't just look at the Inventions, Sinfonias, and Well-Tempered Clavier - try the English and French Suites, or the Partitas, or the Toccatas.  Or perhaps some sonatas by Scarlatti or Soler?  They're well suited to the piano (indeed, some of them arguably sound better on the piano than the harpsichord), and the choices are almost endless.

I'm no expert on modern or post-modern music, as it's not my cup of tea for the most part, but perhaps it might be what your repertoire needs at the moment?  Might be worth a look (as several respondents to this thread have already suggested).

As pianote says, variety is key to remaining interested - and, arguably, interesting - as a pianist.

[clef]

Mabey you should look at baroque now, mabey somthing a bit distinct from the baroque era, like i know a few good gigues from the baroque era, that could be just what you need

also mabey some Jazz would exicten you, look for Kerin Baily and Christopher Naughtens piano solo books. 

[ted]

Terra Verde and New Ragtime might appeal to you. Its main proponents are David Thomas Roberts, Scott Kirby and Frank French but there are many other excellent creators who build on principles of Latin American and classical ragtime.
David's music, in particular, is very accomplished and expressive.

Another area worth looking at comprises the many excellent volumes of transcriptions now appearing of early piano jazz. Dapogny's volume of Morton's complete improvisations is a gem, as are Posnak's transcriptions of the big Waller solos and Scivales' of various stride players.

James Scott is an often neglected but distinctive ragtime personality. His complete works are available in a Smithsonian Institute volume.

Brubeck took pains to carefully notate a large number of his works. Points on Jazz, in particular, is a beautiful suite of pieces exhibiting Brubeck's multi-faceted keyboard language - not easy though.