How long for you to learn a new piece?

[NetherMagic]

I know that this is a very broad topic, as there are many diff length pieces and like very different styles and learning speeds too

newayz, just assume that right now you were to pick a piece at your own level, how long would it take you to learn it according to your estimation?

right now im doin ballade no.1 by chopin but its takin forever, and i dun think i might have all the technique required

and to all who has learned ballade no.1, how long did you take to get thru the piece?

cuz I often wonder how those crazy ppl at like those international competitions, how they can be like only 15 or somethin but already have played through like most of Chopin's or Liszt's etudes and stuff, you know wut i mean

[allchopin]

same thoughts here Netherdude, I am just finishing the Ballade #4 (it whoops up on #1 if you ask me).  It has taken me this whole summer ,give or take a few weeks.  I have been working on it almost daily for several hours each day (this is more than usual- my goal is to finihs before the summer's up).  The 15-year-olds in the massive competitions (i hate to be sour grapes...) i think were just in the right place at the right time, with the right teachers.  They grew up prodigies and were recognized by a conservatory or whatever, and were offered additional assistance.  Im in the depths of Texas wehre not much is happening, so im pretty much on my own.  But just keep trying, i think it will pay off in the end (i hope..).  Anyway a large piece like a ballde will take me the rest of the year to perfect. Fantasie-impromptu tooke me a year! (and im still workling on perfecting it...)

[NetherMagic]

ouch

darn reality sucks doesnt it

I wonder how those freaks manage to get into those international Liszt contest or Chopin contests

arrrgh I feel the envy burning inside me  

[allchopin]

dont worry about it, really.
If you want the really cynical and jealous point of view (which it sounds like you do) these kids have no life outside the piano.  Theyve been palying the piano since they were a fetus and always will- but all of us have other activites/interests such as, well i dunno whatever (sports, other instruments, science, etc).  ACtually i wouldnt want my life to be completely devoted to the piano- thats just too much of an obsesstion.  Its unhealthy.  But i agree, it would be nice to see myself on tv and pick up a few extra bux...


eh...

[Beethoven87]

Dudes....  I feel the same wa.  I'm eleven years in now, and getting more interested...  But unless you're another Horowitz, there's not MUCH of a career to be made playing piano...  And I've always questioned my total dedication.  Liko you said, we be not like those goys spending six and a half hours a day glued to their rich parents steinway nine footer...  (ok, mayber that's a little extreme...). but currently, I'm twon and a half months into Chopin's etude Op. 10 # 4, plus the third movement of Beethoven's Waldstein, and I've got a long way to go.  the problem is,I have until Feburary to PERFECT it...  I guess you just have to spend a little more time...  And like you said... Deep in the heart of texas...  well, I'm buried in Illinois far from Chicago, so there's not much chance of picking up the odd TV spot (so to speak).  ...yeah.... this has been kind of a long and pointless post...  sorry...

[eddie92099]

Back to the main thread, I think it entirely depends on the piece. For example, I recently learnt (the notes at least) the first movement of the Appassionata in four days, with about an hour spent on it every day. However, I have been working on Prokofiev's Seventh sonata (which Richter learn it four days) since January! I have just about got the first and second movements under control so the end is in sight,
Ed

[allchopin]

wait, lets define "knowing" a piece:
I think that if you can just play the piece, crappy or not, BY MEMORY, then you can officially say that you "know" it.  But if you have just run through it without retaining those notes/information, then you havent learned it yet.

[bachopoven]

It only takes me ONE HOUR to learn a piece.

I am sure many now are surprized to hear this. But the truth is a t my beginner level, I am learning som EASY SHORT PIECES like the pieces by TurK and some Mozart Menuets. The Mozart ones actually take me up to 3 Hours.)

The other reasons I can learn pieces is that I only practie about half an hour on week days and 1 or 2 hours on a weekend day, and that at this level, I only care to hit the right notes at the right speed and with the right duration.

When some of you said it takes you half a year r a year to complete a piece like the Fantasy Impromptu, were you working on other pieces too at the time? If so, may be in actuallity, it probably didn't take you that long to finish a single piece.

[allchopin]

well sure, i didnt play it everyday or anything, but i dunno...  do you like to perfect the piece as you leanr it or learn it all mediocre and go back and perfect.  I actually like to learn it perfect the first time, and progress slowly like that. That might be why it takes me so long.

[redberry]

Hi you!
Usually for me it takes quickly to learn a piece but it could also be "dangerous" to do that... I mean I can play fast in short time-and then afterwhile I have to go back again to practise slowly. So I think it's better to take it time it needs and let's the piece grow "by the time running" and not puch forward to quick...  
Also it depends if one knows that famous piece already or it is a newwritten unkown piece...yeah you know...

[bachopoven]

Well, I just sight read until I get bored, which is pretty fast. Then I try to gain some keyboard memory. Then I listen to a performance of the piece to understand the right flow, tempo, dynamics, loudness, etc.

It sounds different from the correct performace on the CD in many ways when I first play the piece. But repetedly listening to the artist perform helps me to lock the interpretation in my head. I sometimes play a duet with the CD playing. I can complete a short (10-20 bar) piece in less than an hour.

I am working from the books:

-Essential piano repertiore (book+CD - 52 late beginner - intermediate level pieces),
-Henle's Easy piano pieces volume 1. (scores +CD - 99 pieces)

I got a wealth of music and scores for my piano practice as you see.

I take at least 2 major advantages over most of you guys who practice many hours a day on just a limited repertiore - the best part of being an amateur beginner:

1-post-practice improvement (PPI) since I only play about an hour at most every other day, and 1-2 hours on weekends,
2-my practice pieces are short and all varied in all aspects except may be level of difficulty (intermediate) - I get a variety of skills in just one seating.

[bachopoven]

By the way, I have decided to add a big moderately difficult piece like a bach invention or even schumann traumerie to spice up my practice session. That may be getting ahead of myself, but it's fun, noone will crucify me for that.

[allchopin]

I hate to bust your bubble, but Traumerie is not considered a "big" piece- in fact its relatively small (i think i could memorize it within a week).  Bigger pieces i consider sonatas, ballades, nocturnes (not as...) etc.

[eddie92099]

These are not big pieces too allchopin! If you want a big piece, Sorabji's "Opus clavicembalisticum" should suffice. John Ogdon has recorded this and it took 4 CDs!
Ed

[bachopoven]

allchopin, good point, I should have said "bigger." (relative to the 10-bar pieces I am working on.)

[rachfan]

One point to keep in mind is that none of us here ever truly "finishes" practicing a piece of music.  A piece, no matter how simple or difficult, is always a lifelong endeavor.  Regardless of how many times we perform the music, we will always find something new within it and ways to improve and express our interpretations of the composer's intentions.  No matter how polished a rendition may sound, it's still a work in progress.  That's why many of us have concluded that we never really play the same piece exactly the same way twice. The serious pianist is forever in a quest for the perfect performance which is elusive and rarely, if ever, attained.  It's the loftiest challenge the artist faces in his or her work.

[allchopin]

Wait, what "10-bar" pieces could you possibly be working on? The shortest one i know of is Chopin's prelude #7 and that even exceeds ten bars.... (do you mean 10 lines or measures?)

I have looked at the Opus clavicembalisticum and that is insane (like 4 total hours)- i think that at that point it cannot be considered one piece.  Same for Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (Im not sure quite how long it is though).  But playing anything of that size is truly a waste of your time, unless you really enjoy every single movement of every, well i dunno, section, of the piece.  I think that time should really only be spent either practicing or playing pieces that you enjoy, and not with others that you "should" learn.

[eddie92099]

I think Sorabji would argue it is one piece! Pictures is not that big anyway, around half an hour. I can think of many larger - the Liszt sonata is not too far off - and I doubt you would argue that is not "one piece"!
Ed

[bachopoven]

well, I have come across many, many 20 or even 10-bard pieces. Some of Turk pieces, and some contemporary pieces have just about 10-bars.

But that 4-hour piece is insane. I heard about a performance of a 20-, 30-hour piece in this forum before. They said only one person in the audience survived the entire performance. The rest had to leave.

[chopinetta]

i actually learn pieces in 2 months. pretty long time!