Piece to learn in 5 days!!!

[tompilk]

Hi. I have to play at school on open evening and morning before the headmaster's speech and I have exhausted my repertoire on a concert at school last week. So, i need to find a piece which will be amazing but that I can learn in five days.
As for my level, I am about to do my Grade 8 ABRSM in November, and I like Rachmaninov style stuff - I can just about play Prelude in G Minor - but it took me about half a year!!!
Nothing too difficult,
Thanks

[tompilk]

Have none of the 44 viewers got any ideas for a piece for me to play? I'm pretty desparate!!! Any suggestions will do.
I don't want any1 to say Opus Clavicembalisticum or i will shoot them.

[crazy for ivan moravec]

hmmm, how long? what character in mind do you have? fantastic, virtuosic, lyrical?

[hodi]

try mendelssohn song without words op.19 no.4
1 page
beautiful
not hard

[xvimbi]

These questions come up every now and then, which always makes me wonder why people get into such a situation in the first place. How come you can't come up with options yourself? Don't you have enough music to listen to and pick from? Don't you have enough sheetmusic to browse through?

Just to make sure: I am not yelling at you. I just want to know what's going on when somebody has a "dilemma" like that.

[tompilk]

Firstly, I like to listen to Rachmaninov, Scriabin and other stuff I have no chance of playing - so I don't really listen to music that i could learn in 5 days. Also, all the music which has been bought for me or i have bought is elton john and other stuff not playable for the situation i will be in.
I would like something that sounds difficult and is medium difficulty - to learn in 5 days!!!
Tom

[tompilk]

About grade 6 level but lots of big amazing chords which are around grade 7/8!!!

[bernhard]

All of those sound more difficult than their grade would lead you to believe, and all are easily learned:

Granados: Dedication (op. 1 no. 1) – Just one page long, beautiful lyrical melody  - grade 4.

Shostakovitch: Schirmer publishes a great collection of Shostakovitch easier pieces called “Easy Pieces for the Piano”. Excellent material sounding far more difficult than it actually is. My favourites are Lyrical waltz, Lullaby and Spanish dance. Try also his collection “Dances of the dolls” (My favourites are “Hurdy Gurdy” and “Dance”) – grade 4 – 7

Richard Rodney Bennet – Diversions (7 pieces some very easy. My favourite in no.2 which is slightly reminiscent of Debussy’s Arabesque no. 1) – grade 5


Rheinhold Gliere: Song op. 34 no. 9  (beautiful piece in modern counterpoint, not as difficult as it looks) – grade 5

Jacques Ibert: The sewing machine –very patternend and repetitive. Great fun (it imitates the noise of a sewing machine). Not much of a tune, but very percussive. Grade 4

Beethoven – Six Ecossaises – Rhythmic and uplifting, yet incredibly easy. Kissin often plays it (superbly) as an encore. Grade 5

Scarlatti sonata k32 – just one page long, very easy (easier the Fur Elise, but far superior musically) lyrical and reflective (baroque though, not romantic – but don’t dismiss the Baroque period: it had a lot in common with the Romantic period). Grade 3

Erik Satie – Gymnopedie no. 1 – Two pages long, but effectively one page long, since the second page is an almost exact repeat of the first. Haunting melody over a chordal accompaniment. Again easier that Fur Elise but musically superior. Gymnopedies no. 2 and no 3 are equally beautiful, not so overplayed and equally easy. You can also try his Gnossiene no. 4 – the easiest and (imo) the most beautiful of the six. Grade 4 - 6

Edward Mac Dowell – To a wild rose – Achingly beautiful piece slow and romantic. Grade 4

Amy Beach – Secrets – This is my favourite piece in her Children’s Carnival op. 25. Very easy, yet the musicianship is so superior that one easily forgets this was originally a children’s piece. Broken chords divided between both hands, so that the hands are never together, smooth and flowing. Just beautiful. Grade 3

Adolf  Jensen – Lied – Another hauntingly beautiful piece (just two pages long) from an unjustly neglected composer. Grade 5

Jacques Duphly – A wonderful, almost unknown baroque composer. You can get the scores of his pieces here:

https://jacques.duphly.free.fr/

All four books are available for free, and each piece comes with a 20 second MP3 clip so that you have an idea of what the music is like.
Here are my favorites (so far):

The most beautiful Rondeau (2) in book 1

La Victoire , La Felix in book 2

La de Villeneuve, La Forqueray and the amazing Chaconne in book 3

La de Vaucanson , La de Drummond, and the superb La Pothouin in book 4
 (Grades 4 – 6)

Finally have a look here:

https://www.pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,7008.msg80656.html#msg80656
(Beautiful music that is not hard to play)

https://www.pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,8368.0.html
(Victor Carbajo)

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,8225.msg113552.html#msg113552
(minimalist pieces – description of Einaudi pieces.)

I hope this helps.

By the way, let me second xvimbi. I am also curious on how and why people end up in this sort of situation.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[rc]

The first piece my teacher gave me was a Chaconne by some fella called Johann Caspar Fischer, from the melpomene suite. 33 bars long, Am, ends in the major, 3/4, contrapuntal, slow. Easy, but ridiculously awesome. Not showoffy, more of a 'captivate the audience' kind of piece. I'd recommend just learning it anyways.

[sonatainfsharp]

"To a Wild Rose" by MacDowell.

Problem solved.

[perfect_pitch]

Traumeri by Schumann. Problem Solved.

[stevie]

along with the last 2, perform cage's 4'33 as an encore

you dont have to pay royalties that way right? possibly

[pianodaria]

Rach 3, most certainly.

[pianodaria]

...or a Chopin mazurka

[pita bread]

Firstly, I like to listen to Rachmaninov, Scriabin and other stuff I have no chance of playing - so I don't really listen to music that i could learn in 5 days. Also, all the music which has been bought for me or i have bought is elton john and other stuff not playable for the situation i will be in.
I would like something that sounds difficult and is medium difficulty - to learn in 5 days!!!
Tom

There's a variety of short Scriabin pieces you could learn in a day.

[stevie]

There's a variety of short Scriabin pieces you could learn in a day.

preludes you mean? or what else?

[hodi]

There's a variety of short Scriabin pieces you could learn in a day.

scriabin is often hard to read so i wouldn't suggest that

[dorfmouse]

Jacques Duphly – A wonderful, almost unknown baroque composer. You can get the scores of his pieces here:

https://jacques.duphly.free.fr/

All four books are available for free, and each piece comes with a 20 second MP3 clip so that you have an idea of what the music is like.

A great find ! Thank you for this site.

[bernhard]

A great find ! Thank you for this site.

Yes, Duphly is great!

Have a look here for more discussion on him:

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,4737.msg44794.html#msg44794
(Jacques Duphly)

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[bernhard]

I guess you still have 2 - 3 days, so if you haven't made up your mind yet, you can try some of the early piano pieces by Malcolm Arnold:

Allegro (1937)
Prelude (1937)

are very short and similar to Bach's prelude I (WTCI).

Romance (from "Three piano pieces" - 1943) is lyrical and full of lush harmonies.

(They have been recorded by Benjamin Firth for Decca - "Malcolm Arnold - Complete piano solo works")

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[bernhard]

So.what happened? 

[pita bread]

preludes you mean? or what else?

Preludes, short poems, assorted groupings of small pieces, several etudes.

[sonatainfsharp]

Traumeri by Schumann. Problem Solved.

Yes!

[tompilk]

I am playing on Friday 14th October and have decided to play Gymnopedie No.1 - Satie and Traumerai by Schumann. Thanks guys.

[BoliverAllmon]

I am playing on Friday 14th October and have decided to play Gymnopedie No.1 - Satie and Traumerai by Schumann. Thanks guys.

good choices

[keyofc]

I second To a Wild Rose by MacDowell.
It's beautiful and not very difficult

[jehangircama]

i definitely agree with the Beethoven Eccosaises. i'd also like to add Shostakovich's Lyrical Waltz. I played it for my grade 5 some years back and it sounds great. could easily be played as an encore. its a lovely piece. try it when you get the time so that in the future, you'll be prepared for a situation like this 

[lisztener]

Corrcect me if I'm wrong...    Schumanns pieces is mostly diffucult, right? But Traumerei is easy?  Which level is it at?     

[bernhard]

Corrcect me if I'm wrong...    Schumanns pieces is mostly diffucult, right? But Traumerei is easy?  Which level is it at?     

Traumerei is grade 6. The person asking the question is at grade 8 level, so for him the piece may be easy, and he certainly thinks it is doable in five days (besides it is only one page long). Then again, the difficulty of Traumerei is not really technical, but musical, and as such it is a very difficult piece indeed.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[perfect_pitch]

So... So is the Wild Rose by MacDowell... thats a cakewalk.....

But what I meant is that despite being easy, it is a piece that audiences will really treasure and admire....It really is that beautiful...

 

[pianowelsh]

If your ever in sticky situation again  may i suggest Chopins e min waltz (posth) short impressive and circa gd7/8.

[mycrabface]

Tompilk, my advice is that you better learn from this experience and have some backup songs in the future. By being a Grade 7 pianist, you already should have many songs you already have mastered, so I dont see any reason for fretting as you should be ever prepared if you're the kind that often plays for concerts.

[tompilk]

I had already played all of my pieces at previous concerts, and I wanted somehting different.

[Dazzer]

that's a good practice i think... i always try to have a new piece for every concert i play in.

[pianowelsh]

I was always taught 'keep two short pieces' old or relatively simple new ones on the shelf alongside your new repertoire so you can polish them up quick if someone says to you 'play something' - as they Do!