What's up with teens obssessing over Fantasie-Impromptu?

[alwaystheangel]

I just checked out Stuent's corner and there's like 3 or 4 FI questions up there right now and I'm sure there's more.  They're always along the lines of I'm twelve and I've been playing for 2 years, am I ready to play FI?  Or something to that effect.  Can anyone theorize why this seems to be like a initiation or something for these preadolescents?
Thoughts?

[thalbergmad]

I have no idea why it is so popular amongst the younger generation.

I have never liked it and in fact i hate it on a cellular level and detest every fibre of its construction.

It is not Chopin at his best.

Thalx

[alwaystheangel]

Yeah, it's impressive, but meh.

[prometheus]

And all this because Chopin didn't have the guts to burn it himself...

[bennom]

I just checked out Stuent's corner and there's like 3 or 4 FI questions up there right now and I'm sure there's more.  They're always along the lines of I'm twelve and I've been playing for 2 years, am I ready to play FI?  Or something to that effect.  Can anyone theorize why this seems to be like a initiation or something for these preadolescents?
Thoughts?

Haha, I just remembered something upon reading this thread.

When I was really young, I was going to play the b minor mazurka by chopin in a student's concert. An older guy was practicing in the hall just before me, guess which piece...
He asked me what piece I was going to play, and when I told him he gave me this smile of superiority and said: oh, THAT one...(he played the first bars)... I played it YEARS ago.
I was furious, of course.
Then at the concert he played the piece so awful and full of flaws that I proudly declared to myself that this was the next piece I was going to learn...and it was.

[jas]

I agree, it's strange that so many beginners or semi-beginners or whatever gravitate towards the same work. I love the Fantasy-Impromptu, though, so I can at least understand why they like it, but there are lots of nice works out there...

And all this because Chopin didn't have the guts to burn it himself...

Could you have done it? I don't think I could burn one of my works. Granted, mine are all steaming piles of crap, but even so...

Jas

[Tash]

it's like pop music- all you have to do is exploit it and say it's the greatest and then everyone wants to listen to/play it. because they don't know any other music, except for the moonlight sonata and fur elise, but they want something more virtuosic. so if you don't have the knowledge of what's out there, then it's the FI for you. it's like people who tell me they've been listening to classical music and i ask them what it was and they're like 'clair de lune' and i'm like duuuuuuude there's so much more out there than the stuff EVERYONE puts on the same cd's- 'most most beautiful piano album in the world'- honestly, there's more than 20 beautiful pieces out there, yet they can't seem to move on from their selected 20 because that's all anyone knows and thinks that classical music consists of.

[contrapunctus]

Because it has a great theme (actually it has three or four great themes).


Actually, teens who are a little too promt when they are thinking about their fantasies like it.

[semme]

hmm.. i started that piece before i came to this forum here and i had no idea how popular it is to the youth ( like me). i never heard of the piece until my teacher let me listen to new pieces i could possibly play, fantasie impromptu sounded the best . at least it sounds like you know how to play the piano .

regards,
semme

[pianorama]

I love Fantasie Impromptu! I first heard it on a recording on my digital piano. For at least 6 months since I first heard I never even knew what it was called, until one 16 year old girl played it at a recital.

Then again, I'm 11. Another young stundent obssed with Fantasie Impromptu.
I would try to learn it if my hand could stretch more than an octave, I had much
better, cleaner technique and I didn't have a gr. 6 exam in August. (I can play gr.8
and 9 songs, but for ear training, sightreading, etc., I'm only ready for gr. 6)

[steve jones]

I quite like FI. Not sure why it gets quite so much attention, but I can see why people like it. Maybe because its slightly more accessible than some of the other 'show off' pieces?

SJ

[Siberian Husky]

yeah seriously whats up with that?..we're all too good for that sh*t though

[alwaystheangel]

I quite like FI. Not sure why it gets quite so much attention, but I can see why people like it. Maybe because its slightly more accessible than some of the other 'show off' pieces?

SJ

That's a good point.  It's certainly an easier show off piece, I still couldn't just sight read it like the tons of kids that have been playing for a year ot two can and I've been playing for longer than they've been alive (the 11 and 12 years olds and any rate)

[bertrand]

I think you've hit the nail on the head.  It sounds really virtuosic but falls so nicely under the hands that is not nearly as difficult as it sounds ... i.e. good show-off piece.  Plus it's familiar ... It's like the fur elise for people who have progressed beyond beginner level.