First post - Seeking some friendly advice.. :)

[marco_from_brazil]

Hello, I've been lurking about for some time, and decided to join the forum.. so , cheers!

Now, I've played the piano some 13 years ago, and just got back to it, 6 months ago, my repertoire is basically:

Bach
Prelude and Fugue in D Major from bk.1
Sinfonia in A minor, learning the D Major currently
Two-Part Invention in C Major

Chopin
Preludes no.4, 6,7 and 20
learning Posth. Nocturne Op. 72 now

Beethoven
"Moonlight" sonata , the 1st movement only
Fur Elise ( yes, I know.... :-S )

so, the thing is, while I know I'm not NEARLY advanced enough for them, I just love chopin's etudes and I've been sightreading the op25 no1 since yesterday and loving it, I can play it at about half tempo just the right hand to finish, and although the left hand is impossible to play HT right now, it seems real hard, but not insurmountable.

sooo, what u think? I should keep at it, or maybe I should be focusing on a different piece, not so tough?

your 2 cents appreciated

Cheers,
Marco

[swim4ever_22]

There are two schools of thought to this. At least... to my understanding. The first is that the Chopin etudes are very advanced and thus, you should build up your repertoire/technique/playing ability before tackling them, the other is that you should just play whatever you want. If you look at the thread "19 yr old seeking advice.....", it deals with something similar, except he wants to learn Op. 10, No. 4. I would say... play whatever you want. The piano is something to be enjoyed. I have been playing for about a year... currently, my repertoire is:

Bach
Invention No. 1 in C Major
Prelude in C, WTC Bk. I, No. I

Mozart
Sonata K.545 (all three movements)

Beethoven
Moonlight Sonata, 1st Mvmt.

Chopin
Prelude Nos. 4, 6, 15, 20

Currently, I am working on the same nocturne you are, as well as Chopin's Valse Op. 34 No. 2, and the Minute Waltz, and once I get one of the waltzes out of the way, I'm going to work on some more Bach. I just want a solid repertoire from each of the periods of music. Bach is essential. Never seperate yourself from Bach. Mozart is also good.

I guess if I really wanted, I could tackle a Chopin etude, but the way I see it, I want to become more experienced and have more pieces under my belt before taking on his more advanced works. But, that's just me. You, as a pianist and musician, know your own abilities. I say do what you enjoy.

[lostinidlewonder]

The opportunity cost is one difficult piece which can only JUST be played under your hands, or several pieces which are easily under your hand but not too difficult. You find you will develop a lot more from the latter.

Personally I have never tried to study pieces which where too hard for me. I am quite lazy in that respect that I will not try to force myself to study pieces which escape me.
I remember very clearly when I was about nine or so first listening to the Beethoven Pathetique Sonata while in a car travelling to my grandparents in Perth. I felt I really needed to learn this piece and the next week I asked my teacher to get me a copy of it. I tried it and it took about half a year to learn the first movement. Mind you I can remember this was the most difficult music I had ever seen at that age (now it is below average difficulty). I remember trying to learn the 2nd and 3rd movement but ended up giving up and only focusing on the 1st (beacuse there where a lot of issues unsolved).

However, now if I put up the Pathetique I can simply sight read through the whole 3 movements, play it about 99% how I would like it played and there are no issues. In a couple of hours I can pretty much get all three movements up to scratch ready for any performance. But how did this happen? It wasn't because I studied Beethoven sonatas all day, it is because I studied thousands of little pieces which give you the understanding of how music is actually constructed.

There is only so much variation people can create at the keyboard with our hands, eventually everything becomes the same or similar, but we must gain this experience through studying a lot of smaller, easier pieces, which give us the tools to tackle more difficult pieces. I simply do not think that studying difficult tough pieces wil make you any better, it will simply bury you in what you do not know, and you might not ever get out, or you might be able to get a little out of it but still sound pretty mediocre. I can't count any more the number of times I've heard difficult pieces which can only JUST be kept under the hands, and the pianist is pleased about it, there's no faking your way through music, you either sound in control or not, you play the music or it plays you!

I usually have are rule, if I sight read through a page of music and there is more than say 5 points of difficulty which make me stop and have to reassess what I am doing, look at my hands, look at the music more closely etc, then the piece is too hard for me. Mind you nowadays it is mostly the complex obscure music which does that to me not so much the "traditonally" written music. Being able to pinpoint what causes you trouble technically at the keyboard is an important skill which most people leave to their teachers but I really think you should realise it yourself and make notes about it. What gets written gets done as they say.

I would get use to playing everything hands together if you want to develop at the piano. Never play seperate hands, it just wastes time in my opinion/experience. The feeling we get comes from both hands, each hand helps the timing and coordination of the other. So yes spend time learning etudes single hands, but you will not get anywhere very fast.

[pianowelsh]

My teacher always used to assign tons of the chopin preludes before the etudes (mini studies) so my suggestion would be to keep up the ones you have to select a few ones looking at more of the kinds of techniques used in the etude and to slowly start to practice the etude and be prepared for it to take a very long time before its ready..however the preludes will be ready much quicker.  Also i recommend eleanor Bailies book on Chopin (a performers guide to..) it is brilliant it gives gen advice and grades all his solo works for piano.. It also gives very helpfull practice suggestions..these are particularly helpfull in the etudes which do at first seem impenitrable.

[marco_from_brazil]

Hmmm, the first prelude that comes to mind with a similar technique to the Op 25 no 1 is the No. 8. but I think it is as difficult as the etude, isn't it?