About beginners who play difficult pieces...

[shortyshort]

Yes... And we have to point out one other thing... It's not just that they don't know how to perform a piece, but they don't even learn it from the technical/rhythmical aspect! Very, very sad...

We must also remember that not all of us wish to "perform"

I once asked about the difficullty of a certain piece that I wanted to try and learn.
I got a reply of, "You can't learn that yet, as you've not been playing long enough".
When I questioned this remark, the answer was, "It's not fair on the others who have had to wait years to be able to play it".

So, it was not my turn yet.

Why should it worry anybody else what I try to learn.

[tds]

We must also remember that not all of us wish to "perform"

good point u made, shorty. but people have to understand it still within reasons, eg. beginners shouldn't be allowed to tackle too difficult a piece, as it will beat the original purpose of playing/enjoying music anyway.

[slobone]

Well, I'm now studying on my own, so I don't have to get anybody's permission. I wanted to do the Goldbergs, and I'm doing them. I know they're "too hard" for me.

I expect it to take me the rest of my life (I'm 60 now). I'll never be able to play #5 as fast as GG, but so what? For once learning new pieces is rewarding instead of punitive. I never get tired of playing them, even after a zillion repetitions.

And I can always use the excuse that Bach didn't specify tempi, or I could go the Simone Dinnerstein route and decide I want to make a "personal statement" by playing some of them much slower than anybody else does.

[sborovic]

Well, the tempo is LEAST important! It's the phrasing/expression that matters!

[thierry13]

Well, the tempo is LEAST important! It's the phrasing/expression that matters!

A good technique can keep expressiveness/phrasing at any tempo. May it be dazzlingly fast or amazingly slow. I'd say the faster you get, the hardest it is to keep expression/phrasing, AS MUCH as it gets harder the slower you go! Many people forget the latter part ...

[sborovic]

A good technique can keep expressiveness/phrasing at any tempo. May it be dazzlingly fast or amazingly slow. I'd say the faster you get, the hardest it is to keep expression/phrasing, AS MUCH as it gets harder the slower you go! Many people forget the latter part ...

Completely true! Some works of Bach that are very slow (andante for example) can be so hard to play because of the "thoughtfulness" you have to maintain during the performance.

[thierry13]

Completely true! Some works of Bach that are very slow (andante for example) can be so hard to play because of the "thoughtfulness" you have to maintain during the performance.

It's not really about "toughtfulness" (of course that matters also, but that's not what I was thinking about). It is still purely technical. The control, the connection between the ideas etc. and many other various aspects can be very hard in very slow tempos.

[sborovic]

I just found this thread:

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,1119.0.html

Not just he wants to play a piece way too difficult for him, but on an organ too?! What do you think?

[queenrock]

I just found this thread:

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,1119.0.html

Not just he wants to play a piece way too difficult for him, but on an organ too?! What do you think?

Lol what's most funny is that someone would want the toccata in d minor at a WEDDING, i think its a bit too dark for a wedding ceremony personally

[tds]

There must be a lot of holes in his performance.

dont know about thierry's performance, but there must be a lot of holes in my performance, too. and i am not really a beginner 

[nanabush]

oh... oh god... (the person who didn't know that a sharp raises the note a semitone... NOT to the nearest black key lmao)

Some pianists ARE amazing, like for example on youtube there's a 7 year old girl who plays the 3rd mvmt of Ravel's Sonatine... and a 9 year old girl who plays the Chopin E minor waltz (I think posth.)... that's not even the least, some competitions for youngsters have 10 year olds playing TE's and the entire Gargoyles Suite (Which really bugs me because I'm 10 years older, probably been playing 10 more years, and am finding this piece a pregnant dog to play)... but then there's the well known case of the kid who played Chopin's Revolutionary etude, but 'spiced it up' with left hand glissandos, probably b'cause he had no technique by any means to play that...  there's also the aweful girl (guy?) who plays the 'Chopaann Revolutionary, OCTAVE etude' ... that video is posted in the 'amazing videos' thread on one of the last pages...

I could go on forever; usually more than half the videos are pretty good, but you come across these atrocities and can't help but laugh... seriously play something easier!! GAAHHD

[ponken]

I learned all the Chopin etudes only two weeks after I started my piano lessons.

Just kidding.