Moszkowski Etudes

[frank_48]

hello people!

for anyone that does know me and my current situation, hio! and for those who have never seen any of my posts, i am an 18 year old pianist that has been playing for 13 months. so, for the last 4 months i have been playing small works by various classical composers. you know, stuff thats relativley easy and is only about 1 or 2 pages long. mainly minuets. the whole point was to develop sight reading without the pressure of huge pieces. i feel that my sight reading has improved much more than what it was 3 months ago. but at this point i am kinda- getting sick of these mini pieces. not that i dont like them anymore - no (fantastic work) i just am not feeling challenged anymore. but then again i dont feel quite ready to go into some chopin nocturnes or beethoven sonatas just yet. then the moszkowski etudes came into my head, they sound much more enjoyable than czerny and i was wondering if the set of Etudes by moszkowski Op.91 or Op.72 would be good for me at this point?

[allemande]

Well, exactly what pieces are you playing right now?

[frank_48]

Well, exactly what pieces are you playing right now?

Current completed Repetoire:
Moonlight Sonata, 1st Movement
Fur Elise
C.P.E Bach's Solfeggio
Chopin Preludes Op.28 No.4 & 7
Chopin Waltz Op.69 No.2.
Chopin Cantabile.
Mozart: 6 Minuets.
Beethoven: Ecossaise, Country Dance in D Major.
Bach: 4 Minuets, 2 Marches.

Currently working on:

Bach invention No.1
2 minuets by Mozart
2 country dances by Beethoven.

not exactly mind boggling in terms of challenging works..

[allemande]

Well, in my opinion there are pieces in there that you shouldn’t be playing at all. If you have been playing the piano for 13 months you’re obviously in need of pieces that are formative, do you know what I mean? Surely, the Chopin preludes are beautiful, but they are not benefitting you at all in terms of learning to play the piano. These pieces, as technically easy as they may seem, are to be played later on when you have already acquired certain ability in the instrument. 

The same goes with Beethoven’s moonlight, fur elise..etc. Don’t take me wrong, but these works are musically demanding at a level which you haven’t learned yet. One starts with “easy” pieces and advances in a progressive manner not only to better their technique and playing capacities, but also, most importantly, one learns musicality in a progressive manner, do you know what I mean?

I believe that you’re most in need of formative works.

It seems you have some pieces from Bach’s Anna Magdalena notebook, move onto Little preludes and fugues (fughettas), there are quite a few in there that should take you some time to learn, but most importantly, they will prepare you for Bach’s later works.

Try Beethoven’s Sonatinas. Number 6 in G major is interesting, and has all the correct elements in order to get you going.

Now concerning Moszkowki... have you even done Czerny?

There is an edition of a bunch of Czerny’s etudes gathered into 4 parts (2 volumes) edited by H. Germer. Those are excellent etude books. If you have never done a Czerny etude, begin with part one. Then do one from part 2, then one from part 3, then part 4 has polyrhythmic etudes. Then move onto Czerny’s op. 740 (art of finger dexterity)

…all before attempting Moszkowski…

I did it in this manner, and would teach in this manner as well.

[db05]

not exactly mind boggling in terms of challenging works..

I would say that playing a few pieces by Chopin is already a big achievement, assuming you can play them well.