Pour une Infante defunte

[hoff]

Holy crap is this piece hard. I can do okay until around measure 28, where I suddenly need to start moving notes around and can not play at even close to a reasonable speed. I have a feeling this is pretty far out of my league -- I've been taking lessons for about a year and a half and other things I've played recently are some simple Bach pieces, the Gymnopedies by Satie, a simple Chopin, and Moonlight Sonata.

Do you guys agree? My teacher doesn't seem to mind my slogging through it but I don't feel like I'm getting anything out of it anymore...

-- John

[kiki91]

if you are playing for only a year and a half,i think that it is too early for you to play this piece...

[lostinidlewonder]

Reprenez le mouvement is tough because of the 10th intervals you must cover in BH (and LH leaps make controlling this form even more of a challenge) and the tres doux et tres lie is demanding because of the chordal position movements and melody control. Ensure if you are slogging your way through this that you are moving towards comfort in tackling the technical issues of the piece. If you are just hoping that you are hitting the correct notes and they feel very uncomfortable then you will not really get much out of trying to play the piece or any piece for that matter.

Ravels music has a very particular form and unique way to share the hands at the keyboard. How to use the hands to play Ravel is a lesson in its own, whether your teacher knows the "Ravel hands" or ravel form, would be a nice question to ask them.

[mc_shas]

Lol, I know your pain. I tool it up rather last min before my final performance exam in the first year of my BA, thinking it would be a nice, expressive, but relatively easy piece. i'd never really paid any attention to anything beyond the first page and then discovered that you need like three hands or ouber long fingers to play some of the rest. Lol. Took some serious cramming to get it down in time.

Respect tho, I'd already been playing on and off 7 years before I tried it and I don't think that it was really perfect by the end. Keep it up, and yeah, try and keep you hands relaxed. tensing up won't help.

[sja1966]

John,

Good grief you are trying this piece with less than 2 years of piano!  You will get frustrated quick esp when you come to the B section . This is a VERY advanced piece because of the 10ths.  Good luck and try not to tackle something out of your control too fast.

Judy