What's the Easiest Piece that is Worth Studying?

[mousekowski]

My teacher said something the other day that got me thinking: Choosing too much difficult repertiore can cause problems. I don't think she was saying that there is anything wrong with allocating some time to studying difficult pieces - it can be very motivating. However, if you continually choose pieces that are too hard for you, you lose the ability to listen to yourself when playing and practicing. I know that in the past I have got into the nasty habit of not mastering passagework and therefore not being able to focus on the musicianship; phrasing, musical meaning etc...

What does everyone else think? One possible antidote might be to choose a very easy piece, Grade One for example, do some technical work on it, focus on the musical content, record it and post it on the audition room... Any suggestions for the easiest piece in the piano repertiore?

[weissenberg2]

Bartok Mikrokismos

[mousekowski]

That's a good idea. Thank you. Do you know what the first few pieces are like?

[weissenberg2]

here is a link to the score:

https://imslp.org/wiki/Mikrokosmos_for_Piano%2C_Sz.107_(Bart%C3%B3k%2C_B%C3%A9la)

[mousekowski]

All the Mikrokosmos pages on IMSLP are unavailable from the UK at the moment.  I'll have to buy it (shock! horror!) from a shop.

[iroveashe]

Check this threads:
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,2147.0.html
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,7008.0.html

[mousekowski]

Thank you for digging up these links. The first of these threads has some useful suggestions. I think some of the Beethoven-without-opus-numbers pieces are what I'm looking for.

I suppose what I'm really looking for in this thread is suggestions for very easy pieces that advanced pianists can go back to to charge up their musicianship batteries. From a stylistic point of view, if it is phrasing and musical syntax in the classical era it makes sense to go back to Beethoven unpublished pieces or Mozart K1-5. Similarly for Baroque you could go back to the Anna Magdelana Bach Book and for 20th Century you could dip into Mikrokosmos Book 1 or Shostakovich's Children's Notebook.

I can feel a tournament coming on!

[communist]

This little Beethoven waltz could work

https://imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/6/63/IMSLP12834-Beethoven_woo85_Waltz_in_D.pdf

so would this Allegretto in B Minor by the same composer

https://imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/0/0a/IMSLP12829-Beethoven_woo61_Allegretto_in_b.

try these easy pieces by Joseph Haydn:

https://imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/9/9d/IMSLP10607-Haydn_-_12_Easy_Pieces_for_Piano.pdf

A nice little piece by Mussorgsky called "Une Larme" literary meaning "a tear"

https://imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/9/9e/IMSLP02911-Mussorgsky-Larme.pdf

some Schubert landler:

https://imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/b/b5/IMSLP03149-Schubert_-_17_Landler__D.366.pdf

Mozart adagio in B Minor

https://imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/e/e6/IMSLP25151-PMLP56433-Mozart_Adagio_K.540.pdf

[pianowolfi]

Arvo Pärt: für Alina, perhaps not THE easiest but easy enough.

[go12_3]

I think Bach is a great composer to learn from....

From the Baroque Period:
*  The Highlander (La Montagnarde) by Mouret
*  Procession in G    by Praetorius
*  Gavotte in C   by Telemann
*  Canario  by Von der Hofe

From the Classical Period:
*  Sonatina in G (1st movement) by Attwood
*  Adagio and Allegro  by J.C. Bach
*  Morning by Diabelli
*  Quadrille by Haydn
*  Bagatelle  and Minuet by Hook
*  Little Dance  by Turk

From the Romantic Period:
*  The Hunt   by Gurlitt
*  Tarentella by Lynes
*  Little Prelude   and Melody for Left Hand by Schytte
*  Waltz for Four Hands  by Wohlfahrt

From the Contemporary Period:
*  On the Ocean Floor       by Alt
*  The Busy Machine         by Dubliansky
*  Pantomine                    by Nancy Faber
*  Banjo Tune and Song of the Dark Woods  by Siegmeister

Hope this will help   

best wishes,

go12_3

[burstroman]

Satie wrote quite a bit of technically easy music.

[m19834]

What's the Easiest Piece that is Worth Studying?

[db05]

Whole rest is easier, and also worthwhile.

[m19834]

Whole rest is easier

Not necessarily !

and also worthwhile.

But this is true.

[db05]

LOL, I remember my classmate telling us a story about his student. He'd taught that the whole note has four counts, and the pupil seemed to get it... but he would plonk the key and lift his hand immediately while counting 1 2 3 4...


Now I suggest that the easiest pieces worth studying are Happy Birthday and your respective National Anthem. They are just as easy or complex as you make the arrangement to be, and there's always an audience for either piece.

[pies]

a

[go12_3]

I think this thread is about easiest *pieces*  , not  a NOTE   duh