I've read Bernhard, C.C., BUT

[jcabraham]

I still am not so sure if I'm taking too long to learn a piece.

I'm 42, a returning beginner. I can read music, and have dinked with the piano for years, but I've only just begun seriously studying.

I've been working on the minuet in g major, BWV Anh 116, in the Anna Magdalena notebook, and Burgmuller's Op 100, number 1. After 3 days of work, about 1 hour per day, I have the first page of 116 memorized, and about the first 4 bars of Op100,1. For some reason, the Burgmuller seems harder to memorize. In any case, at this rate it will take me a couple of weeks to get it down. Does this seem about right?

Jim

[go12_3]

Everyone learns at their own pace, no matter how much practice is put into
a piece.  A section at a time or the whole thing, whatever makes you feel
you are progressing, that is what is important.

best wishes,

go12_3

[shingo]

I agree with Go, but if these pieces have not been set by your teacher how about changing the Op100,1 for something a little easier and see how things go then? (The 116 sound about right progress wise)

There is bound to be a large learning curve for any pieces when a beginner, but try to ensure that you are receiving a large enough reward for you invested time. It quickly becomes very demoralising to only have a couple of bars for hours of input. Don't grind yourself into the ground with such pieces if you are unhappy with the outcome. It took me a long time to realise when something just wasn't worth it with regards to the effort I was giving it, and I don't mean that in a lazy way.

Some people will say that it is fine, as they can spend months practicing pieces for performance. but for those of us outside of formal music education and free from the various exams etc, I think it is personal choice as to whether you would prefer a couple of longer more complex pieces or many simpler ones, over a given time frame.

Bernhard once gave a very good example of a common trap people sometimes fall into (I am not saying you necessarily are one of them) where he compared the repertoire of two students for a years work. One had about 2 or 3 pieces which were quite difficult. On the other hand the other student had about 15-20 and as a result had about an hour of pieces prepared should he want to give a performance, whereas the other had only about 6 mins.  (*Vague recollection of the details us the search function if you wish to find the actual post)

You must make sure you are having fun.

[jcabraham]

Thanks. Actually I got together with my teacher (my father, who is a church organist. Yep, I had free piano lessons for life and turned them down.), and he agreed that the pieces, while difficult for me at first, would come with time. And I think he's right. My progress seems to be accelerating. Proof that good teachers think alike, he (unprompted by me) recommended Scarlatti. So it's progressing....