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Topic: A good challenging piece?  (Read 1608 times)

Offline spark12no3

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A good challenging piece?
on: March 26, 2010, 09:18:08 PM
Hi, I'm new to this forum. I'm wondering if any of you guys can help suggest any good pieces for me to play? I've played for about 10-11 years. I have a very good and precise technique, so Mozart/Schubert is my forte. However, I have very very tiny hands so I can barely reach an octave on my right but I can on my left. So far, I've played 1 Chopin etude, 1 Beethoven sonata, one Haydn, 1 Mozart sonata, 1 Schubert impromptu, 1 Debussy prelude, and 2 Chopin waltzes in my 2.5 high school years. I'd like to broaden my range now. Maybe a composer I haven't played. Maybe another Schubert or Mozart piece that is about level 8+. Something meaningful. But I definitely want to take up something very challenging and very very difficult technically, but not too stretchy and not too overboard nor too overplayed for a young pianist. Thanks guy! :)

Offline lontano

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Re: A good challenging piece?
Reply #1 on: March 28, 2010, 02:53:11 AM
Hi, I'm new to this forum. I'm wondering if any of you guys can help suggest any good pieces for me to play? I've played for about 10-11 years. I have a very good and precise technique, so Mozart/Schubert is my forte. However, I have very very tiny hands so I can barely reach an octave on my right but I can on my left. So far, I've played 1 Chopin etude, 1 Beethoven sonata, one Haydn, 1 Mozart sonata, 1 Schubert impromptu, 1 Debussy prelude, and 2 Chopin waltzes in my 2.5 high school years. I'd like to broaden my range now. Maybe a composer I haven't played. Maybe another Schubert or Mozart piece that is about level 8+. Something meaningful. But I definitely want to take up something very challenging and very very difficult technically, but not too stretchy and not too overboard nor too overplayed for a young pianist. Thanks guy! :)
If you can "barely reach an octave with the right hand" you've got a lot of stretching exercises to do. May I ask how old you are? You state you are a "young pianist" that has played 10-11 years, so I'm wondering if you've finished your adolescent growth spurt (if not, you must be close). Even works that place a solid emphasis on the LH usually demand solid RH octaves (at least!). Any decent teacher should be able to guide you through studies that help extend the span of either hand, unless the hand can't expand due to a physical condition.

Take a look at the Prokofiev Toccata for an advanced work that doesn't depend on too many octave+ RH spans. It's difficult. LH takes the majority of octave works while RH manages thirds, triads and some octaves.

PD Score attached. 
...and she disappeared from view while playing the Agatha Christie Fugue...

Offline point of grace

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Re: A good challenging piece?
Reply #2 on: March 31, 2010, 03:34:25 AM
i think it's time for you to play a piano concerto. a mozart or beethoven one
Learning:

Chopin Polonaise Op. 53
Brahms Op. 79 No. 2
Rachmaninoff Op. 16 No. 4 and 5
 

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