Preparing for Beethoven

[gnuboi]

Hi, I took lessons for 5 years a very long time ago, but I never really stopped playing, although my technical progress is nearly 0 as I branched out playing easier, fun pieces for the past many years.

Then I took out my Beethoven book and began going over Sonata No. 1 again.  It's fun, but I'm like a grain of sand against Andre Watt's mountain of skill.  What I really want to play eventually is the Appassionata, and when I read some posts here about it, it seems to be quite hard!

What is your advice on preparing to play the Appassionata?  What pieces or exercises should I do well before playing it?  Do I need to get a teacher? :p

[joeplaysthepiano]

I had similar questions 4-5 years ago.  When I first heard the appasionata, I wanted to drop out of college and focus my life on learning the piece.  I realized after a couple of days that I should in fact stay in college, and ultimately I realized that I was not good enough to play the appasionata yet.

I'm not sure about exercises, but I would absolutely recommend playing a few easier sonatas first.  You will find that Beethoven uses very similar techniques in a lot of his sonatas, so playing easier sonatas will definitely prepare you for harder sonatas.  I recently learned the 3rd movement of the appasionata.  Before I learned this, I played the pathetique, op.10 no.2, the moonlight, and op.78.  I would not have had any success, in my mind, with the appasionata, if I had not played these pieces beforehand.  The 3rd movement, for example, has some pretty difficult tremolos in the LH.  I was somewhat prepared for this because the above mentioned pieces all feature some version of tremolo.  This is just one example I could give you of many.

Some here may disagree, but I say be patient, and learn at least 2-3 easier sonatas before you dive into this beast of a piece.  I think if you do this, you will be glad that you took this path.

You should definitely get a teacher too.  You might risk some serious injury if you try to play Beethoven's sonatas with improper technique / practicing methods.

Good luck!

[gnuboi]

Thank you for the wonderful advice!

I shall practice the No. 1 and play it well first.  Then I'll do the Moonlight (never got the last movement down when I was a kid).  Before the Pathetique, I think I'll try the Waldstein (wife loves the short movement).  Then after the Pathetique, I'll go for the Appassionata!  This is going to take years at my very slow rate but I am patient.  Oh, right, I should get a teacher, too.