Audition Piece

[billy_lee]

I was going to go to school with guitar as my instrument of focus but I decided to switch to piano. I've been aging piano for about a year and I need to decide on a piece that I can get in with, I'm not trying to impress anyone, just enough to get in. I haven't gone to get the information on the piano audition from the school yet(I still have the guitar info) I'm just looking for some advice on a simple piece that I can play smoothly and well enough to show potential with. I just finished learning an easy piece called Ballade opus 100, No 15 by Friedrich Burgmuller would that be a good enough tune? By the way the school is a local community college but with a very good music program


Thanks   

[aphlatminor]

Set up an appointment with the professor and *ask*. 

My audition for college scholarship is in a few days, and months ago, I sat down with the professor after taking a tour of the campus.  I asked him what he would like to hear, since I need two pieces.  Instead of telling me what he wanted to hear, he told me what he did *not* want to hear.  Going from that list, I picked my two, and have been working on them.

Furthermore, my desire to please him at the audition led him to invite me to have a free, one hour lesson from him.  My last official piano lesson was forever ago during my first attempt at college, since then I have been playing and learning purely for my own enjoyment.  I developed some very bad habits, which he quickly corrected.  He gave me tips, pointers, played with me, my lesson was nearly two hours long (instead of an hour) because he enjoyed it so much, and I walked away a better player for it. (I can't wait to start classes in a month!)

Moral of the story:  Ask.  If you don't, you may wind up playing something the professor would rather not hear (as in, would rather have a root canal with no anesthetic than hear *that* piece again, wrong genre, too technical, not technical enough, etc.).  If you do ask, you may wind up with a free lesson, but you will surely know what he or she expects from you.

[billy_lee]

Thanks for the advice, sorry it took me so long to get back to you-I haven't been on in a while

[pianovlad1996]

I advice you to play something that is techically medium. Chopin waltz in a minor is technically medium. It's Chopin and you will need soul in your interpretation.
Another short piece is Chopin mazurka or prelude. The mazurkas are 1 page long and not demanding ( technically). But shure the Ballade by Burgmuller is a bit easy.
But the best answer I can give you is to ask your teacher (as aphlatminor says).

[jimbo320]

If it were me I'd blow them away with a totally unexpected combination of pieces. Done right to leave the audience awed at your abilities. But that's me. Good luck to you.

Jimbo

[pianisten1989]

Do NOT play a mazurka. People say they aren't difficult, but then are completely unable to play them. Either you have to get the mazurkas with your baby food, or you need to study with a teacher that did.

Though I don't have any suggestion on what to play, but if a Burgmuller-ballade is the biggest work, i actually advice you to play the guitar, then switch once you get in...