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Topic: Solo intermediate/advanced piece that can be learnt quickly?  (Read 3840 times)

Offline schmetterling69

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Hey everyone i'm new to pianostreet and this is my first post...YAY  :D

Anyway, I have a bit of a dilemma. I have been asked to play in a concert at the end of June but I don't really have anything to play  :-\
I know I could just refuse but I don't want to let my teacher down and I'd like to do something (I'm trying to perform as often as possible to overcome stage fright!).
Therefore, I am looking for a piece that can be learnt in a month  :P Nothing too difficult please, I am grade 7-8 level but maybe something around 6 would be a better bet for such a close performance! I am prepared to put a lot of work in (approx an hour a day, maybe longer).
So I am open to pretty much any suggestions. There isn't a single composer I would rule out; I like everyone from Schubert to Bartok  ;) In fact, I started learning Schubert's Impromptu No. 2 in E Flat the other day and it's going pretty well - if I had started it earlier I would have opted to play that. High on the list are Bartok's Six Romanian Folk Dances; I have heard they are not too difficult (though seeing them being played I beg to differ, I have not yet seen the score though!).
My other option is Debussy's La fille avec des cheveux de lin (excuse my french) which isn't perfect at the moment but I reckon I could get it up to speed in time  :)
Oh, and I played Chopin's 'Raindrop' Prelude 15 in the last concert so maybe no Chopin!
Many thanks and apologies for such a long post! xx

Offline pianisten1989

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You probably need more than one hour a day... But here are some suggestions:
Btw, is it a super serious concert, were you have to play full works?
If not:

Bach: Some of the preludes&fugues without the fugues. C major, c minor or whatever you like
Beethoven: First movement from Moonlight sonata
Mozart: Kv 545, maybe some of the slow movements.
Chopin: Preludes e minor, a minor, c minor... Waltzes: Both of the a minor.

I'm not a big fan of playing random pieces and only a few movements, but I know how it's like to not have time to prepare anything major.

Offline aintgotnorhythm

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Also you might consider a Scarlatti sonata, e.g. K198, or Harvey's Rumba Toccata which was a Grade 6 piece from a few years back (good exercise for crossed hands and repeated notes). Both of these are quite short and easy to sight read/learn and can still be played effectively at a slightly slower speed if you don't have enough time.

Offline schmetterling69

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Well I am still at school with a few gcses coming up so not sure I can afford more than an hour a day apart from weekends and upcoming half term  :( i will do my best though!
It isn't a majorly serious concert just a school thing :) so no i don't need to do a full work! Thank heavens! I know some of the suggested pieces and like most of the ones so far, so thank you very much  :D

Any comments on the pieces I mentioned at first? xx
For more information about this topic, click search below!

Piano Street Magazine:
New Piano Piece by Chopin Discovered – Free Piano Score

A previously unknown manuscript by Frédéric Chopin has been discovered at New York’s Morgan Library and Museum. The handwritten score is titled “Valse” and consists of 24 bars of music in the key of A minor and is considered a major discovery in the wold of classical piano music. Read more
 

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