technical and musical études

[alsimon]

Hello

I am a 40+ year old beginner who has started piano several months ago after having played classical guitar for over 30 years. My actual repertoire consists of Beethoven's Für Elise and Mozart's Fantasia in d-minor, pieces I love and that motivate me to return to them frequently.

I would like to work my way through a set of technical studies, études so as to give me a solid technical foundation. But these études must be musically interesting, this is very important for me. I have tried Czerny's op 599 (pedagogically founded but musically void) and Burgmüller (not very stimulating except a few pieces).

Could you recommend a good set of progressive pieces that could do that? I'm thinking of Schumann's "Album for the young" which is beautiful musically speaking, but would it be worth the while to use them as études to improve my pianistic skills?

Or are there better collections?

Kind regards
Al

[scottmcc]

there are not many good beginner "etudes," at least in terms of being simultaneously musically interesting and pedagogically important.  but there are plenty of good things for a beginner to play that aren't necessarily etudes and will still contribute to your technical development.  I suggest you search the forum for a thread by bernhard called something like "beautiful music that is not hard to play." 

I personally don't have much of a taste for the schumann you mentioned, but if you like it then go for it, the pieces are very straightforward and do sound like real music.  you could certainly try some of the easier chopin preludes (eg #4, #6, #7), the bach anna magdalena notebook, or even a very select few of the beethoven sonata movements (such as the famed 1st mvt of the moonlight op 27 #2 or either op 49 #1 or #2).

good luck!

[alsimon]

Thanks for your reply scottmcc

[bleicher]

I wouldn't find any technical studies useful without a teacher to work on with them: I would just play the notes as I normally do with no idea how I could improve my technique with them. My advice is that if you have a teacher who is good at teaching technique, they will recommend exercises and studies of their own. If you don't, just continue learning pieces you enjoy and leave technical exercises until you next have some lessons.

[alsimon]

Unfortunately a teacher is not an option for me due to a tight professional timetable.