Need advice: What to play and why.

[james_collison]

Hi All,

I'm a fairly beginner - intermediate piano player, like most people I got involved when I was young and progressed through the various AMEB levels, reaching about 5th-6th grade before school finished up and I kind of let the piano slide.

Anyway, fast forward about 7 or 8 years and I want to get back into it a bit more, but I don't really have the spare funds to organise private tuition. Subsequently, while I've always owned a piano and kept playing little bits and pieces here and there, I've not progressed and really don't have any idea of where to go forward.

So! Long story short, are there any brainy piano buffs out there who could point me in the direction of some good 4-7th grade pieces that will help me get back on track? I don't really mind who it's from or what genre it is.

So - any ideas you lovely people?

Cheers,

James

[james_collison]

Argh ... I just realise there's a "level" category in the search function. Wow, I feel silly. But still, any suggestions on some favourite pieces?

[akasimone]

I sort of gave up/got way less serious about piano in high school.  When I picked it back up in college my teacher made me play Mozart, which I wasn't a huge fan of, but it was good for me to focus on clean technique, and to get used to playing in a style other than dark, Chopinesque, rubato (with too much pedal).  So... I guess my advice would be to go for variety, especially pieces from composers or periods you're less familiar with.  And find good recordings so you know what kind of sound to aim for.

Right now I'm working on some Beethoven Bagatelles, which are short and not too hard (mostly grades 5-6 I think) but still lovely and quite characteristic of Beethoven.  (I have also basically made it a mission to profess their greatness to everyone everywhere so you should know I'm a bit biased towards them )