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Topic: Where to go from here...  (Read 1170 times)

Offline larapool

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Where to go from here...
on: July 29, 2011, 06:23:02 PM
Due to uncontrollable circumstances I've had to withdraw from the university I was planning to go to this fall, meaning I won't have a piano instructor as planned.

To sum up, even though I know for a fact I should always have a teacher, I am very capable of teaching myself.  My former professor (with whom I studied for almost 2 years) praised me for my wonderful technique when we first started working together, and I had been self-taught up to that point.

Anyway, I'm wondering where to go.  My piano professor for this fall had me working on Chopin's Preludes 11 and 23, but those just seem too advanced for me. I can play the notes, but the delicate emotion and pedaling of both pieces just seems too much for me to handle properly.  However, he had me playing Beethoven's Sonata 19, first movement, and that seems about my level.  I also learned the first movement of Beethoven's Sonata 20, which is around the same difficulty level.  Fur Elise is also possible, though I haven't played through it in months.

I've learned several Bach two-part inventions (1, 2, 4, 8, 10, and working on 13).  I also know No. 15 of the three-part inventions but it's not nearly as solid as the others.  I can play Chopin's Preludes No. 7 and 20 - haven't tried the other easier ones, but I bet I could play a couple of them.  Can also do the second movement of K545 by Mozart.

Any idea where I should go from here?  I have the following books:

Beethoven's Complete Sonatas (2 volumes; Schenker edition)
Chopin's Preludes (Henle, urtext)
Bach's Inventions/Sinfonias (Henle, urtext)
Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier (Schirmer, both books in one)
Mozart's Complete Sonatas (Henle, urtext, 2 volumes)

Honestly, a lot of that is just far too difficult for me.  Mozart's K545 is manageable, but 95% of Beethoven's sonatas are impossible for me at this point, as are a lot of Chopin's Preludes, and just about all of the Well-Tempered Clavier, except for stuff like Prelude No. 1 in C Major.  Would Chopin's mazurkas and/or waltzes be a good place to start?

Thank you.  I've made a couple similar threads to this before but now that I don't have a new professor lined up in the future, I'm free to study whatever I wish without having to worry about a performance deadline.  And I think I should take it slow, instead of jumping to preludes that are too much for me.