No piano teacher - what do you suggest I work on now?

[larapool]

Hey there.  For financial and other reasons I just can't have a piano teacher right now, so for the past few months I've been going at it alone, being careful to remember every piece of advice my old instructor gave me.  Relaxed wrists, warmup exercises, posture...

But I don't really know where to go now.  As far as sight reading goes I'm pretty bad at it and need incredibly simple music to sight read properly, but if I sit down and learn a piece measure by measure, I can learn it in no problem - so although my technique is a little advanced, I'm absolutely awful at sight reading.

What I'm working on now: Mozart's K545 sonata in its entirety, which isn't so bad, it's a fine level of difficulty for me now.  The first movement in particular is a blast to play and I love working on it.  I'm also working on Chopin's Op. 28 No. 15 (the 'raindrop prelude') and it's a blast, very good for working on wide chords, reaches, pedaling, and so many other things.  I can do Preludes 4, 7, and 20, and have worked a little bit on 11 and 23, which are good challenges.

Those are the two big ones.  I have several urtext books (all of Mozart's sonatas, Bach's inventions/sinfonias, Chopin's mazurkas and preludes) and all of Beethoven's sonatas and the Well-Tempered Clavier.  But I don't really know what I should work on!  I've been trying Chopin's mazurkas (Op. 7 No. 5 specifically) but there are so many!

Bach's inventions...  1, 2, 4, 8, and sinfonia 15 I can do well, haven't worked on others.

I've also worked on Beethoven's Sonata No. 19, the first movement - so I should probably work on the second, as well as Sonata No. 20.  The first movement of the moonlight sonata is not too hard although I can't make it sound as beautiful without pedal as I can with pedal...  that reverb, that echo, it seems to add to the piece, but Beethoven says not to use pedal..  What do you think?

[nataliethepianist]

Chopin Nocturne? An easier one?

[larapool]

I would love to learn a nocturne.  The word 'nocturne' alone is very cool to me.  Do you know of any easier ones?  From what I've read, there are some that are quite a challenge, but the way they're composed makes them look very interesting.

[werq34ac]

Just a note, I'm pretty sure you can use pedal on the Moonlight Sonata.
The marking is senza SORDINO. Sordino is actually the soft pedal, not the sustain pedal. Plus the tempo marking is adagio sostenuto, which almost guarantees constant use of the pedal.

[nataliethepianist]

Op. 9 No. 2 is pretty easy, and very famous. No. 21 in C minor MAYBE, but it might be too hard. Op. 15 No. 2. C sharp minor is about the same level as the Invention, somewhat harder.

[larapool]

@werq:  D'oh!  I didn't even think of that, thanks for pointing that out!  That makes much more sense - I automatically thought sustain and forgot about the other pedals.

@natalie:  Thank you for the suggestions!  I'll invest in Chopin's nocturnes and check them out

[zolaxi]

"I've also worked on Beethoven's Sonata No. 19, the first movement - so I should probably work on the second, as well as Sonata No. 20.  The first movement of the moonlight sonata is not too hard although I can't make it sound as beautiful without pedal as I can with pedal...  that reverb, that echo, it seems to add to the piece, but Beethoven says not to use pedal..  What do you think?"

senza sordino means without dampers. That is, play throughout with the right pedal down! On a modern piano, this may be a bit much, but Beethoven's piano did not have the same sustaining power.

So, start using the right pedal!!

[werq34ac]

Actually, if you ever get the chance to try out a pre-modern piano, you will find these fortepianos have more sustaining ability than you would think. If Beethoven wanted blending, he wrote it (see Tempest Sonata 1st mvt, Beethoven has an interesting pedal marking in one of the slow passages). But I was under the impression senza sordino means without mutes, or the soft pedal. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[nyiregyhazi]

Actually, if you ever get the chance to try out a pre-modern piano, you will find these fortepianos have more sustaining ability than you would think. If Beethoven wanted blending, he wrote it (see Tempest Sonata 1st mvt, Beethoven has an interesting pedal marking in one of the slow passages). But I was under the impression senza sordino means without mutes, or the soft pedal. Correct me if I'm wrong.

It means without mutes- which means dampers. However, I've never understood why this might necessarily imply never to change pedal at all.

[pianowolfi]

Senza sordino means with pedal, of course. The pedal lifts the dampers (sordini) so the strings can resonate, without dampers. Beethoven wrote "senza sordino" because there mostly was no pedal in those times, it was still a knee lever. Later Beethoven wrote Ped....* markings because pedals became more usual. Czerny, who was a student of Beethoven, suggests to change the pedal (btw change the pedal means to release it quickly and press it down again ) with every bass note, exactly as he has learned it from Beethoven himself. Additionally he says that Beethoven used the una corda pedal (the left pedal on a grand) throughout the first movement, except in m. 35-36.