Amateur's dilemma - limiting the repertoire

[ganddalf]

Being new to this forum, I should perhaps briefly introduce myself. I’m an adult (over 40 year’s experience) amateur player living near a small town in Norway. My technical skills are so so, but I really enjoy playing and the piano has given me much pleasure over the years. Most of the time I play just for myself, but occasionally I play for the public, usually as an accompanist with a vocal soloist or a choir. On such occasions I also sometimes play a solo piece.

My problem now is that I have to reconsider which music I spend my practice time on. I always tried to strech my capabilities and have worked a lot with Beethoven sonatas and some of the more difficult Chopin pieces. The result of the effort hasn’t always been impressive (understatement). Using common sense I should probably spend my practice time with short and just moderately difficult pieces like Chopin Mazurkas, Lyric Pieces of Grieg or Songs without Words of Mendelssohn. I wonder though, if I should only spend time polishing these pieces or if I should, at least, have one or two more difficult compositions to work on.

I’m therefore interested to hear about experiences from other amateur pianists. How big repertoire is advisable? Does it make sense to spend much time with pieces that most likely are beyond your capabilities?

[werq34ac]

In general, you seem to be set on the idea that you cannot improve. Of course teachers don't give pieces that are too difficult for their students, but that doesn't mean they will never give these pieces. Work your way up

[ganddalf]

I firmly believe that I still can improve. The problem is that when working with difficult stuff I reach the 80% level, and then something else catches my interest. I have tried to dicipline myself and this helped a bit. I don't have a teacher or mentor, and I realise that this is a problem. Hopefully this forum can provide some good tips.

I sat down recently and made a list of pieces that I really would like to master. The list included pieces I currently play in addition to some pieces I have been practicing over the years. Totally it was about 60 compositions. Many of these are short ones like Bach 2- and 3-part Inventions. But on the list there are also some 15 Sonatas and Suites, and among the shorter pieces there are 12 really hard ones.

So - I have to focus. I have to skip some, and that will be a hard desicion. 

[thalbergmad]

The problem is that when working with difficult stuff I reach the 80% level, and then something else catches my interest.

I know how you feel. Over the last 10 years, I have played hundreds of pieces but the ones that I could perform to any reasonable standard, I could count on the fingers of one hand.

To try and discipline myself would be pointless as I know that I am not going to change, but if like me, you are not intending to give recitals, why not celebrate the fact that unlike many professionals, you can play what you want, when you want and you have nobody to please but yourself.

Thal

[autodidact]

I know how you feel. Over the last 10 years, I have played hundreds of pieces but the ones that I could perform to any reasonable standard, I could count on the fingers of one hand.

Same here, only with less years and less pieces.

I'd like to think, though, that even if you never end up bringing a very difficult piece up to performance standard, your technical ability may still benefit from having worked with it at all, making things of similar difficulty slightly easier in the future. [/me trying to justify having worked with several Chopin etudes one year after starting to play]

[teccomin]

 Try to force yourself into performance scenarios where you have to play one of those difficult pieces and see if it can push yourself over the 80%. But don't stop learning many other small pieces as they keep your repertoire diverse and can actually help you improve technique. It may take a few years to perfect a large piece for an amateur so don't give up so early. Its totally ok to take a break from them when you think you just can't play them any better but come back to it a year later and you would be surprised how much you have improved.

[ganddalf]

As I mentioned I sometimes perform for the public, but mostly as an accompanist. Even this requires a certain level of technique. The piano part of songs (Lieder) of Grieg, Schumann and Schubert may be pretty difficult. So far I avoided “Erlkönig” but I have performed both “Winterreise” and “Die schöne Müllerin”.  Also some of the choir material is hard enough.

Just maintaining the technique may be a good motivation for playing some difficult pieces. But I find it a bit dissatisfying to use them just as technical studies. I would really like to make music worth listening to.

I just got a new instrument (made a short thread about this under the “Instruments” forum) which is much better than my old one, and opens up many possibilities for me. This is the reason why I’m so concerned about repertoire choice these days.

There are some easy (and moderately easy) pieces that really sound better on the new instrument than on the old one.  A good example is Elgar’s transcription of “Nimrod” from the Enigma Variations. Also some of Mendelsson’s “Lieder ohne Worte” and Grieg’s “Lyric Pieces” sound beautiful on the new piano. These are pieces I feel I can master and require only a little practice just for “maintenance”.

But then we have the grey zone. Among many others I also found out that “Suite Bergamasque” of Debussy – at least parts of it – sounds very nice on the new piano. I played this suite (up to 80% level) some years ago and remember just enough of it to get an impression of how it may sound. I just wonder if I should make a new try and see if I can bring it to a new level. I think that I may benefit from the capabilities of the new instrument, and I have also improved my “technique of practicing”.  So maybe.....

[autodidact]

Among many others I also found out that “Suite Bergamasque” of Debussy – at least parts of it – sounds very nice on the new piano. I played this suite (up to 80% level) some years ago and remember just enough of it to get an impression of how it may sound. I just wonder if I should make a new try and see if I can bring it to a new level. I think that I may benefit from the capabilities of the new instrument, and I have also improved my “technique of practicing”.  So maybe.....

I say go for it! In my experience of being lazy and never completing much of anything, any given piece always seems much easier after ignoring it for awhile and then returning to it.

[werq34ac]

Surpassing that 80% level is actually quite simple. You have to be so dissatisfied with 80% (even disgusted with) that you really are motivated to play each piece with excellence. I'm not saying this is easy, dissatisfaction has to come from love and understanding of the music. This can be learned from a teacher. No one who hasn't attained extremely high mastery of the piano in my opinion should be without a teacher. There is always so much to learn from music and without a teacher it's sorta like trying to feel your way out of a dark forest. A teacher will be your flashlight and map.

[phil821]

What werq said, also I'm not sure if you already have, but try to work on the efficiency of your practice, by getting to the 80% faster, you have more time to push yourself more before getting bored of it

 Also maybe break it up/ learn in random places so that you can't really put it into context until your done learning the technical side of it ex, I started playing piano 14 months ago. I've got up to grade 5 since then but I  recently finished a grade 8 piece that I'm pretty proud of. I knew that if I started from measure 1 and worked on it normally, it would be a long time to get to the end and before I would get to the end I would surely get bored. What I did is just learn 1 measure a day in random parts. the piece didn't sound like music until I finished all 40 a month and a bit later but when I started to actually play it, it felt like I heard the piece for the first time and so I could put all the energy I had into the actual music when I could play the pitches and rhythms flawlessly. Still working on the musicality of it now 3 months since I learned the first measure, and it's still fun.