Practicing pieces you love but are probably too difficult

[naumdar]

Hello,

I am probably a level 4-5 piano student. My background in music is a little more extensive, I was an advanced percussionist (mallet, orchestral, marching, drum set) and have a bachelors of arts in music. In college I read a great deal of musicology(an area I focused on more than my peers), composition analysis that follows me to this day when reading about my favorite operas or composers. Later I started to focus on piano repertoire and decide to focus on the instrument going forward.

All this to say, while my technique has a long way to go (and certainly my repertoire) - my exposure to the piano is greater.

The question I would like to pose is whether it is inadvisable/dangerous to try and learn a piece that is above your technical playing ability.

When I was a percussionist, I never shyed away from any piece and focused on areas of difficulty within it and practicing the technique required extensively. While this led to a slower absorption of the piece into playing repertoire, it was a great way to gain exposure to technical studies embedded in the peice if you will. In the long run, while it was a slower process, I thought it added to my skills well.

Now that I strive only to be able to play as amateur (on any instrument), I'm wondering if this is a good idea.

Bottom line: I am in love with Sibelius Ten Piece Pieces op. 24 - especially the Romances (pieces II and IV and IX) - although VI Idyll is probably the easiest.

I've started to work on one of the Romance pieces (II) and it is slow trying to memorize it as well as practice the broken chord movements in isolation to be comfortable with the technique.

But I do love the piece very much and it is inspiring to work on.

Contrast this with Mozart's Fantasia K397 - which I am probably more than half way finished learning after working on it less seriously due to the fact that I simply don't love it the same way.

I suppose the answer is find pieces that I love which are inspiring in my difficulty level, but I wonder if it makes much of a difference.

At the end of the day I reach the conclusion that I am over-analyzing things and I should just practice more. But I wondered what you all thought.

Thanks

[naumdar]

I should also clarify what mean by "inspiring" --

I have a lot going on (profession, graduate studies, family-life) and while my schedule will slow down in June to the point that I can dedicate 1-2 hours a day to the piano like a normal person, that is unfortunatley not where I am right now.

That is to say, I do not suffer from any motivation/discipline issues - rather time/energy is my biggest constraint at this point.

I didn't mean to give the impression that how much I loved the piece had anything to do with whether or not I was going to practice or not - but I must admit, I am more inclined to work on something out of love for playing it than because "it is what I am supposed to be doing in my piano studies."

Thanks

[nadia goh]

Hi naumdar. I'm not a piano expert cuz I've started piano quite late-Oct 2009 (no musical background at all) and I don't know whether this reply could help you in any way but I'd like to share my experience though. Last year, I tried to read Pathetique mov 2 and I was surprised that I could play it! Well of course, it isn't that good but I'm happy to play the piece that I love. Then, I begin to read Chopin's pieces-Prelude No.4, 6, 15 and I manage to play them quite okay. My next mission is to learn Chopin piano concerto 1 because I love it soooooooooooo dearly (I haven't told my teacher yet. I think she might disagree with me.)  I have problem playing pages 3-4 (out of 5 pages...hehe) for the first movement but I'll work hard! 

Honestly, I think this reply is not that helpful. I'm hoping to read replies from others too

[cas70]

My motto has always been your reach should excede your grasp.  In other words, stretch a little farther than you can really go, play pieces just beyond your competence and you'll learn faster than if you stayed in your comfort zone.

[brogers70]

Hi Naumdar,

There are target pieces I have which are above my current technical level. Trying to take them on now would deprive me of the pleasure of playing pieces well at my technical level. So if I have a couple of hours a day to practice I spend most of it working on stuff that's within range for me. Right now, that's Bach's Partita #1 and Beethoven's E major Sonata opus 14. But I set aside 15-20 minutes to work on technical exercises based on the hard parts of the target pieces. So, for example I work on the presto section that's the last page of Beethoven's Pastorale Sonata, hands separate, using the RH to practice rapid scale work with some awkward jumps thrown in, and the LH to practice jumps in octaves without looking, or work on the arpeggios from the beginning of the Finale of Les Adieux or big chords and octave scales from The Great Gate of Kiev. That pushes my technique along and makes it faster to learn the target piece once I'm ready to take it on. It also gives me the satisfaction of working on a few pieces that are above my level, but doing so in a way that I am pretty sure is not just wasting time or kidding myself.

Bill

[pianoplunker]

I have practiced many pieces that are out of my league and I will probably never perform in this lifetime. I have learned a great deal from it and it has made better at other easier pieces. But if you are trying to build a repertorie, then several easy pieces should be part of the picture in addition the the difficult piece. Spending all your time on one piece could prevent you from really mastering anything.

The main "danger" to practicing something above your level is if you dont understand proper technique you could actually hurt your hands. For instance if you are not very experienced with long runs of parallel octaves, then you might want to first find out how you can play them relaxed by using your 3-4-5 fingers with your thumb. This can be achieved by playing short pieces that use parallel octaves or you can open up a technique book such as Hanon to get an idea of what kind of fingering works for you in certain sections.

Hello,

I am probably a level 4-5 piano student. My background in music is a little more extensive, I was an advanced percussionist (mallet, orchestral, marching, drum set) and have a bachelors of arts in music. In college I read a great deal of musicology(an area I focused on more than my peers), composition analysis that follows me to this day when reading about my favorite operas or composers. Later I started to focus on piano repertoire and decide to focus on the instrument going forward.

All this to say, while my technique has a long way to go (and certainly my repertoire) - my exposure to the piano is greater.

The question I would like to pose is whether it is inadvisable/dangerous to try and learn a piece that is above your technical playing ability.