Where do I go now? =)

[taoo]

Hi all on Pianostreet! =) (first post)

I have played a lot of guitar earlier in my life. played a lot of classical pieces when I was a teenager. I guess I advanced to level 7+ or 8- if there would be such scale on the guitar reportoire

I have now played the piano for 2 ½ years. First I played a lot of game music (mario, zelda, mega man, castlevania etc.) and composed some music.

since a year I have been taken almost 20 lessions for a pianoteacher to learn classical piano. the progress has been great I think! (she thinks so too)

My reportoire is:

Chopin Waltz Op. 69/2 B Minor      
Chopin Waltz Op. 64/2 C# Minor
Chopin Waltz Op. Posthumous Eb Major   
Chopin Waltz Op. Posthumous A Minor   
Chopin Prelude No.   4 E Minor      
Chopin Prelude No.   6 B Minor       
Chopin Prelude No. 20 C Minor      
Beethoven Fur Elise
Beethoven Moonlight Sonata Op. 27/2 C#   
Schubert Op. 94/3 Moment Musicale
Mozart Rondo Alla Turca
Bach Prelude No. 1 C Major      
Bach Prelude No. 2 C Minor
Satie Trois Gymnopedies No. 1


Here are some of the works I would like to learn:
Schubert Impromtus D 899 No. 4 Ab Major
Schubert Marche Militaire
Joplin The Entertainer
Debussy Passepied
Debussy Nocturne
Albeniz Granada
Rachmaninov Prelude Op. 23/5 G Minor
Rachmaninov Prelude Op. 23/1 F Sharp Minor
Chopin Etude 25/3 F Major
Chopin Etude 25/12 C Minor
Chopin Etude 10/1 C Major

What order do you recommend me to learn these pieces? Do you have any other piece suggestion or some other comments for me?

Best regards =)

[j_menz]

I'd do a Chopin Nocturne or three before you try the Etudes.  I'd also recommend a P&F from the Well Tempered Clavier. Ore several. Too much Bach is never enough.

As to the order, you should follow your teachers advice; she will have a better idea of your strengths/weaknesses

[megadodd]

Debussy Passepied
Shouldn't be hard for you I think, I havn't played it myself, but looking at the sheets, nothing really tricky comes up.

Rachmaninov Prelude Op. 23/5 G Minor
This could also be in reach I would say, with coaching.

Chopin Etude 25/12 C Minor
Some may say this is 'easy' but it's a Chopin etude, they're never easy. My thoughts are that you need a fine technique before going on to the etudes by Chopin, to refine it. Perhaps you can find some Czerny you like, believe it or not. Some in the opus 740 (finger dexterity) sounds pretty cool and can be used as performance pieces. Listen to number 50. (prepatory for 10/1, one could say).

Chopin Etude 10/1 C Major
Got big hands? It's a plus for this one, but still terribly hard. Hold your horses!

I don't have sheets for any of the other pieces you wanted to play! sorry!

[werq34ac]

Debussy Passepied
Shouldn't be hard for you I think, I havn't played it myself, but looking at the sheets, nothing really tricky comes up.

Rachmaninov Prelude Op. 23/5 G Minor
This could also be in reach I would say, with coaching.

Chopin Etude 25/12 C Minor
Some may say this is 'easy' but it's a Chopin etude, they're never easy. My thoughts are that you need a fine technique before going on to the etudes by Chopin, to refine it. Perhaps you can find some Czerny you like, believe it or not. Some in the opus 740 (finger dexterity) sounds pretty cool and can be used as performance pieces. Listen to number 50. (prepatory for 10/1, one could say).

Chopin Etude 10/1 C Major
Got big hands? It's a plus for this one, but still terribly hard. Hold your horses!

I don't have sheets for any of the other pieces you wanted to play! sorry!

Chopin's 10/1 doesn't exactly require large hands. Large hands simply facilitate the piece. It shouldn't be too uncomfortable if your hand can reach a 10th. It's not too difficult to learn the notes, but cleaning it up is an enormous challenge. I don't recommend this until you learn at least 3 other etudes.

Chopin 25/12 I agree with what megadodd said, it is considered one of the easier ones, but is by no means "easy." Considering your repertoire, I would give this maybe a year or two and an easier Chopin etude than this one before you learn it. It's somewhat easier than 10/1 to clean up but it is incredibly taxing.

I haven't played 25/3

Joplin's entertainer is most certainly within reach. You could learn it now. It's not much harder than Mozart's Rondo Alla Turca although you might have to practice the jumps.

Debussy Passepied and Nocturne should be within reach I think, although you might want to play something from Children's Corner before you play Passepied.

Have not heard Albeniz Granada..

The Schubert Impromptu I think you can handle. Might be a bit of a jump.

As for the 2 Rachmaninoff, I don't know about the 1st one, but I would NOT say you are ready for the G minor prelude. It's really nowhere near the technical sphere of what you have currently played. Maybe 2 years? And I would learn Prelude in C# minor at some point (overplayed as it is) before you learn G minor.

I have not played Chopin 25/3

[megadodd]

About the 10/1 etude. Chopin music never require big hands, it's just that if you have *small* hands, you have to turn so much. And if one can reach a 10th it's no small hands, in my opinion. There are some people that barely can strech a 9th, that's what I was pointing to!

[taoo]

Thanx a billion for all the answers! =)

I have actually learned 3 chopin nocturnes like 50-80 % finished..

Chopin Nocturne no. 02 Op. 9/2 Eb Major
Chopin Nocturne no. 19 Op. 72/1 E Minor
Chopin Nocturne no. 21 Op. Posthumous C Minor

but i didnt mention those becouse i havent finished them. My strenghts are arpeggios and octave plays. but i think i have big problems with hand independence.. if you have played those nocturnes you will know where my difficulties begin :/ in no. 2 there arent that much problems its just that i have been too lazy to learn it

I will go for passepied and the entertainer first i guess!

many thanx for the answers again =)

[chopinlover96]

Thanx a billion for all the answers! =)

I have actually learned 3 chopin nocturnes like 50-80 % finished..

Chopin Nocturne no. 02 Op. 9/2 Eb Major
Chopin Nocturne no. 19 Op. 72/1 E Minor
Chopin Nocturne no. 21 Op. Posthumous C Minor

but i didnt mention those becouse i havent finished them. My strenghts are arpeggios and octave plays. but i think i have big problems with hand independence.. if you have played those nocturnes you will know where my difficulties begin :/ in no. 2 there arent that much problems its just that i have been too lazy to learn it

I will go for passepied and the entertainer first i guess!

many thanx for the answers again =)

I would say that for the etudes you will need some of the 'harder 'Nocturnes. Hve you listened to all of the Nocturnes? There are some absolute gems which i think would be valuable before learning the etudes. I would look at Op15 and Op27.

[symphonicdance]

J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier Bk 1 & 2 and Beethoven's 32 sonatas were (and I think they still are) regarded as The Old and New Testaments in piano music.  Doing more Bach will help your hands (and fingers) play independently.  The 32 sonatas of Beethoven are sometimes classified into 3 periods, all have their tastes.

Please forgive my non-professional opinion, but I would suspect that whilst learning more pieces of the romantic periods and the impressionist/20th century (as your "double majors"?!), you better keep moving with one Bach and/or one Beethoven (as your "minors"?!) all the time at this "learning" stage.

If you have trust and confidence with your teacher, then why not follow his/her suggestions.

[nanabush]

Try a sonata!  I've realized that learning a lot of short difficult pieces quickly will result in sloppy, fast learned pieces; try a large scale work that fits in your technical range.  The Moonlight... did you do the 3rd movement??  Seems monstrous compared to some of the other stuff you've played.

Sooo... I'd suggest Beethoven Op 2#1, Op 13 (pathetique), or the Pastorale sonata.

Rachmaninoff has some good stuff, but I'd try his G minor etude tableau (op 33), to get a good feel for his writing.  First Rach I played, and I've worked on a few other pieces by him since.  It's not fast and awkward (but does have an excellent cadenza), and shows you how he likes using the ENTIRE piano to intertwine many layers.

Go for those Debussy!  I'd also like to add some preludes:  Minstrels, la Cathedrale Engloutie, Bruyeres, Generale Lavine.

All of his stuff is excellent, and I'd say for impressionist composers, way more accessible to intermediate/early advanced pianists than Ravel.

[werq34ac]

J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier Bk 1 & 2 and Beethoven's 32 sonatas were (and I think they still are) regarded as The Old and New Testaments in piano music.  Doing more Bach will help your hands (and fingers) play independently.  The 32 sonatas of Beethoven are sometimes classified into 3 periods, all have their tastes.

Please forgive my non-professional opinion, but I would suspect that whilst learning more pieces of the romantic periods and the impressionist/20th century (as your "double majors"?!), you better keep moving with one Bach and/or one Beethoven (as your "minors"?!) all the time at this "learning" stage.

If you have trust and confidence with your teacher, then why not follow his/her suggestions.

Some of the Beethoven Sonatas are incredibly difficult. I'd say at least half are more difficult than the Rachmaninoff prelude in G minor. Careful with which one you choose if you do choose one.

As for more preparation for the etudes, I would actually suggest you play some of the more difficult waltzes rather than nocturnes. While some of the nocturnes can be somewhat difficult, (especially 48/1) they won't really give you the virtuosic side of Chopin.