I took several years of lessons as a teen. My teacher was excellent but my sight reading skills have always been terrible. My playing skill was (and still is mostly) fairly high. I was playing Bach's piano and fugues, Beethoven's sonatas, the Maple Leaf Rag - a lot of the standard student stuff. Now, 30 years later, I have purchased an electronic keyboard (with headphones not to bother people!!) and it's been a joy to practice again and learn and build my repertoire. Recently I taught myself 3 Chopin Nocturnes (Op.37 #1, Op. 9 #2, Op. 72 #1) and am struggling with a 4th (Op. 48 #2). It took quite a bit of effort to learn the notes.
Today I noticed I'm making progress with my sight reading skills! I'm not just memorizing the notes, I seem to be recognizing them quicker. The problem is that I don't like most of the music at the level I need so I tend to give up. It all seems so childish to me. I get turned off from practice because I can't find the right stuff, stuff I want to play and hear. A good example of something I don't like is a piece called "Evening Song" from Schirmer's "Selected Sonatinas" Vol. 1595 (Book II). A good example of music at my level that I absolutely LOVED learning is Eric Satie's Gnossienne's, all of them. They are beautiful, different and they don't sound like a kid learning piano. I also enjoyed Yann Tiersen. I tend to like sad or emotional music.
I guess I'm looking for a composer who just happened (or happens) to write music that's not too challenging but has a deeper, more serious feel to it without being too contemporary either. I know it's probably better practice to play music that doesn't make sense (for lack of a better way to put it) but the flow and beauty of a piece help me stick to it. Any suggestions would be MUCH appreciated! I'm willing to try stuff. Thank you.
Topic: I need help finding music that's not so childlike