Do your capabilities ever surprise you?

[bacchus1224]

Sometimes, there's a section of the piece I look at and go like "Well, crap that's gonna take me a month to get down"  ....... and then after  two or three days, I find myself being able to play that section and think "Whoa, didn't know I had that in me."

This happened to me most recently in La Campanella(the double notes and the coda) and Schubert's Impromptu op. 90 no. 2.

I guess it's a straightforward question; I assume this must happen to almost everyone quite often so share details

[landru]

YES! My teacher loves to spring surprises on me that she knows that I will freak out when I see the score - but she knows so much about my abilities than I do it seems.

The latest were a Schubert impromptu (op. 142 no.2), a Messiaen prelude and a Grieg lyric piece. With all of them I saw places that screamed "no way" to me, but yet were in my fingers in a couple of days!

And then there is the French Suite Allemande that a month later I'm still having issues with when I thought "no problem" when I saw the score...

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Rachmaninoff variations on a theme of Corelli!

I looked at the score and I thought this wasn't gonna be that bad.  But I can't remember what I play!

Because there's like a bunch of tiny variations within each variation and it's so difficult!  It's not technically challenging, it's just so difficult to rememember what to play!

[pianowolfi]

Because there's like a bunch of tiny variations within each variation and it's so difficult!  It's not technically challenging, it's just so difficult to rememember what to play!

That's typical for Rachmaninoff. Many of his works are difficult to memorize.

[j_menz]

I'm constantly amazed at what I can do.   

I'm also constantly amazed at what I can't.

[piano_vs_science]

I'm constantly amazed at what I can do.   

I'm also constantly amazed at what I can't.

me too!
i never knew i had talent until i played
maybe listening to piano music actually makes you a better player

[starstruck5]

me too!
i never knew i had talent until i played
maybe listening to piano music actually makes you a better player

Depends who you listen to. lol

[jesc]

Only after the fact. When I'm studying something I don't surprise myself because everything translates to "that's the way I should be playing"/"it's not enough". At this day and age it is very easy to put that thought into one's head especially when you have legendary recordings littered all over the internet.