Learning Loads of music in a short time

[pianoman53]

Hi,

After the school finished in june/july, my teacher gave he a HUUUGE repertoire for both summer, and next year. It's the following:

Brahms: Ballades op 10
Beethoven: op 101, and the 5th concerto
Chopin: As many studies from op 10 I can manage (I'll finish the whole op 10 asap)
Liszt: Spanish Rhapsody, Chasse Neige and Paganini study no 6
Mozart: Concerto 17 in G major, Maybe also Rondo A minor or Fantasy c minor
Rachmaninov: 6 moment musical
Ravel: Miroirs
Prokofiev: Sonata no 2
Scarlatti: Whatever fits with F minor k 466.. and k466

I will finish this before the summer, since I want to join one, or more, competitions with parts of the program. Also, I hope I can start looking at the B minor sonata by Liszt, and a bigger work by Chopin before the summer.

Now, my question is: How do you approach such long term repertoires? I mean, I'm fully aware of that it impossible to finish the whole repertoire before summer ends. Right now, I know the first two movs. from the Mozart, the Brahms, most of 101, the paganini study, some of the Chopin studies, the scarlatti, and I've started looking at the prokofiev and the Spanish rhapsody.

The problem is, that now I'm tired. I feel very stressed because of this big repertoire, and don't really know how to continue. I took a rest the two first weeks of the summer, and I've been learning these pieces I know for basically 2-3 weeks, but now it's getting more and more difficult to learn new notes. My goal is to know, more or less, 3/4 or the repertoire in 1½ month. I don't mean to know it perfectly, but to know like 4 or 5 pieces well, so that I have something to work on during the lessons, and then as many sort of half good, so that I can work on then during the semester, and then know all of them well before March. Why march, you might think. Well, I plan to enter some competitions in the beginning of the summer, and I want to have time to really plan a good program.


Any ideas?

[david456103]

If I were you, I would feel the same way. I'm learning 3 pieces this summer and learning/reviewing 1, and I already put in several hours of practice a day. What you have to remember is that quality is greater than quantity. It is better to learn 4 or 5 of those you listed thoroughly and performance-ready than to learn all of them at a low level. What I recommend is you set goals for the end of the summer(i.e. learn 3 of the above pieces) and then set goals for the school year(learn the rest). That way, you can better focus your practicing. Also, start with the pieces you either need for next year and that you like the most.

[nanabush]

Is your teacher planning on working on these pieces in full with you?  If so, that seems a bit of a stretch... like seriously, Rach Moment Musicaux in full, Miroirs in Full... that's already a huge amount of music!

I'd probably start by skimming through the pieces, keep track of the ones that you will need to work on technical facility... I don't think the Brahms Ballades are difficult technically speaking (compared to Miroirs, Beethoven 5, Liszt anything)...

Maybe work at it in chunks, as if you were preparing three mini recitals...?

Brahms, Beethoven Op 101, Liszt Chasse Neige, Prokofiev

Beethoven concerto, Chopin Op. 10... maybe just a couple? , Ravel, Scarlatti

Liszt Spanish Rhapsody, Paganini Study, Rach, Mozart, Mozart...

OK. I would LOVE to see how much of this you can finish by the end of the summer!  That's hours of music dude!

[nagatomo]

Wow, wow, wow, amazingly long and with full of major works!  How much of the day do you spend at the piano, then?  23 hours???   I don't know what to suggest, but I guess some of the pieces are "sight readable" such as Mozart and Scarlatti, and once you organised the fingering, you may get away with a few play-throughs to get ideas...  As for Beethoven, Ravel and Rach, these need hours and hours of practice sessions... and Prokofiev? I am lost.

Enjoy!

[danhuyle]

Are you studying for a masters degree? There's no way it's for an undergraduate degree.

For longer term solo pieces like

Liszt - sonata, spanish rhapsody
Beethoven - sonata

I would play them with music to get familiar with the technique and for fluency.


Have a look at the pieces and just play them with music. Memorize the pieces that you believe comes easy to you.

If your teacher assigned all that, then you must be very skilled to pull it off. How would your teacher go about learning all that?

[pianoman53]

Hah, at least it's not just me who feels a bit small in comparison to the program
I planned to not spend more than 6 hours at the piano every day, but it will probably be at least 7 hours. I looked it up couple of weeks ago, and I have like 26 movements to learn

That's sort of my plan too. I've played all the easier pieces now, so that will give me some time once the school starts. I plan that every piece will take two lessons to just go through. plus one lesson a bit later, to check so everything is getting better. So that will give me some time to learn some of the more difficult once to a good standard, and so on and so on... Though, plans like this never ever works out, but I hope this time will be an exception....

Thanks for the ideas and the encouragement

And no, I will start my second year of Bachelor

[davidjosepha]

And no, I will start my second year of Bachelor

Have you considered the possibility that maybe your teacher is pulling a cruel practical joke on you? That is an absolute ton of music to learn. Suggestions? Uhh...pray? 

But really, I would suggest starting with the most difficult pieces and getting them started. Sure, at the end of the summer you might have less to show for it than if you were working on the easier pieces, but I find difficult pieces are much harder to cram (ie same amount of hours you would spend over a long period instead over a short period) than easy pieces. You need to give the really hard ones time to sink in while you spend time on the easier ones later.

[pianoman53]

Have you considered the possibility that maybe your teacher is pulling a cruel practical joke on you?

Yapp, I've considered that many, many times. First, I played the second ballad. Then he said, "well, the presto con fuoco isn't technically difficult, so it should be better than this." Then later, months after I finished it, and hadn't played it since, he called me: "Hey, there is a masterclass in 2 days.. You wanna play the ballad?"
Theeen, I learned dumka, by Tchaikovsky, in a week. And he said "well, you actually play it quite well.. but I don't like this piece, so unless you Reeeally wanna play it, I suggest you learn something else."
So yeah, I'm fully aware of that it's a cruel joke!


About the pieces, I already learned the easier pieces, so I'll start on the medium difficult ones now, and start the Ravel and Rachmaninov when school starts. * Puuh..*