Where am I?

[gozo490]

Hi all,
Thought id ask this here. I am 22 years old, i started playing when i was 21. have been playign for a year and 2 months and i passed my ABRSM grade 1 with distinction a couple of months ago. Im currently prepping for grade 2, or at least starting to.

I have a teacher, she is awesome and has helped me indefinitely.

A few things i find frustrating though, is the wide difference in opinion of how you should practice. i have researched and researched and the general consensus is that there is at least two or three ways:

the intuitive method
The non-intuitive method
and sight read.

To which i have adopted all three despite their contradictions. i have gotten to a point where i can play peices i admired since i was about 12-14. As you can imagine, starting at the age of 21 is concerning to me, but i have found no pitfalls as of yet. The Piano has opened up a whole new world.

The most recent peice i have almost finished is David Nevues arrangement of Greensleeves. Its a bit messy still but i have no issues playing it, and sight read alot of the peice on the first two attempts. Its an amazing peice! I have recently finished an arrangment of my own for a peice of music, if youd like to see id be happy to post it.

I practice anythign between 3-8 hours a day depending on work, alcohol consumption of the previous night and my shift pattern. I invested in a Casio PX-730 which is amazing, although im not sure how it measures up to the real deal, it  is more than adequate for me.

So my main question is, with all this information at hand, being grade 1 , which i feel i surpass by quite a way. where would you say i am? be it beginner still (id be okay with that), intermediate?

I know it would be hard to say/ guage. and i know where i want to go with my playing. I just struggle to guage where i am being that gradings arent entirely accurate on my actual ability.

thanks for reading

[hfmadopter]

David Nevue's Greensleeves if you are doing the full version is in with the ranking of intermediate, as assigned by teachers and his general clientele. However, I can tell
 you that intermediate is a vast term so don't puff your head up out of shape over it ( don't take4 that wrong, nice job getting to it in your first year more or less) !!!

In other words, it's just a general guide.  It could be on the low end near beginner or up the other end near early advanced.

Done very well his music is nice, butchered it's terrible ( you need good expression to bring out the best of most of it, even some of his samples are just so so at the site).
David G.

[gozo490]

Thank you for your reply, it is the full version downloaded form his site, well worth purchasing it is, in my personal opinion of course, the best version ive found, for a couple of quid, i couldnt argue with the price!

I too have noticed he does spend alot of time on his intro's! i would recommend greensleeves if you decided not to! the neighbours enjoy it! his work is definitely inspiring. I cant remember which it was, it may have been "big snow in salizburg", which i found quite nice, however i have not tried it yet! i am still yet to look at his other workings as, as you can imagine im exploring music alot! just discovered Ragtime, which on some levels i find quite humerous and enjoyable to listen to.

unfortunately my rendition of greensleeves is closer to butchery than it is nice at the moment, due to a few kinks that need ironing out and the dynamics need to be worked on a bit. but i agree expression is key, theres also a change in tempo which i find a good enough challenge to observe!

I appreciate your response.

[hfmadopter]

I too have noticed he does spend alot of time on his intro's! i would recommend greensleeves if you decided not to! the neighbours enjoy it! his work is definitely inspiring.

I appreciate your response.

I just decided  was't interested in Greensleeves. I've done it before in other arrangements anyway. Don't need it. I tend to not repeat pieces.

Edit: I was incorrect, I do have the full sheet music from David after all. I ran through it last night and it is very nice. I just am not doing that this year.

In answer to where you stand, this piece is full intermediate level. I have no idea about your other work though.
David G.

[gozo490]

thank you for that David, that does give me an idea of how im progressing, not all my work is to that level as you could imagine, but i am thankful that you took the time to look for me

Kind Regards