The freaking EASIEST pieces of all time

[rachmaninoff_forever]

So, this is how it is...

I wanna expand my horizons.  But I obviously don't have enough time because of this college stuff.

So I want the freaking EASIEST pieces by like every composer you can think of.

So incidentally, I want you guys to just name a bunch of easy pieces.

And I don't mean easy pieces, I mean EASY pieces.  REALLY EASY pieces.  




Thank you...

[austinarg]

You want to play the EASIEST PIECES??? Valentina Lisitsa would be ashamed of you!!!!!









Bach Little Preludes and Fugues, perhaps? If you were able to put away your hatred to Bach for a while...

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Bach Little Preludes and Fugues, perhaps? If you were able to put away your hatred to Bach for a while...

I already have a couple of pieces by Bach in the bag, so I don't need anymore.

Thank god...

[perprocrastinate]

Chopin Prelude 28/20, 28/4?

[quantum]

There are some movements from the Bach French suites, English Suites, and Partitas that are easy.  I know you said you have Bach already, you could always add more  

Have you done any Scarlatti sonatas?  

You could look into some Bach contemporaries and Renaissance composers.  Make an good impression to your new profs that you know keyboard music existed before Bach.  

Check out the following composers:

Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer - has a lot of good easy pieces.  

Louis-Nicolas Clérambault

Antonio de Cabezón

William Byrd

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck

[j_menz]

And I don't mean easy pieces, I mean EASY pieces.  REALLY EASY pieces.  

You mean pieces you can just read through pretty well first go?

[rachmaninoff_forever]

You mean pieces you can just read through pretty well first go?

Pretty much.

[j_menz]

Pretty much.

Excellent idea.I was doing a bit of that myself until I started my Alkan thing. It's a great way to get some breadth.

Why don't you use the listings here on PS and look for pieces around the right grade level. Without knowing what level you can comfortably read at, It's a bit difficult to give a list but that should start you off.

It's a great way to improve your sightreading too, incidentally.

[outin]

Scarlatti!
For you most will be easy, yet they are very full of music

And don't feel/sound anything like Bach

[chopin2015]

Chopin Valses? Pretty straight forward, I read op 69 no 2.

[zezhyrule]

Prokofiev's Op. 65

It's called works for children or something like that.

[chadbrochill17]

Chopin Valses? Pretty straight forward, I read op 69 no 2.

Uh...no way man. There are far easier pieces than Chopin's Waltzes.

[perprocrastinate]

Uh...no way man. There are far easier pieces than Chopin's Waltzes.

She's probably too advanced to tell.

[chopin2015]

No, but that specific valse is simple, short piece. It is not hard to read after a couple of run-through's,  and by then you will already know what to do. That's all I meant. Some Ravel like his Haydn minuet. That one has sweet chords and is not technically demanding, plus it is short. How bout Debussy Valse la plus que lente-6 pages but it is easy to look at and is slow. I picked up a short Scriabin work today, I will look at it and let you know what I think of it.

[imbetter]

john cage 4'33 /endtopic

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Thanks for all of the suggestions so far!

Except for that kid who mentioned Bach...




But I also need a piece with a glissando on white keys, a piece with a glissando on black keys, and a piece that uses the lowest note on the piano. 

[chopin2015]

new topic?

[j_menz]

But I also need a piece with a glissando on white keys

Percy Grainger's English Country Garden

and a piece that uses the lowest note on the piano.  

Nicolai Medtner Prelude to 6 Characteristic Pieces (Op 1 No 1)

No idea about the black key gliss.

[ajspiano]

Konrad Kunz - 200 short canons

In 5 finger positions only, progressive difficulties allowing for development on hand independence and rhythmic coordination.

[49410enrique]

have fun
you should be able to in and pick out by level, mostly modern stuff but cool and super useful resource all around.
https://www.pytheasmusic.org/young_piano_1.html

[perprocrastinate]

But I also need a piece with a glissando on white keys, a piece with a glissando on black keys, and a piece that uses the lowest note on the piano. 

White key glissando: Liszt Totentanz, Ravel Jeux d'Eau (double note glissando, yay)

Black key glissando: Ravel Une Barque Sur l'Ocean, Chopin Etude 10/5 (if you play the fast descending octave scale at the end as a double octave glissando (ouch!))

Lowest note: Ravel Une Barque Sur l'Ocean, Volodos transcription of Mozart Turkish March

[fftransform]

Scarlatti

Scarlatti!

No.  Just no.


Anyway, if you're actually looking to "expand your horizons," let's go into the 20th century.

^Bet you never thought you'd see Finnissy in the "easiest pieces" thread.

[ranniks]

Thanks for all of the suggestions so far!

Except for that kid who mentioned Bach...




But I also need a piece with a glissando on white keys, a piece with a glissando on black keys, and a piece that uses the lowest note on the piano. 

1. Bach
2. Mozart
3. Beethoven / Chopin
4. Tchaikovsky
5. Vivaldi
6. Scarlatti

And somewhere down below the list Rachmaninov for me. Maybe if I listen more to him higher.

Bach is in a realm beyond any composer you can name. Your dislike for him is your inability to appreciate the best composer the world has ever produced.

I'm probably talking blasphemy since I've only just taken piano lessons. I like Bach that much.

[j_menz]

I'm probably talking blasphemy since I've only just taken piano lessons. I like Bach that much.

I suspect you will come to like him a great deal less before you can like him as much again.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Your dislike for him is your inability to appreciate the best composer the world has ever produced.

Dislike and appreciation aren't the same thing.  I said that I disliked him, but I never said that I didn't appreciate him, so don't tell me who I appreciate and who I don't appreciate.

And to say that he's the best composer the world has ever produced is entirely subjective.  

Most influential composer?  Probably

Best composer?  No

Bach is in a realm beyond any composer you can name.

EVERY composer is in a realm beyond any other composer you can name!  Wanna know why?  

Because they all made different music!  


Music isn't a contest because there aren't any parameters that we can use to discern who's the better composer.

Incidentally, another way of expressing this sentiment is by saying that all music is the same; it's just a bunch of sound waves at different lengths and frequencies hitting your ear and your nerve fibers converting those sound waves into electrical impulses which are then sent to your brain through the auditory nerve system so you can interpret.  

So the way you view Rachmaninoff can sound like the way I view Bach and the way I view Bach can sound like Rachmaninoff to you.

[outin]

Bach is in a realm beyond any composer you can name. Your dislike for him is your inability to appreciate the best composer the world has ever produced.

And I thought we would get a long so well! Has some one hacked into your account? 

[ajspiano]

Your dislike for him is your inability to appreciate the best composer the world has ever produced.

Thats a pretty arrogant statement. There's no such thing as a best composer, art is subjective.

Even more confusing is that the question is about easy pieces, not composers..  and as a generalisation how are any great composers, particularly your number 1, at all easy to master?

On top of that, I'm sure rach_forever has a very strong appreciation for Bach's genius even if he doesn't particularly like playing Bach.

[ajspiano]

Incidently Rach, you may like to consider grabbing something like this..

https://www.amazon.com/Pianists-Standard-Teaching-Performance-Literature/dp/0882846558

Her book is levelled (I know we don't like levels, but it is to your advantage here as a guide rather than a rule) 1 to 10, as a range that precedes diploma material. So things like chopin and listz major concert works/etudes are excluded as their difficulty is beyond the scope of the book. Its pretty much designed to answer your question in this thread... (well except the stuff about glissandi)

And there are enough pieces to last you a lifetime.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Incidently Rach, you may like to consider grabbing something like this..

https://www.amazon.com/Pianists-Standard-Teaching-Performance-Literature/dp/0882846558

Her book is levelled (I know we don't like levels, but it is to your advantage here) 1 to 10, as a range that precedes diploma material. So things like chopin and listz major concert works/etudes are excluded as their difficulty is beyond the scope of the book. Its designed to answer your question.

And there are enough pieces to last you a lifetime.

I'll see if I can cross out everything that has to do with levels in that book

But when you brought that up, I immediately thought of that one post I had that was about Prokofiev's 2nd piano concerto and the guy shattering his hands.

[ajspiano]

I'll see if I can cross out everything that has to do with levels in that book

Fair enough. Though to be serious, I doubt her aim was to be all level/grade orientated. That kind of text is designed to help someone with choosing a piece that they potentially have neither heard or seen a score for. You need some kind of guidance, not to say the piece is too easy or too hard, just to give you some perspective on the content of music you've never seen.

But when you brought that up, I immediately thought of that one post I had that was about Prokofiev's 2nd piano concerto and the guy shattering his hands.

mm.. shattered hands. I vaguely remember that thread. Didnt you have one of those roleplay rant things between teacher and student there..

[outin]

Incidently Rach, you may like to consider grabbing something like this..

https://www.amazon.com/Pianists-Standard-Teaching-Performance-Literature/dp/0882846558

Her book is levelled (I know we don't like levels, but it is to your advantage here as a guide rather than a rule) 1 to 10, as a range that precedes diploma material. So things like chopin and listz major concert works/etudes are excluded as their difficulty is beyond the scope of the book. Its pretty much designed to answer your question in this thread... (well except the stuff about glissandi)

And there are enough pieces to last you a lifetime.

I have this book and love it! It doesn't have anything really difficult in it, I would expect Rach to be able to play almost everything listed with some work. It has good description on the pieces also. I would say her level 9 is around level 7 on pianostreet based on my pieces.

[ajspiano]

I have this book and love it!

Indeed, not that I've looked through a lot of repertoire guides - but this is really useful. I quite like the way she notates things like - good preparatory work to composer "x's" piece "y".. or.. less common yet suitable replacement for this other commonly studied piece.

My only qualm is in that I can't say, find all pieces of same level, or all pieces of similar style, or similar pedagogical challenges without manually reading/reworking the entire thing. I've strongly considered digitizing it so that I have this facility - its obviously a huge job to do that though.

There is this https://www.gradedpianorepertoire.com/ which may solve my desire for a digital search - its on my list of resources to investigate in due course.

[outin]

My only qualm is in that I can't say, find all pieces of same level, or all pieces of similar style, or similar pedagogical challenges without manually reading/reworking the entire thing. I've strongly considered digitizing it so that I have this facility - its obviously a huge job to do that though.

You are a teacher right? For me it works since I have a composer or work that I want to learn first, then I just look at the book whether it is manageable and which piece to start with.

My only complaint is that she completely forgot Glinka fromt his book! He has some pieces that would fit in the difficulty range I think?

[ajspiano]

You are a teacher right?

Yes, its not a huge problem, more of a "it would be super convenient if.."

As opposed to where you may pick a composer and look for a manageable piece (thats your personal way of choosing) I am on occasion given the "I have no idea what I want to do, except that I want to play". Which means I have to embark down the path of figuring out what the student likes, so I might play some pieces for the student or give the student a CD with pieces on it to listen to and choose a few to learn.

When constructing these kind of levelled/stylised (to the specific student, rather than generally) sets of pieces it would be easier if I could have a repertoire database that could present options in different sort orders, rather than only Jane's "by composer, by period" approach as an example. Its just a time saver...  I'm still a young teacher, this kind of knowledge base is very expansive and takes years to acquire in an all-encompassing off the top of my head manor.

Ultimately I want my own digital repertoire database, where I have digital links on my PC to scores (in some cases my own editions) and recordings of every piece as well as analytical notes, information about preparatory pieces to that piece etc. Its an epic task.

[outin]

When constructing these kind of levelled/stylised (to the specific student, rather than generally) sets of pieces it would be easier if I could have a repertoire database that could present options in different sort orders, rather than only Jane's "by composer, by period" approach as an example. Its just a time saver...  I'm still a young teacher, this kind of knowledge base is very expansive and takes years to acquire in an all-encompassing off the top of my head manor.

It's actually a bit surprising that something like this doesn't exist as a tool that teachers could buy? It doesn't take much IT skills to create one and if teachers found it useable one could either sell the database as a program on CD or make a commercial site where teachers could access a database anytime.

[ajspiano]

It's actually a bit surprising that something like this doesn't exist as a tool that teachers could buy? It doesn't take much IT skills to create one and if teachers found it useable one could either sell the database as a program on CD or make a commercial site where teachers could access a database anytime.

Yeah, I personally could do it.. I have enough IT nous..  but its massive and will take me such a long time to compile the actual content that its hardly a viable business venture (since I'm not in a position to pay for research/data entry help).

The site I mentioned earlier is making a good effort, but its not as extensive or full featured as I really want it to be. Pianostreet is even not a bad start, but it lacks the pedagogical and analytical notes.. plus with IMSLP... 

its all there, but I really want to have it in one place, not on the internet.. because I don't want to have to stream the content or have to deal with downtime. I want an actual instant tool that works fast enough to use it in a lesson without feeling like I'm wasting someones paid for time.

I'd also rather a smaller database (number of pieces I mean) with higher quality and more extensive entries than a brief entry for thousands and thousands of pieces.

...

The other problems come when you want to deal with material that isn't in the public domain, which will be the case with the recordings even if not with the scores for older works.

[outin]

The other problems come when you want to deal with material that isn't in the public domain, which will be the case with the recordings even if not with the scores for older works.

If the site/CD only had the pieces graded and with teaching notes (as what is in this book), then of course this would not be a problem at all.

[ajspiano]

If the site/CD only had the pieces graded and with teaching notes (as what is in this book), then of course this would not be a problem at all.

Yes, and that would still be a very formidable tool.

But, for an example of desired functionality - I'd really like to be able to store multiple recordings of a piece, so a student can be provided with access to 5-10 different interpretations of their chosen piece..

..in the case of things like fugues, I'd like to database records to link to multiple skeleton scores such as different combinations of the voices. ie. score 1 - voice 1 and 2.. score 2 - voice 1 an 3.. score 3 - voice 2 and 3... etc.   as well as urtext and other public domain editions.

These kind of things either need to be created from scratch by me, or are under copyright..

[outin]

These kind of things either need to be created from scratch by me, or are under copyright..

That would be quite a lot of playing and recording

[ajspiano]

That would be quite a lot of playing and recording

Hence the fact that such a tool is not yet in my possession. Its hardly a one person project, nor is it necessarily an any person willing to help project..

[ranniks]

Well....Since Rachmaninoff_forever on several occasions posted his dislike for Bach I assumed - which is a terrible thing to do - that he didn't appreciate him. In my eyes, there is no greater composer than Bach. But like I said previously, I'm a duckling in the piano world.

The first classical piece I really listened to was a 3 hour long music piece of Bach's compositions. I fell in love because my mind went at ease instantly. Tchaikovsky is a contendor lately though.

Outin, it's just the composer I like most. So much finesse, class, sharpness, beauty and valor all at the same time. Who is your favourite composer? Scarlatti?

[outin]

Well....Since Rachmaninoff_forever on several occasions posted his dislike for Bach I assumed - which is a terrible thing to do - that he didn't appreciate him. In my eyes, there is no greater composer than Bach. But like I said previously, I'm a duckling in the piano world.

The first classical piece I really listened to was a 3 hour long music piece of Bach's compositions. I fell in love because my mind went at ease instantly. Tchaikovsky is a contendor lately though.

Outin, it's just the composer I like most. So much finesse, class, sharpness, beauty and valor all at the same time. Who is your favourite composer? Scarlatti?

Oh, don't worry, there's nothing wrong in you expressing your opinion (which is I guess quite mainstream). This is just something between me and Bach (and Mr. Forever I guess)  

My favorite composers? Yes, Scarlatti is defnitely one of them and then Chopin, Franck and Scriabin. Those are the masters of piano music for me, and since they present such a variety of styles, I don't need much more. If I want something more contemporary I would turn to Shostakovich I guess.

EDIT: Forgot to mention Hummel, who wrote some of the most charming piano passages of the classical era...

[49410enrique]

..

EDIT: Forgot to mention Hummel, who wrote some of the most charming piano passages of the classical era...

+1

i like to think of him as somewhat 'classomantical' lol
i.e.

https://www.pianostreet.com/hummel-sheet-music/rondo-c-major.htm

[slobone]

The Henle website grades all the pieces they publish by difficulty level, and you can sort them that way too. The link for the level 1 pieces is:

https://www.henle.de/en/search/index.html?Level=1

I notice that Bach's Album for Anna Magdelena Bach is heavily represented, as is Schumann's Album for the Young and a bunch of Mozart pieces. I would add Bartok's Mikrokosmos -- start with Volume 1 and keep going from there.

[asuhayda]

Check out the Henle Verlag publication "Leichte Klavierstucke" (easy piano pieces) ... most of them are sight readable, but enjoyable to play.

...and there are many different composers.  So, it's a good mix of literature.

[werq34ac]

I found Schumann's Kinderszenen fairly sightreadable. Some nice pieces in that set.

Black Key Glissando: Jeux D'eau comes to mind.. (whoever said white key double gliss is wrong. That's Alborada del Gracioso.)

White Key Glissando: Prelude from Pour le Piano? It's fun if you like doing glissandos. Plus it has the lowest A. Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody 10?

You generally don't find glissandos in significant repertoire that's easy.

I second Chopin waltzes. Some of the preludes are fairly simple too.

[quantum]

Check out the set of pieces by Alexina Louie titled Star Light, Star Bright.  It is published by Frederick Harris Music. 

Some contain highest note, lowest note and glissandi you were inquiring about. Pieces are modern, yet accessible to an audience, and are easy to play. 

[pianoxtreme]

Mephisto Waltz, No. 1, by Liszt
Gaspard de la Nuit, by Ravel
Sonata No. 5, by Scriabin
Concerto No. 2, by Brahms

[werq34ac]

Mephisto Waltz, No. 1, by Liszt
Gaspard de la Nuit, by Ravel
Sonata No. 5, by Scriabin
Concerto No. 2, by Brahms

ha. ha. ha. You're funny 

[unholeee]

ha. ha. ha. You're funny 

To back up the statement, I'm sure there's a 9yr old somewhere playing it - and, well, if a 9yr old can play it