Pieces to Work on at a Time

[scherzo123]

Hi! I just wondered about how many pieces to work on and practice at a time. Just curious to hear everybody's opinion on this, because I don't know if the following pieces I'm working/going to work on are too much:

Bach Prelude and Fugue BWV848
Mozart Piano Sonata No.6 K284 OR Mozart Piano Sonata No.10 K330 (both 1st mvts finished)
Beethoven Piano Sonata Op.13 "Pathetique" (almost done with first mvt.)
Schubert Impromptu Op.90 No.2 (almost done)
Chopin Scherzo Op.31 (almost done)
Liszt Paganini Etude No.3 "La Campanella" (almost done)
Rachmaninoff Moment Musicaux Op.16 No.4 OR Rachmaninoff Prelude Op.32 No.5 OR Scriabin Prelude Op.11 No.11


Thanks...

[scherzo123]

Bach Prelude and Fugue BWV848
Mozart Piano Sonata No.6 K284 OR Mozart Piano Sonata No.10 K330 (both 1st mvts finished)
Beethoven Piano Sonata Op.13 "Pathetique" (almost done with first mvt.)
Schubert Impromptu Op.90 No.2 (almost done)
Chopin Scherzo Op.31 (almost done)
Liszt Paganini Etude No.3 "La Campanella" (almost done)
Rachmaninoff Moment Musicaux Op.16 No.4 OR Rachmaninoff Prelude Op.32 No.5 OR Scriabin Prelude Op.11 No.11

I forgot to add:

Chopin Etude Op.25 No.12 "Ocean" (increasing tempo)

[j_menz]

Could you clarify what "almost done" means?

[scherzo123]

Could you clarify what "almost done" means?

It means that I'm almost done finishing that piece.

[jgallag]

Too much to me is one of the following: one (or more) pieces are being neglected because of more interest in the others, practice time is decreasing (or other signs of stress) due to feeling overwhelmed, quality of playing is poor or not improving, or missing deadlines, should you have them. In other words, you will know; trust yourself.

By the way, "almost done finishing that piece" could not be made into a more vague statement, especially since most artists feel that there is no such thing as finishing a piece. Have you learned all the notes? Can you play them at tempo? Do you have dynamic control? Is it memorized well enough to survive a hostile audience? Have you thought about the subtleties of dynamics and timing that are not written in the music (i.e. implied by harmonic structure, phrasing, form, texture, etc.)? Have you made conscious decisions about voicing in all passages? What does almost done mean?

[j_menz]

It means that I'm almost done finishing that piece.

And what does that mean?  When is a piece "finished"?

[chopin2015]

And what does that mean?  When is a piece "finished"?

It means that you are getting sick and tired of working on it, of course...

[j_menz]

It means that you are getting sick and tired of working on it, of course...

Sadly, I suspect that is all too often true.

[pianoman53]

It means that you are getting sick and tired of working on it, of course...

How is that finished? Some pieces are just not interesting enough, and you get sick and tired of them after a week. Some other pieces are simply too difficult, and you get sick and tired of them because you never get them to sound well. Some pieces are fairly in your level, but you practice them in the wrong way, so they don't improve, and you get sick and tired of them. None of those examples are examples of finished pieces, but of a, probably, lazy or misinformed student.

Back to topic: Work on as many, or as few, pieces you have time to work on. You shouldn't feel that you have a real deadline with a piece (like "okay, if I work on this piece for one hour, and that piece for 45 minutes, and that piece for 1½ and that piece for 25 minutes and that piece..."), but have time to really do everything you can in every session.

[scherzo123]

No, I'm not tired of these pieces.
[quote author=pianoman53
Back to topic: Work on as many, or as few, pieces you have time to work on. You shouldn't feel that you have a real deadline with a piece (like "okay, if I work on this piece for one hour, and that piece for 45 minutes, and that piece for 1½ and that piece for 25 minutes and that piece...")
[/quote]

I don't practice like that.

but have time to really do everything you can in every session.

Yeah, that's me  .

Have you learned all the notes? Can you play them at tempo? Do you have dynamic control? Is it memorized well enough to survive a hostile audience? Have you thought about the subtleties of dynamics and timing that are not written in the music (i.e. implied by harmonic structure, phrasing, form, texture, etc.)? Have you made conscious decisions about voicing in all passages? What does almost done mean?
[/quote]

I'll try to answer all of those things:

Beethoven Piano Sonata "Pathetique" Op.13 (1st mvt.) - Learned all notes and memorized most of it, working a bit on dynamics and the subtleties that are not written in music, decisions about voicing are made

Schubert Impromptu Op.90 No.2 - Learned and memorized all notes except for coda, dynamics are pretty stable, subtleties of dynamics are pretty good, and conscious decisions about voicing in all passages are made

Chopin Scherzo Op.31 - Learned and memorized all notes, working on dynamics, subtleties of dynamics, decisions about voicing are made

Liszt Paganini Etude No.3 "La Campanella" - Learned and memorized all notes, working on dynamics, articulation, and subtleties of dynamics, decisions on voicing are made

Chopin Etude Op.25 No.12 "Ocean" - Just need to increase tempo and have a good line of music