About how long should it take to learn a piece?

[searcher18]

I know it's different for everyone, but about how long should it take to learn a piece to where it is at performance level? I'm curious because I have been working Beethoven Sonata Op. 2 No. 1 first movement for about a month and a half and it's finally coming together (as in the dynamics, technique, etc) Is this about average or am I taking too long to learn the piece?

[hfmadopter]

I don't think it's ever a simple task to learn a Beethoven Sonata. That amount of time is not too long and depending on your skill level maybe not long enough ! You said it right yourself indicated that you knew it varies for everyone.

Beware, Beethoven dynamics are strong. To me once you get the notes all down the work is just beginning. It's been a long time since I worked on one of his sontatas but that much I remember well. Never would have made it without my wonderful teacher !

[bronnestam]

Jesus. If I asked people how long it "should" take I would probably get so disencouraged that I gave up. On the other hand, is this some kind of competition? I don't play the piano in order to compete, actually. I play because I love to play.

I started studying the 2nd movement of the Pathétique Sonata in October last fall. It was the first new piece I learned in 28 years.
Two months later I was able to play it decently well although not exactly flawlessly ... I was very proud of that achievement.

[virtuoso80]

I constantly have dozens of pieces in some state of in-progress. Some for years. When I get to a point where I know I can play something, I get bored and move on to something harder. I've been this way forever. Probably not the best way to do things, but my ADD brain has trouble with anything else.

[lloyd_cdb]

15 minutes to 67.3 years.

[bernadette60614]

I guess my reply would be:  Is this piece well within your range and to what standard do you want to learn it?

I'm what I think is called and intermediate student and I'm now also working on an early Beethoven sonata.  I could "learn" this in the sense of being able to play through it in about a month to 6 weeks with diligent practice. 

However, to get the tempo, dynamics, fingering, rhythm and emotion of the piece to the highest standard (which is my teacher's objective) I can easily see working on this for 6 months to a year.

[outin]

I constantly have dozens of pieces in some state of in-progress. Some for years. When I get to a point where I know I can play something, I get bored and move on to something harder. I've been this way forever. Probably not the best way to do things, but my ADD brain has trouble with anything else.

My brain seems to be a bit like yours...after the first time I can play the piece through in a way I am comfortable with it starts getting worse and worse because I cannot really concentrate anymore. But I have noticed that if I get back to a piece regularly it starts getting better and more consistent and more solidly memorized. I just need breaks from it. So only pieces that I feel are worth returning to ever get really polished. I have just brought back something I started over a year ago. I have played it every now and then and now I finally think I can get it to a point where I might be able to perform it (if I wanted to). It's still not perfect but good enough for me to listen through my playing without crinching. I cannot imagine how many hours I have used on it totally, but it must be quite a few...

I did consider that the reason is that my pieces are simply too hard for me and tried to pick some very easy ones, but it was just the same with them...

[bernadette60614]

I'd add this:

I read something interesting:  It is not reaching the goal, it is who you become in the process of reaching that goal.

It is always fun to have a few pieces in the works which you can learn easily and just play.  But, I think the real progress comes in having a couple of "big" pieces which really stretch you as a musician.

I'm currently working on a Beethoven sonata, as I mentioned earlier, and it is a killer...there are challenges of fingering, just basic note reading, dynamics, precision, etc.  but when I learn this piece to my teacher's satisfaction I will be a better musician because this is a stretch piece for me.

[hfmadopter]

15 minutes to 67.3 years.

Perfect reply !

[ajspiano]

90% of the way probably fits into the 15 min to 6-12 months kind of time frame I think depending on your practice regime and skill level vs the pieces challenges..

the remaining 10% of the way is something that I doubt anyone in the history of the world has ever successfully completed...  ...I haven't seen a fair study on lloyds 67.3 years theory though, that may in fact be sufficient for the best of us.

[4greatkeyboards]

Chopin once wrote that he was able to learn and perfect any of his Etudes in less than 2 months.

Liszt was able to play any Beethoven sonata at sight, and did so before Beethoven, when he was in his early teens.

We are not all geniuses of their cloth.


If we cannot learn a piece within 4-6 months, we need to drop back a notch and study simpler works.


Chopin's Etudes are VITAL to learning piano. Attack them soon as you can.

[j_menz]

Liszt was able to play any Beethoven sonata at sight, and did so before Beethoven, when he was in his early teens.

According to Liszt himeslf, what he played were the Fugue in C minor from the Well-tempered Clavichord, that fugue transposed, and  the first movement of the C major Concerto.

Not a sonata in sight.

[4greatkeyboards]

My only source for the "Sonatas at sight" in front of Beethoven is from this book:

"The Great Pianists" by Harold C. Schonberg (1963)

In that he told the story of how Beethoven's father brought him before liszt and said that he could do this. No mention was made of what he played. However, Liszt said that Beethoven asked him if he was able to read a piece and play it in a different key. "Fortunately, I was", said Liszt, without explaining. My guess is he played as if the score was a half-step up or down. It works. Try it.

Even makes me suspicious of works written in F-sharp major or D-Sharp Minor. Were they actually written in F and D, respectively? Didi the composers just try to 'butch up' by changing the key signature? Heck, I might even some day write something in B double-sharp, flat. That ought to astonish some of them.

[j_menz]

My only source for the "Sonatas at sight" in front of Beethoven is from this book:

"The Great Pianists" by Harold C. Schonberg (1963)

In that he told the story of how Beethoven's father brought him before liszt and said that he could do this. No mention was made of what he played. However, Liszt said that Beethoven asked him if he was able to read a piece and play it in a different key. "Fortunately, I was", said Liszt, without explaining. My guess is he played as if the score was a half-step up or down. It works. Try it.

Then either you misremember what Schonberg said, or he got it wrong.  It was Carl Czerny (Liszt's then teacher and Beethoven's former pupil) who (after much trying) brought about the meeting.  The piece that Beethoven asked to be transposed was the Bach Fugue.

My guess is he played as if the score was a half-step up or down. It works. Try it.

That, or more than one step. You do know what transposition is, don't you?

Heck, I might even some day write something in B double-sharp, flat. That ought to astonish some of them.

Any astonishment from bizzarre key signatures is long past it's use by date. These days it just marks you as a pretentious dill.