Prokofiev Concerto 3

[classicalnhiphop]

Out of ten, how hard is it technically.  What's the hardest movement technically.
Explain if u can!
Thanks

[austinarg]

Remember when you first started playing, you would fear the black keys because they sounded ugly?
If you learn this, you will also learn to fear the white keys as well.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

If you can play this, you can play anything.  

Hardest movement?  It doesn't matter, they're all hard.  After a certain point it's just personal preference.  

I would understand if you were comparing the movements of the moonlight sonata or something, but you can't compare the Prokofiev 3 movements.  They're all hard.

[ajspiano]

Out of ten, how hard is it technically?

11.

A more appropriate answer would be "if you care about how hard it is, - too hard"

Seriously, as someone who has spent a reasonable amount of time with an elephant concerto (Rach 3), these are not a good idea for anyone who is unprepared technically (by all means have a fiddle though).

They are massive undertakings, you will need to spend many hours on it - a typical first preparation time may be somewhere in the order of 1000+ hours for someone who is genuinely ready, and that is assuming that you practice with near perfectly precise efficiency (don't waste a second).

When you are ready for this you will know that the difficulty doesn't matter, and you will still respect the enormity of the challenge it presents as being immeasurably hard.

[austinarg]

They are massive undertakings, you will need to spend many hours on it - a typical first preparation time may be somewhere in the order of 1000+ hours for someone who is genuinely ready, and that is assuming that you practice with near perfectly precise efficiency (don't waste a second).

So there is a number...



 

[ajspiano]

So there is a number...

 

1000 "+"

Ofcourse it can't really be quantified - 1000 is just a rough 6 months x 6 hours per day. For that to be enough demands a well thought out approach, and lack of any significant technical challenges (as in you understand how to and can successfully solve technical challenges without excessive experimentation or help from a teacher) also I think.

Considering approach, if you were able to play through fluently at half speed with the prok 3, you'd be looking at 6 full repetitions a day on that schedule.. which is not only very few repetitions, it would also be a mental marathon that requires a whole other level of preparation in itself. The ability to learn/process/memorise lots of complex information quickly needs to be there..

You need to be able to find and internalise good movements and coordinate sections up to speed quickly, if you have to play slowly you're in trouble right? or at least its going to take you a very very long time to learn the work.

You can do 10 slow repetitions of an smaller but very difficult etude, it'll take you an hour or so. 10 slow repetitions of a concerto could take in excess of a whole day. Not that you'd do that, you'd do a smaller section..  but then you've got so many sections to deal with.. the time frame is still similar.

[j_menz]

I wonder whether or not pieces of this calibre actually wind up being relatively easy.

There are plenty of less monstrous works that one can play by muscling up to the effort, but that isn't possible for something like this - it would defeat you easily.

How many of those 1000 hours, to use AJs figure, are spent not so much on beefing up your own skills and stamina as finding the way to make the piece itself simple. That it is pieces like this that prove the wisdom of Chopin's words - "Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art."

[ajspiano]

I wonder whether or not pieces of this calibre actually wind up being relatively easy.

I think they have to be, otherwise as you said you will simply be defeated. They are too hard and too large to deal with if you find you can't do something. If its hard you have to break it up and make it easy immediately. Wasting time struggling with something technically it not allowed.

The Rach is approaching 45 minutes long, there are parts that HT I probably have to approach at 5% final speed if I don't consider how to learn them quickly (just try to sight read). That equates to something like 15 hours per repetition of the entire work. Its not feasible. And, with the amount I practice it'd take me 2 weeks to play through the concerto once.

If I can't do it first or second go (ok maybe 5-10 focused attempts), full tempo - then either a new approach or a smaller subsection is warranted.