Need advise as a beginner

[farosas1234]

Hello everyone, so I've been playing from 27 days exactly. I've mainly learned fragments of pieces in this period which are:
-moonlight sonata first section
-fantasie impromptu first section (a bit slowed down)
-fragments of toccata and fugue in D minor
-Clair de lune first minute
-Tchaikovsky simplified flower waltz
-chopin waltz op64 no2 (first few seconds though   )
-fur Elise
-swan lake movments I and iii (a bit simplified)
And more which I honestly can't remember.
So I felt learning fragments isn't really beneficial since am eager to learn the full piece, my main long term goal Is tackling down my personal favorite , waltz op64 no2.
But right now I can't get any piano teacher so am doing this on my own , but I really need your advise and I'll be really pleased if you guys help me setting goals or putting an exercise routine.  

[mjames]

How about sitting down and actually playing pieces that are around your level? I "finished" practicing and memorizing that waltz during the summer, and I just had my one year anniversary. It's a lot tougher than it sounds and it's very hard to give a convincing and decent performance of it. Before I even dared to attack that Waltz, I studied dozens of other pieces including Chopin. I advice starting with some easy Clementi and Kuhlau sonatinas. There's the Valse in aminor by Schumann from his op. 124 that's easy and very pleasing to play. Try attacking the inventions by Bach too, they're really fun to play and they really help a lot when it comes to technique and voicing. If you're really eager for some Chopin, there's his valse no. 19 in aminor, Valse e flat op. posthumous, and maybe the Valses op. 69. Then there's also the preludes ( e minor, a major, c minor and b minor). Try building up your ability as a pianist before attacking difficult pieces.

[hfmadopter]

This version of 64-2 ? https://search.yahoo.com/search?p=chopin+waltz+64-2&ei=UTF-8&fr=moz35

If so, to do justice with it think about doing it in a few years. That would be a great goal ! In the short term you have a lot of learning to do if you never have played piano before. You need to learn an entire foundation.

[outin]

How about sitting down and actually playing pieces that are around your level? I "finished" practicing and memorizing that waltz during the summer, and I just had my one year anniversary. It's a lot tougher than it sounds and it's very hard to give a convincing and decent performance of it. Before I even dared to attack that Waltz, I studied dozens of other pieces including Chopin. I advice starting with some easy Clementi and Kuhlau sonatinas. There's the Valse in aminor by Schumann from his op. 124 that's easy and very pleasing to play. Try attacking the inventions by Bach too, they're really fun to play and they really help a lot when it comes to technique and voicing. If you're really eager for some Chopin, there's his valse no. 19 in aminor, Valse e flat op. posthumous, and maybe the Valses op. 69. Then there's also the preludes ( e minor, a major, c minor and b minor). Try building up your ability as a pianist before attacking difficult pieces.

To be honest, I just don't think Kuhlau sonatinas, Bach inventions or any Chopin are really at the level of a "normal" self learner after 27 days

If a teacher is really impossible to get, a method book might be a good place to start developing some basic skills. One could also find suitable pieces from Burgmuller op 100 etudes, Schuman Album for the young or Bach AMB notebook (but even those are not really EASY). Something that one can at least get through as a whole piece...

[pianoplunker]

Hello everyone, so I've been playing from 27 days exactly. I've mainly learned fragments of pieces in this period which are:
-moonlight sonata first section
-fantasie impromptu first section (a bit slowed down)
-fragments of toccata and fugue in D minor
-Clair de lune first minute
-Tchaikovsky simplified flower waltz
-chopin waltz op64 no2 (first few seconds though   )
-fur Elise
-swan lake movments I and iii (a bit simplified)
And more which I honestly can't remember.
So I felt learning fragments isn't really beneficial since am eager to learn the full piece, my main long term goal Is tackling down my personal favorite , waltz op64 no2.
But right now I can't get any piano teacher so am doing this on my own , but I really need your advise and I'll be really pleased if you guys help me setting goals or putting an exercise routine.  

Do you know all the scales yet ? If not , that is a good excercise to learn all of them. while you are doing that, learn short pieces that you can play all the way from beginning to end everytime. You have good taste in music but these pieces all have elements that can only be accomplished with  knowledge of certain fundamentals that have to be practiced over some time. Scales, chords, arpeggios, stride, etc.    I am not trying to be mean, but if all you accomplished after 27 days is fragments from a list, you have accomplished nothing.  Try learning one or two short pieces per week.  You'll get much more out of it

[mjames]

To be honest, I just don't think Kuhlau sonatinas, Bach inventions or any Chopin are really at the level of a "normal" self learner after 27 days

If a teacher is really impossible to get, a method book might be a good place to start developing some basic skills. One could also find suitable pieces from Burgmuller op 100 etudes, Schuman Album for the young or Bach AMB notebook (but even those are not really EASY). Something that one can at least get through as a whole piece...

You're right, but they're definitely more manageable to a beginner than the d minor toccata or the fantasie impromptu. xD

[outin]

You're right, but they're definitely more manageable to a beginner than the d minor toccata or the fantasie impromptu. xD

True

[farosas1234]

Thanks everyone for your kind and helpful replies. Ill try doing the pieces mentioned above but first ill warmup or exercise with Scales,arpeggios,chords. I forgot mentioning above that my favorite Form is Waltz , so can you guys give me some tips or references on learning the mechanics of waltz in general (so i can develop composition and musicality while improving my technique).

[hfmadopter]

Thanks everyone for your kind and helpful replies. Ill try doing the pieces mentioned above but first ill warmup or exercise with Scales,arpeggios,chords. I forgot mentioning above that my favorite Form is Waltz , so can you guys give me some tips or references on learning the mechanics of waltz in general (so i can develop composition and musicality while improving my technique).

The more familiar you can get with various keys and patterns of notes in 3/4 time, the better you will do with waltz'. Don't be afraid to download some more modern waltz themes in simpler written music. It will all help. I can remember working this way back when I was 9 on my accordion ( I'm 63 now) !! I had a whole book of waltz pieces I worked from but it gets the patterns working in your head and hands.

[dima_76557]

but first ill warmup or exercise with Scales,arpeggios,chords.

I'd like to warn you about something.

Please don't start by concentrating on "strength in the fingers", "warmup" etc.

Every scale, arpeggio, chord (or part of it - if it is a big chord) has a shape or a structure of shapes which you should first be able to feel and recognize in your hands as a block/chunk. As long as you cannot distinguish the shapes of different scales in your hands with eyes closed (basically two positions that repeat themselves), it makes not much sense to practise the separate notes/fingers in those scales. D, E and A triads, for example feel the same in your hand (white-black-white). B is the best scale to start (two groups: one white and two black - one white and three black), and it feels like no other scale in your hands. This principle is called "proprioception", and it is much more important for a good technique than repeatedly drilling your fingers.

[farosas1234]

So right now i got a grip on how to develop the musical side of piano from all of your kind comments...but what about pure technical exercises (ive been playing guitar for 2 years and technical repetitive exercises were somehow necessary).

[farosas1234]

So right now i got a grip on how to develop the musical side of piano from all of your kind comments...but what about pure technical exercises (ive been playing guitar for 2 years and technical repetitive exercises were somehow necessary).