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Fur Elise for an Extreme Beginner?
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Topic: Fur Elise for an Extreme Beginner?
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incarnatus
PS Silver Member
Newbie
Posts: 2
Fur Elise for an Extreme Beginner?
on: November 18, 2013, 01:55:01 AM
I've essentially been teaching myself to play the piano for a week (slightly over,) and I've taught myself musical notation in its entirety in the same space. I've been doing simplified practice songs, but I was hungry to start working on something whole and classical, so I started working on Fur Elise (about two days now.) It's of course been fairly easy so far, but I've been looking over the piece and I'm concerned about my ability to play the 32nd notes on the third page. I'm wondering if I'm getting ahead of myself and need to keep with basic pieces more suited to my experience and scale up properly, or if I should stay with Fur Elise despite the technical challenges I might face.
Additional Question: When learning a song should you learn it to the metronome or is the metronome something you use to even your playing out after you've learnt all the notes?
I know I may sound a little ridiculous, but any input would be appreciated.
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faulty_damper
PS Silver Member
Sr. Member
Posts: 3929
Re: Fur Elise for an Extreme Beginner?
Reply #1 on: November 18, 2013, 08:33:29 AM
If the 32nd notes are worrying, then start learning that first.
No, do not use a metronome. This is detrimental to learning to become a musician.
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bronnestam
PS Silver Member
Sr. Member
Posts: 716
Re: Fur Elise for an Extreme Beginner?
Reply #2 on: November 18, 2013, 08:45:14 AM
1. I would strongly suggest that you drop Für Elise for now and stick to easier pieces. Well, the intro of it is rather easy, but LEAVE THE 32's ... because if you do like 99.99 % of beginners who start with it too early, you will learn to play them unevenly and in wrong tempo and then it will be very very hard to correct.
What you must work with right now is to get comfortable with the right finger movements and hand positions, and most of all, learn to listen to your own playing. There is not progidy in the world who get it totally right from the very beginning, because you simply have to get accustomed to the whole situation and to be relaxed. Otherwise the risk of developing injuries (or bad habits) is very high. So, therefore you must start with pieces and chord progressions that are so easy that you can think of things like your posture etcetera.
Of course you need to find fun stuff to work with, or the first exercises will bore you to death and kill the whole idea, but there are very nice beginner's books in these days, with CD:s and video instructions and so on, and they are great to work with if you don't have a teacher. But I definitiely recommend you not to rush things. Either you will get hurt, like I said, or you will suddenly find that you have "hit a wall" and don't seem to make progress anymore as you lack some of the solid foundation. (Next step: you get frustrated and bored, or proclaim that you "don't have what it takes", and abandon the whole thing.)
2. Metronome ... I never use a metronome from the beginning. I sight-read the notes and if I get rythm problems I count to make it right. I use the metronome in later stages to work with different tempi or to find out whether I slip out of tempo here and there. But some pieces comes with metronome notations, and then I maybe use the metronome for a few seconds to get an idea of what final tempo the composer had in mind. But most of the time I find recordings instead that I listen to ...
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iancollett6
PS Silver Member
Full Member
Posts: 164
Re: Fur Elise for an Extreme Beginner?
Reply #3 on: November 18, 2013, 09:06:45 AM
I suppose it depends which version of Fur Elise you are talking about. There must be countless versions between the Henle Verlag urtext and the "extremely basic classical classics for extreme beginners."
If the version the OP is attempting is the latter then I say go for it. Keeps things interesting!
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incarnatus
PS Silver Member
Newbie
Posts: 2
Re: Fur Elise for an Extreme Beginner?
Reply #4 on: November 20, 2013, 02:16:12 AM
First of all, thanks to the three of you for your input. I'm a little pressed for time since I want to get in some practice before bed, so forgive if my reply is a little terse, or didn't touch on something you've said.
A short reply: I'd like to point out that I've already run through hand positions, proper posture, scales, counting, etc. I've also been doing exercises, and very basic practice songs. I'm an admirer of classical music and simplified pieces kind of irritate me when I've heard the piece, which is the reason I chose Fur Elise as the song I've been itching for and I'm fairly certain it isn't a simplified (I've done a section from one in my piano book) version. I'm mostly just worried about my ability to play the faster parts up to tempo and learning the song incorrectly as bronnestam suggested, at the very least wasting an undue amount of time on it and unnecessarily hindering my progress. I'm feeling that I'm going to drop it and start with something else (after a little more scrutiny,) are there any good classical beginner pieces someone could suggest?
Another question: My mother lent me her copy of Hanon. What experience level is best for starting the exercises in?
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