Traumerei

[Nana_Ama]

How should I go about learning this piece?  It looks so complicated, I don't know what to do first.   
(I know there was a thread about this somewhere, but I couldn't find it...)

[julie391]

are you being sarcastic?

this is an easy piece technically, but then again - voicing it beautifully takes time

listen to a horowitz recording for inspiration on your interpretation

[Nana_Ama]

no, I am not being sarcastic! 

[julie391]

well, sorry

but perhaps you ought to be introduced to the works of godowsky, ligeti and sorabji

[Glissando]

Julie is right- partially.
It's easy in retrospect.
That doesn't mean it's easy when you are at level 5/6, though!
First look at the piece- time signature, number of flats/sharps, which hand has the melody, etc. I believe this piece has one flat, right? That makes things a lot easier (most of the stuff I'm playing has at least 4 sharps/flats in it! araaghh!). Then start playing it hands seperate.
Then start putting it together one bar at a time.
Remember to work on the most difficult parts the most, as opposed to working on the easy parts mostly.
Oh yeah- and sometimes a piece looks more difficult that it really is, because it's squished together to save space in the music book- try finding it as sheet music and look it over. Usually there's a lot more space in between notes and it looks easier, therefore making you think it's easier. It's a little mind trick I learned.
That help?

[jazzyprof]

Nana Ama:  As Julie indicated, the first thing you need to do is to listen to a recording of the piece.  Ideally, you want to listen to several.  You can find many free midi versions on the net or spend a few bucks downloading some from itunes.  You can listen with score in hand so you can see what it is you are hearing and how others have translated the written notes into sounds.

Next, be sure you can play your F major scale, hands separate and hands together.  Can you play your chords?  For example, look at the very last chord in the piece, a nice fat F major chord (a I chord).  Can you play that?  That's easy, right?  The piece is made up of scale fragments, skips, chords, and arpeggios.

Does your score have the fingerings written in?  If not, you need to figure out the appropriate fingering.  In fact, even if it's written in you may need to find the fingering solution that works best for you.

Things look hard if you try to swallow them whole!  Break it up into little pieces.  Look at the pick-up bar at the beginning.  It's the note C.  Easy!  From there you go to the first bar, which has an F in both hands followed by the remaining notes of an F major triad.   Play all the notes together as a chord.  Now just play the first F's and while holding them down (with your pinkies!) play the dotted half notes that follow.  Now go back to the beginning, play the pick up note (with 2), then the F's, then the rest of the chord.  There!  You've accomplished the first cadence, a V-I!

Next, look at the string of eighth notes that follow in the right hand.  What's that?  It's an arpeggio of an F Major 7th chord.  That's easy right?  What fingers are you going to use?  Use the pedal to sustain those dotted half notes.  That string of 8th notes ends with another chord.  What's that chord?  Ah, it's built on the fourth degree of the F major scale, so it's a IV chord.  Easy, right?

That should get you through the first two bars.

And by the way, you will notice that the first bar shows up 5 times in this 24-bar piece.  Plus, notice that bar 13 is pretty much the same as bar 1, only moved up a 4th.  So, once you've mastered bar 1 (plus the remaining couple of notes in the arpeggio that make up the phrase), you've conquered much more than 25% of the piece!  Time to take a break and pat yourself on the back.

[Nana_Ama]

Thanks for the responses, they were extremely helpful and it doesn't seem so overwhelming anymore. 

[bunbuns]

Nana When you go through the piece you can highlight parts that you have trouble with and repeat them five times. This is what I do when I'm practicing although it is probably unprofessional but I am studying right now and it helps me keep track when I am playing and if I am learning more than one piece. If you dont want to highlight you can just keep track of troublesome measures on a note pad =]
and dont rush it!

-Bun buns