Pieces to start with

[reena47]

Hi!:) I've been playing the piano for quite some time now (2yrs or so) but I haven't really practiced pieces which could help me become better at it...I want to try playing classical songs and my goal is to be able to play pieces by Chopin...

What songs would you guys suggest...like 3 songs with a different level of difficulty each to start with?

So far, I only know the simple songs like those by yiruma, to zanarkand, sadness and sorrow, the easy parts of fur elise=)) and alla turca(not good at timing though)

I'm also planning to buy a digital piano this summer...what digital pianos do you recommend?

Please help..i'm still in the process of finding a piano teacher

[canada100]

First of all, it is NOT A SONG! It is a piece! Only vocal musical works are songs, and even then, the term "song" is extremely childish and immature. "Works", "pieces", or "compositions", are more appropriate but NOT SONG!

To start with, I suggest you begin with your scales and arpeggios. Get the whole set of "The Russian Technical Regimen" by Alexander Peskanov. These consist of around 5 books of exercises, such as scales, arpeggios, broken octaves, broken chords, thirds, sixths, chromatic scales, etc.

Also get "Hanon: The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises". These contain terrific exercises for training one's technique and fingers. Listen to your sound. Have a free arm. Nothing should separate the shoulder and the fingers. DO NOT SQUEEZE the arm! FIRM FINGERS! Listen to your sounds! Make sure they are beautiful! Quality! Like pearls!!!!

You should start studying "Czerny: The School of Velocity, Op. 299". Order the Alfred Brendel Masterwork edition of this, or the Schirmer. After you completed all the Op. 299 studies DECENTLY, move onto "Czerny: The art of finger dexterity, Op. 740". Be sure to play every exercise like a beautiful piece. Play it like you would play Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Saint Saens, Mozart. Play beautifully! Always play beautifully!

It would also be a wise idea to start studying Moszkowski's Op. 72 Etudes. Again, get the Alfred Masterwork Edition for this. The first etude, in E Major, is an excellent study for right hand's finger dexterity and finger stamina. Keep your arms free and loose. Have clarity in tone. Every note must be crytal clear. The second etude in G minor, is a wonderful study for left hand dexterity and finger strength. Again, keep free shoulders, free elbows, and FIRM FINGERS, and loose wrist! The 6th, in F Major, is one of the most beloved. Like the first, it focuses on finger dexterity and stamina, but in BOTH HANDS! A short and fun etude!

Number 7 in E-flat Major demands more arm weight. Practice it through lifting fingers high for strength and stamina, but in performance, play it using more arm weight. Think it only on the downbeats, the first beat per 16th note group. Number 11 in A-flat Major is wonderfully elegant and graceful. Have free arms and free shoulder for this one. This is very similar to No. 6.

Number 9 in D minor trains you in your octaves. Have a flexibile wrist and taste the sound with your fingers. No. 13 in A-flat minor is very lyrical and warm, and trains in the art of singing sounds.

The Moszkowski etudes are CONCERT PIECES! Build them, not just technically, but also musically. You will never perform Czerny in concert, but you WILL perform Moszkowski.

All the best!

[canada100]

Please do not get a digital piano. I recommend getting a good piano to train you in the art of producing sounds PROPERLY.

You could find an Essex or Boston upright piano, for around $6,000. These are quite decent.

As for grands, Yamaha and Kawai are great, as well as Boston and Essex. Again, it depends on the piano itself. Not on the brand. Not every Steinway is great!

[visitor]

1.... Get the whole set of "The Russian Technical Regimen" by Alexander Peskanov. T....

You will never perform Czerny in concert, ...

1= lol
2= are you sure?

[veronical]

Czerny is 100% indispensable.  School of the Virtuoso, Op. 365 is great for speed and precision and I find it to have generally quicker and more noticeable results than School of Velocity, Op. 299.  Obviously any daily exercises will help tremendously.

I think it is pretty funny that you asked for "songs" and just got a huge list of exercises to drill.  Doesn't sound like that was what you were looking for.

Check out Clementi Sonatinas, Op. 36.  These are great pieces to start out with for classical music and familiarizing yourself with structure and interpretation.

On digital pianos: I recently purchased a Yamaha Arius YDP-C71PE and I am 100% satisfied with it.  I suggest shopping around and going to actually test some.  You can then find a model that fits what you are looking for.  Of course, acoustic pianos sound the best but I don't think having a digital piano (particularly a decent model with full weighted keys) will make you play improperly.  Digital pianos are a really cost-effective and low-maintenance option.  AND you can use headphones, which is incredibly useful in the middle of the night.

Good luck!

[canada100]

1= lol
2= are you sure?

Czerny's exercises are not meant for concerts or auditions, just like scales and arpeggios. Do you ever hear them in concert? No! Technique is a given for the great artists. What matters is the great musicality they have!

[canada100]

Czerny is 100% indispensable.  School of the Virtuoso, Op. 365 is great for speed and precision and I find it to have generally quicker and more noticeable results than School of Velocity, Op. 299.  Obviously any daily exercises will help tremendously.

I think it is pretty funny that you asked for "songs" and just got a huge list of exercises to drill.  Doesn't sound like that was what you were looking for.

Check out Clementi Sonatinas, Op. 36.  These are great pieces to start out with for classical music and familiarizing yourself with structure and interpretation.

On digital pianos: I recently purchased a Yamaha Arius YDP-C71PE and I am 100% satisfied with it.  I suggest shopping around and going to actually test some.  You can then find a model that fits what you are looking for.  Of course, acoustic pianos sound the best but I don't think having a digital piano (particularly a decent model with full weighted keys) will make you play improperly.  Digital pianos are a really cost-effective and low-maintenance option.  AND you can use headphones, which is incredibly useful in the middle of the night.

Good luck!

I would recommend that you start by studying Bach's Two-Part Inventions. I would get the Henle edition for this. With Bach, you will learn to voice each hand separately. The Two-Part Inventions are the most basic of his works. Bach is extremely important to the concert virtuoso pianist, and is not to be ignored. I started studying Bach Inventions at age 7, and they were helpful in my later studies.

[j_menz]

Czerny's exercises are not meant for concerts or auditions,

You appear to have missed that the Czerny piece referenced was not an exercise, and may be unaware that there are a lot of such non-exercise pieces currently undergoing re-evaluation, republication and revival.

With Bach, you will learn to voice each hand separately.

Not dismissing the value of the Inventions, but what you should be learning is to treat voices independently without reference to the hands. Not so obvious in the two parters, but essential in the three parters and in fugues (and much else besides). In other words, a voice that moves between hands should do so seamlessly and be (mechanically) independent of another voice in the same hand.

[outin]

To start with, I suggest you begin with your scales and arpeggios. Get the whole set of "The Russian Technical Regimen" by Alexander Peskanov. These consist of around 5 books of exercises, such as scales, arpeggios, broken octaves, broken chords, thirds, sixths, chromatic scales, etc.

Also get "Hanon: The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises". These contain terrific exercises for training one's technique and fingers. Listen to your sound. Have a free arm. Nothing should separate the shoulder and the fingers. DO NOT SQUEEZE the arm! FIRM FINGERS! Listen to your sounds! Make sure they are beautiful! Quality! Like pearls!!!!

I think this is excellent advice if one wants to get rid of any interest for playing the piano!

For the OP:
Either get some method books or search the web for classical piano music that is not too advanced. There's so much to choose from, it's best to pick pieces you like. You can listen to almost anything on Youtube these days. You can look for graded music, the lower the grade the easier (in general) the piece. Or you could just pay for Gold membership in this site and get access to most of the standard study literature, all organized by difficulty and era. If you are into Chopin, you could look for easier romantic era music. But I still suggest you pick Baroque/Classical era pieces as well. Some things will be easier to digest with those.

And I would always recommed this book for someone who is really interested in exploring the literature, but is not advanced enough for all the big stuff:
https://www.amazon.com/Pianists-Standard-Teaching-Performance-Literature/dp/0882846558/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393478070&sr=8-1&keywords=mcgrath+piano

[andd845]

 You should take up motivational speaking Canada100, really you should. My god what an awful, snobbish answer.

To the OP, firstly, enjoy the pieces you play. A teacher's certainly a good idea. Just don't find one like Canada100, or else you'll find your enthusiasm for piano (and possibly life) crushed.

As you progress, you may find yourself actually wanting to work on the technical aspects in isolation, but let's not grind through them to start with.

Digital pianos are alive in a way that acoustics are not and are ultimately much more rewarding to play, although the disadvantage is less obvious if you compare a good digital with an entry level upright. I played a Yamaha P120 up to about grade 4, before moving to acoustic. The equivalent is likely p155 or some such. Kawai likely good too.

[chechig]

If I were you I will have a look at 25 studies op 100 by Burgmuller, there are different levels in there, from 2 to 5, very funny to play and you can learn a lot of good things. Also Clementi op 36, Kabalevsky op 39 funny pieces and very melodic. Also Concone, Gurlitt, Heller have some great studies. It depends on your level of course.
This web site maybe will help you to find easy pieces, is a great project by Iowa University, they have recorded hundreds of videos for piano exams, classified by level.

https://www.youtube.com/user/UIPianoPed?feature=watch

[andrewuk]

Digital pianos are alive in a way that acoustics are not

Did you mean to say that the other way round?

[andd845]

  oops. Yes, I meant acoustics are alive in a way that digitals are not.

[allysia]

Digital pianos are honestly the only real solution for many of us (who aren't rich or who live in apartments) and you can get decent ones pretty easily nowadays.  Couldn't name specific models for you but Roland and Yamaha are generally good bets.

As for classical repertoire, I have a few ideas...
-moonlight sonata (third movement of the 14th piano sonata - I think) - everyone knows it, which can be a good thing.  When you're first starting out with classical, it's nice to play some of the familiar tunes before getting into the more obscure stuff, because music that's familiar is easy to enjoy (lots of classical music takes many listens to really appreciate).  It's around a grade 6 or 7 level, so moderately challenging, and taught me a lot about chords when I learned to play it.  It's slow enough that you can tackle it without superb technique, and it's a fun intro to using una corda.
-start with some of chopin's easier works!  Prelude in Cm (op 28 no 20) or Prelude in Em (op 28 no 4) are probably the easiest, and only 1 page (if I remember correctly).  Prelude in Bm (op 28 no 6) is fairly straight-forward as well. 
-pick up an RCM repertoire book (level 4,5 or 6 probably), they've got a good assortment of music by era (baroque, classical, romantic, modern) - I love teaching from these, since all the work is done for you in terms of finding level-appropriate classical pieces, and they mostly have pretty good songs, and it's a way to discover other composers you might want to look into further.

Good luck!