Choosing the right level of difficulty

[jpclem]

Hello

I'm an adult student - have been studying very diligently for nearly 1.5 years, after not touching the piano for about 25, having taken lessons for 3 years as a young teen. I have been taking weekly lessons since starting up again.

My question: how do I know if a piece is "too difficult" for me.  Here are some pieces I've recently learned, and how long it took me to play them passably well (meaning, I can play it through at my goal tempo without mistakes.  Not that it's up to snuff for performance):

Bach 2 part invention no. 8 - 3 months
Bach 2 part invention no. 8 - 2.5 months
Bach Goldberg variation aria - 3 months
Phillip Glass - "Opening" from Glassworks  - 5 weeks
Chopin Prelude  op 28/no 4 - 4 weeks

I practice about 5 days a week, between 40-60 min/day.

On the one hand, I figure that as long as I'm making progress and enjoying things, then these are the right pieces for me.  But on the other hand, I wonder if I'm giving up an opportunity to make more rapid progress and more efficient use of my time by learning pieces that are easier.

I'm interested to know if anybody has any theories of how to strike this balance.

Thanks in advance.

Jpclem

[outin]

My question: how do I know if a piece is "too difficult" for me. 

Your teacher should let you know if something is too difficult. I think it's best for adult students to select their own pieces, but the teacher should sometimes step in when the pieces are too hard for progressing. Without seeing you play and study no-one else can tell.

The time spent on learning isn't always a good indication, because people learn at such different speeds due to their personal properties and what else they need to use their brain on, it's not just about the difficulty of the piece. For me memorizing anything is a very slow process and can easily take a couple of months for a 2 page piece. But if I cannot physically play a passage through acceptably after a week on it even with my teachers advice then I think it's too difficult.

[chopincat]

I definitely agree that your teacher is the best guide to that. If you don't have a teacher, a good resource is the Henle website. They assign difficulty rankings to all of the pieces they sell, which are viewable on their site. These rankings aren't always 100% accurate (all rankings are a little subjective anyway), but they're good for reference.