1 year of playing :)

[anzeen]

Hello everyone!
So... I'm almost 22 years old now (birthday in 8 days ) and I've been playing piano for about a year now. I'm a self-taught.
I always liked piano, but the movie "The Pianist" really got me hooked into piano, so I decided to buy one and give it a try!
One of my piano goals is to ofc play G minor ballade by Chopin
So far I can play:
Chopin Nocturne op. 9 no.2, Nocrutne in C sharp minor op. posth no. 20, Waltz in C sharp minor op. 64 no. 2, Waltz in A minor op. posth and some anime songs that i really like
As you already know, one of my goals is to play G minor ballade, so I decided to give it a try and I started a little bit of it.
Here's the link to that short part: https://picosong.com/Sk8f/
I can play a litte bit more, but it's not fluent so I decided to stop right there with the recording.
This try is not my best attempt as I usually get stressed when I record and i tend to mess up even the easy things (am i weird to stress that much when for example playing in front of people? :S )
I'm still trying to get that passage at 2:05 to sound right, but it still causes me some trobules.
How would You rate my playing for 1 year?
If You want I can try to record other things that I'm able to play but I'm not sure how many takes it will take lol.
Waiting for your opinions

[dcstudio]

you play very well for one year... and this is way better than I expected it to be...  it still needs some shaping..  each time you play that repeated a theme try and make it a little bit different in the dynamic contrast or texture. 

[torandrekongelf]

I really liked this. And I usually never listen to Chopin. Keep it up.

Oh and play Bach

[chopinlover01]

For one year, it's not bad.
But put the Ballade aside for awhile, focus on some easier repertoire that you can make absolutely gorgeous. Also, you should record the other stuff, and we can give you feedback I'd also be happy to try to help via Skype, if that interests you.
Also, get a teacher.
Work on some easy pieces; Bach two part inventions, perhaps the Mozart K545 sonata, Beethoven sonatinas.

[adodd81802]

Firstly self taught for a year it is clear your goals are pushing you to train harder and progress more quickly that is great to see and will certainly motivate you to become a better pianist over somebody just learning within their comfort zone and "going through the motions"

I admire the effort you have put into this extract. I do not know how much time you have put in so far or how much time you are currently putting in, but I would personally say you are not ready for this. I dont want you to rush or stress youreslf out into learning this piece before you are ready and making it more difficult for youreself in the long run by not being able to play it how you would like and not doing it justice. Its a monster of a composition and the difficulty can be very misleading due to how soft and nice it starts.

its very much a post grade 8 piece which in the UK you average out a grade a year. So basic maths suggest you should really practice suitable repotoire for 8 years before even looking at taking on something like this. Obviously this isnt strict rule but If you are taking playing the piano seriously there is no need to rush into this and there are many other beautiful pieces that can be learnt to better prepare you for something like this.

Continue to work on Nocturnes and Waltzs including other music is my honest opinion. Be 110% sure of the easier pieces before moving up a level. I would like you to record other pieces you are playing. I noticed you said you are not sure how many takes would be required, that suggests to me that theres some more work to be done on them feel free to advise on anything in particular you are struggling on. I am by no means an expert, but have a fair amount of knowledge and there are others on here that are experts and will be able to realy help you along.

Feel free to correct me if I have gotten anything wrong or misunderstood. I enjoyed your audition, It felt a little rushed in arears and a little unsure in others. I would be more than happy to work with you on polishing the first couple of minutes.

[adodd81802]

For one year, it's not bad.
But put the Ballade aside for awhile, focus on some easier repertoire that you can make absolutely gorgeous. Also, you should record the other stuff, and we can give you feedback I'd also be happy to try to help via Skype, if that interests you.
Also, get a teacher.
Work on some easy pieces; Bach two part inventions, perhaps the Mozart K545 sonata, Beethoven sonatinas.

Summed up what I said to be honest - good points here.

[swagmaster420x]

I think you're talented ! It sounds really nice, the biggest thing to work on in my opinion would be the pedaling. It doesn't sound clean / deliberate enough, if it did it would sound really good. Also, there's only so much technique you can gain in a year, so while the slow/technically undemanding parts were good, in areas with a lot of notes the amateurishness showed. Just work on refining your overall technique, IMHO.

So I would also advise to stay away from the Ballade and do technically easier pieces. It's impossibly inefficient to gain technique by playing a piece as a beginner that is so advanced/

[dcstudio]

am i weird to stress that much when for example playing in front of people? :S )

it's called performance anxiety and almost everyone has it at some point in their musical life...

plus musicians are pretty neurotic by nature... most of us anyway.

some people play for decades and never get past it...   others, like me, love to perform and no longer feel any anxiety whatsoever...  I feel more comfortable sitting at a piano in a room full of people... than to just sit in a room full of people.. 

I did at one time have moderate performance anxiety..  I could get through the music but it was just a race from one end to the other hoping to get out clean. 

the more I performed the less stressed I was about it.. 

[outin]

A good way to determine if you are ready to start studying a piece is to sight read through the WHOLE piece, not just the beginning (which tends to be easier). You don't have to be able to do it well, but it gives you the idea where the really hard parts are. Then you start working on those hard parts and normally it will pretty soon tell you if it's possible or just simply too much, even with some solid work.

Now it's kind kind of obvious to most of us that 1 year experience and the ballade is not a good combination, but do the above to see if you are an exception of the rule.

[anzeen]

Thanks for your massive feedback!
I'm aware that this piece is most likely too much for my current skill, however I always try to learn hard stuff and try to push myself through the current limits as I know i'll progress quicker rather than to play easy stuff and not getting much out of it (atleast that works in sports ) .
I still try learn a litte bit of the ballade at the time, however I spend 70-80% of my piano time on something else now.
Would You guys recommend me some pieces from which I can greatly benefit from?
I'll propably try to record some of the other stuff that I'm able to play and put it in here:) (not sure if today though)

[outin]

Would You guys recommend me some pieces from which I can greatly benefit from?

Any of the 555 Scarlatti Sonatas