Recommendations for going from Intermediate to Advanced Level

[cyrusj]

So currently, I am playing at an intermediate level (arguably), playing pieces at around ABRSM level 6-7. I have minimal knowledge of music theory and don't have any guidance from a teacher. The last two pieces I've learned are:

Rondo Alla Turca - Mozart
The Entertainer - Scott Joplin

Currently learning:
Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2 - Chopin

I was wondering what pieces you guys could recommend that will help me improve my technical skill to the point where I can play pieces like:

Liebstraum No. 3/La Campanella - Liszt
Fantasie Impromptu - Chopin

Thanks!

[sumpianodude]

Music theory is quite important in helping you understand and memorize the music. Definitely start out with that first.
Aside from that, the only thing I can say is to focus on not just technique. From what I can tell, playing a technically difficult piece without musical expression is often not pleasing to the trained (or sometimes even untrained) ear.

[outin]

I have minimal knowledge of music theory and don't have any guidance from a teacher.
...
I was wondering what pieces you guys could recommend that will help me improve my technical skill to the point where I can play pieces like:

Liebstraum No. 3/La Campanella - Liszt
Fantasie Impromptu - Chopin

If you are going to do it without guidance, then I guess to play advanced pieces from certain composers the logical way is to work on their output gradually from easier pieces to harder ones and adding some technical exercises or "fingery" pieces (like Bach inventions) to gain more facility. When you have played some composer's music enough, you will start finding it more and more familiar, thus making learning a easier.

But there's no guarantee that you ever will be able to play those pieces to any reasonable standard without some help. There seems to be a certain level of piano playing that one can reach by pure determination, but after that things get so much harder that without proper technical foundation and guidance no amount of practice will get you there. If one could just learn to play advanced piano music instinctively with hard work, we would have a lot more self taught amateurs that are not a pain to listen to

So I would recommend to get some proper guidance on how to tackle technical and musical challenges of advanced pieces and what and how to practice to gain all the physical skills needed (tailored to your specific needs).

[xdjuicebox]

So currently, I am playing at an intermediate level (arguably), playing pieces at around ABRSM level 6-7. I have minimal knowledge of music theory and don't have any guidance from a teacher. The last two pieces I've learned are:

Rondo Alla Turca - Mozart
The Entertainer - Scott Joplin

Currently learning:
Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2 - Chopin

I was wondering what pieces you guys could recommend that will help me improve my technical skill to the point where I can play pieces like:

Liebstraum No. 3/La Campanella - Liszt
Fantasie Impromptu - Chopin

Thanks!

You've got a loooooooong road ahead of you, but definitely a fun one. Don't rush things, play some Bach, play some Beethoven, try a couple Chopin Etudes when you're ready. Get familiar with all of the basic piano technical difficulties, then when you're ready I'd say give it a go.

[preludetr]

Based on your current level, I'd guess you're not all that far from the technical level to play Liebestraume or FI, but you will still need to continue working on repertoire of progressive difficulty. The best thing you can do is familiarize yourself with a lot of composers and pieces of varying styles, which will allow you to choose a lot of pieces that are appropriate for you and provide a good challenge to improve your skills on many fronts. La Campanella is drastically harder and I doubt anyone could get to the level of playing it without many years of lessons from a very experienced teacher, without sounding horrible or getting injured.