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Topic: pieces easy to memorize but not necessarily easy to play  (Read 2352 times)

Offline kalospiano

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Hello everybody,

I've been checking out two pieces lately:

1 - Chopin's prelude n. 3
2 - Tiersen's Valse d'Amélie

These two pieces apparently don't have much in common but I've been quite impressed by how easy they were to memorize. In both, many sections are just copies of previous parts, simply moved to a different octave or to another key. Often the hand follows the same identical pattern, just starting on a different piano key.

Now of course la Valse d'Amelie is much easier than the prelude, and even if I'll be still working A LOT on the Chopin before I'm able to play it decently, I got both pieces stuck in my memory and that is something that already matters a lot to me, as it gives me immediately the freedom to put away the stress of memorizing and to concentrate solely on improving the technique on these repetitive movements and the final result is great sounding music.

To give an idea, the fourth prelude by Chopin is much easier to play than the third, but when it comes to memorizing it, it takes more time, or at least it did so to me.

Another piece that comes to my mind is the first Gnossienne by Satie, super easy to memorize, while I wouldn't put the first Gymnopedie in the same list, as it has more variation.

So, I'm aiming at pieces that sound great and which have a very simple structure and repetitive movements, no matter if they're technically easy or difficult to play.

Would you be able to suggest any other piece like this?

Thanks a lot,


KP
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Offline visitor

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Re: pieces easy to memorize but not necessarily easy to play
Reply #1 on: January 13, 2017, 01:25:15 AM
Probably the most infectiously happy little bubbly theme and sonata movement i know of since it is so repetitive, but actually when i last read through it it was fun, i was smiling even if i was angry at how hard it is to pull it off

Offline kalospiano

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Re: pieces easy to memorize but not necessarily easy to play
Reply #2 on: January 14, 2017, 11:40:00 PM
Thank you visitor, I wasn't familiar with this piece but it sounds like it would indeed fit the bill
 

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