Learning A Piece in 2-3 Days

[fabrizzioreiv]

I have acknowledged that classical music will not be appropriate in a school talent show and modified this post: can any of the following pieces be learnt in a week or less  (I do not plan on playing any of them at school)?


Marche Slave (Tchaikovsky) - Piano Solo

Danse Infernale (Stravinksy-Agosti) - Piano Solo

Prelude Op. 28, No. 16 (Chopin)

"Appassionata" (Beethoven) - Mvt. 3

Op. 25, No. 11 (Chopin)

Concert Etude No. 6 (Dohnanyi) - "Capriccio"


I am not desperate to learn pieces quickly, I simply desire estimates (I practiced the fourth Transcendental Etude, "Mazeppa", before nearly mastering it*)

*final variation of main theme very difficult

[dogperson]

Pretty amazing that you had the same thread started on January 26, and were told By a consensus of
forum members that big classical repertoire is not a winner in student talent shows  and you should choose something  from the popular repertoire.  Now you appear two  days before an audition and ask the same question  with a new list of possible repertoire?   You can't be really serious about the posts  or want a real opinion since you've already been given it.   If you had the skills to learn what you listed, you wouldn't be entering a school talent show  nor would you be asking us how quickly you could learn them 

It is really not often that I see somebody spamming  this forum  but this is clearly one of those times

[fabrizzioreiv]

Pretty amazing that you had the same thread started on January 26, and were told By a consensus of
forum members that big classical repertoire is not a winner in student talent shows  and you should choose something  from the popular repertoire.  Now you appear two  days before an audition and ask the same question  with a new list of possible repertoire?   You can't be really serious about the posts  or want a real opinion since you've already been given it.   If you had the skills to learn what you listed, you wouldn't be entering a school talent show  nor would you be asking us how quickly you could learn them 

It is really not often that I see somebody spamming  this forum  but this is clearly one of those times

Thank you; I will delete this post (if possible).

[louispodesta]

Pretty amazing that you had the same thread started on January 26, and were told By a consensus of
forum members that big classical repertoire is not a winner in student talent shows  and you should choose something  from the popular repertoire.  Now you appear two  days before an audition and ask the same question  with a new list of possible repertoire?   You can't be really serious about the posts  or want a real opinion since you've already been given it.   If you had the skills to learn what you listed, you wouldn't be entering a school talent show  nor would you be asking us how quickly you could learn them 

It is really not often that I see somebody spamming  this forum  but this is clearly one of those times

Thank you!  Now, the next question is:

1)  Where is the Moderator of this website, whose software should catch this on the fly?  and

2)  If so, why was this post not deleted before it was posted?  Because it generates income (directly or indirectly).

Duh!

[geoffhuang]

Anything is learnable in 2-3 days if you're good.

However, I highly doubt you're at a level where you can learn pieces like Chopin etude 25 no 11 in 3 days, because anyone that good would know their limits.

[rmbarbosa]

Apassionata in 2 or 3 days? Are you mad???

[tenk]

Thank you!  Now, the next question is:

1)  Where is the Moderator of this website, whose software should catch this on the fly?  and

Oh let me guess -- you're a software engineer too, in addition to musician/philosopher and whatever other titles you heap upon yourself. "Hack fraud" is the only one you should be using for yourself.

2)  If so, why was this post not deleted before it was posted?  Because it generates income (directly or indirectly).

Duh!

This is so dumb it's beyond words...

[louispodesta]

Anything is learnable in 2-3 days if you're good.

However, I highly doubt you're at a level where you can learn pieces like Chopin etude 25 no 11 in 3 days, because anyone that good would know their limits.

Thank you for your and "rmbarosa" posts.  Yes, it is highly improbable to sufficiently learn a piece (performance ready) in 2-3 days.  Andre Watts (remember him) has stated in print that it takes him the better part of two years to get a particular piece ready for performance.

On point, I wonder whether anyone who has posted here would want to question Andre Watts assessment of the OP's original thesis.

The answer to the OP's question, as well as my subsequent question (in my opinion), is no!

[j_tour]

Oh, no, the third movement of the Appassionata is totally possible in two days.

I learned it in an afternoon.

Oh wait, no I didn't.  In fact, nobody did.

I prefer reading the orchestral score to the *Missa solemnis* at the keyboard and trimming the choral parts to one, and dropping two of the vocal soloists, and getting rid of the strings, French horns, and trombones.  And the clarinet. 

Come on, this person is clearly joking around -- it's kind of demented humor, but I can see no other explanation.

[louispodesta]

For the record, there is a University in the U.S. that requires all of their DMA students to learn and perform a concerto in 90 days, as part of their degree requirements.

Next, per the OP, my original response, (which alludes to your "joking around" analogy), states:

1)  Where is the Moderator of this website, whose software should catch this on the fly?  and

2)  If so, why was this post not deleted before it was posted?

The point is that people from all over the world read these posts and take them as genuine.

Not so long ago, a very frequent poster started whining about her recent divorce, I complained, and it was moved to another forum.

Oh, and if any of you want to know where the OP's nonsense question emanates from, you can contact me by PM.  Then, I will share with you the mythology of Rubenstein, Gieseking, Backhaus, Bolet, Gould and others, who supposedly could learn a piece, not only in a few days, but also away from the piano.

[keypeg]

People can ask stupid questions.  People have various reasons for stupid questions.  That can include lack of knowledge and inexperience.  If this forum starts scaring off people, frightening newbies into thinking that what they write must be "informed and knowledgeable" then they are stuck back in the place of ignorance with no way of getting information that we had 20 or 30 years ago.  I WAS one of those newbies, at a time when the Internet was not yet what it is now.  I am grateful for the people who helped me, and disgusted in retrospect at those who were privileged to have learned things who snubbed their noses at me and made me feel unwelcome.

Of course some people will ask stupid questions for bad reasons.  But it doesn't harm anyone. 
What we want to keep out of forums are things that are harmful: racism, sexism, ethnic slurs, and intimidation.  The "teaching" of wrong information, especially by anyone who puts themselves out as an "authority" (teacher etc.) is also dangerous since those same newbies may then hurt themselves by assuming this "authoritative information" is generous, that one does not question "experts" out of respect.  I'm concerned when there is harm.

[louispodesta]

From "dogperson," in regards the OP's supposed "stupid question," as described by my friend "keypeg":

["Pretty amazing that you had the same thread started on January 26, and were told By a consensus of forum members that big classical repertoire is not a winner in student talent shows  and you should choose something  from the popular repertoire.  Now you appear two  days before an audition and ask the same question  with a new list of possible repertoire?   You can't be really serious about the posts  or want a real opinion since you've already been given it.   If you had the skills to learn what you listed, you wouldn't be entering a school talent show  nor would you be asking us how quickly you could learn them 

It is really not often that I see somebody spamming  this forum  but this is clearly one of those times"]

Hey, defending a con man is a defense for "Free Speech."  It does not, however mitigate or prevent those who wish to point out the falsehood of her/his actions.

[keypeg]

Hey, defending a con man is a defense for "Free Speech."  It does not, however mitigate or prevent those who wish to point out the falsehood of her/his actions.

A con man is somebody who gets some kind of financial profit from his or her actions.  I read dogperson's comment before responding.  I was also responding to the generalization that questions that seem stupid should be shut down.  I want newcomers, unwise people, anyone, to not feel shy about asking questions and asking for help, for fear of intimidation or censorship.  I was once one such newcomer.

I did not mention "free speech" - if anything, perhaps humanity and compassion.  I understand that "defending free speech" is common among Americans because of their constitution.  I also wrote of criteria of harm.  I see no harm in the question that was asked.

[lostinidlewonder]

louispodesta tends to think all posts are scams or fake which is extremely ironic and "pot calling the kettle black" type attitude coming from someone who is suffering delusions of grandeur!

[louispodesta]

As I have alluded to before, the OP has an agenda.  Do I, regarding my Original Performance video?  Yes, I do.

And, as I have said so before, this was to promote the manner in which the great composer/pianists of the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries originally played and also taught this "great" music.

What I do not do is to post a ridiculous question about learning a piece in 2-3 days.  And, since no one asked:  Rubenstein, Gieseking, and Backhaus (among others) had the ability to go into a studio in the morning, sight read the scores and have a finished recorded product by the end of the day.

Do you think that a man, not a god (Rubenstein) effectuated over 200 recording sessions, with "NO PIANO TEACHER."  For the record, under the tuteladge of Joseph Joachim (violinist), he had formal instruction under a man named Barth.  And, this was terminated after the age of 16.

So, I am stupid.  How did this great musician, who never had a lesson as an adult make all of these great recordings?  Duh: he sight read them, just like Gieseking, and Backhaus (among others) did.

Accordingly, Uchida blew the whistle on Andres Schiff in an interview some time ago, alleging the same thing.

So, has the OP accomplished his/her goal?  Yes, they have, and I am done this garbage.

[keypeg]

What I do not do is to post a ridiculous question about learning a piece in 2-3 days. 

You are not a young beginner learner.  And what you do is not at issue.  People being allowed to ask questions, even foolish ones, without intimidation, so that others are not afraid to, is at issue.  There is NO HARM in silly questions.

[rmbarbosa]

For me, it is a strange question.
How can anyone play well a great piece of Music, learning it only in two days?
This is ridicule.
I am 75 years old. I play since my four years old. And I spent most of my practice time with pieces that I "work" along months, even years...
One thing is to make noise with the piano. Another thing, quite different, is to make Music, with a great M.
Please, be serious...

[danielo]

Rachmaninov could assimilate a piano concerto he had never seen before, learn it and play it beautifully by heart in 2 days.
But that was Rachmaninov.

[toughbo]

danielo, where source are you quoting from?

[mrcreosote]

OP:  can any be learned in a week or less? 

ANSWER = Obviously, YES.  I would venture even less than a day.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

There's a dude at my school who recorded the complete works of X composer every year for like four years.

Once you get really good you can pretty much sightread anything

[mrcreosote]

"...you can sight read anything"  and then you develop the ability to SR AND transpose at he same time.

Jazz pianists and especially accompanists do this to accommodate singers. However, they don't need to Xpose into every possible key - a reduced set would cover singers' range.  But then, if you can do that, it's really not that hard to include all the scales since they became all the same so far back you can't remember anyway.

I view these Geniuses as nothing more than a vessel for an innate ability.  They could be good, bad, lazy, studious, endearing, or deplorable as a person.  So I tend to separate the ability from he person.  If I want to praise them, the best I can say you are very lucky to be blessed with such a gift. 

And a sincere, warm thank you for your service for all the talented kids from the conservatories and music schools - anyone who ever entered a piano competition - that didn't "make it."   

[dogperson]

OP:  can any be learned in a week or less? 

ANSWER = Obviously, YES.  I would venture even less than a day.

Just to clarify,  are you suggesting that a high school student could learn the  repertoire listed  and have it performance ready in less than a week?    My thought is absolutely no. 

[mike_lang]

I have acknowledged that classical music will not be appropriate in a school talent show and modified this post: can any of the following pieces be learnt in a week or less  (I do not plan on playing any of them at school)?

All of them, but I wouldn't . . .

[fabrizzioreiv]

I did not expect an argument to occur...

Also, the talent show has passed; sorry for asking the question.

By the way, I played a medley; it was "decent."

How does one delete topics?

[louispodesta]

Once again, and again, and again, I have taken the so-called Moderators of this website to task for not identifying, as less than accurate or genuine, a particular post. 

As identified by the latest video of the OP, this is a Middle School pianist, who in no reality has the experience/education/playing ability to post the original question in the first place.  That means, unless I sorry mistaken, that this entire post was the construct of some one other that the OP.

And, accordingly, why would anyone seriously waste their time on this "obvious" nonsense.  That is due to this website presenting it as such.

This is not my business to critique, it is instead the business of Pianostreet.com.

[dogperson]

Once again, and again, and again, I have taken the so-called Moderators of this website to task for not identifying, as less than accurate or genuine, a particular post. 

As identified by the latest video of the OP, this is a Middle School pianist, who in no reality has the experience/education/playing ability to post the original question in the first place.  That means, unless I sorry mistaken, that this entire post was the construct of some one other that the OP.

And, accordingly, why would anyone seriously waste their time on this "obvious" nonsense.  That is due to this website presenting it as such.

This is not my business to critique, it is instead the business of Pianostreet.com.

 Louis, if you consider that the post to be an obvious waste of time, why do you continue to waste yours?   Nothing is making you read it or reply to it 

[outin]

I did not expect an argument to occur...

Also, the talent show has passed; sorry for asking the question.

By the way, I played a medley; it was "decent."

How does one delete topics?

You cannot and there's no need. Threads often get a bit nasty, but they will be buried on the internet graveyard... Good choice for the occasion I think, suitable for impressing such an audience.