How long to play fur elise full version at a satisfactory level

[thomas82]

Hi,

I have started learning this piece fur elise for a few weeks.
Able to tackle section A comfortably but section B and C i have a hard time to play at a reasonable tempo.
May i know how long to learn this piece well not on a concert level but just satisfactory to play this for friends from a late beginner level pianist?

[hardy_practice]

Satisfactory level?  SILENT!

[dogperson]

Hi,

I have started learning this piece fur elise for a few weeks.
Able to tackle section A comfortably but section B and C i have a hard time to play at a reasonable tempo.
May i know how long to learn this piece well not on a concert level but just satisfactory to play this for friends from a late beginner level pianist?

Hi Thomas
Unfortunately, this is impossible to answer as it depends on many factors:  what skills you have, how you practice only being two of many!   I would suggest that you make your practice time as efficient as possible:   avoid playing from the beginning; identify where you have problems and just work on the problems (joining a note or two at the beginning and the end of the problem section with a 'good to go' section). 

If you are having specific problems that need help, point us in the right direction.
Otherwise, it really will take you 'as long as it takes' and that, unfortunately, cannot be predicted.

[mjames]

It's a grade 5 piece and students usually take 1-2 years to get there. Although you can most certainly play grade 5 pieces before you get there, it'll just be much more work than necessary. Rather than asking us to guess what you can do, take the score, read it, and pick out the parts you think you'll have trouble with. Then some of the users can give out some neat practice tips.

[thomas82]

Any good practice tips in learning this piece especially for the B and C sections.
Thanks.

[Bob]

Right now.  Never.  As soon as you've made a enough progress to satisfy yourself.

Just decide what you want for the final sound.  That's your goal.  If you can/can't play it, and after working at it, that's where it stands.  It's never going to be completely perfect though.  You can always raise your standards on it.


Maybe... It's beginner/intermediate.... Give a it month.  Then drop it if it's not happening.  Return to it later.

[rmbarbosa]

one or 2 years to play fur elise???
Oh my God!
One or 2 months only is enough even for a young pianist.
Fur Elise is so easy!

[dogperson]

one or 2 years to play fur elise???
Oh my God!
One or 2 months only is enough even for a young pianist.
Fur Elise is so easy!

It's great you think Fur Elise is so easy that even a young pianist should play it right away!  Since you started piano at the age of 4 perhaps you don't remember clearly what skills you needed to play this well?   

But, regardless, it is graded as a Level 7 by RCM, and a Grade 5 by others.  Therefore, it may take much longer for most  pianists to learn than it did you.

[danielo]

There seems to be a feeling that Für Elise is an 'easy' piece; but it's not easy, and certainly not easy to play well. In the UK it is graded around Grade 5, and if you have started as a child, most students (unless they are prodigiously gifted or have parents who push them to practice very hard) will probably be able to play it after about 5 or 6 years of studies. As an adult; that's a more difficult question.
Sometimes tackling a piece that's just out of range from what you are used to playing, is part of the process that leads you to improve as a pianist.
My advice to you tackling parts B and C of this piece is to play the notes very slowly, carefully, concentrating on absolute accuracy before speeding up. This can be a slow process and needs a lot of patience and self-discipline - not easy skills to master!
The temptation for so many (myself included) is once a part of a piece begins to sound a bit like it should, to speed up and try to play it full speed straight away. All I can say is, don't!! Keep the slow practice up and your fingers will acquire the muscle memory required to play it accurately at a faster pace. I would recommend at least 2 months playing those sections slowly, 20 minutes per day. Getting a teacher would surely help you, too!

[nastassja]

Fur Elise is not really for beginners, it is more of an intermediate level piece. My teacher's rule is that after a couple of weeks, I should be able to play a piece I have learnt (not concert level of course, but going through it without any major issues like notes or tempo). There might be exceptions for professionals working on difficult repertoire, but from an amateur point of view, I think it is more motivating this way and that it helps build confidence too. I know some teachers who would teach only one or a couple of difficult pieces in 1 year, but is it really worth it?

 I think that if after two months you are still struggling, the piece is probably above your level. The first part is the easiest to play, maybe focus on playing the first part for now and keep the rest for when you are more advanced?

Technically speaking, if you do not want to slow down during the rather fast passages, you need to be comfortable playing a chromatic scale (let's say at a 120 tempo), an a minor arpeggio, and the same goes for the c major scale. I agree with Danielo about the patience and self discipline, although I have doubts about the fact that playing really slowly for two months will improve your speed. I think it will improve your accuracy only. You need to be consistent in your practice for months/years if you want to build a strong technique, and gradually speed up.

[mjames]

Let's be clear here: I said that students usually take 1-2 years to become a grade 5 pianist, not 1-2 to play fur elise. You can play pieces a little bit above your level if you approach them properly.

Kid students (age 4-10) take longer to reach the intermediate stage because of most of them aren't emotionally invested in music. Adolescent students progress faster because they're already motivated to play (some piece they heard on youtube) before they learn twinkle twinkle. Students of this demographic tend to transition from the beginner to the intermediate stage quite quickly. There are plenty of teenage pianists with only 3 years of experience properly playing their adored pieces like the Beethoven's moonlight son. 3rd mov. in recitals here. Heck I started at 16 and 5 years later I can play pieces like Chopin's op. 10 no.2...

If OP is a young student with a decent work ethic, he should be able to properly play fur elise within a year. You really don't need any sort of prodigious talent to achieve that.

[cardeno]

Fur Elise is level a level 5 piece really and if you are at level 4-5 already it can be learned mechanically quite easily if you concentrate mainly in the difficult passages and hammer them again and again, which means that 1 hour a day for a week should be sufficient to master the quick and awkward passages, mechanically that is.

Interpretation is a different matter but without mastering the mechanics of it there is no chance of a good interpretation either. Taking into consideration the notations and dynamics that Ludwig put in this piece just play it thinking you are madly in love with the woman or man you always dreamed about,  whatever the case may be, and then your interpretation will be beautiful. That was the intention of Ludwig when he wrote this piece, that was his way of courting a girl, writing music, after all he wasn`t a George Cloony look alike, was he?........