I am referring to playing pieces at the level of Liszt Transcendental Etudes, and Ravel’s Jeux D’Eau, at a level which would be considered acceptable at a conservatoire. Do you know of people who have accomplished this starting in their late teenage/adulthood?
you need to learn how to read music and the skills associated with it beginning at level one and should even leave pieces like Chopin Nocturn number 9/2 alone until you get past level one. It is one thing to work on a piece that is slightly above your level. And quite another to skip many levels of the skills that you need to play it well.
At 19? Absolutely. Most people who come here asking that question are 50, and the answer is a little problematic at that point. 19 is not old.
You should know that you'll never make any money playing that stuff...
You should know that you'll never make any money playing that stuff. But your skills would transfer nicely to a rock band and some of those guys make millions.
Well, I was only talking about my sight reading level, not my technical level. I can *almost* play the Schubert Impromptu arpeggios at the correct tempo, and play the Chopin Nocturne comfortably, so I'd fancy that in most aspects of piano technique, I am at least a grade 6-7. I can "improvise" on the piano at that technical level or higher for hours, comfortably. Rest assured that I did not hack these pieces, by any means. If you really want to see the level of playing, I have uploaded a few audio recordings on this site, but I did not think it was relevant, so I did not mention it.What is a grade, anyway? The only difficulty I had in the Chopin Nocturne was to memorize it (and to interpret it, but that is a never-ending process anyway).
Topic: Can you play piano at a high level starting as an adult? 