Need new repertoire suggestion

[tamaaa]

Hi, im a beginner with less than 1 years of playing (9 months to be exact), below is my recent repertoire (from early 2020):
Chopin Waltz in A minor
Sonatina Op 36 No 1
Chopin Prelude Op 28 No. 4
Bach Invention 1 and 4
Chopin Waltz Op 69 No. 1 and 2

yup, mostly chopin, i love all his waltz and some of the nocturnes (hope to be able to play op 9 no 2 sometime next year)
right now im trying debussy arabesque no 1 but i feel i lack the skill and can't get through the 1 1/2 pages (both hands), I dont know why tho, its henle level 4 right? supposed to be easier than the op 69 no 1 (henle level 5), perhaps im playing too many chopin?.

so what do you suggest? should i start looking another pieces? and if so, what pieces do you suggest will be appropriate according to my repertoire above?

thanks in advance.

[fftransform]

It's probably just the polyrhythms tripping you up, that piece is often assigned as a 'first serious piece' in 4-over-3.  I would look at practice methods for polyrhythms, e.g. rhythmic solfege.

The Reverie is generally considered more beginner-friendly, you might work on that one now while spending a couple months (it does take an annoying amount of time, I'm sorry to inform) picking up easy facility with 4-over-3 using exercises and study/kid pieces covering 3:2 and 4:3.

The Arabesque No. 2 is usually regarded as being harder than the first, but I really don't think so.  It has a lot of didactic value, don't skip it like most.

[tamaaa]

yeah basically the polyrhythms is the one im struggling with.

Hmm maybe most people consider Reverie is slightly easier because of its slower than arabesque? but personally for me, just looking from the music sheet and some recording idk its just feel much harder. Besides, i dont really like the idea of spending a couple of months just for one piece considering my skill at the moment, not only because my mental is too weak but theres many pieces out there i havent tried.

I will definitely study more easy pieces regarding polyrhythms and i will come back to this piece sometime in the future.

[fftransform]

I promise, the Reverie is substantially easier than the Arabesque.  Don't be intimidated by the chords; if your reading skills are sufficient to follow the score, you can defo learn it.

But if you don't care enough about that piece to want to spend time on it, there is also the Des pas sur la neige:

For polyrhythms, there is also a tapping method, where you tap one hand along the piano or your thigh, and the other plays the notes, so you can hear it.  You can do this tapping stuff even when you're not at the keyboard, just like while watching TV and stuff.  Also, when learning 4:3 specifically the way they break down is like (let's say the 4 is in the LH and the 3 is in the RH):

(LR) L R L R L

What you can do to practice is drop the first (simultaneous) note, and just practice that LRLRL rhythmically.  The rhythmic breakdown is as follows, where each dash or letter represents one beat:

LR-L-RL--

So it's a figure with 9 beats.  Then to get 4:3 you just add a simultaneous LR at the beginning of that.  You could break it down further and first learn LR-L-R, that's actually the "unnatural" piece.  That's all there is to it!  Just takes steady practice to get it ingrained.

[obbligato]

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[tamaaa]

I forgot i was asking question here, pardon me for the very late reply.

Yeah i was worried about that, i feel intimidated..
i feel really intimidated to the level that i barely touch piano since last month and just 3 days ago started to learn easier pieces (Fur Elise, i dont really like this piece but i figured why not) just to make sure i dont get overwhelmed while practicing piano.

Really, thanks for your advice, i will try the tapping method and the LH-RH joint for sure.

[ranjit]

Can confirm that learning to play polyrhythms takes a while for 99% of people out there. It took me a month back when I was attempting the Fantaisie Impromptu. It looks like you've made decent progress. At some point, you do hit pieces which you can't learn immediately and will have to come back to later. You probably have enough skill to play a number of pieces which sound decent, so I'd suggest trying out pieces similar in difficulty to, say, the waltz in A minor. You will solidify your understanding of concepts at your level. Only working at the "next big piece" all the time can get quite draining, so it's a good idea to just attempt music which you enjoy. It doesn't have to be classical, it can be anything you like -- there are fun arrangements of pop songs, film scores etc. lying around on the internet, for example.