Piano Forum

but also so that I don't present these pieces at a laughable level to my new teacher at the conservatory.

As someone who worried a lot about this sort of stuff when I was where you are at now, please don't base your actions around avoiding embarassment in front of your teacher. If your teacher is any good, they are there to help you, and be an empathic source of guidance, and it should be fine to play at a "laughable" level (your words) if that's where you are at. If they don't think you are ready to handle the material they are supposed to guide you to easier material that you can handle.

Your job is to lean into your passion for music and do your best with the skills you have now (and if you aren't already doing that, why do you even wanna study music?). Their job is to evaluate your skillset from your playing, help you learn the skills you lack and give you artistic guidance. Do your best, honestly apply your intellect and your heart to the contents of the score and see what you come up with. That should be good enough for any teacher.

So, does anyone have tips on what to look out for, what to remember, or what to practice specifically to get the pieces to a good level? I know myself well enough to be able to say that my practice routine isn't yet very good and that sometimes I don't really know what parts or aspects (dynamics, fingerings, tempo, etc.) of a piece I should be focussing on without a teacher telling me.

Consider past experiences you've had when you've brought pieces to your teacher. What have they pointed out to you? What have you typically needed to work on from one lesson to the next? There are many things to work on when you learn a piece and it can be hard to do it all at once, so consider it an evolving process. While you first learn the notes, think about your interpretation and what musicianship tools you need to apply to get it across. Having a rough idea of what sound you are aiming for will give you ideas on what you need to focus on, and you can refine your end goal as you work. Study the hard parts first. Record yourself and polish the parts that don't live up to what you are aiming for. There's lots you can do haha and everyone is different IMO.