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Topic: How to Build up Repertoire???  (Read 3225 times)

Offline Nana_Ama

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How to Build up Repertoire???
on: March 05, 2005, 04:47:16 PM
How do I do it?   I've been playing for about two years now and I would like to learn more pieces...at least four a month (aside from the pieces I have to play for my paino lessons). Not just from one specific period but a variety.  Do you have any suggestions?? 

(P.S  I would really like to try playing the Claire du Lune but I don't know how to go about learning it (the arpeggios scare me  :o )
I scare people; people scare me; it's a mutual thing!!!

Offline Nana_Ama

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Re: How to Build up Repertoire???
Reply #1 on: March 05, 2005, 06:50:34 PM
.........anyone?..........
I scare people; people scare me; it's a mutual thing!!!

Offline Radix

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Re: How to Build up Repertoire???
Reply #2 on: March 05, 2005, 06:54:25 PM
If I tried to learn and master four new pieces a month, I would go insane.  You just have to build up your repertoire over time.  I've only been playing piano for thirteen years, and that is definitely reflected in the size of my repertoire...it's still very small.  Just give it time. ^_^

Offline dinosaurtales

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Re: How to Build up Repertoire???
Reply #3 on: March 06, 2005, 01:56:06 AM
Well, here's a concept - repertoire.  To me there are two kinds, the big list of stuff you've played if you consider your whole musical life, and the smaller list of stuff you could play on a moment's notice, or some other short notice. 

The more I play, and realize how IMPOSSIBLE it is to maintain old stuff while at the same time learn NEW stuff, I wonder how those recital pianistat manage to do it?  They have several recitals' worth of stuff they can put together, plus several concertos (incase the New York Philharmonic calls!  I really worry about that!  ha!) and some of them have several chamber works ready to go - and some of those are HARD!!!!

Blows my mind.
So much music, so little time........

Offline galonia

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Re: How to Build up Repertoire???
Reply #4 on: March 06, 2005, 06:02:56 AM
Don't rush!  The more you learn, the faster you'll find you can learn your pieces, so don't be afraid to take is slow and steady at the beginning, making sure you get things right.  It takes longer to correct mistakes than it does to learn it right carefully the first time.  And that's not just wrong notes, it also applies to bad habits in the way you use your arms and so forth.

Offline rafant

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Re: How to Build up Repertoire???
Reply #5 on: March 08, 2005, 01:07:54 PM
Back to the building repertory question, what it works for me is to hear many recordings, preferably complete cycles (the complete Chopin's Nocturnes, for example). I hear them while reading the score. Hearing the music allows me to identify what I like, and reading the score allows me to choose what it's at my current level.  So I always know what I want to learn next.

Offline Sketchee

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Re: How to Build up Repertoire???
Reply #6 on: March 08, 2005, 02:56:13 PM
Learning and remembering the basic techniques of a piece is something that takes practice.  Most of the pieces I have memorized aren't always in the perfect state they were when I last performed them, but after a few hours with the score--preferably spread over the course a day or a few days-- the piece will be ready again.  This might even be away from the piano.  Developing and nurturing your musicality helps a lot too since as you play you can hear your interpretation; the musical aspects will come more naturally from the notes as you practice playing this way.

Memorizing many pieces or even long works also takes a lot of practice.  One thing about memorizing is to not rely on muscle memory. Don't let the piece just "play itself" unconsciously.  Memory slips will happen and you'll lose the piece easily.  Muscle memory isn't as evil as some might say, but you want to develop other types of more cerebral memory.  Looking at what chords you're playing in a piece, visualizing the score, any type of theory relationships you can find all help!  After a while, you'll see all these similarities within a  piece (that the composer probably had in mind) and even similarities between different pieces.  Grouping passages into patterns helps.

Think about the A chord for example. You know the A tritone is actually three notes, but if I tell you the A chord you know exactly what I'm talking about. Mentally group the piece so that you can think of a passage as one whole in the same way as the A chord (three parts) can be thought of as one.  The concept is fairly simple, but it takes a lot of practice.  The basic idea is start with the small pieces and get bigger.  Start with a passage at a time and as you master a passage, you can then master a few passages and then combine them into a pieces then more and more into a repertoire.  Don't try to learn the hardest possible pieces.  Those can be worked with with your teacher each week.  Instead, learn pieces below what you'd consider your difficulty level. You'll learn them much easier and faster; since they aren't as hard, your mastery of the notes will make it easier to concentrate on musicality.
Sketchee
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Offline BoliverAllmon

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Re: How to Build up Repertoire???
Reply #7 on: March 08, 2005, 09:32:19 PM
How do I do it?   I've been playing for about two years now and I would like to learn more pieces...at least four a month (aside from the pieces I have to play for my paino lessons). Not just from one specific period but a variety.  Do you have any suggestions?? 

(P.S  I would really like to try playing the Claire du Lune but I don't know how to go about learning it (the arpeggios scare me  :o )

for 4 pieces a month I would start at looking in those beginner to intermediate book compilations ( I know alfred puts some out). Look in there for some pieces. There are tons of real cool stuff that is never played and would be quite worthwhile.

boliver

Offline jim_24601

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Re: How to Build up Repertoire???
Reply #8 on: March 09, 2005, 01:43:07 PM
Here's what I'm doing to build up repertoire: learning the 2005-2006 Grade 8 pieces. I hope to have them all learned before they expire. After all, why not let the exam board do the hard work of trawling the piano repertory; it's their job, isn't it? That gives about 30 (one hopes) high quality and varied pieces that aren't too hard for a skilled-but-rusty pianist to learn. It'll also be good for learning pieces quickly. Of course, I've still got some harder pieces I'm working on but learning something easier alongside will speed that up rather than slow it down. Or so I hope.

Actually I'm cheating slightly - one of them (the Hindemith interludium and fugue) was on the syllabus many years ago when I did my own Grade 8, and I learned it then. So I have a head start. ;)

Offline dongsang153

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Re: How to Build up Repertoire???
Reply #9 on: March 10, 2005, 10:16:34 AM
as far as the clair de lune goes...learn and perfect the first part (before all the arppeggios).  that will get you comfortable in the key signature.  then practice all your appeggios, major and minor, like crazy.  that will really help you.  practice really slow...and pretty soon, the notes just come out.  work out the fingerings especially in the left hand BEFORE your learn them and start nailing them down.  that way you don't develop bad habits.   ;D

Offline chopinisque

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Re: How to Build up Repertoire???
Reply #10 on: March 11, 2005, 07:52:24 AM
Here's what I'm doing to build up repertoire: learning the 2005-2006 Grade 8 pieces. I hope to have them all learned before they expire. After all, why not let the exam board do the hard work of trawling the piano repertory; it's their job, isn't it? That gives about 30 (one hopes) high quality and varied pieces that aren't too hard for a skilled-but-rusty pianist to learn. It'll also be good for learning pieces quickly. Of course, I've still got some harder pieces I'm working on but learning something easier alongside will speed that up rather than slow it down. Or so I hope.

Actually I'm cheating slightly - one of them (the Hindemith interludium and fugue) was on the syllabus many years ago when I did my own Grade 8, and I learned it then. So I have a head start. ;)

Where'd you find the Poulenc Nocturne?
Mad about Chopin.

Offline jim_24601

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Re: How to Build up Repertoire???
Reply #11 on: March 11, 2005, 08:55:41 AM
Where'd you find the Poulenc Nocturne?

I haven't yet; I only have the "selected pieces" book plus what other pieces I happened to have lying around. (The Beethoven, the Bach, the Hindemith). That's probably enough to be going on with for the moment. Why, is it difficult to get hold of?

Offline goose

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Re: How to Build up Repertoire???
Reply #12 on: March 11, 2005, 10:47:03 AM
Quote
Think about the A chord for example. You know the A tritone is actually three notes, but if I tell you the A chord you know exactly what I'm talking about.

I don't mean to be picky, Sketchee. But you've confused me and possibly others. I imagine it was a slip. A tritone is an interval -- two notes -- which divides the scale in two (e.g. tritone from A is Eb). I agree entirely with your way of analyzing and memorizing, which is why I figured it was worth clearing this up.
Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. - Jack Handey

Offline BoliverAllmon

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Re: How to Build up Repertoire???
Reply #13 on: March 11, 2005, 03:12:09 PM
I think he meant triad

Offline chopinisque

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Re: How to Build up Repertoire???
Reply #14 on: March 12, 2005, 01:23:09 PM


I haven't yet; I only have the "selected pieces" book plus what other pieces I happened to have lying around. (The Beethoven, the Bach, the Hindemith). That's probably enough to be going on with for the moment. Why, is it difficult to get hold of?

It is over here and I think my only resort would be to order it over the net.  You can't get it from any site online and few publishers publish it.  Musically, at least on par with Arabesque, the Polonaise and Barcarolle.  It's one of those pieces I'm really hungry for although I know I might not do it justice, but I know I must have in my repertoire whatever it takes.  Know that feeling perhaps?
Mad about Chopin.

Offline Sketchee

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Re: How to Build up Repertoire???
Reply #15 on: March 12, 2005, 04:26:59 PM
Oops. I did mean triad, thanks for catching that.  ;)

(I've been playing with Levine's "The Jazz Piano Book" since I got talked into playing with my university's jazz band this semester.  I must have those tritone substitutions stuck in my mind.   :o)
Sketchee
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Offline BoliverAllmon

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Re: How to Build up Repertoire???
Reply #16 on: March 12, 2005, 04:34:47 PM
it's ok. tritones are not a bad thing at all.

Offline robo1001

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Re: How to Build up Repertoire???
Reply #17 on: March 12, 2005, 08:42:12 PM
I was wondering what the best way to build up your repertoire is? I am currently working on Chopin Etudes no.4 & 5, Chopin Scherzo no.2, Haydn Sonata no.59 in E-flat and Debussy's Clair de Lune but I am finding it very hard to build up on all of these so that I can perform them properly in concert.  Should I concentrate on trying to finish working on one piece and then keep it up while learning another piece, or is it best to try and learn all at the same time? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
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