Where am I??

[kghayesh]

I have been playing for two and a half years. I just wanted to know what i am expected to be able to do, relative to this time period so as to know if i am behind my supposed level or not...

[mikeyg]

I've been playing for about the same amount of time.  Here are the pieces I finished most recently:
Chopin Nocturne Op 37 No 1 ( a lovely piece, you should try it)
Chopin Posthumus Waltz in E Major ( i HATE this one  , although i guess it is good for bringing out the right voice in chords...)
Bach Invention 4 (pretty awesome when you get it up to full speed)
Bach Invention 1 (standard repritoire, I'm indifferent towards it)
Bach Invention 14 (lame)
Mozart Sonata K 332 (still bringing last movement up to speed) -This took ALOT of effort

I also learned all of the scales and play them regularly (although I still have trouble HT sometimes)

I've been making my way through Hanon for 6-7 months, and I think i helped (others may disagree, this is just personal experience), and about to start Czerny School of Finger Dexterity.

I practice about 2.5 hours per day and have weekly 1/2 hour lessons.

I would consider my self to be about an average, maybe slightly above, piano student.  Although I don't have that much natural talent, I love the music so much that I play alot. 
Every body is different, and there is no set points for how long you've been playing.  If you listed what you've done recently, it may be easier to judge how well you've progressed compared to the average piano student

Good Luck

             -Michael G****

[steinwayguy]

I would think mikeyg is a good example. It really depends on your teacher though. For 6 years I had terrible teaching. I didn't learn a single "classical" piece the entire time. I finally said 'to hell with this' and got a good teacher and year and a half ago. Since then, well, it's just been unbelievable.

Also, Bach's Invention 14 is my favorite one 

[omgbruce]

i had a similar experience to SteinwayGuy, 6 years with a teacher and i came out with playing a few bela bartok children songs, some bach from the ana magdalena book, barely touched the first few measures of moonlight sonata. (and for kicks... prelude in C major from WTC1 scared me). oh and my teacher made me do the first 1-20 hanons in all keys including harmonic minor :O and all sorts of crazy scales including whole tone and variants of whole tone like the hirajoshi scale. 

and now... "I finally said 'to hell with this' and got a good teacher and year and a half ago. Since then, well, it's just been unbelievable."

(hehe i told my present teacher about how i did all those hanons and he just chuckled and said "why?")

[Derek]

It seems to me that individual tastes and abilities must vary so much that there simply cannot be a single scale by which to judge everyone.

Due to the overload of people in classical music however, it has become institutionalized and thus is FORCED to make it APPEAR there are "levels" and a continuum upon which everyone can be placed.

Keep that in mind, and if you find anyone who appears to judge you as "behind" just ignore them. It doesn't matter. Just ENJOY the piano, thats all that matters.

Though I suppose if you're shooting for a career in piano, you might have to adopt the above system. If that is the case, try as best you can to not let it affect your enjoyment of it in any way.

[dj]

im in the same boat with omgbruce and steinwayguy.......i had been playing for over 8 years and had gotten about to the place where you (derek) are right now (after 2 years).....then my teacher actually told me it was time fer sumone new, and in the last 1 1/2 years with my new teacher i've advanced farther than in all the other years put together...in fact i just made it into my #1 music school choice playin bach WTC book 1 c major, beethoven pathetique sonata, chopin etude op 10 no 5, and rachmaninoff prelude op 32 no 12...sure not newhere near as hard as sum of the stuff people on this forum are playing....but it does show that your teacher plays a major role in your development as a musician...so if you've got lotsa talent and bad guidance, u'll probably learn either slow or wrong, but with a good teacher you can really fly.....best wishes and dont forget to have fun playing!

dj

[dj]

(and for kicks... prelude in C major from WTC1 scared me).

the fugue is much scarier as im sure you will have recognized by this time