please suggest me good piano pieces

[boowy3]

I was wondering if anybody can suggest me good  pieces but not too difficult to play. I used to play piano years ago, but not I wasn't very good then. But now I want to start playing again, but I don't know what to practice or which pieces are good to work on. So I was wondering if theres anybody who can suggest good pieces that are not too difficult to play.  I can read music, because I have been playing clarinet since forever, but its just that I can't move my fingers fast.  Also how do you gain strength of your fingers. Are there good excercises for gaining strength? Thanks for your help. Ciao

[steinwayguy]

Mozart Sonata K.545

[Bacfokievrahms]

Assuming that you're the clarinet player that I know (i.e. assuming that you're the guy that plays scales all the time and it sounds welcomingly reminiscent of an extendable pipe kazoo) i'd suggest C.P.E. Bach's solfeggietto, it'll help get you into the mindset not of finger strength but of hand movement and armweight and it sounds pretty impressive to people that don't play/haven't played thi song and if you play it musically it's impressive even to people that do play.

Or maybe a two part invention though that'll probably get you more into the fingery mindset.

[allthumbs]

Greetings

I don't know what level you are at so I'll assume that you are an immediate level.

Try these...

Oriental Flower by Christopher Norton
Prelude in E minor, Op.28, No.4 by Chopin
An Ancient Tale by Bohdana Filtz

Good luck!


Cheers

[boowy3]

Thank you. I'll check them out. 

[fuel925]

I dont care what anyone on this board says... Hanon's sixty exercises are great for building up the strength in your fingers, and making your left hand (which is naturally weaker) as strong and agile as your right hand. People on here say you should learn etudes and whatnot which give the same benefits as Hanon, but more musically. This is all well and good, but who wants to spend ages learning a piece just to strengthen fingers? The Hanon exercises are so simple you can learn each of them in 5 minutes, the rest of the time is used bringing them up to speed from 60 beats a minute to 108 beats a minute.

[boowy3]

hello fuel925,
I got Hanon's sixty exercises and just started practicing first four! It seems it'll be great exercises for strengthening the fingers. However as I was working on it, my fingers (mostly left hand pinky and ring finger) started to hurt a little. I am thinking that pain is good in this case because it's like weight lifting, damage muscle to gain more muscle. Is that really the case, pain = strengthening the fingers and therefore good? I want to check with the experienced experts here so that I can prevent not being able to play piano forever.    Thanks!

[xvimbi]

hello fuel925,
I got Hanon's sixty exercises and just started practicing first four! It seems it'll be great exercises for strengthening the fingers. However as I was working on it, my fingers (mostly left hand pinky and ring finger) started to hurt a little. I am thinking that pain is good in this case because it's like weight lifting, damage muscle to gain more muscle. Is that really the case, pain = strengthening the fingers and therefore good? I want to check with the experienced experts here so that I can prevent not being able to play piano forever.    Thanks!

I'm slowly growing tired of this. We need to compile a list of references for this eternal question.

Two things:

1. Use the search function to find myriads of threads on Hanon etc.

2. Pain is never good. It means you are doing something wrong. Mild discomfort is what I would personally put up with, but definitely not pain.

3. Opposed to what other people say, please do care what others say. It will allow you to hear all the arguments, which will help you make up your own mind, rather than blindly and uncritically following somebodies "advice."

Oops, that was three things...

[steinwayguy]

Hanon is bull$H17!!!

[Siberian Husky]

Hanon is bull$H17!!!

LMAO!!!!!! D amn

talk about fighting the power


anyways..pick up some sonatinas and fool around

[bernhard]

Have a look here:

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,1970.msg15762.html#msg15762
(easy sonatas)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2035.msg16633.html#msg16633
(Shostakovich preludes op. 34)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2147.msg18098.html#msg18098
(Easiest piano piece ever written)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2314.msg19869.html#msg19869
(Schumann’s Album for the young)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2398.msg20989.html#msg20989
(Scarlatti sonatas and Prokofiev pieces of beginner/intermediate level).

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2562.msg22127.html#msg22127
(Suggestions for repertory for someone who has been playing for a year)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2851.msg24984.html#msg24984
(Introduction to romantic pieces – how technique is specific to pieces)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,3721.msg33399.html#msg33399
(grade 4 – 6 repertory)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,4094.msg38101.html#msg38101
(Liszt easy pieces)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,4140.msg38111.html#msg38111
(True repertory for total beginners)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,4238.msg39061.html#msg39061
(easy show off pieces)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,4416.msg41105.html#msg41105
(nice slow romantic piece for beginner)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,4737.msg44794.html#msg44794
(Jacques Duphly)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,5063.msg49589.html#msg49589
(Albums for the young)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2357.msg56150.html#msg56150
(Joe Hisaishi sheet music)

https://www.pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,7008.msg80656.html#msg80656
(Beautiful music that is not hard to play)

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[senecalakeguy]

for finger exercises and independence i cannot recommend highly enough Dohnanyi Essential Finger Exercises.  they are so good for strengthening the fingers and building technique.  many people will frown on czerny, dohnanyi, etc as not very musical, but building technique is esential to making music.

deriving technical exercises from repertoire is an outstanding ideal, but without the knowledge, or teacher who will lead you in how to do this at first, it is not practical.  having access to such teachers is not possible for some people.  in my area, there are 12 people that i have learned of that teach piano.  11 of them are people who can read music and play the piano at a very average level (depending on one's defintion od "average").  only one teacher within 30 miles of here is a pianist who teaches the art of playing the piano and would derive technical exercises fom piano literature/repertoire.  the others, quite honestly wouldn't even have a clue what you were talking about or if they did, would simply dismiss it based on ease of other technique-building resources already in print.

czerny, dohnanyi, etc. may seem like adding an extra step to the world of piano playing to some, but to many it is a step that indeed does pay off and in many cases is a necessary step.  in my opinion, the only things that are a waste of time are things from which we can take nothing of value.  by all means, if you can create technical exercises from the repertoire, then you will be efficient in your rehearsal.  if, for any reason, you cannot, there is no shame in learning from other methods written by others to produce the same results.

best wishes!

randy