La Campanella right after Fantasie Impromptu. Not a good choice?

[Moonsong]

Hello,

My son has just finished Fantasie Impromptu, and I think he did a great job in his recital last weekend. Now he wants to play La Campanella. Would it be too challenging?

Thank you for your time!

[Kassaa]

La Campanella is extremely difficult. Much more difficult than Fantasie Impromptu. I wouldn't do it.

[Dazzer]

unless he has hands the size of ... huge hands.

[paris]

why not?  i mean, let him start it, but be aware that he'll be ready for real performance of it for couple of years.

P.S. i don't think that big hands are for campanella essential. if course it's easier if you have huge ones, but the thing is in motion of hands, not in their size

[decadent]

I started La Campanella right after I learnt Chopin's Op. 66 and Mendelssohn Rondo Capriccioso.  At that time, I didn't know it was suppose to be difficult, I just loved the piece (children are blessed with no self-consciousness).  The notes are actually quite easy to learn. Till this day, it remains to be my favourite 'party piece'.  Having learnt it as a kid, I am still able to pull it off any time.

I'm in favour of learning challenging works when the students are young even though they might not be able to play it perfectly.  Of course, learning repertoire thats within their capability at the same time is crucial.

[tds]

this is off topic but i did play la campanella right after fantasie impromptu in a shared concert? these are lollie pops of piano music. general public loves them. good to have these pieces in our pocket. tds

[JP]

umm, its quiet a step.. If he doesnt have any deadline to meet, then its fine.

[Moonsong]

Thank you Everyone for your opinion. Additional info on my son. He is 14 years old (month away from 15).  He is close to finish Hungarian Rhapsody No2, but not quite yet. He does not spend much time in practicing. He completed Fantasie Impromptu in 2 months, with at most two hours practice a week (high school student trying to keep up with homework). In terms of the last performance of FI, there are some wrong notes and some not clean hits but musically very satisfying to my ears. Probably I am biased, but I have heard Rubinstein's FI maybe 100 times before, so I am quite familiar with the piece. Maybe I can post his performance if there is any interest. Thank you again!

[SteinwayTony]

Hello,

My son has just finished Fantasie Impromptu, and I think he did a great job in his recital last weekend. Now he wants to play La Campanella. Would it be too challenging?

Thank you for your time!

Tell him if I see La Campanella and the Fantasie Impromptu in the same post one more time, I'm going to cry.

[Moonsong]

SteinwayTony, I searched the database before I posted it. I found many threads under the two keywords, but I couldn't find a direct answer from them. Sorry... looks like it must be discussed to the death. Do you kindly direct me to the threads. Thanks

[steinwaymodeld]

What are u?
King of Cliched? 

[thierry13]

If he did HR2 he sure can play La campanella... not within a year tough. There is a HUGE step between la Campanella and fantaisie-impromptu. And what are you talking about Rubinstein? I sure hope you are joking if you think FI is by Rubinstein...

[thierry13]

Ho and by the way, I would love if you could post his performance! And it would give more info on where is he in his playing, to judge better if he is ready to play La Campanella.

[musicsdarkangel]

Hello,

My son has just finished Fantasie Impromptu, and I think he did a great job in his recital last weekend. Now he wants to play La Campanella. Would it be too challenging?

Thank you for your time!

I have played many pieces, from Fantasie Impromptu to Bach Prelude and Fugue no 3 to Chopin Winterwind, Revolutionary, Ocean, about 8 others, Mozart sonatas, etc.  And I just learned La Campanella this year.

It is by far the hardest piece I have learned.

If your son is willing to dedicate more time to a piece he loves, than I say go for it.  That is what I did.

I do believe that the big challenges in piano repitoire are what helps a pianist improve.  I am as of now taking on Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme by Pagannini, along with 45 min of other music.   Even if I don't complete this challenge, I know I will have improved tremendously.

IMO if you love a work, you can complete it.

[Daevren]

*Feels sorry for the audience of that recital*

[SteinwayTony]

with at most two hours practice a week (high school student trying to keep up with homework).

Two hours a week?  I'd say in high school, with the homework and extracurriculars and transportation, two hours per day is a minimum, though more is preferable and at the college level 3-5 hours are essentially expected.  My blunt is this: have him quit the piano completely until (or unless) he decides that he can take it seriously and spend the right amount of time with it, if it's anything more than just a hobby.

[Dazzer]

i was fine with 2 hours a week... though once in a while i'd get up to 3-4, then rarely 8...

[Moonsong]

Hi Thierry, I created an audio file and a video file, but cannot find a place to store for downloading. The audio one is 7MB and the video is over 70MB, looks like none of the free storage services supports this size, and guess too big for email. Any idea how to put it on the web?

[hodi]

try to put the audio on www.websamba.com hosting

you can also make the video file MUCH smaller by using Dr.DivX from www.divx.com

[thierry13]

You can e-mail it to me, both, I have a 250 mb box lol. Tough, I don't know if there is a file size limit, but I don't think so... so just try to e-mail them to me, it should be fine!

[steinwayguy]

Do it.

[Moonsong]

Thank you Hodi. I applied for an account in websamba, but no response yet.

Thierry, I don't think email can carry 7MB attachments, but I can certainly try. What is your email address?

[Moonsong]

I placed an mp3 file (6.6MB) at https://www29.websamba.com/Caseys. I tested the site, it is a little slow, but works. Please let me know what you think. If there is any interest, I will post a video also (did not have a chance to compress it yet).

[thierry13]

I allready received 3-4 meg files... so why not. My e-mail is : counter_striker325@hotmail.com

[thierry13]

And by the way he can't do justice to La campanella yet... if he can play FI way better than that in real while practicing, and what you posted was a messy performance, then maybe he could try... but he should wait quite a couple of years before trying la campanella. Now don't take me bad, it is not a bad performance, but just not of the level of La campanella player. And same if it is a messy performance and that he can do better, he still can't play La campanella. La campanella is WAY more dangerous in public to be messy than the FI. FI has no risks at all lol. La campanella is risky, all those huge jumps pretty fast, with both hands some parts.

[thierry13]

damn.... i quoted myself instead of modify my post lol.

[i_m_robot]

I placed an mp3 file (6.6MB) at https://www29.websamba.com/Caseys. I tested the site, it is a little slow, but works. Please let me know what you think. If there is any interest, I will post a video also (did not have a chance to compress it yet).

A little slow
 

[musicsdarkangel]

I placed an mp3 file (6.6MB) at https://www29.websamba.com/Caseys. I tested the site, it is a little slow, but works. Please let me know what you think. If there is any interest, I will post a video also (did not have a chance to compress it yet).

Tell your son, more slow practice.  I had the same problem when I was playing Fantasie Impromptu: I played way too fast, and didn't have enough slow practice.

Anyway, I don't think he's ready for La Campanella yet.  He has done great work on that Impromptu, but tell him to practice slowly; this is the way to master a piece.

[ralessi]

I am actually working on La Campanella right now.....and i think that it is way way above the HR2, which i played nearly 6 years ago....one thing to keep in mind is that although he may have played other things that are within the same ballpark of difficulty as this. La Campanella another kind of technically difficult than things like HR2 and FI, and the risk of injury while preparing a piece like this is THROUGH THE ROOF....Im not sure how long he has been playing but without acomplished tecnhique i really wouldnt advise touching this piece, especially since he is still developing, physically.  Anyways that is just my opinion.  Regardless of whether he can or cant play the piece, La Campanella is more of an encore piece, i think there are plenty of things out there that would display his talent but arent as difficult and/or flashy.  Good luck!
Cheers!
Ricky     

[pseudopianist]

If he did HR2 he sure can play La campanella... not within a year tough. There is a HUGE step between la Campanella and fantaisie-impromptu. And what are you talking about Rubinstein? I sure hope you are joking if you think FI is by Rubinstein...

The pianist maybe? 

[Moonsong]

Thank you Pseudopianist, that's what meant.

Thank you Ricky and Musicsdarkangel for sharing your valuable experience with me. My son has about 5 years  of active piano lesson. First 2 years he had about 30 minutes practice a day. For the 3rd year, about 45 min. For  the 4th year, about  1 hour. For last 9 month since his high school, 5 to 10 minutes a day during the week days skipping practice a couple of times (so maybe total 30 min for the week days) and about 45 min to an hour for each day of  the weekends, so total about 2 hours a week.

Looks like my understanding was incorrect. I ran into the following list in ranking some time ago. I understand the difficulty levels are all relative to the player. I just took this list  as a general guideline, and it shows HR2 and LC are not too apart, so thought it could be duable, now I realize I was wrong, even worried about possible injury. His teach says LC is very very difficult, but he is going to allow him to play LC after HR2, now I need to think about his decision.

Since my son wants to play LC (eventually), I would appreciate any suggestions for pieces that he can use as a stepping stone towards LC?

------ Below is the list in order of from easy to hard (it is a list rearranged by our forum member. I hope it is okay to quote this list here.).

Mozart: Sonata in C K545
Liszt: Consolation No.3
Chopin: Nocturne in C sharp minor, Op. posth.
Schumann: Scenes From Kindergarten
Haydn: Sonata in C Hob. XVI/50
Mozart: Sonata in B flat K281
Schubert: Impromptu D899 No.1
Schubert: Impromptu D899 No.4
Mozart: Sonata in F K332
Rachmaninoff: Prelude Op.3 No.2 "It"
Liszt: "Chapelle de Guillaume Tell" from Pilgrimage
Liszt: Liebestraum No.3
Mozart: Concerto No.23
Schubert: Impromptu D899 No.2
Mozart: Concerto No.20
Liszt: "Sonetto 104 del Petrarca" from Pilgrimage
Rachmaninoff: Prelude in G sharp minor Op.32 No.12
Liszt: "Les jeux d'eau a la Villa d'Este" from
Pilgrimage
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No.15
Liszt: Un Sospiro
Beethoven: Concerto No.3
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No.11
Beethoven: Emperor Concerto
Chopin: Polonaise No.6
Chopin: Scherzo No.3
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No.6
Liszt: Funerailles
Chopin: Scherzo No.1
Rachmaninoff: Prelude in G minor Op.23 No.5
Liszt: "Vallee d'Obermann" from Pilgrimage
Beethoven: Appassionata Sonata
Chopin: Etude Op.10 No.4
Rachmaninoff: Flight of the Bumble Bee
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No.12
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No.2
Addinsell: Warsaw Concerto
Chopin: Etude Op.25 No.6 "Thirds"
[Chopin: Etude Op.25 No.11 "Winter Wind"]
Schumann: Toccata
Liszt: La Campanella
Liszt: Mazeppa
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition
Scriabin: Etude Op.8 No.12
[Liszt: Wilde Jagd]
[Beethoven: Hammerklavier Sonata]
Brahms: Concerto No.1
Liszt: Mephisto Waltz No.1
Tchaikovsky: Concerto No.1
[Liszt: Don Juan Fantasy]
[Liszt: Norma Fantasy]<<"I've never heard it, so i'll let it be where it is!">>
Schumann: Fantasia in C op. 17 <I've added this>
Liszt: Sonata in B minor
[Liszt: Feux Follets]
[Brahms: Paganini Variations]
[Brahms: Concerto No.2]
[Rachmaninoff: Concerto No.3] 
=======================================

[musicsdarkangel]

It sounds like your son could really use some Mozart, and trust me, Mozart is DIFFICULT in his own way.  Many people compare him with Liszt in terms of difficulty.


Try sonata op 284.  I am taking on this beast....it will force him to practice more, and hopefully, slowly....as well as memorize: this is why I took it on.  The first movement sounds like it would be the hardest, but the 3rd movement is by far the most difficult.

In order to sound professional on this 3rd movement, he needs to keep the left hand quiet at all times, practice slowly, exaggerating dynamics in the right hand.

Take a look into it. 

[viking]

I personally finished learning La Campanell after Fantasie-Impromptu, but trust me, i played a mean FI.  I started La Campanella when i was 12 and finished learning it now and im 16.  Let him play it, very slowly, but as a peice to lead him to playing it, why not choose the 3rd mvmt of the moonlight?  Seems like a good choice.S

SAM