Music that was too hard

[tabris]

I was just wondering about something.  Right now I'm playing a piece that I think was too difficult for me when I first started it.  I can play it pretty well, but there are still a couple runs that I can't do cleanly (i have a mental block on one of them too).  I've worked on it pretty extensively over the last semester but still can't do it.  Maybe this is because it was a little beyond my reach.  I don't regret playing it though, it helped me grow so much as a musician and pianist.  I was just wondering if anyone else has had similar experiences.  I'm curious to know more about them.

Thanks

[greyrune]

Well i have a similar experience, though not quite the same.  I learned to play chopin nocturne op.9 no.1 after just less than a year however it took me pretty much all of the summer holidays (in between having a bit of fun) to learn the whole thing working exclusively on that peice.  I can play it fine now, though the final run is still not as clean as it should be.  I think this is probably a good idea.  It really helped my playing and i now have something that i can just sit down and play and enjoy whereas before it was all little tunes that weren't really interesting.  On the other hand i wouldn't now learn another peice that was that advanced for my level.  I think while it's nice to have a peice like that under your belt, at my level playing peices that take longer than 3 weeks or so to learn is probably a mistake.  Others may well contradict me on this however, i'm no expert.

[c18cont]

Yes indeed,

With Scriabin...never did play it well. (Don't remember, but it was in "E" and jumped octaves at some, mm=100 or better...())

I believe there may be very real limits related to your execution as learned at an older AGE...Remember, some schools won't take a pianist beyond about 12 to 14 at all...I did start at 5, but was never serious until about age 15...Now I am serious...and can't hardly find the keys....

John Cont

[canardroti]

I had a similar experience too...I was barely starting ..maybe 8 months , and  I was  trying to build a stronger left hand...and i saw somebody played Chopin Revolutionary etude..and i thought i could handle it lol! so it took me 3 months and maybe 4 hours a day to memorize all the note and play it at a decent speed..Well i'm pretty sure it got me a stronger and more flexible left hand,Now i jsut play it when i'm bored or something...althought it's uneven, bad dynamics, not enough stamina to keep the left hadn going, bad rolling..etc..

[will]

I was just wondering about something.  Right now I'm playing a piece that I think was too difficult for me when I first started it...I was just wondering if anyone else has had similar experiences.  I'm curious to know more about them.

Ah yes...I probably spent a good (actually bad) year playing pieces that were too difficult for me - and I regret it. Just before entering University my teacher gave me pieces that were about what was expected at the auditions for the music school.
    I could never play the pieces note perfect, and never did I feel fully comfortable with the physical side of my playing, e.g. I would get sore forearms from playing etc. I did not have the co-ordination to play these pieces and tried to kind of muscle my way through them. (I was unaware of any other approach at the time, and was encouraged to play lots of Hanon, scales etc.) I definitely wouldn't recommend playing too many pieces that you are not comfortable with.
    Despite lots of practice (of the hard, not smart kind) my playing barely improved. I was frustrated because I could not play any of my pieces well and I didn't feel good sitting down and playing the piano. It was not until some time later when I took a break from playing and got a different teacher that things turned around. I played simpler pieces, and this helped me to rid myself of bad habits acquired through playing pieces beyond my level. My level of playing rose steadily to a point beyond what I had reached before and my physical comfort while playing was way better than what is was previously.