**HELP** Introduction To Formal Piano Playing

[Venomeza]

Hi, I'm here asking a few hints of entering a more formal phase of my piano playing.
I've been into piano playing for more or less a year and a half, I really can play popular tunes with their chords and also articulate them, so my rythm perception is pretty good. I've also practiced some of the more basic classical compositions, but my total usage of the bass cleff is still very noobish.

The direction I want to take is of dark, mellow compositions, like Claude Debussy's work and also down-tempo compositions(example: Adagios).

Well, first I would like to improve my technical skills, some people have recommended me Hanon but I fear of going only technical-robot like-über fast playing, so some people recommended me the Etudes,so I want to try them but I don't know where to start or where to get them.

Second, I would like you to recommend me some compositions or composers of the style I mentioned before.

So...I hope you can help me, I really enjoy playing piano, but the popular and folk songs really don't have the mood of what I really want to play.

Thank you for your time and help.

P.D. Sorry for the long read and for some mistakes (my english is far from being perfect).

[tee boy]

I wouldnt use Hanon.

If I were you, Id use the Bach Inventions to begin with. Then try some of the easier Mozart sonatas. Bach and Mozart easily replace Hanon and Czerny exercises, and expose you to some great music at the same time. Indeed, I highly recommend studying the theoretical aspects of these pieces while learning to play them.

Other pieces that are accessable?

Chopin wrote loads of Mazurkas, Waltzes, Nocturnes, etc. Most of these are playable by the student pianist. Also some of his preludes. If you get good, his
Etudes remain the yardstick for pianistic technique, and are astonishingly beautiful and enjoyable works. Not to mention insanely demanding!

I think above all, find pieces that you love. Listen to LOTS of piano music and find your own tastes. List in your mind all the pieces that you want to play in the future. Give yourself targets.

Youtube is a great resource. There are loads of videos of both amateur and professional pianists playing works from the standard rep. You'll learn a lot by listening to their interpretations and observing their technique.

Ultimately, its about music. Immerse yourself in it. Get to know the important composers, their styles, the cultural climate in which they composed, etc.

TB

PS. Where are you from btw?

[tee boy]

Also, I think you'd really like some of Scriabin's music. Particularly his earlier work.

TB

[chardin]

Great post tee boy! Chopin is one of my favorite classcial composers. His Fantaisie-Impromptu is an amazing piece; I can only dream of ever playing it.

[james0tucson]

Well, first I would like to improve my technical skills, some people have recommended me Hanon

Muzio Clementi has a book of Preludes and Exercises, and it's a great collection if you can find it. The pieces range from extremely simple to moderately complex. They are more musical (and thus more satisfying) than most exercises.

A few years back I started on a goal of learning each of Bach WTC preludes and fugues. I *started* this process after 40 years of piano (started as a child, continued past university grad level) and I've barely begun...

If you're technically ready for Chopin, by all means, study him. Chopin will do a couple of great things for you: develop your left hand technique, your staff reading, and your sense of time.

[VicDiesel]

Some of Debussy's music isn't even all that hard to play. Get his preludes, and out of the 12 you may actually be able to play 2.

For some simple and still somewhat impressionistic music, check out Satie. Gymnopedies, Gnossiennes, Petite Ouverture a Dancer.... It's all technically fairly simple, and quite rewarding to play. Other romantic or impressionistic composers quickly get difficult.

Victor.

[tee boy]

Great post tee boy! Chopin is one of my favorite classcial composers. His Fantaisie-Impromptu is an amazing piece; I can only dream of ever playing it.

Hi Chris, and thanks!

Yes, Chopin was an absolutely genius. There are those who debate his significance based on the fact that he wrote almost exclusively for piano. But frankly, I dont buy that crap. His influence on those that followed, plus his innovative revival of old forms easily make him one of the foremost of the early romantics... imo ofcourse!

Fantasie Impromptu is one of Chopin's most famous and popular works. Ironically, he hated though! Im pretty sure he forbid its publication. Makes me wonder what other gems never got to see the light of day? Indeed, I heard there was a stash of 'lost' waltzes too. Probably hundreds of other works.

One of the great things about Chopin, from the perspective of the pianist though, is that a good portion of his work is so accessible. And with his Etudes he provides the perfect training to play the more demanding. Indeed, at the time, none of the famous virtuosos could play his stuff! His 'home grown' technique was so different to their 'proper' techniques that his pieces were practically unplayable to them.

In Chopin's minitures, the preludes and etudes, you find all the exercises you'll ever need to play Chopin's works, and much from other composers too. Liszt, for instance based his technique on that of Chopin (debatably).

TB

[tee boy]

Well, first I would like to improve my technical skills, some people have recommended me Hanon

Muzio Clementi has a book of Preludes and Exercises, and it's a great collection if you can find it. The pieces range from extremely simple to moderately complex. They are more musical (and thus more satisfying) than most exercises.

A few years back I started on a goal of learning each of Bach WTC preludes and fugues. I *started* this process after 40 years of piano (started as a child, continued past university grad level) and I've barely begun...

If you're technically ready for Chopin, by all means, study him. Chopin will do a couple of great things for you: develop your left hand technique, your staff reading, and your sense of time.

I think that Chopin's music also helps students to:

- Use the wrist to facilitate the use of wide spaced arpeggios and figures

- Cultivate a good legato technique, essential in his cantabile melodies

- Use the sustain pedal effectively

- Develop good hand independence

TB

[Venomeza]

I wouldnt use Hanon.

If I were you, Id use the Bach Inventions to begin with. Then try some of the easier Mozart sonatas. Bach and Mozart easily replace Hanon and Czerny exercises, and expose you to some great music at the same time. Indeed, I highly recommend studying the theoretical aspects of these pieces while learning to play them.

Other pieces that are accessable?

Chopin wrote loads of Mazurkas, Waltzes, Nocturnes, etc. Most of these are playable by the student pianist. Also some of his preludes. If you get good, his
Etudes remain the yardstick for pianistic technique, and are astonishingly beautiful and enjoyable works. Not to mention insanely demanding!

I think above all, find pieces that you love. Listen to LOTS of piano music and find your own tastes. List in your mind all the pieces that you want to play in the future. Give yourself targets.

Youtube is a great resource. There are loads of videos of both amateur and professional pianists playing works from the standard rep. You'll learn a lot by listening to their interpretations and observing their technique.

Ultimately, its about music. Immerse yourself in it. Get to know the important composers, their styles, the cultural climate in which they composed, etc.

TB

PS. Where are you from btw?

Thank you , that will help me A LOT since I really enjoy most of Chopin's work.

I still have a question though, are all of those compositions available to purchase or download in the web?,'cause I really doubt I can find them in my country. I live in Guatemala, so It's very difficult for me to find piano-exclusively academies or teachers, because most academies only train the student for playing in their orchestra and the selection of what you play is not really your choice; and the problem with teachers is that they only teach popular piano or they only stick with Mozart or Bethoven's most known works.

I really appreciate your help people, I hope that this topic will help a whole lot more of people aside from myself.

[VicDiesel]

Thank you , that will help me A LOT since I really enjoy most of Chopin's work.

I still have a question though, are all of those compositions available to purchase or download in the web?

Werner Icking is your friend

Victor.

[tee boy]

Actually, you'll find all of his music in pdf form, and most of it in mp3 if you do a google.

Again, Youtube is useful for finding recordings.

TB