u/HomePianoGuy

Hey everyone.

I've started a project I'm curious to get thoughts on.

I've been playing piano for what feels like a while now and I've recently gotten this book of 60 pieces that every pianist should apparently know. After learning the ones I like and stuff I feel like I should know I decided to learn all 60 and by learn have a succesful begining to end play through.

Then I got an idea. Why not apply this to all my repertoire. Some pieces I got when I was overly ambitious for example I got Gaspard de La Nuit at a time when I was overly cocky. And also I have a large collection of music books from my nonna, of which I only played a small percentage.

So my project is to go through every sheet of music I own and play it all the way through. This will mean I re-learn some old ones and discover new ones.

Also this should boost my sight reading a ton as I'm noticing it's improving vastly with each new piece. Today for example I decided to go for Toccata and fugue in D minor. I didn't play it perfectly and it probably sounded like a swiss cheese (full of holes) but I got to the end and it wasn't the worst I've heard it. I also sight read tempest 1st movement and pathetique 2nd.

Any thoughts/feedback on this project?

Did anyone else attempt this?

Is it really the wrong way to say figure it out yourself?

My piano teacher once challenged me to figure out how to do scales in thirds. So C-A, D-B, etc. I learnt it and now im fluent in it and i can do it up down and in arpeggio style.

I'm also learning a lot of pieces independently from lessons. This includes classics like fur elise, moonlight etc and occasionally I play them or small sections for my teacher for additional input. By listening to recordings I can say ive learnt the pieces and im putting my own interpretations into them now.

So my question is with that in mind is it really the wrong method to do it yourself? It sounds harsh to my ears but also realistic because it seems to work.

This is a funny story.

The piano I use was given to my mom as a gift from my Nonna (passing down her own to my mom). With it came my Nonna's music collection which contained about 11 or 12 books in a series of slightly simplified versions of pieces.

Now I'm more advanced and i've gotten the unedited versions of these pieces including: Fur elise, pathetique, turkish marches, nocturnes, moonlight and several others. But there's a few pieces I haven't played in this collection.

Today I decided to see how far I could get sightreading through the collection. I played Ave Maria, a few Brahms and several others with some old tunes relearning them. Then I got to a Lizst piece. It was Hungarian Rhapsody. I mistook the name for Hungarian dance and I didn't read the composer. After sightreading through 2 lines and enjoying it I realised "this sounds familiar". I had only heard it off recordings. I glanced at the title. The composer. I took it off the piano put it away and finished for the day. Some pieces just scare you if you know the name.

Anyone else ever do that? Sightread a piece realise what it is and quit out of embarresment and respect for a piece 10 levels above your own?

Hi all. Ive been learning the piano for 4 years and at this point ive got more side projects going on then the actual ABRSM graded exams.

A project i've started recently is Fantasie Impromtu to learn some Chopin pieces. Im starting with the finger mapping, slow practice, etc... anyway thats on tuesday.

Today I went to my teacher with the first two lines of finger mapping asking for feedback and area for improvement. There were a few as im still learning and she corrected them. Then while she was at it she sight read beyond my finger mapping absolutely showing off.

She did used to do this for concerts and stuff but sightreading Fantasie Impromptu… anyway long story short I left the lesson confounded

About Fantasie Imrpomptu. Im studying for my grade 4 exam. My teacher said its fine to go for it but forewarned me its very tricky to manage the rythms and keep the tune at the right volume (voice control). Any tips from those who played it?