Hello every one. As I told you I just start tryng to learn to play piano. I have some backroung in playing and readong music with saxo, but the left and right hand is a total challenge for mi. Do you think that the minuet is a good piece for staerting practicing?

This is a little much for someone starting. Try something easier first. While you may be able to read the music just fine because of your background, you may not have built-up the coordination in your hands to play this properly. I would suggest you play this piece in 6 months after you've done other easier stuff.

To prepare for this piece, I would suggest you play the G major scale hand separate for left and right hand. Then, you should play a little exercise hands together where you play the G major scale in quarter notes for your left hand and eighth notes for your right hand. Then switch to quarter notes for your right hand and eighth notes for your left both hands together. This will help with your quarter/eighth note coordination a lot.

Thank you very much. Even considering that I am a little obsesive and I think that I will try with the minuet, I will start with your exercice!!!

I agree. You need some finger dexterity and hand independence to play this - there's a few tricky passages in there and lots of 8th notes; it's more of a "year 2" piece for most absolute beginners.

My 6-year-old has just finished this, and right now, she's "polishing it up." She's been doing junior Hanon exercises and dozen a day drills for almost a year, so she was definitely ready for this piece technically.

However, with your prior musical background, and with hard work and determination, of course you can play this too as your first piece.

I've only played this on guitar...but it definitely is more challenging than it looks.

I believe this piece is in Anna Magdalena's Notebook. Most of the pieces in there are early intermediate/intermediate pieces. I took a quick look at it and would probably classify as early intermediate or as someone said it was most likely a "year 2" piece.

I think you are going to work on the piece whether we give our blessing or not. I've seen and read about people taking on pieces way above their level (especially self-taught folks) and it usually ends up becoming a thoroughly frustrating experience.

Why do you think it is, that people seem so insistent on doing it on their own, rather than finding a teacher? I've noticed a recurring attitude (I don't mean attitude as in so and so has an attitude problem) among those that are self taught. Just wondering what everyone's take is.

Lots of reasons:

• Difficult for adults to come up with regular, fixed blocks of time where they can go and take lessons.
• Embarrassment about going to another adult and looking like a complete incompetent.
• A feeling that you can learn "the basics" on your own.
• Not able to afford them.
• "Trying" piano out - not sure you want to make a commitment to lessons.
• Probably many more.

I generally recommend to anyone that asks that they at least start with lessons if they think they're remotely interested in learning to play. A teacher can get them on the right path, stop them from developing poor technique from the outset and will help them learn faster.

Having said that, I can understand why lots of people don't do it. If you're working, have kids, etc., it's tough enough to even sit down for a few minutes and plink around on the keyboard, much less go and take lessons.

Edited to add: to respond to the original question, I think the Menuet is too hard for a first piece.

The menuet in G? You know that there is more than one. I guess you're talkking about the one that goes da, da da da da da, da da. Not the one that goes da da da da da da da, da da.

In either case, I think that it is fine as a first piece. But you should go at it with a lot of patience. Don't watch YouTube versions with 5 year olds who can play it blindfolded and standing on their head. Don't try to memorize it, read it. Just patiently, slowly, note by note. Easy does it. Read carefully, sketch the gestures silently following the score.

And remember, the first note is just that: one note. The first note is a great victory! And the next is just one note. Note by note.

It is a good idea to do other things at the same time. Simple reading pieces, if you have a method book play the little exercises for kids. DOn't be ashamed.

And then, find yourself a teacher, before you get in the worst of habits: working without a teacher!

Or is it the one that goes da da da, da da da, ...

If it's the one that goes da, da da da da da, da da ... then it's a Minuet in G, but it's not Bach's - it's Petzold's (and I have it on good authority that he still resents Bach getting all the credit all these centuries ) .




Spoken like the President of the Piano Teacher's Union

JF

Thank you to every one. The piece is the BWV Anh. 114, go: da, da da da da da, da... Well, let me go in order. I will take lessons. In my country february is a dead month (every body on vacations) so I will start with lessons on march. The reason because I choice this piece for practicing was because I started tryng to win some time before lessons and that piece looks not so hard, but while I has been trying with it I realize that is true, I have a derious problem with my left hand. I will continue working with it, but mostly because is a good way to practice reading notes! And I will return with you in some months with my version! My problem, I think, is that if I try to play easier pieces i get boaring (not because are esay, but because I don like it). Could you recommend me easier pieces of classic music????

Thanks again

Bach's prelude in C major was my first complete Classical piece: http://www.mutopiaproject.org/ftp/BachJS/BWV846/wtk1-prelude1/wtk1-prelude1-a4.pdf

Rodrigo, judging by your name, your mistake changing "me" for "mi", and the february comment, I dare to say you are brazilian

tô certo ou tô errado?

cheers

Thank you very much. No, no brazilian, but near, I am from Chile, so I speak spanish and surely, when I writte fast I make lot of mistakes in english.... sorry for that!!!!

Well, I don't think the problem is so much doing it on their own but rather many folks doing it their own way that's just unreasonable for a beginner.

Also from a practical point, some people can't afford lessons, able to set a time every week they can commit to lessons, have a crazy job, family obligations, etc. I've seen lots of folks studying on their own who use method books and are very "methodical" on their approach and patient. Those folks tend to do well. I personally think you will do better with a good teacher but I don't think it's a necessity if you aren't too crazy in your approach.

Unfortunately, part of the problem is a lot of folks have the idea that working with a teacher means years of working on kiddie or classical pieces of music they are not interested in when they are ready for blah blah blah right now. I definitely understand that and I'm still working on pieces of music I really don't care for at times but I've taken a different approach than most with my teacher. I think most teachers aren't that strict and if one teaches strictly classical and you want to learn jazz, etc. then you need a different teacher.

I don't agree that it's an easy piece at all. Far too many teachers assign young students this prelude without giving any thought to the fact that it requires a perfect legato (pedal free), complete evenness of tone, a steady pulse, and the ability to shape long lines. The fact that the "notes", themselves, aren't a technical challenge doesn't mean it's easy.

+1

This is an intermediate/late intermediate piece.

Martin, thanks a lot for the prelude in C, I just see the sheet and I found it in youtube. I am not sure if sound easier tnah the minuete, but I will try it this afternoon. Thanks a lot!

stores,

When I first returned to the piano a couple of months ago this was one of the pieces I picked up. Easy, I thought.

Now I think it is *far* beyond my abilities!

Ohh, I didn't mean to say ur english is not good, seems to be better than mine :), but the sound of "me" in english is the same of "mi" in portuguese or spanish, so it is a typical mistake I always make myself.

In Brazil february is a dead month because of the carnival, lots of people go on vacations to have vacations days + carnival days, I didn't know february was a dead month in Chile either, why is that?


Anyway, as people said, minuet anh 114 is a begginer piece, sure, but not so easy to play correctly as you may think, and try hard to play pieces that are not at your level will develop bad habits and perhaps injury.

Do some techinical stuff before, like czerny, which is a little bit "musical" and you can handle for 2 months.

This is what I did with my former teacher, BTW.

This piece is tough to play keeping the steady pulse as you said, true!! I have tried this prelude a little bit with no pedal, it is more difficult.

Well, I never said the prelude in C major was easy, but it's still a very good way to start! This a piece that you can play as a beginner but that will stay with you for the rest of your (pianistic) life and only get better and better. I've incorporated this into my "warm-up" routine and so I've been playing it more or less every day for nine months or so without getting tired of it in the least.

Perhaps the problem with grading pieces is that this gives people the false sense that they should instantly be able to play a piece of their grade or lower and be done with it. On the contrary! These so-called beginner pieces (like the Anna Magdalena menuets) are very deep and can always teach you new nuances. So it would be stupid to say e.g. "now I can play piece X and therefore never have to play it again." Don't take my word for it, read Josef Hofmann's books where he makes the same point about the value of "beginner" pieces. And he was probably the best pianist who has ever lived.

In my case, this prelude has really helped me stretch my hands -- particularly the right one -- and develop some strength in my pinky. As a beginner, I suffered from the fairly common PPAS (pinky-playing avoidance syndrome) and Dr. Bach's miracle medicine, WTC, has cured me. Yay! Five stars out of five.

P.S. Once I read an analysis of the C major prelude somewhere that claimed it actually turns out to have four voices when you look at its structure. So obviously the piece is far more advanced than it looks, which makes it an even bigger wonder of composition that a beginner can tackle it...

The fact that the "notes" themselves are not a technical challenge permits one to focus on other aspects, like perfect legato (pedal free), complete evenness of tone, a steady pulse, and the ability to shape long lines.

It also is an excellent manner to listen to the piano in all of its majesty.

In my opinion an excellent place to start.

What is an easy piece, anyway? What piece can a child or a beginner play perfectly (whatver that means), or even well, really, after their first lesson? Or their second?

I agree with almost all your comments, that are not so differents.... But with the fact that I am most agree is that at least for me, try with too boaring starting pieces is too hard, I know that I will not do it, so I preffer to suffer with classic pieces and meanwhile make my technicalls exercices !!!!

Thank you !!!!

Any way, Could you recomend some more "easy" clasic pieces!!!!????

I know how you feel, but piano needs realy some patience and practice to play even simple things.

Invest your time in technical exercises and start to play that Bach piece you like very slowly, suddenly you'll be able to play faster.

I'd recomend Greensleeves, it's short and nice to play, good to begin with.

You can tell your pal Pretzel that old Bach says that he dictated it, that Pretzel jotted it down, and has been trying to benefit ever since, and that if Pretzel wants to make an issue of it that he can have his girl call old Bach's girl.

Old Bach also expresses exasperation that everyone wants to bang away on the Menuet in G-major but that the Menuet in G-minor is equally beautiful, and that the two are effectively one, the one an inverse-image of the other, and that they absolutely must be played the one after the other as a single piece of music. The one without the other, who ever thought of such a thing.

If you want to do strictly classical then I'd recommend looking at the Keith Snell series of piano books. It is setup to go from level 1/prep to level 10 and cover a nice variety of classical pieces from different eras. If they are too hard to obtain in Chile most of the pieces are probably in public domain and could be downloaded.

http://www.keithsnellpianist.com/publications_cds.html

http://www.kjos.com/sub_section.php?division=5&series=147