Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Input Welcom.....

I'm planning on entering a pre college piano competition and the peices I'm planning on playing are : Chopin's Nocturne in B flat minor op.9 no.1 , Debussy's La Fille Aux Cheveux De Lin, and one other peice which I haven't decided on yet. If anybody has any input I would really appreciate it (:

what do you mean by input? would you like suggestions as to what else you could play, or input on the pieces you've already chosen?

Are you the same person asking about Granado's La maja y el ruiseñor vs. Clair de Lune for a competition?

If you can play the Granados at performance level, then what is there to ask. I'm baffled.

I would suggest playing a non-romantic piece, preferably a Bach for you third piece. Which one, that depends on you.

You're doing it all wrong.

They are. Perhaps they've given up on both...looking for a middle ground.

I'm asking for input on the peices I've already chosen
and basically whether you think that would be appropriate for that kind of competition. Also what do you mean when you say I'm doing it all wrong? ( not trying to be rude just trying to understand.)

I don't think your choice, so far, is particularly good as it doesn't show any balance or contrast. Both the Chopin Nocturne and the Debussy Prelude are too much similar in mood to be a good pairing when you have only three pieces to play. If you must play Debussy along with the Chopin, choose something a little more "brittle" in texture, not something soft and reflective. Something such as "Minstrels" or "Gollowog's Cake Walk" or "La Serenade Interrompue" - although none of these may be in your repertoire.

Of course, I'm going on next to nothing here, because a "pre-college competition" tells me nothing about content, since all competitions have different requirements. Generally speaking, however, if you are playing the Chopin Nocturne, you should want to bracket it with either a Baroque work or a Classical work on the one hand and a modern work on the other. Make sure, too, that the moods and styles of the other pieces contrast well with the mood and style of the Chopin.

Regards,

Thanks BruceD! The competition just requires a piece from each time period.

How cna you play three pieces and have one from each of four time periods: Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Modern?

Don't forget Impressionistic, so that's 5.

To the OP, the problem is we do not know what competition you are trying for. The more information you can give and the more detail you can provide for your question, the better the answer you'll get.

Duh!

Here's the input.
You don't have a clue how to organize this. You need a teacher. Forget us on the board, and forget asking for little blips of unrelated information. Without a teacher you are going to fall on your face at the competition, guaranteed.

You need something technically virtuosic. When my teacher and I do competitions I always have one virtuoso piece, one beautiful and deceptively difficult piece, and one that's just for fun. Get your teacher to help you. I agree with david_a. If you don't have a teacher to prepare you for the rigors of piano competitions you're going to lose dreadfully.