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Hello, this post may seem a little childish but im gong to go ahead with it anyway.
Im currently studying music at my college and there are 2 people n my class who play piano, me being one of them. I have many piano books but just cant find the right piece to show off to this other person in my class. You see i have been playing piano longer, i also have a teacher whereas this other person does not have a teacher and just teaches themselves. I am just looking for a few impressive piano pieces to learn that are not anything harder than something of around a grade 6 level. Thanksand i hope my point came across Ok

Why not ask your teacher?

I did and thy were unsure by what i meant when i said impressive, you see i haveshowed off a lot of songs in my class that i can play but they evidently havent been difficult enough to wow the other person in my class as they have learnt them as well. I want a piece that is around a grade 6 and something quite technically challenging that the person in my class will not be able to play.

Hmm it really depends what you mean by impressive.

I personally find this piece very impressive, but maybe not in the way you mean, and it's about sixth grade.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MTJI2d1CcI

I won't ask the many questions popping into my head. . . but here: Rachmaninov's Prelude 2, Op. 3.
I play that all the time and it impresses people. . . mostly because they have a misconception that Rachmaninov = impossible giant chords, etc. Note-wise, it isn't all too difficult to achieve, but getting the feeling right - that is tricky. Besides that, it's just a great piece to end a concert with - starting soft, getting extremely fast, followed by magnanimous chords, and ending mysteriously soft. . . .

I personally think that prelude would be too difficult.

No doubt about the impressive bit though!

Maybe



to celebrate Liszt.

No offense, but its a bit childish. Why do you want to show the other person you are better than him/her? Are you trying to make the other person feel bad, or yourself feel good? Why not try to be their friend? Two pianists can live in harmony in the same class, rather than say "This town aint big enough for the both of us."

Just some friendly advice.

If you play with sincerity, you can impress the most jaded audience with a Brahms Intermezzo or a Mendelssohn Song Without Words. If you don't, then even Islamey won't be enough. Thinking about music in such a juvenile way won't help you in your development at all.

CPE Bach: Solfeleggio (forgive my awful spelling)

Good suggestion !!!

Completely wrong! Pianists shall fight to the death to prove themselves better than the other. Nobody likes harmony! (We prefer dissonance). ;D

All you have to do is go to the piano and start playing random keys very fast and very loud. Then when someone asks "What's all that random banging?" you can say, "That's not random banging! That's Rachmaninoff's second concerto!" They will probably believe you and be very impressed. I'm serious. I did it once as a joke.

Speak for yourself-- many of us don't prefer dissonance, at least not in our personal relations. (We like it in our Ives, not in our lives... )

I think Akira is right on here.


-Jason

I think it twas a joke.



One of the first things I do when teaching basic improv is tell students that if they play any black key combinations, it will sound nice and exotic (the pentatonic scale's brilliance!). Not only does it sound impressive, people are amazed that you 'only played the black keys, must be harder!'

I don't think anyone would think it was Rach's 2nd, but it still works

Thanks. I'm gonna get famous doing this. (starting to get bad ideas).

GP:

I agree with the first half of the first sentence of your post.

lol iknow its childish m just a bit competitive, thanks for the advice though

[quote=BruceD]GP:

I agree with the first half of the first sentence of your post. [/quote

i agree also, thats why i said it. But im competitive i cant help it!

Thanks for the suggestion but go ahead and ask what you like, my post was a bit rushed and maybe unclear.