Paperclip,

Good for you for discovering Granados and his Danzas. I have a great recording of all twelve by Alicia de Larrocha, who is sort of a Granados specialist. Other beautiful Granados works include Valses Poeticos and from the Goyescas Suite - Quejas o La Maja y el Ruisenor (The Maiden and the Nightengale).

If you like Granados you may also like the works of Albeniz. I really like the pieces in his Suite Espanola(try Sevilla from this suite).

Like you, it was a revelation when I discovered these famous Spanish composers. That's the nice thing about learning to play the piano - all the music we get exposed to that might have been missed. I don't know how long it will be before I'm able to play something by Granados or Albeniz, but I'd sure like to try.

JimF,

Yes, it's like finding a pot of gold. I'm so happy I find a key to a treasure of beautiful spanish classical music, I never know it existed until now. Thanks for the tips. I will check out Albeniz for sure!

Olivier Messiaen said about the Albéniz's Iberia:

Iberia is the wonder for the piano; it is perhaps on the highest place among the more brilliant pieces for the king of the instruments.

Recaredo,
I listened to the Iberia of Albéniz and it's indeed quite impressive Now I'm going to listen to Pedrell as well.

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed Iberia, Paperclip.

I'm listening to the Granados as I type - wow. I like it a lot.
A new door has opened! I love it here - as Jim said we really have such wonderful opportunities for being introduced to new music here.

I'm going to listen to some Albéniz too!

Teodor- congrats on your recital work! I'll pop over to the Piano Bar to have a listen.

FINALLY I have an achievement ....... I can now play the first page of my Sonatina. Not up to speed, but with all the correct fingering and if I focus REALLY WELL, my errors are few and far between. My optimism is returning.

edited to add: I'm listening to Iberia - I can very easily imagine this being played on a guitar.

I'm totally enchanted!!!!! I know what is going on my wishlist for cds !!!!
(I'm certainly not able to play any of this yet, but listening to it will be a marevellous experience)

THANK YOU for mentioning these composers !

Good news for all of the Granados lovers:

You might attempt a beautiful piece he wrote and dedicated to his son, called Dedication. According to Jane Magrath its level is 5. I have had this piece on my "to do" list and intend to work on it relatively soon. An additional clue to its difficulty, Magrath compares it to Schumann's About Strange Lands and People (op. 68, no. 1).

Casinitaly, It would be marvellous playing so difficult music. But one day we will be able to do it.

EASY apparently means level 4-5. I found that a bit condescending when I first realized it. They seemed hard enough to me. Enjoy the Joplin...they are crowd pleasers and sound very accomplished. My versions of Entertainer and another Joplin are in my EASY book.

Finally spent my bookstore rebate card and bought David Dubal's The Essential Canon of Classical Music. Discovering a lot of new music now!

Recarado - that's a wonderful attitude -you are right! Someday!

Christine, do you have a link to the sheet music for Dedication?
Or the name of a particular book ?

Oooo, I want one of those

Cathy

Yes, I have the name of the collection: it is Stories of the Young, Op. 1 (Cuentos de la Jevenitud).

Here is also a little blurb about Enrique Granados from Jane Magrath's book of piano literature:

"Granados lived most of his life (1867-1916) in Barcelona, where he established his reputation as a leading piano virtuoso and teacher. He felt a strong tie with his country's past and with the paintings of Goya. Granados died as a result of World War I: he was sailing back to Spain from the United States on the British liner Sussex when it was torpedoed by a German submarine.

Ah, I enjoyed reading David Dubal's book about Horowitz. I put this on my booklist. Thank you for the idea!

Added another Goldberg Variation to my repertoire.... Variation #13.

Now I've done the Aria, #4, #13, #18, #19. I may try a couple of the cannons (#3 and #9), but after that, I fear the remainder surpasses my abilities.

I'm gunning for Handel's "Harmonious Blacksmith" Aria and variations next.

Hi I am finally back from my business trips.
I just practiced about four hours and felt whole for the first time in weeks. It's been long time, too long not be able to practice. I missed piano so badly that I felt depressed last week.

Next week is the first week in seven weeks that I can be at home whole week. Of the six weeks I traveled, I only practiced a couple of days when I was in NY. I could not find any piano to practice in Utah. I went to a community college but I could not get in to the practice rooms. Access to all the classromms and labs are controled by electronic badges so that only valid students can enter. Piano stores were closed by the time I could visit them. Since I took several people to Utach with me, I wound up having to have dinner every night after worked until 6 or 7 PM. As far as I was concerned, I would have been perfectly happy to practice in my hotel room - even if it means I have to eat ramen noodles that I carry with me when I travel (just in case). But I realized that I could not be so selfish. Sigh. If I want to do a good job, it is extremely important to take care of the team. Besides it pays for my expensive hobby (piano), I love my job. I probably need to buy a small electronic keyboard and carry them around whenever I travel. Has anyone tried it?

crogersrx: Thanks for sharing, I just listened to #13 on YouTube, and it's rather lovely. Congratulations!

FarmGirl: Welcome back...Yeah, don't we all wish we had a job that could both pay for our hobby and give us enough time to actually enjoy it?

Not so much AotW, more AotLSM (Last six months) ... my sight reading is gradually but steadily improving. I've been doing a piece out of Classics to Moderns (the easy volume) every day, along with various exercises. They are never perfect, and anything faster than moderato is definitely played much slower than at tempo. But they are geting there. Less missed notes, way way less stop and starts and dynamics and rhythm getting there.

In short, as everyone says, if you want to improve your sight reading:

Practice, practice, practice!!!

Great to hear about your improvement in sight reading, Andy! I've been using the Four Star books to help with mine. I don't know how much progress I've gained, but it's a long process. And as they say, to get better at it, one needs to just do more of it - lots more!

Andy,

Nice to know there might be light at the end of the tunnel if we keep working at it. I've got the Classics to Moderns book also, but have decided most of it is beyond my sight reading level. I've been using it for weekly throwaways. For sightreading I've been working my way through the Hanna Smith book that someone (you?) here on PW recommended. It is great because it offers so much material in one book (100 pages if I remember right, something like 600 eight to twelve bar lines of music. It is also very gently progressive, introducing new elements quite slowly. I find it does a good job of forcing me to look ahead and keep going. Some of the other sightreading exercise books I've tried just didn't have enough material.

played all the way through Moment Musicale by Schubert. I need to memorize it.

Andy,

Good to hear there's improvement with sight-reading. It stimulates me to do the same. Honestly I started a few weeks ago but somehow I already stopped again. I've printed Czerny op 599 for sight-reading, but I'll have to white out the numbers of fingering. It confuses me. But I'll start tonight!

I won't claim to be the original person to recommend it because I know I picked it up from another thread. But, yes, I am using it and it is great. The one thing I wish is that there was a volume two that started going beyond fixed hand positions. I'm on the final chapter now of it which finally has key signatures but, unless I have yet to hit it, your hands don't need to move to hit any keys.

My routine is basically one or two pages of Hannah(depending on how much time I have that evening for practice) followed by the classics to moderns. And, to be honest, the latter is beyond my sight reading too but not that far. And, as I posted, it's getting better.

What is the exact name of the Hannah book?

And is the From Classics to Moderns a "Joy of" book?

I really should not be thinking of getting more sheet music, but ...ah, it is irresistable.

ah and 4 Stars too?

So much music , so little (skill)...time!

I feel I'm far behind with what's been happening here the last week - and yet I see that in fact I've only missed a couple of days. I'll have to give a more careful read-through of the above posts!

I was told that Alicia de Larrocha is on of the best Spanish pianists, and she has recorded quite a bit of Albéniz, and Granados. I will be shopping!

Easiest way:

Progressive Sight Reading Exercises



Nope, it's just a huge collection of (usually available elsewhere) pieces:

Easy Classics to Moderns

You will find the pieces in this book probably just slightly below the level of the Beethoven Sonatina you are learning. Some easier than others.

Thanks Andy - just one small glitch - the two links go to the same book (Hannah's). Could you fix the Classics to Modern one please?

tks!

Cheryl,

here's the amazon link to Hanna Smith sightreading book
amzn link

Yes, Alicia LaR is a great pianist. You will find lots of Grandados and Albeniz by her. I actually also have a recording of Granados himself playing one of the pieces mentioned.

Andy,

I agree about the five finger - but on the other hand I'm also mindful that trying to do too much at once is what usually keeps me from practicing real reading. My routine is about the same as yours each day. I've now been doing at least 15 minutes a day for a bit over a year. There's progress, but the pace is downright glacial.

edit: too slow, now you have 3 links to it C. heres andy's other link to the Agay book: easy classics to moderns

Thanks Jim. (I wasn't going to say anything about 3 links to Hannah, but I'm glad you noticed!)

And thanks for the further information about the Spanish music.

I'm so keen to get the cds. I can't imagine ever being able to play this music, but these pieces gave me the most delightful shivers when I listened to them.

well im a beginner.. i mean really really beginner.. my achievement of the week, was getting to lesson 4 in piano wizard (its a software that you hook to any midi keyboard).. its the first time ive played multiple keys at once.. the real achievement is getting the praise of my father when he walked in and listened over my shoulder. if you have seen me play you would know just how lame i am at it so getting any praise is wonderful. of course the better i play the more i notice how awful my 100$ casio keyboard is. but it was all i could afford and i didnt think i would ever be even able to play twinkle twinkle little star.. anyway, so yeah, lesson 4 song 3 (i think its the third one in the lesson but im not sure) on half speed with 100% accuracy. lame, but you gotta start somewhere right?

You're right squiggyflop - we all have to start somewhere. It is especially exciting when those who have been listening to us struggle to take our first "steps" in Pianoland start noticing improvements. Good for you !