Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Easy romantic/impressionist pieces

Hello everyone , so I've been playing (self-taught) for about 6 months and personally i am really happy with my progress so far ,technically only. My repertoire is kinda weak and i only can play a small handful of snippets of pieces , such as the intro themes of arabesque no.1 and the nocturne op.9 no.2 till the returning of the first theme. I really want to expand my range of repertoire to a vast rate to be able to play pieces by my favorite composers which are:
-chopin
-debussy
-ravel
-albeniz (recently started checking his pieces ,and my my god ! )
-rachmaninoff
-tchaikovsky
My biggest problem is that i have 0 motivation or dedication to learn pieces at my level , and thats why my repertoire is weak, and (sorry if this insults anyone) bach,mozart and beethoven music dont appeal to me at all
So anyway my question is , is there any easy or (easy-able) pieces of the mentioned composers above to learn....and should i spend my time learning lots of easy pieces ,or few hard pieces ?

There are easier arrangements of most classical pieces.

Plus I go by zone of proximial development, whereby you go for something above your current level but not too high so as not to lose motivation.

Check out the recital index by composer.
Mike White

http://recitals.pianoworld.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

?????? Same basic question as each month since september? The answers have not changed.

Chopin's prelude in e minor is probably the easiest.

All of Rachmaninoff is tough, but the first section of the slow etude op.39 no.2 in a minor might be doable. There are some nice simplified arrangements of Vocalise too. Finally, the accompaniment to Lilacs (it's a song), op.21 no.5 f#m, is sweet.

Erik Satie's music is nice and pretty and easy. Check out Gymnopedies 1, 2, and 3.

Yann Tiersen is a modern 'easy' composer with plenty of nice romantic-ish piano solos. Anything by him would fit your bill.

Sibelius wrote a lot of great underplayed music . . . you'd definitely like the impromptus, Capriccio, and some of the themes from the Karelia Suite. Check it out.

Happy playing .

That right there is the turn-off for me.

Look on YouTube for a video of Addinsell's "Warsaw Concerto" with the score pages on the screen. It's an odd little piece that was written for a WWII movie, and intended to sound like Rachmaninoff. (The back story is that they tried to hire him, and he either said no or wanted too much money.) The theme at letter "K" in the score is surprisingly easy as written in the key of B. It's very close to just putting a relaxed hand on the keyboard.

This is a joke, right?

No, the single note melody line at letter "K" is remarkably easy. The rest of the piece maybe not so much....

I wonder if I suggest I want to do just part of the piece to my teacher she'll let me.

I might follow it up with the middle 12 seconds of 4'33 ...

That's what the OP does -- snippets. This is a great snippet. ;-)

Ohh my god, i meant 6 months , am so sorry.

I wrote out that excerpt, right hand only, in MuseScore. I don't think that we can post PDF or XML here, so, if you want, Andy, Firas, PM me your e-mails and I'll send it to you as an attachment. I'll add the fingerings I use to the file tomorrow.

I don't know much about the music by those composers, and certainly not 'easy' ones by them. But you may want to check out some of Chopin's 24 preludes. The technically easiest pieces by Debussy that I know of is his Children's Corners, but there are more at intermediate levels. The easiest pieces by Rachmaninov that I know of are his preludes and those are quite advanced. I've never played any Tchaikovsky and one of the two Ravel pieces I attempted is insanely difficult!

From those composers you listed, it looks like you prefer post romantic to impressionist era. Why not look into pieces by Erik Satie? His 3 gymnopedies are quite manageable and pleasant at 'post beginner' level (approximately after 1-2 years of learning).

Good luck!

I would recommend the Trancedental Etudes of Liszt. Or if you like Ravel: Gaspard de La Nuit. Perhaps some Scriabin? Or this one: Clavicembalisticum of Sorabji, very amusing.

When you've tried these pieces you wonder that you had that level of quality.. [

Come on, stop pulling his leg

The first thing that comes to my mind is Satie, as Tubbie suggested. A striking effect achieved with just a handful of notes. And Chopin's Preludes nos. 4, 7, and 20. Also, Tchaikovsky's op. 39, Album for the Young. Some pieces are really nice and not as easy as they look. You can find all of these on IMSLP.

@Synophilia Op started making jokes didn't he Just kidding.

Ok, on a more serious note:
Please try: The Sick Doll, the Dolls Burial and Old French song from Thchaikovsky, all easy.
The Sick Doll looks easy but to get it connected and flowing and expressing some emotion (like the Pletnev recording) is something else. You might need to use the pedal.

Furthermore: The first 5 pieces of Op.68 from Schumann, all relatively easy but fun. (Soldiers March is fun!).

So do you suggest ignoring technical exercises such as Hanon or Schmitt for now and focusing on building repertoire (Album for the young by tchaikovsky, and the other one by schumann + some Satie pieces) ?

How about getting a teacher? You should at least be doing scales, chords, and arpeggios alongside learning repertoire within your current ability. A teacher can help you find music that you can actually learn to play and get better at AND find pieces you enjoy.

Probably at your level you wouldn't be doing much Beethoven, Bach, or Mozart anyways (nor Chopin, Rachmaninoff, or any of the other composers on your list except for Tchaikovsky). But there's a lot of music out there you may like. Look into Kabalevsky, Schumann's album for the Young, Burgmuller, Gurlitt, etc. A good compilation book like Easy Classics to Moderns Vol. 17 would be good. You may also be interested in the Celebration Series - Perspectives. I really have no idea what you can play well, however, so you may want to start at Level 1 or 2 in their Repertoire and Etudes books. These contain a wide variety of styles but it leans mostly toward classical pianists.

@Firas Kordi
I suggest doing both but above all get a solid basis.
And that basis starts before Hanon and Schmitt.
Whether you get a teacher or not is all up to yourself, I can highly recommend it but hey, I am not you.

Playing only technical exercises will demotivate you. The repertoire Morodiene (and myself) mention is fun to play and not to hard. Beware though that there are many traps.

Even in easy books such as "Classics to Moderns by Denes Agay" there lots of things I cannot play well due to the nuances in dynamics and accents. O yes, I can play the notes but can I play the music as intended? NO definitely not.