Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Reducing my ambitions...

Reducing my ambitions has made me happier.
Probably because I have been too ambitious, and actually unrealistic. I spent too much time trying to learn too long and difficult pieces and didn't have the "time" to focus on basic technique. The result was that I didn't actually learn anything, but developed lots of bad habits.

So I put away the Beethoven sonatas and the Chopin etudes, and found shorter and easier pieces, spent more time on basics and focused more on details. And significantly improved my practice routines.

Now I'm able to play pieces of moderate difficulty in an ok way, and this is far more satisfactory than chasing rainbows. I also see that now it is possible to slowly approach more challenging stuff.

Exploring the easy to intermediate difficulty piano literature has been very rewarding. There is so much beautiful music that isn't necessarily virtuosic.

The process of reducing the ambitions was painful to begin with, but for me it was very rewarding. It made me happier, and I also think it made me a better pianist.

Reading this makes me also happy that I did begin (and still am) doing the beginning stuff. Good for you to find out that there is a lot of beautifull and easier music to deal with.

edit: but hey wait... your recital post says you have 50 yrs of experience?

Yes, in the late sixties I tried to learn "la Campanella". In early seventies I "practiced" Chopin Ballades, Scherzi and Etudes. Then came Beethoven sonatas, and later Mozart. Gradually I realized that all this was way beyond what I actually could play in a decent way. After purchasing the two- and three-part Inventions of Bach I even realized that this was very difficult to play cleanly and make music out of, but I think that this brought me back on track, and after that time I have progressed slowly. During the last few years I have been able to build a repertoire mainly with intermediate pieces, but now I enjoy playing more than ever before.

I see a lot of wisdom in focusing on pieces that are within your skill level. Then you can strive for beauty rather than struggling against technical hurdles--and as you say, it can lead to more solid progress.

I like to stay in my technical comfort zone especially when performing. I don't like to play (or sing) things in public unless I can get them to the point where they feel easy in practice. One result is that people who hear me often assume I'm a much better musician than I really am. They don't hear the stuff I'm not good at!

Hi Ganddalf, Glad you are having a more satisfying time doing what you're doing.
In my experience, the real growth happens when pieces get to be played very very well... so I'm guessing you'll find more difficult pieces coming into your reach after a year or two of working less difficult pieces up to a high level of quality.
But the most important thing is that you are playing good music and enjoying it so much.

How did you know I needed to see this thread?

Yesterday my new piano arrived. Sold the previous one two years ago and threw all the sheet music out.
Except for the one Beethoven Sonata I enjoy murdering I am going to back up and slow down.
Carnegie ain't in the cards.

Repertoire suggestions are welcome.

If you're looking for something a little off the beaten path Manuel Ponce has a great piece for intermediate players, his Intermezzo no 2. I have assigned it to many students and they love it, it's quite beautiful and you can find many recordings on youtube of it, even one by Lang Lang!

You can find it here.

http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Ponce,_Manuel

EDIT: Sorry its Intermezzo no 1, not no 2.

Nice to read this Ganddalf. I'm also reducing a bit in difficulty to get more music under my belt. (But I have to confess I still have one or two of those difficult pieces in my schedule.)

I also notice that playing not so difficult repertoire is indeed satisfying. It can of course still be challenging, although it's manageable and it does not take up months and months before being able to play it smooth and musical. There's the satisfying part.

This is, indeed, my experience. I noticed that you have the third Bach Partita on your working schedule, and I guess that you know that I played this for the "Suites" recital. I think that my work with this partita helped me a lot. It is very transparent and requires very systematic practice. I learned a lot about ornaments and phrasing and working with this music was very interesting and rewarding.

Try some Mendelssohn! His Songs without words span the whole range from relatively simple to nearly unplayable. At first glance these pieces may appear a bit trivial, but when you dive into them you may find them very rewarding to work with. I also like the Haydn sonatas. Most of them are shorter and simpler than the Mozart and Beethoven sonatas, but there's a lot of very delicate music there.

Some idea of the level of repertoire and maybe type would be useful--- and I'm sure you will be flooded with suggestions There is so much wonderful music out there at every level. If there is something you play successfully, and enjoy, that would be a good hint for suggestions to come your way.

You just might have something there. I 'sort of' hung it up when I reached the limit of my capabilities. Trying to struggle with that heavy duty Rocky-baby and Prokofiev was just about beyond my limit, considering the job and all. Knowing your limits is probably smarter and less frustrating than trying to push beyond your time and space...in the end it only aggravates your teacher and the audience...better to do one thing well...

I have come to the same sort of happy place. I do have ambitions to tackle larger works but that's for the future. I get a lot of satisfaction from playing something like a 2 part invention well over struggling with something like a Beethoven sonata that is beyond my ability.

I think that many of us have been through the stage where we were trying to work on material that was beyond our grasp. Alas, some of us have not yet had the wisdom to come out of that stage.

Regards,

I play Tcherepnin's 1st Bagatelle and have worked hard on Beethoven's Sonata Opus 49 no. 2 aka 20.
I played the first part of the sonata ok. I like it a lot, but I am looking for easier pieces.

When I was young, I worked on pieces that were beyond my grasp, because I didn't know they were difficult. (Nothing is impossible when you're 15 ). Like Chopin's Op.53 when I was at Grade 5 ABRSM (a.k.a. "intermediate standard") - it took me another three years before I could actually play it as Freddy intended, but that only served to vindicate my premise that nothing is impossible....

Now that I'm old & decrepit, I work on pieces that are beyond my grasp.......because I don't have much time left to learn the impossible . (I don't believe in reincarnation).

Here are a few suggestions -- not sure what is appealing to you-- and I am sure other forum members will help

bartok mickrokosmos -- six vol of progressive difficulty
check on vol 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lgB_uqFCrI
vol 5

Burgmuller op 100 22 Barcolle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11KbocHXj2k

Debbusy Reverie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11KbocHXj2k


Alkan op 63 no 23
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UCF1K5KbhQ

Albinoni- adagio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwylhRgLTdQ

This is a bit of a problem with me now, because my teacher wants me to work on harder things and get technically better, while I myself am now more in the mood for perfecting pieces that I already can technically play ok (probably due to the high demands of my job right now). When I am in a more ambitious mode we work together smoothly, but right now it's a bit of a struggle of wills.

Belief is not required.

Thank you very much.