Thanks piqué for the idea for this thread!
Mine was Chopin's Grande Valse brillante in Eb; my Grandad had it played at his funeral when I was little, and since then I have wanted to play it.. I have mostly learnt it now but my hands are too small to reach the chords - I have to modify a lot!

Hmmm..for me it must be Rondo Alla Turca. First classical piece that I ever fully learned, and it was the piece that inspired me to play the piano. Funny tough how Mozart doesn't influence me as much as he did several years ago.

Hmmm. I'll suppose it's Paganini's Caprice no 24 for four hands piano. Really interesting!

Vivaldi's "Four Seassons"
(violonist.... :p )

Moonlight Sonata, first movement.

My Dad taught me where middle C was on the piano and on the music. I had to count up and down every line and space (and to remember to go one more when it had that funny little sharp sign).

Years later I created a rock version of it for a band I was playing in.
I still play it (both ways).

Fur Elise

Rondo Alla Turca man. That piece was the bomb. At parties people used to be like, play the Rondo!, and so I'd experiment a little bit with different melody elements. Like using legato on the repeat where I had played staccato before.

Nothing gets the crowd going like the Rondo. The beautiful thing about the Rondo is, almost however you play it, it should sound cool if you just stick to the basic Mozart "rules".

"Am Strande" by George Pozcka. (I hope I got the spelling right.) So easy to play, and so impressive sounding. Just a collection of arpeggios, a traceable melody, and voila! A real audience pleaser.

Chopin's nocturne no.2 in E-flat major...
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"I never understood a bar of music in my life, but I've felt it"
-Igor stravinsky

I'm still a kid, but I'm hoping that it might be rondo cappricioso by Mendelsohnn. Well... unless if my teacher gives me anything harder...

Dr. Gradus ad Parnassum by Debussy. I used to floor people with that one, although, as Johnson said about the women preachers: "It is not done well, but you are surprised to find it done at all."

*gasp* Dr. Gradus and Parnassum? That's one of my favorite songs!!!!! *hug* It's absolutely beautiful!!!!! *going crazy right now because of the song and the name "debussy" * Well.... as long as it's played right.

oh, I play it just fine now, Riyoku. But I'm talking about playing it at age 9. I suppose I did all right, but I reworked it as a music major in college so it's much better now.

Chopin Fantasy Impromptu

Was the piece that made me love classical music.

Signature piece....Indians, Indians, Everywhere.!

People came up and patted me and hugged me, when I was 5...trouble is, they just give me dirty looks now when I play it.....

John Cont

Fur Elise was there at two turning points of my musical life--the beginning and the transition point (method books to real pieces).

Even though I never listen to it anymore...

Greensleeves

I played violin when I was a kid. For me it was Beethoven's 9th, though my sister and I did a very nice violin duet of the Hymn "Oh Sacred Head Now Wounded." It made a nice duet.

Fur Elise. And also, Clementi's Sonatina Op36 No.1. I always loved playing that. I've grown out of it a little now and I now prefer playing No.3. =)

I'm still a "kid" but I would have to say my heart will go on from titanic (the movie)

Well, I've always loved Hungarian Rhapsody No.2, even if as a younger kid I didn't realise it was called that. Gotta love cartoons.

My mom saved the program from my very first recital in 1978 (it's a nice keepsake). Here are a couple I can think of without digging it out I played at my first recital: Teddy Bear's Picnic and Grandfather's Clock.

I started lessons around Christmas time and the very first piece I ever learned was "The First Noel". I can still picture the page and the book in my mind.

William Tell Overture trasscribed for piano.
Hi Ho Silver Away!

Bumble Boogie. I'm not that old, but my teacher was.

My signature child piece?

I'm not sure, my first real piece..that I played for a recital was "The Cucaracaha Boogie". Everytime I hear it it gives me the jiggles. haha.

But my other piece is "Agitation" from Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words. Only because it was a really big accomplishment for me, learning it in the time that I did and then when I was in front of the judge playing it, I played it perfectly, I think. And I just love playing it because I can relate to it so well.

Childhood signature piece eh?? My father made me play "autum leaves" and "alley cat" all the time. I really got to dislike those 2 tunes.. I suppose it was payback for me playing "running bear" at 5am every week. My mother was always into the classical material (she couldn't play a note to save her life)Etudes, Sonata's... and my buddys were playing in the street right in front of the house but I had to do the 1 hour everyday. Now, I'm glad I did.

Mine was "Pumpkin Patch" at my first recital. I practiced in secret and surprised my dad by dedicating it to him at the recital. On the last measure, you had to hit a note at the far ends of the piano and my nose had to touch the keyboard in order to reach them. It made him tear up - which is VERY unusual for my dad.

I think I might even still have the music down in the basement somewhere - almost 30 years later. Come to think of it, I should dig it out and teach it to my nine year old daughter.

Stacey,

Yes, you need to retrieve that piece and give it to your daughter, and then put it in your "scrapbook of life" memories. Good story!

Thanks for bringing this topic back to life, too.

In about 8th grade I was in love with Brahm's Waltz in Ab, Brahm's Intermezzo, Scarf Dance by Cecile Charminade, Clair de Lune by Debussy, Forgotten Dreams by LeRoy Anderson - the above mentioned "Alley Cat" and "Autumn Leaves" and "Five Foot Two".

Playing these pieces was very therapeutic for me at a difficult time in my life. It gave me a private place of sanctuary.

Betty

Well I did'nt really have a signature piece when I was little, i just always played whatever I just finished off.
My signature piece now though would be Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum.

Hot Cross Buns.

Child? I'm 15, my signature piece is Chopin's Nocturne in E flat major... I started piano two years ago, so there isn't much else ha ha

TE

Haha there are alot of Fur elise's!
yes, that piece amazed me and I really wanted to be able to play it when i was a kid. Its rather annoying now!

The piece that i lfell in love with which turned me to classical music is Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini!

Its magical and that was the first piece I learned to play on the piano.

xxx

Another one for Fur Elise.
Unfortunately I learned it when I was ~6 so to this day, I play with the same fingering I used then leaving out a couple of notes but I played it best back then. I dusted off the piece a couple years after learning it winning a talent competition of over 200 contestants. Few years later, I played it again, and won, at a smaller talent competition.

My last three pieces were the unavoidable "For Elise", a solo piano version of the "Adagio" of Benedetto Marcello and Schubert's "Serenade". I did not like the last one (it depressed me even on my best days, and I have many...), whilst I always liked Benedetto Marcello and of course For Elise.

Anyway, no one of these pieces is the one that I remember with most fondness; that would be Gossec's "Gavotte", the first piece I could play that I considered "real piano music" and a melody that I remember very fondly to this day.....

You should switch to "Dixie."

Shadow Dance by Edward MacDowell is a wonderful crowd-pleaser. I didn't win anything with it, though, so I do enjoy Chopin's Waltz in E Minor too.