ok i saw that post about "what grade pianist am I" and i was wondering that too.

I'm self taught been playing for about 6 years now and i started when i was 15. here's a list of the pieces i've completed so far:

1)Moonlight sonata (first movement and half of the third)
2)Pathetique (second movement and part of the first)
3) Fur Elise
4)Bach's Tocatta and Fuge in D minor ( up to about half of the fuge -on piano-)
5)Little Fuge in in G minor
6)Inventions # 1,4,and 7
7)Prelude from English Suite no. 2
8)WTC Prelude no.1 in C
9)Chopin's nocturne's no. 1,2,and op.37 no.1
10)Militaire polonaise, and OP.72 no.3, and part of the heroic
11)Preludes no.4,7,15, and 20
12)mazurka's no.6, and 2 other's i can't remember
13)Revolutionary Etude,half of op.10 no.3, now working on op.10 no.4
14)waltze's no. 1, minute waltze, and the one before that i think op.64 no.1,and the A MINOR posthumous, by ear.
15)and large chunks from Liszt's Campanella,hungarian rhapsody no.2, and 8,Liebestraum no.3,and Rachmaninof's C# minor prelude

There are more of course but i don't want to go crazy with this list (if i haven't already). So as teachers what would you think??Being that i've never had a teacher i don't know how to rate myself seriously.

You are better than a beginner but worse than a professional.

Seriously, though, I don't like these rating type things. You are who you are and noone can truly judge you based on pure reperatoire. That's why I don't go for grade exams...

lol, good point.

U can't judge one's level of playing from his or her repertoire list. IE : You may be playing the Revolutionary etude, but really sounding like a struggling grade 5 all the time or vice versa.
U need to get a piano teacher to hear you play or assess you. Why don't you go for an audition or something to know your level of playing?

I agree, repertoire alone does not pin point the grades. For example, for diploma pieces from Trinity College (London) or Royal School of Music has pieces like Beethoven's last three sonatas which is of course not technically a killer but musically too demanding for that level. And so if someone of that level plays it, it might not have the necessary musical depth compared to a true professional pianist.

In order to "rate you seriously" we would simply have to hear you play.

You could play these pieces utterly dreadfully (no offense :p ) for all we know.

Repetoire wise, a lot of that is average, but some of it is very advanced (Chopin Études etc.).

The bottom line is that unless you can post a recording of your playing, we can't really judge how good you are.

If you could play the Chopin Étude that you say you have completed to a very high standard after six years of self-tuition then that would be absolutely excellent; way above average.

i would post a recording but i have no way of hosting it so i can put a link.

dang...you can play La Campanella???
you must have huge hands!
that piece is definitely not for me to play in this lifetime...=( i gotto reincarnate and ask for bigger hands next life to play that!

Go here:

http://www.streamload.com/Roots/Upload.asp

Put in the username "uploaded" and upload the files.

ok i'll give it a shot...i'll have to brush up on that op.10 no.12 again being that i haven't played it in a few months, but i'll post as much as i can. i also have 2 compositions i could use some critiques on.

Don't feel you have to play that study, play whatever you like or play best.

ok guys i dug up my old recordings from last year, please excuse the hard execution (i get nervous even recording alone)...lol

here a list of the pieces, most i only recorded large portions, not the whole piece because some i only learned a portion of the entire piece.

1)Romance No.1 (My own composition)
2)Prelude No.1 in B (Another composition)
3)Hungarian Rhapsody No.8
4)Minute Waltz
5)Polonaise in F sharp minor op.44 (don't mind the errors..lol
6)Toccata and Fuge in D minor (my own arrangement for piano)
7)Waltz in C# minor op.64 No.2

ok F.Chopin, i uploaded them, now what?

-I actually have small hands, i can only stretch a 9th, but i did spend alot of time seperating my fingers with a cup to gain some flexibility, and for a while i would sleep on my hands while they were in difficult positions i.e. having just the 4th finger sticking out..that really helped.

They're available for download at:

www.streamload.com/uploaded

I'll listen to it in a sec.

ok cool

The only true test of how well you played is whether they hire you again. Compliments or criticisms can't be trusted.

But since you ask, here's one test:

Come to my church. If you can sight read the hymns on Sunday, including paying enough attention to start at the right time and adjust to the singing speed, you're a pro. You must be able to play with good sense of "time". Some rubato is tolerated - but rubato must be deviation from time, not absence of time as I hear in many organists and pianists.

If you can prepare the hymns in a week and play them as above, you're a good intermediate.

If neither, I won't be hiring you again.

My rules aren't the only rules for determining how good you are. But they're mine, and I'm paying.

TimR what are you talking about "hiring again"?

it sounds like he's in a position of hiring church players, maybe he's the director of music ministry at his church.. I thought his post was pretty clear. In the "real world" a list of repertoir is as worthless as a RCM "grade level" -if you can play, you'll get the job

:D

ChopinLives81:

Nice playing! Were those first two your own compositions? They were nice.

One thing you might want to consider is bringing out the melody line a bit more... your left hand is often at the same volume as your right, whereas it should be more of a supplement, providing the foundation but not overwhelming your right hand. The melodies in your own compositions are very lovely, and they should be clearly out there at the forefront.

My teacher once said, "They're paying to hear the melody, not the accompaniment!"

You are quite talented to have accomplished this on your own (or heck, even with a teacher).

I know what you mean and i do, but unfortunately the recording are in midi, so i loose alot of the volume differences between the melody and accompaniment...but believe me, when i play the piece i really do play them with alot more feeling than what you could hear in those recordings, but anyways thanks for the replies.

-And yes those first two were my own compositions. The first one "Romance No.1" I composed as a Valentine's Day gift for this girl i liked back in High School..lol

WOW! You play beautifully! And I absolutely love your original compositions!

BTW, what equipment did you use to record those?

I have a Yamaha Clavinova CLP-950 and i hooked it through a midi cable to my computer, but some were recorded through a microphone. I also have a SoundBlaster Audigy 2ZS soundcard (best soundcard on the market

-btw thanks for the opinion

Okay, I have another question. When you started learning, which method books (if any) did you use?

Let me know if my questions get annoying, LOL!

non..i just picked up pieces that i liked and worked on them little by little....lol

Are the pieces still uploaded?

no they got wiped off i don't know why...can someone send me a link to where i can upload the pieces again

I downloaded one called Casals - Prelude.ogg

Is that yours?

It is very nice!

no it isn't Mark...i recently re-uploaded just me two compositions here:

www.streamload.com/chopinlives81

let me know what you think.