Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Not sure what skill level I am Anyone want to entertain this

I'll just lay out what my history is then I have a couple questions.

-took lessons as a kid, stopped probably before middle school
-took lessons as an adult for about two years (18-20) roughly
-quit and didn't touch the piano once for years until a while ago
-relearned everything (except theory which im going to start working on)
plus a BUNCH

So this is where I am now. My piano teacher had me starting on a book called "Essential Keyboard Repertoire Volume 1: 100 Early INTERMEDIATE selections blah blah blah Baroque to Modern"

When I first started this book, all the pieces were a bit difficult. Now I could probably pick out any random piece and learn it in a day or two relatively easily if I really wanted to. I think its fair to say I'm at least 'intermediate (if one is to believe the title of this book)'.

Here's where I'm fuzzy. I've been forcing myself to learn a very clearly advanced piece (Let it Go advanced piano solo by Kyle Landry) and I've been hung up on this for quite a bit. I started probably at the beginning of Feb and I'm still stuck where I was a month ago. BUT WAIT. There's was also about 2.5 weeks where I had no access to a piano because I was working so much, however, this past two weeks has yielded little progress. I can play it slowly almost perfectly but once I try to speed up its just too sloppy.

Am I shooting too high here?
Should I put this piece away for a while and come back a bit later?
Am I considered intermediate-advanced?
Are there any good intermediate-advanced books that you guys recommend? I'm open to other genres like jazz and ragtime, not just classical (even though I hate classical)

I've been going alone at this for a while now so I thought it would be a good idea to take stock of my skill level.

I practice about 3-4 days a week (this can't change) for 3-4 hours a day (this can) if it matters.

Also, I recommend you all check out an app called Musicopoulos. It covers music theory and it's only $1.99. I think it's worth it!

That app looks robust.

Question: Do you have a piano at home to practice? Is that what you meant by only getting to practice and not having access?

Yeah it's really neat. It has lessons then practice exercises to back them up. I have no excuse to not know my key sigs now.

As for the piano, I don't have a good one at my house, just a cheap casio with no weighted keys. That and I work 3 12s so even if I did I just won't be able to get any quality time in. The piano I have is at my parents which is just up the street and I usually get there three times a week for at least a couple hours a day. The schedule I put above depends on how busy I am on my days off.

I've played 30+ years and I don't know what level I'm at and have decided it's not a productive question.

I will never not recommend that someone investigate ragtime. You could just download the rags you were interested in on imslp.org. Check out the Maple Leaf Rag.

That Kyle Landry rendition is interesting. Lots of it seems super straighforward and then there are tricky parts. He's got a few sections with giant left hand leaps and then arpeggiated left hand. Right hand, not so much going on, but then some super rapid gestures.

With ragtime, you'll do about zero left-hand arpeggios and instead jump your left hand all the time. Your right hand won't reach the same speed as some of those Kyle Landry gestures.

Joplin is a great composer. Landry's doing a power ballad. Joplin has some rollicking pieces, but his pieces aren't really akin to the that Landry arrangement.

From my little experience I would say the book has material from grade 1-3 ABRSM and I would not call that early intermediate.

However, if you can play the Kyle Landry perfect when slow then all you need to do is to learn how to speed up without becoming sloppy. This usually just involves using a metronome and gradually (probably over weeks) increase the speed one notch at a time.

As the pieces get harder so too does the time needed for them to become secure and as progress is not linear there are times we feel we are not moving forward at all. However this does not mean we are not improving in other areas, it may just not be happening for a single piece. There is also this question of how long does a piece take to learn, which has no answer really. The purists say you never learn a piece (there being so many variations) but a month for a grade 1-3 piece was about my average. Grade 4, 5 & 6 pieces I attempt take significantly longer. Some have been presentable after three or four months but most seem to take double that and I have spent over a year on a single piece that for me is technically quite difficult. So whenever I undertake a new piece I never wonder how long it will take, it will be finished when it is finished.



I think having one or two stretch pieces lets you see what is around the corner, however when you start to fail at them you know it is time to reset the ambition level. Pity you hate classical because the genre has been graded and can give us an indication of where we are on the journey. However you sometimes need to sit down with your teacher and have a good old chat about such things as people on the internet do not know you as well as they do.

couple of links for grading of pieces....sorry but it is just for classical works here and here

If you can play it slowly almost perfectly, then you need to learn how to speed up in an efficient manner.

Go section by section, or even bar by bar if you must. Speed up one section at a time, and you'll know which sections need more work. Spend less time on the easy sections and more time on the difficult ones.

If you're having trouble speeding up on certain difficult sections, then learn that section hands separately at tempo, and then try to put it together.

Playing the whole piece again and again, with the hopes that you'll get better if you keep at it is a sloppy and inefficient strategy.

oh dear, I am going to have to rethink things

Rethinking is good

The Maple Leaf Rag in its original form is in Level 5 of the Faber series, which they call late-Intermediate.

I'm beginning to think Faber overrates some of their material.

Regardless, just one more opinion floating out there...

Faber level 3 ( a and b ) is about RCM level 2
Faber level 4 and 5 are about RCM level 3

I think Faber series is more indicated for a amateurs, and RCM for people going more seriously... so I think it's ok to differenciate in that way.

This will depend on the scale you use. A graded system easily provides some indication of where you fit within it. The lower grades are beginner and going right up to the higher grades of advanced. But this is just one scale.

Some may consider completion of all the grades and associated theory as being a learning foundation. Sort of like completing university, but before becoming professional at anything. So, advanced in the sense you have completed training, but likely intermediate when compared to high end achievers/performers.

To me ... we are all beginners that are advanced at piano when compared to others that have never played.

Hi there, just to clarify, you have a teacher but you are not working with your teacher on the most advanced piece you're trying to learn? Is that right?

"Intermediate" is a very fuzzy word and I wouldn't worry too much about what level you are. Furthermore a student who learns a Grade 5 piece in two weeks and plays it beautifully is clearly more advanced than a student who learns a Grade 5 piece in a year and doesn't play it beautifully, but they are both "playing Grade 5 pieces." Better to describe pieces as "harder than this, easier than that" and piano students can say "I just learned that and it took me forever, but I learned this in a week".

As to the Kyle Landry piece, I would think if it's harder than anything else you're playing, then it's the thing that could most use the help of your teacher.

what is the relevance of skill level?

That sounds about right. I guess my next question is, in the Piano Guild Elementary (A->F) and Intermediate (A->F) levels, where does RCM levels 2 and 3 stand?

No idea... do you have the piece list? would be an easy comparison, the RCM syllabus is free.

Exactly my thought.

The only thing of relevance to me is, that I'm much better than I was a few months ago, and hopefully another few months may see further improvements. The only level that has meaning to me is, which of the pieces I really like are within reach now, and which ones will have to wait for better days.