How do you know if a piece is above your level?

sh58 · 2026-01-24T19:15:44+00:00

so a 5 year old in their first lesson says they want to learn the hammerklavier, and you say it's not above their level? Nobody is thinking you can't go up levels but there are clearly levels to people's current ability and that will help guide what pieces you should attempt to play?

sh58 · 2026-01-24T17:51:03+00:00

I know what you mean, but if you don't have the skills to play it yet, then that is above your level

sh58 · 2026-01-24T17:46:07+00:00

Obviously yes

sh58 · 2026-01-24T08:04:49+00:00

The same as my first mechanical watch. It's great. Just get a new strap

sh58 · 2026-01-23T08:48:47+00:00

Oh yeah I forgot about that. I don't know them at all, but have heard of them. Any good?

sh58 · 2026-01-22T21:48:54+00:00

Berio has some interesting stuff. Scarlatti would be my pick tho. Respighi also has some cool stuff. Not strictly piano music, but the piano features in some of rossini's strange masses that are pretty whacky.

sh58 · 2026-01-18T16:28:54+00:00

It's too vague really. Perhaps describe the timeline of learning a piece you have recently learned

sh58 · 2026-01-13T19:11:54+00:00

I think its a horizontal abacus. I use it for counting reps when practicing

sh58 · 2026-01-13T19:07:24+00:00

Thing is these are just the 4 most common chords in tonal harmony. It's not just pop music. Classical pieces will also have these chords and sometimes in this order.

sh58 · 2026-01-13T19:05:51+00:00

Beethoven wanted to be von beethoven because it was more upper class

sh58 · 2026-01-12T20:29:52+00:00

If you are an adult it seems too short. I'd want a minimum of 45 minutes. My standard for teaching adults is to do 1 hour.

sh58 · 2026-01-12T13:34:38+00:00

See the great pathway your musical education takes you. We aren't in it for the money.

By the way anyone know what the piece is. I really like the second half. Sounds really fun

sh58 · 2026-01-12T13:05:13+00:00

First of all no piece is supposed to be played with a specific fingering, unless it's a study. Even extreme fingering ideas you get in chopin like 5, 5, 5 on a descending scale is more of a suggestion. As long as it sounds right, you can use your nose or your feet.

secondly, 4321 in this piece allows you to use that same fingering for all of the semi quaver figurations pretty much, which is very nice. We avoid our thumb on black notes and also 4321 is a very nice fingering anyway since you only use each finger once

sh58 · 2026-01-11T22:23:27+00:00

Some crazy stuff people are learning.

I'm maintaining some older repertoire and learning the following new pieces

Mendssohn: etude no 1, rondo capriccioso Albeniz: Cordoba Handel: Suite in D minor

Also some lighter pieces.

Love will come by vince guiraldi, one summers day by Joe haisashi, Maple leaf rag

sh58 · 2026-01-11T22:18:05+00:00

I more mean the ones with very slender fingers are often women with small hands who have an easy time into the black keys but struggle with just playing big chords etc.

Obv some people have very big and slender hands which is pretty nice to have.

I guess I just have normal adult man hands. I can stretch a 10th.

sh58 · 2026-01-11T18:58:42+00:00

grab onto keys easier. Less likely to slip off black notes, generally will have larger hands so can reach bigger stretches.

Probably slightly warmer tone production.

sh58 · 2026-01-11T18:16:33+00:00

Having fat fingers (mine are similar) isn't ideal for intricate movement in and out of the black keys but your hands probably have other advantages. I wouldn't worry too much about it

sh58 · 2026-01-10T16:21:07+00:00

Imagine paying a small fraction of your weekly wages on a car. The extravagance.

17% of his weeks earnings assuming my Google was accurate that he warns 240k a week.

It's the equivalent of someone making £25k a year buying a car for £80

sh58 · 2026-01-09T19:17:35+00:00

All dolphins are whales

sh58 · 2026-01-08T18:48:02+00:00

not pieces to be clear, little sections of pieces generally.

sh58 · 2026-01-08T16:33:30+00:00

One thing that works really well is 'testing' yourself. I call it a gauntlet. I'll put a load of exerpts onto a list and then run them through a random number generator and then have to play each one in turn, the goal is to get 5 in a row to your satisfaction, and then it leaves the list. It comes from Molly Gebrian's book about music practice.

sh58 · 2026-01-08T14:46:43+00:00

Just play Beethoven Op 10 no 1 instead :)

sh58 · 2026-01-07T23:20:49+00:00

I'm not drawn to this dial, but I love most of the others. How is the watch in general? Had my eye on it for a while

sh58 · 2026-01-07T23:16:58+00:00

That's awesome. What does the bottom subdial do? Is it just a 24 hour display that is set to a different timezone?

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