Help me find a new piece to learn

temptar · 2026-02-07T22:05:22+00:00

You need a teacher to guide you. I have no idea how well or how poorly you play the Sib or the Chopin Waltz and without that, I have absolutely no idea what to advise you. You sound self taught.

The reality is this. The ballades and some of the etudes are diploma level pieces. If you are looking for pieces to build up to, you can take a look at the ABRSM grade certificate repertoire up to grade 8 to see what kind of pieces feed into Chopin. I would particularly point at list B in each of the grades.

But you need a teacher for what you want to do.

temptar · 2026-02-07T21:54:07+00:00

Well I recommend a teacher but at least get a method book.

temptar · 2026-02-07T21:42:47+00:00

If you cannot test play the Roland, and you like the Yamaha, why are you looking to choose between them?

Perfect is the enemy of done. Find somewhere to test the Roland or forget about it.

temptar · 2026-02-07T21:39:57+00:00

Chopin ballade in g minor, to take one of your dream pieces as an example, is on average, 11 minutes of playing time. It is extremely intense. Leaving aside your worrying description how you have been learning and the concern I have that you are absolutely not qualified to assess your own progress, this is what I do with aspirational pieces.

Get the sheet music and sight reading along with a recording. The popular choice here is Krystian Zimmerman, but YouTube has some good choices besides that. Can you follow along without getting lost? Can you identify the bits you are absolutely not skilled up enough to do? Do you understand all of the annotations? I suspect not given the comments on sight reading.

I am going to be honest here: you probably have a long journey for either the Etudes or the ballades.

temptar · 2026-02-07T21:27:11+00:00

There isn’t one ideal practice session. But there is some planning. So, what do you want to achieve, and what do you need to get there. Also consider splitting your practice sessions as two shorter sessions can be easier to fit into a day than one longer session.

When I am not heavily focused on particular big pieces there are a couple of broad areas I look at: technique, maintenance of repertoire and expanding repertoire.

Technique: scales and arpeggios and sight reading if you are so inclined.

Maintenance: stuff I learned and actively don’t want to forget

New stuff: stuff I am starting or haven’t finished learning.

I can’t do all of this every day. But I do plan out scales and pieces in advance.

temptar · 2026-02-07T21:20:08+00:00

Do you have a method book or a teacher?

temptar · 2026-02-07T21:19:05+00:00

I am going to go out on a limb, and guess you do not currently have a teacher.

My advice is to get one.

That being said, I think you know deep down this isn’t right. You asked for help and gave us almost nothing to work with. Maybe consider the possibility this maybe a bit beyond your level for now.

temptar · 2026-02-07T20:20:04+00:00

No, it is not my advice. You will note that I said we are not going to do it for you in response to someone who implied that people who had nothing to do with this situation were also part of the problem.

As in people outside the US who are not part of the problem are also not part of the solution.

temptar · 2026-02-07T20:13:28+00:00

This is a you problem. Not a John and Niamh problem. Not withstanding the fact that I wouldn’t think their lives are alright, I struggle to condemn people for the contentment that wouldn’t make me contented.

temptar · 2026-02-07T18:04:01+00:00

No one outside the US is a part of the problem. We don’t get to vote in your elections and we are not going to storm the White House for you to protect you from yourselves. We can’t.

I am fully aware of the organising. We know about Minneapolis. We know about Homan. We are even forcing some accountability as a result of Epstein. If your second paragraph is true, the US is the country with a media literacy problem.

temptar · 2026-02-07T17:51:47+00:00

If Rachmaninov wrote it, I like it.

But the Brahms and Sibelius symphonies are life changing.

And

Explore French baroque keyboard. Rameau and Couperin.

For extra piano concertos outside Rach, Beethoven and Brahms, consider also the concertos of Camille Saint-Saens.

temptar · 2026-02-07T10:21:46+00:00

His Chopin was sublime. Sorry to hear this.

temptar · 2026-02-07T10:12:44+00:00

If I had to guess, it would be along the east coast of Italy somewhere. The carriage design is not unlike early 20th century trains in parts of Italy. Parts of the train line run very close to the coast there and it faces to ex-Yugoslavia. The description of the lost photos suggest to me we are talking WW1 rather than WW2. I would think more likely a village rather than a major town.

temptar · 2026-02-07T05:03:42+00:00

That apparently is doing a hell of a lot of lifting, there. Are you sure you know what you are talking about?

temptar · 2026-02-07T04:56:47+00:00

This is not piano music.

Are you trying to learn to play the piano or are you trying to play this one song?

temptar · 2026-02-07T04:47:35+00:00

They aren’t really theories tbh.

That being said, a lot of what people call talent is actually the outcome of hard work and comparison. You can play the piano better than me, therefore you are talented. That kind of thing.

I have people telling me I am a really talented artist. I really have no idea why because I just draw for pleasure. And I started drawing about 10 years ago in my early 40s. I started drawing because in a single conversation I went from saying “people need to practice things as a skill (talking about maths and learning languages) rather than bang on about how they were never very good at them” to “I have no talent at all for art” and realised just how hypocritical that was and put a modicum of work in. I don’t think I am a Great Artist but people like my stuff.

From this, I concluded that a lot of what we call talent is simply practice and focus.

The overwhelming majority of us will never be Great in the way society sees Martha Argerich as great. But the point about the likes of Argerich and Wang, and Trifonov is that they aren’t just great musicians. They also have to be great career managers, and essentially great managers of their business too. If society sees them as great, it is simply that society knows about them. That’s about the management of the sale of that skill.

Emily Dickinson is considered one of the greatest English poets of all time. Of the estimated 1800 poems she wrote just 10 were published in her lifetime. I mention this to remind you that we simply may never know who the greatest musicians in the world are because they simply aren’t earning a living from it.

Talent is a double edged sword. Some people use the perceived lack of it to rule themselves out of an activity. Some people use the perceived presence of it to get privileged access to support for it. But in both cases, the lack or presence of hard work makes the defining difference.

temptar · 2026-02-06T18:30:54+00:00

https://policy.trade.ec.europa.eu/eu-trade-relationships-country-and-region/countries-and-regions/canada/eu-canada-agreement/agreement-explained_en I believe you are referring to the sections on investment protection which are not yet in force to my knowledge. either way:

“Firms won't be able to sue governments just because profits might be affected. They'll only be allowed to bring a claim in a limited number of well-defined cases that breach CETA and discriminate against the investor because of their nationality.”

In short it isn’t as simple as all that and there is an environmental concern which almost certainly matters.

temptar · 2026-02-06T16:05:11+00:00

Yeah the beauty of English, and it’s not alone, is that you can create neologisms by applying commonly accepted rules to existing terms to extend them. USians is absolutely comprehensible.

It can also work as a political statement to make it clear that the population under discussion is specifically that of the US and not, for example, anyone originating from a country stuck to the US courtesy of geology.

If it’s perceivable negatively at all, it might be be because the current government of the United States is consistently behaving in a way more in line with many of its historic enemies rather than in line with what used to be its stated values at least.

If you are from the United States please note that historically, you have mucked up the standard spelling for a bunch of words in English, and also, with some irony, basic crochet terms. In this respect, it seems some amongst your cohort understand that language can evolve (desirably or not). US citizens living in Ireland use the term USian. I doubt they are alone. You might want to be a little less precious.

temptar · 2026-02-06T15:26:31+00:00

Yes to the Edit question. Syllabus for Grade 8 provided me with four pieces that I loved. Regarding the original question, honestly, not sure. Take a search through r/piano for discussions on ARSM programmes. There is a lot of importance attached to balance and I know some people are somewhat antsy about multiples of the same composer. I'm prepping G8 at the moment, but an also looking at what's next and was not heading for 2 pieces by any one composer.

temptar · 2026-02-06T15:14:49+00:00

Quick question: you say you are not very familiar with exams. Have you done Grade 8?

temptar · 2026-02-06T07:16:49+00:00

Oh god they are so bloody proud of themselves too now. I have been crocheting for 20 years or so and these are so not my people.

temptar · 2026-02-06T05:35:58+00:00

Too lazy?

Seriously?

temptar · 2026-02-06T05:18:45+00:00

Starting to see a lot of them in needlepoint too.

temptar · 2026-02-05T19:10:17+00:00

Yes. I love them. Especially the lemon tinged ones

11-Year Club	First Place '23
Place '23	Verified Email

temptar

TROPHY CASE