Does anyone fancy a piano chat thread?

[LemonViolet]

I’m awaiting delivery of a new piano, squeee!!! I haven’t played regularly for 20 years. I got to grade 6 as a teen, failed grade 7, carried on tinkering for a bit but have not really lived anywhere with a piano since age 18 so am well out of practice.

Whilst I hope/plan to put a baby grand in our front room, once it is done up - which may be some time - at the weekend I just realised, what am I waiting for, I want a digital anyways for playing at less sociable hours, so went ahead and ordered myself a nice Kawai digital and it arrives on Friday!!!

There’s a music chat thread on the extracurricular board but that’s more parents discussing their offsprings’ exploits, I have seen on the music board it’s quite pianissimo but there clearly are other grown up women around here playing/learning/relearning piano for our own pleasure, entertainment, therapy etc! So thought I’d post to see if anyone else is interested in hanging out on a piano thread to chat about our piano journeys, successes and failures, pieces we like, what we’re practicing etc?

It could be called the piano bar or the pianist beaker, seeing as this is MN

If there is one I’ve just failed to find, please point me in that direction.

I’ve had to give up on google search for my grade 7 vintage pieces but think I might email Trinity College.

@Knittingnanny agree to the staving off memory loss! My mum wants to take up the violin as a beginner for the same reason!

It'd be interesting to compare and contrast 1970s grades with today's @Knittingnanny.

I’ve emailed Trinity college, anything before 2009;has to go to their “ archives” dept! Goodness knows what they will think of a 1975 request.
I took my alevels summer 1975 so guessing I played the grade 7 pieces again for the practical part of that. I’ve a vague memory of travelling to Leicester from Derby for the a level practical music exam. I probably gave them a third outing to get into the teacher training college! They served me well.
@LilaGrace I did violin at school to grade 5 and thoroughly enjoyed my years of playing in the school and area youth orchestras .Only ever was back of the second violins though as I never really passed the scraping stage! And entry was with no auditions fortunately.
I did buy a cheap violin about 25 years ago but it was a total disaster and I resold it after a month. I had visions of joining a local amateur orchestra and rekindling my youth.
I’m also having flashbacks to my teenage orchestra days and remembering the huge crush I had on the handsome French Horn player from the local boys posh school.

Had an email back just now. Sadly they don’t have any records of music before 1997 so I’ll just buy the current one and work towards getting to that level again.

Oh what a shame. You'll get there though.

Hello!!!! I lost you all!!!

Will have a read through and catch up later. I couldn’t play for a few weeks as was on holiday and then came back with a flaring wrist injury. But the last few days I’ve been back at the keys a bit. Started working on my second Bach 2-part invention, as I’m happy with the C major, so started working on the A minor. I much prefer minor pieces :-)

Bach works better in minor IMHO. Welcome back!

@Knittingnanny

I’ve had to give up on google search for my grade 7 vintage pieces but think I might email Trinity College.

A few years ago I badly wanted to find an ABRSM grade 2 piece I’d particularly liked, but couldn’t recall (after so many decades) either the full title or the composer.

However I still had a rough idea of the first few notes, and I thought the title was ‘something’ in E.

I asked on the ABRSM piano forum and some kind person not only knew the piece, she told me where to find it in a book which I then found 2nd hand on Amazon.

Possibly worth a try?

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER good idea, I’ll try that. I keep looking on eBay and the old book sites as I’m now obsessed with finding the book!

Hello @LemonViolet - good to have you back. Hope your wrist has recovered- not a good injury when you've just rediscovered your piano!
After my post last week re trying to find a fast grade 4 piece, I took two options to my teacher- the etude in A minor by Kabalevsky and the sonatina by Benda. My teacher thought the etude was faster so we're going with that- but I don't love it. I've realised I like slow, haunting, sad pieces in minor keys. Later I heard a beautiful piece on the radio which was Liszt's Consolation no 3. A quick google told me it was grade 7 ish level. Has anyone played this before? I know there are a few experienced pianists on here...... I emailed my teacher about it and she suggested I have a go. She was very encouraging in fact, but there are some incredibly technical sections and it's in D flat major with accidentals, so it won't be an easy one. Any advice appreciated!

Also, I've booked my grade 4 theory exam. Thought I needed an incentive to get moving with grade 5. I'll take the exam (online) in the next week or so and then it takes 4 weeks for them to send you the results. Argh!

@LilaGrace I heard it as well and commented to my husband it’s a weird title! I might have a look in our library today to see if they have it in.

@Knittingnanny you heard Consolation no. 3? Was it on Wednesday evening on Classic fm? 😁
He wrote a series of "Consolations"- I think there are 6 in total. No. 3 is apparently the most famous but not the hardest. I'd be interested in your opinion as I think you're more at that level than I am!

@LilaGrace

This piece is called Flood Time. It's minor and fast. Slightly above g4 I think but it's great fun to play.

It's been part of the abrsm syllabus in the past so your teacher may be familiar with it.

@LilaGrace yes always got classic fm on. For the last 16 years I’ve been saying to my husband “ I used to be able to play that”!
Not sure I could play a grade 7 piece yet, my eBay grade 7 bundle hasn’t arrived yet but I’m playing some 5/6 levels sort of ok
On one of the digital music sites you can get the piece transposed so maybe the Liszt piece might be easier in a different key? And as we are not answerable to anyone it’s ok to play it in an easier key! I’ve done that with the Debussy arabesque “ girl with flaxen hair”
Also heard on classic fm this week and instantly printed it out in easier key.
The bundle of music that came with the piano included some 4/5/6 sort of studies which aren’t particularly interested so I’m working through them as sight reading practice

@Buggerthebotox that sounds fun to play, not sure my fingers can move that fast yet though, I’m still not up to speed on pages 1 and 2 of Rondo alla turca yet!

@Buggerthebotox thanks- it's a grade 5 piece and actually reminds me of the sonatina on the grade 4 syllabus. I'm actually making good progress on the etude- I still don't love it but it's pretty easy.
@Knittingnanny I feel it's cheating to transpose it into a different key! That's stupid, I know. I love it so much but really do think it's above my skill level at the moment.
I took my grade 4 theory exam yesterday (online). It was very stressful because the software wouldn't install etc so by the time I got to take the exam I was massively stressed. I have to wait 4 weeks for the result- felt confident about my knowledge but think the stress would have affected me!

I’ve been going through the eBay grade 7 1981 book today. Chosen a couple of pieces I like the sound of to have a go at. The list of scales is not too bad although I can’t remember having to play scales a third apart in similar motion so that will be a challenge. Still working on rondo alla Turca, Mozart sonatas in c major and d major.
Hope everyone is still enjoying it as much as me!
I’ve bought an adult beginner book for my husband and we are on lesson 3. He’s doing well as he’s got good rhythmic awareness due to jive/tango/salsa so that’s helped. He definitely wants to run before he can walk though!
He’s not impressed that “ someone” decided treble and bass clef notes are differently arranged on the staves.

Posted this in Chat but no replies so did a search and found this thread. If anyone can help I'd be v grateful!

"Hello pianists. I need to start a new Grade V piece. I already have the Faber best of Grade V collection and this Grade V piano solos book ]] and have done a fair few out of them.

I'm just looking for inspiration really. Is there a piece you know that you really love? Probably classical rather than pop or jazz but I can be persuaded!

Would love to hear what you've really enjoyed playing in this grade?

Tia.

I had a minor disagreement with my teacher today over a Mozart piece. To put it simply, she said last week to play it like X. I decided X didn't suit me so I played it how I liked it. That led to an exchange of opinions which culminated in her saying "it's my job." Eek. I thought I may have crossed a line and then I remembered I'm paying for the lessons in the first place and I'll develop my own style and interpretations. All good in the end though. She should have a new mini-grand next week so we can cross swords over that instead!

We ended up having a useful discussion over future music to try. I want to do the Lonely Man theme from the ending of The Incredible Hulk and Music Box Dancer by Frank Mills.

Has anyone played piano concerto 21 (2nd movement) by Mozart? It's widely known as the Elvira Madigan concerto as it was featured in a Swedish film by the same name. I'd be interested in knowing how difficult it is- I'd like to give it a go. It's in C and F major so a respite from the D flat major I'm currently having a go at in "Consolation no. 3" by Liszt. It's hard.... too hard for me I'm sure- but I can see that I'll be able to make the first page or two work with a lot of practise. Pages 3 and 4 perhaps not....yet. It's so beautiful though, it's keeping me inspired.
Also working on the Chopin waltz (almost there) and the grade 4 etude in A minor which I've pretty much mastered. Then one more grade 4/5 piece (possibly flood time as recommended by @Buggerthebotox ) before starting the grade 5 exam syllabus. So many gorgeous other non-exam pieces out there though!

Lila, it's in my bank of tunes but it'll be a long while before I'm anything near competent enough to play it. I'm doing the Mozart Minuet in G just now and it's very slow progress.

@WildRosie what level are you? What level are the pieces you're playing with your teacher at the moment?