IMSLP Forums

Ranked from difficulty up? I don't know if this is the right place to ask for this, thought I'd give it a try since it's the forums of the place I got some of my scores from.

I've just started playing the piano this summer, and I'm trying to find piano pieces to play at my level. I still have to work on my sight reading and reading the notes quicker. The hardest piece I can play right now (took me awhile to play it at ease) is Rondo Alla Turca, though I still struggle a bit at the last part.

I was trying to find pieces that are around that level, maybe lower, but something happy and as easy to read as the piece mentioned before. It would also be very helpful if anyone knows more appropriate communities for beginners like me to find help like this. I found one that seems good though more places to visit is nice.

A good place to look for a range of advanced-beginner pieces is in what is known as the Anna Magdalena Notebook. This was a compilation made by Johann Sebastian Bach's wife of pieces suitable for instruction (of their many kids, no doubt). The whole thing is available complete in a Barenreiter edition, but there are extensive excerpts here that might prove useful. Unfortunately, the 19th-century edition available at IMSLP leaves out some of the simpler pieces (since they are not actually by Bach or one of his sons) and, more problematic, the notation is in old c-clefs for the right hand, a complication that prevents easy reading for a beginner. But their are other modern anthologies of pieces from the Anna Magdalena Notebook that concentrate on beginner-level works and are in modern notation.

The nature of the music in the Notebook is in general more polyphonic than the Mozart Rondo you play now. That is, there are independent melodic lines in the left and right hand, as opposed to right-hand-melody/left-hand-accompaniment structure of the Mozart. So while some of the Notebook pieces may look very simple on the page, they may be actually harder to play at first. At least I found that to be the case when I first played through them. Then again, I've always been fascinated by simple-looking music that's hard to play.

--Sixtus

PS: Some of the earlier Haydn piano sonatas might also be suitable for your level. At the first, I'd say No.1 and No.3 (in the IMSLP numbering system) are precisely at the Mozart-Rondo level of difficulty. There are only two problems with the editions available here. First, nearly all the dynamic markings and many of the slurs in the score originate from the editor and are his interpretation of how the music should go. But I guess if you are just learning how to generate personal expression on a piano, following somebody else's considered thoughts is better than coming up with your own when you have so much else to cope with. The other problem with the IMSLP editions would be to figure out how do to the ornaments. But you can just leave the ornaments out when first learning the piece. Some modern editions of the Haydn Sonatas do explain how to do execute the ornaments. And do try the earlier movements of the Mozart that you already know. The second movement of the Sonata from which the Rondo comes is only slightly more difficult than the Rondo. The first movement will be much more challenging. Hope this helps.



http://imslp.org/wiki/Notebook_for_Anna ... bastian%29

There is always the simple first movement of Edward Elgar's Sonatina for Piano (1889) to go to, but that is not "well known." It is a beautiful piece though.

If you want to challenge yourself musically, you could try playing Debussy's Arabesque No. 1. I don't think it is technically difficult, but I am not a pianist.

Another piece you can look at is Bela Bartok's For Children which are melodies from Hungarian and Slovak folk songs

I had to do the Debussy Arabesque when I was learning. Brings back mixed memories.

Do go through the Bartok piano pieces available here. There have been some recent uploads that would be good to try. Some, like the Roumanian Folk Dances, look simple on page but they are rhythmically tricky and therefore good exercise pieces. Others, like the 10 "Easy" Pieces, delve into interesting harmonies.

And how can we forget Schumann's Album für die Jugend (Album for Young People) which consists a lots of short pieces clustered around the Mozart-Rondo level of difficulty. Some will be much easier, others a bit harder, especially to sight read. You'll also get some pieces that require the pedal, which the Mozart Rondo does not. Once you graduate out of the Album, you can then try out one of Schumann's masterpieces, Kinderscenen, which on title page is billed as "Easy Pieces for the Piano." It has one very famous section, Träumerei, that contains so few dynamic markings that if you performed it "straight," as printed, it would produce a very flat impression. It is most instructive to hear how great pianists give life to this short piece. You can then think about what it means to "interpret" a score. (Compare the Godowsky edition of Kinderscenen to the pristine one edited by Schumann's wife Clara, or to the first edition -- all available at IMSLP -- to see what an "interpretation" looks like in print.)

--Sixtus