PianoMonk Being able to play a piece you aren't crazy about with as much conviction and interest as a piece you love is part of developing musicianship.
That's the attitude I took for the entirety of the first Alfred All-In-One. I skipped maybe three out of 90 pieces. I saw a video with Yo Yo Ma talking to the issue of "overplayed" pieces, and I'm glad you mentioned him. Because it's exactly what I needed right now! The first question he answers is, "Why do cellists play Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 in every movie?"
Yo Yo Ma's answer struck me right in the heart. BECAUSE IT'S AMAAAAAZING!!!!
What I need to do is remember how wonderful it was to play my little method book pieces at the nursing home where I visited my step-mother not long ago, right after she moved in and was still getting used to the idea of living there. She has been a piano teacher for 50 years, but never taught me (she came into my dad's life as I was leaving). I had been playing my pieces for weeks by then, but it was the first time she'd ever heard me play anything, and she was immediately into it, and paid close attention. Other residents wheeled down the hall to check out who was playing (me).
In that moment, I was playing the pieces I have prepped for the recital, but those people had never heard them, and I felt good to be able to play anything at all. In that company, those simple beginner pieces really did seem pretty wonderful.
And until I saw the video with Yo Yo Ma talking about the awesomeness of Bach's Cello Suite No. 1, I always felt self-conscious that my taste runs to pieces I recognize, ones that experienced piano students think are overplayed. But I actually can't wait to play all the usual suspects, because it's a thrill to hear something so familiar coming out of my piano, from my hands.
It's like MAGIC.
I think I just need to remember that sense of wonder I felt when my little pieces finally came together in my hands and sounded like music.
Thank you.