Current and Long-Term Goals? (New Book Arrived 🥳)

Cratersmash

Le Tombeau de Couperin arrived , so I’d like to ask y’all: what are some current or long-term goals you have?

Personally, I’m trying to learn the full Le Tombeau over the next year or so. For long term goals, I really want to learn Liszt-Paganini Etude 6 and Prokofiev Sonata 7 at some point.

Simonb

Hi Cratersmash

I heard my Piano Teacher's son (who is much the better Pianist) play Le Tombeau de Couperin at a recital earlier this year. It would be a great achievement to learn that piece. For anyone that doesn't know it, it's very difficult. The toccata section on it's own is 2nd level diploma standard with ABRSM and Trinity.

For me I'm just starting out on my Trinity ATCL diploma journey. Although the syllabus does contain some grade 8 pieces, the pieces I've chosen seem to be a substantial step up in difficulty from grade 8 (which I did last month). So my current and long-term goals are to get these (probably 7) pieces up to performance standard. IF I succeed I think that'll take me a couple of years. Beyond that I don't really have any plans.

Cheers

ShiroKuro

Cratersmash after hearing a few of your recordings, I have no doubt you’re up to the challenge!

I’m not sure what my long-term goals are… I have several pieces that I feel like are just beyond my reach, and I’d like to get those more within my reach. But as goals go, that’s not a good one because it’s not specific enough…

PianogrlNW

Cratersmash Well what do you know. I’m learning La Tombeau de Couperin also, but I’m not planning to learn the whole suite. The Tocatta is too difficult for me. I am working on the Menuet and want to learn Forlane after that. Then I’ll see if I want to learn additional pieces of the suite.

My teacher is providing an opportunity to learn Mozart piano concertos where the orchestral part is reduced to a string quartet. I’ll be learning K414 in A Major, 2nd movement.

After that, I’m always finding pieces I want to learn. There’s no shortage of great pieces and my goals are usually in flux.

pianoloverus

Cratersmash All great pieces!

TheBoringPianist

Scriabin 3 is my current project! Don't really have specific long-term repertoire goals — there's far too many pieces in my backlog — but I guess I do want to get better at improvisation and composition long-term.

twocats

I have to have the Dvořák Piano Quartet in E-flat Major ready for my workshop in February and it's challenging! I hope I don't fall apart the minute I have to play it with the ensemble.

I'm also working on Chopin's Fantasie in f minor and hope it's also ready by February so that I can perform it at the chamber music workshop-- an additional opportunity to play in front of an audience. In the longer term I'm working on Ballades 2 and 4. Also Impromptu 2. In case it's not obvious, I like Chopin 😂

pianoloverus

Two of my current pieces(I never have long term projects):

Is there a more beautiful jazz ballad performance than the second video? For me, there are some that are equal but very few, if any, more beautiful.

diretonic

pianoloverus I've always found his arrangement of Porgy so moving. Jarrett is unmatched in my view in his use of jazz harmony, a vocabulary of dissonance perfectly balanced between gentle and edgy. Fred Hersch is edgier, Dave Grusin more MOR but all three have something in common.

pianoloverus

diretonic Although I certainly don't claim to be familiar with all the great jazz ballad players, the ones I like best are Jarrett, Bill Evans, Fred Hersch, George Shearing, and Bill Charlap.

TC3

Current goal: my trio is playing a party on 9/13, and I'm working on polishing some tunes (bass, voice, keys) for that. Specifically on keys, I've cobbled together an arrangement of Robert Johnson's "Steady Rollin' Man" that I sing and play on piano, and there are still some rough spots to iron out.

Future goals: lots and lots. As one among many others, I'd like to integrate some country elements into my piano playing. To that end, I just ordered 100 Country Lessons (Hal Leonard Keyboard Lesson Goldmine series) by Todd Lowry that I hope to start learning from that before too long.

ShiroKuro

Hmmm, I thought about this some more… I have tons of goal pieces on my “to play” list, this list includes pieces I would categorize as “playable now,” “just out of reach,” and “probably impossible.” So current goals would come from that list. But I think the most important thing for me is not those individual pieces (which I will continue playing over the months and years to come) but more “big picture” type goals.

Current goals:

Get a shareable recording of my arrangement of Canon for the PIYA recital on 9/15.
Get Croatian Rhapsody into my fingers and up to tempo, and recorded
Pick which piece to play for my jury in December (not necessarily one of the above, but could be)

Long-term goals:

Continue to work on public performance (playing through shaky hands)
Get better at sightreading music with more syncopation
Get better at learning music with polyrhythms
Get better at learning music with more complex chords, music that has more 3- and 4-note chords in both hands
Play, polish and record more pieces from the “just out of reach” category
Continue checking “goal pieces” off my list (which all of the above will allow me to do)

lautreamont

My current goals are to increase my attention to detail, the smoothness and nuance of my playing, and musical comprehension. I'm coming off an injury, so for the forseeable future most of the works I'll be practicing are not push pieces.

Long term goals include clarity and nuance at faster tempi and generally leveling up all of my skills. Long term goals in terms of repertoire include Bach's WTC, Chopin (say of intermediate to early advanced level), Mozart sonatas to a very high level, some Op. 8 Scriabin Etudes. Those I think are doable in the medium term. I have pipe dream goals I still cling to, but it's best to not mention those aloud.

pianoloverus

is my most recent piece.

Lim based his transcription on this YT recording.