Starting with Easy or Difficult Reportoire?

This week I started watching an interesting new course that took a look at core elements of learning reportoire. What sparked my interest was the approach they took.

The course is created for complete beginners. However, there is no method one book and all the detail that comes with it. The first piece they look at is Fur Elise by Beethoven. I’ve never seen Fur Elise in the ABRSM reportoire however RCM had it as grade 7 in the 2015 syllabus.

Over the years I’ve helped a number of students over the initial barrier to piano. I’ve tried different methods and slightly different approaches which has included using books and not using books, at least for the first couple of months. Call me limited but I’ve never started anyone on on a grade 7 level piece.

If you’ve heard Fur Elise before there is a chance you’ve heard the beginning. The 1st section is often used in slightly earlier than grade 7 level books. However, after the first section there are further challenges. It’s a classic piece of the piano reportoire although personally I’ve not played it for over 30 years…. I’m so old.

In the course, the lady presenting it goes through everything in detail. Time signatures and what they are, key signatures and what they are, accidentals and many other things. You might be thinking, how on earth are you supposed to read the notes if you can’t read the most basic music? How are you supposed to play the rhythms if you’ve never played or read music?

The lady takes you through everything. Encouraging you to write the note names in and adding in finger numbers. Her view was that over time you would need the notes written in less and eventually not at all.

It’s an interesting approach. I don’t know if I agree with it. I do think that people should have goals and work toward them however starting with a piece of this level throws so much information at you in one go that it may be overwhelming for some.

It’s all about finding balance. Using a ‘brick by brick’ approach and slowly building your skills and knowledge helps you digest more complicated music in the future. The problem is, and we all know it, method book level one material can be as dull as dishwater and can often not entice people back to the keys regularly enough to help make improvements.

Finding balance is the key to learning and it’s not easy.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Free top 10 tips to effective practice

10 top tips and our newsletter.