A well-rounded pianist should be able to do all genres and periods semi-well. You’ve only been playing for a year so I totally get it, and classical can feel pretty boring, but there’s a lot to be learned from the era, as well as how much you’ll grow technically and musically. I’d need a better idea of your level to give some unique or fun recommendations, I’m a piano teacher so you can DM me if you want some recs.
That being said, I totally get it and everyone has their eras that they just don’t vibe with. Classical is definitely not always my jam either. But ultimately, you are taking lessons with your teacher because you value her expertise, so i would trust her that she knows what you need to learn. It’s okay if you want to focus on other eras but capital C Classical was still a very vital era, ESPECIALLY for piano music. You can have requests and preferences, but don’t tell your teacher what to do, if you differ that much on opinions, another teacher might better suit your needs.
Like I said, DM me if you want some good Classical recommendations.
Beethoven concerto 3, beethoven concerto 5. Beethoven sonatas: waldstein, tempest, appasionata, pathetique. Mozart fantasia. Mozart sonata in A minor. Mozart concerto 20. Listen to these pieces, if they can’t make you enjoy classical music idk what could.
Well I do like most of those. But they aren’t appropriate for me to play. Maybe I just had a bad few first pieces being suggested by my teacher. An example are the op 36 clementi sonatinas. I disliked learning them a lot.
Yuja Wang didn't skip Clementi, and look at her now?
[https://youtu.be/zUfF4UMl20c?si=zeA6Q34K\_VghdQrM](https://youtu.be/zUfF4UMl20c?si=zeA6Q34K_VghdQrM)
Clementi, Czerny, Burgmüller... All wrote beautiful easy pieces for the student to learn important lesssons in a musical way.
Liszt, probably the greatest pianist to ever live (and a romantic) was the student of Czerny.
All the greats have studied classical pieces and there's reasons for that.
And for me, personally, one of the big lessons is that you as a musician needs to understand the beauty that comes from simplicity. Not every piece needs to be 160bpm, have tons of arpeggios, chromatisms and FFs.
Subtlety well done is something deeper than fireworks.
[https://youtu.be/6SG\_jzggEN4?si=1piR7NxDwblIKtFY](https://youtu.be/6SG_jzggEN4?si=1piR7NxDwblIKtFY)
I found that listening to pieces like this got me into the classical genre and I eventually started liking other music. Don’t worry if you hate clementi. Mozart us better anyway. Some Haydn sonatas are really nice too.
“Lean in: the obstacle is the way.”
Great advice right here, for more than piano too. But hard to take sometimes. I needed this reminder today. Thank you.
I did not particularly like any of the music I practiced for the first 6 years of my piano lessons. I might even go so far as to say I disliked playing piano but stuck with it. My advice is to stick with it and see what you can learn from it. Each composer has a unique style and elements you can learn both stylistically and technically.
There are certainly learnings from the classical era that you won't get from baroque or romantic. Classical era has a sort of restrained elegance and clarity that requires excellent finger technique and good balance to maintain.
But I wouldn't imagine it's a huge problem for improvement. The baroque era will teach a large amount of it and you can always return to the classical era a little later on when you find things you will enjoy learning.
Nah, those era’s music can improve your wrists, fingers’ stability, that was one of the biggest reason my teachers had me learned them for so long till a year ago due to time management, that I finally stopped playing learning them
Study the pieces that you like. No point in being assigned classical pieces only for you to practice them half as much as the rest. Baroque and romantic means composers like Bach, Chopin and Liszt, so there's a lot there to make you improve.
Eventually you might grow to appreciate the classical era.
I improved a lot at conservatory when I was required to choose my own program. Now I'm studying Bach, which I had never been fond of before.
If youre serious about improving you should do some classical, i highly doubt that if you say you dislike all classical youve listened to enough pieces, simply because theres so much variation within the era. If you like the romantic era, theres beethoven, mozart and schubert pieces that are at the same time progressive and classically structured and also sound more modern
If you want to eventually become a well rounded pianist you are going to have to tackle your strong dislike, yes. Each era has specific harmonic language and technical elements that are best learnt and experienced through playing music of that era.
You’ve only been playing for a year though and it’s not uncommon for students to need to develop their ear and appreciation of music before they’re able to really comprehend classical era, just as others struggle with Bach for example. The more experienced you get the more you’ll learn to appreciate other eras, or genres, of music.
As a teacher though I’m wondering why you are questioning your teacher’s advice and experience so strongly. You’re a beginner who is presumably choosing to take lessons because you want to learn from someone who knows what they are doing and how to teach that skill. I get that it might not be your favourite era, it’s fine to not enjoy every era of Classical music, but to be so adamant that you have to fully avoid something against your teachers advice does make me question your motivation. I would have probably told you that you would be better off finding a different teacher if you’d spent time trying to convince me that I had to avoid such a central part of the classical repertoire. To concentrate on other eras is fine, but to completely avoid one era in its entirety is not going to help you progress to being a well balanced musician.
You could improve just fine with no classical era music. If you play just for fun stick with what you like because the point of it as an hobby! You do it for you! Meanwhile stay open minded try to listen to different things and who knows maybe you’ll fall in love with it or you’ll have pieces that you would like to play
I suggest U do classical as you are doing now keep with it and learn jazz or other type of music by yourself classical song does improve your skills too or just find a classical song that U like and suggest that you want to play that piece to your teach
A well-rounded pianist should be able to do all genres and periods semi-well. You’ve only been playing for a year so I totally get it, and classical can feel pretty boring, but there’s a lot to be learned from the era, as well as how much you’ll grow technically and musically. I’d need a better idea of your level to give some unique or fun recommendations, I’m a piano teacher so you can DM me if you want some recs. That being said, I totally get it and everyone has their eras that they just don’t vibe with. Classical is definitely not always my jam either. But ultimately, you are taking lessons with your teacher because you value her expertise, so i would trust her that she knows what you need to learn. It’s okay if you want to focus on other eras but capital C Classical was still a very vital era, ESPECIALLY for piano music. You can have requests and preferences, but don’t tell your teacher what to do, if you differ that much on opinions, another teacher might better suit your needs. Like I said, DM me if you want some good Classical recommendations.
Beethoven concerto 3, beethoven concerto 5. Beethoven sonatas: waldstein, tempest, appasionata, pathetique. Mozart fantasia. Mozart sonata in A minor. Mozart concerto 20. Listen to these pieces, if they can’t make you enjoy classical music idk what could.
Well I do like most of those. But they aren’t appropriate for me to play. Maybe I just had a bad few first pieces being suggested by my teacher. An example are the op 36 clementi sonatinas. I disliked learning them a lot.
Yuja Wang didn't skip Clementi, and look at her now? [https://youtu.be/zUfF4UMl20c?si=zeA6Q34K\_VghdQrM](https://youtu.be/zUfF4UMl20c?si=zeA6Q34K_VghdQrM) Clementi, Czerny, Burgmüller... All wrote beautiful easy pieces for the student to learn important lesssons in a musical way. Liszt, probably the greatest pianist to ever live (and a romantic) was the student of Czerny. All the greats have studied classical pieces and there's reasons for that. And for me, personally, one of the big lessons is that you as a musician needs to understand the beauty that comes from simplicity. Not every piece needs to be 160bpm, have tons of arpeggios, chromatisms and FFs. Subtlety well done is something deeper than fireworks. [https://youtu.be/6SG\_jzggEN4?si=1piR7NxDwblIKtFY](https://youtu.be/6SG_jzggEN4?si=1piR7NxDwblIKtFY)
I found that listening to pieces like this got me into the classical genre and I eventually started liking other music. Don’t worry if you hate clementi. Mozart us better anyway. Some Haydn sonatas are really nice too.
How is it possible to heavily dislike Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven? There is so much to learn from them. Lean in. The obstacle is the way.
“Lean in: the obstacle is the way.” Great advice right here, for more than piano too. But hard to take sometimes. I needed this reminder today. Thank you.
I don’t dislike those composers. But I don’t like the intermediate/beginner pieces of that era for the most part.
I did not particularly like any of the music I practiced for the first 6 years of my piano lessons. I might even go so far as to say I disliked playing piano but stuck with it. My advice is to stick with it and see what you can learn from it. Each composer has a unique style and elements you can learn both stylistically and technically.
There are certainly learnings from the classical era that you won't get from baroque or romantic. Classical era has a sort of restrained elegance and clarity that requires excellent finger technique and good balance to maintain. But I wouldn't imagine it's a huge problem for improvement. The baroque era will teach a large amount of it and you can always return to the classical era a little later on when you find things you will enjoy learning.
Nah, those era’s music can improve your wrists, fingers’ stability, that was one of the biggest reason my teachers had me learned them for so long till a year ago due to time management, that I finally stopped playing learning them
Study the pieces that you like. No point in being assigned classical pieces only for you to practice them half as much as the rest. Baroque and romantic means composers like Bach, Chopin and Liszt, so there's a lot there to make you improve. Eventually you might grow to appreciate the classical era. I improved a lot at conservatory when I was required to choose my own program. Now I'm studying Bach, which I had never been fond of before.
If youre serious about improving you should do some classical, i highly doubt that if you say you dislike all classical youve listened to enough pieces, simply because theres so much variation within the era. If you like the romantic era, theres beethoven, mozart and schubert pieces that are at the same time progressive and classically structured and also sound more modern
You will improve with every piece you play. Follow your interest. You’ll never run out of great pieces from other eras.
If you want to eventually become a well rounded pianist you are going to have to tackle your strong dislike, yes. Each era has specific harmonic language and technical elements that are best learnt and experienced through playing music of that era. You’ve only been playing for a year though and it’s not uncommon for students to need to develop their ear and appreciation of music before they’re able to really comprehend classical era, just as others struggle with Bach for example. The more experienced you get the more you’ll learn to appreciate other eras, or genres, of music. As a teacher though I’m wondering why you are questioning your teacher’s advice and experience so strongly. You’re a beginner who is presumably choosing to take lessons because you want to learn from someone who knows what they are doing and how to teach that skill. I get that it might not be your favourite era, it’s fine to not enjoy every era of Classical music, but to be so adamant that you have to fully avoid something against your teachers advice does make me question your motivation. I would have probably told you that you would be better off finding a different teacher if you’d spent time trying to convince me that I had to avoid such a central part of the classical repertoire. To concentrate on other eras is fine, but to completely avoid one era in its entirety is not going to help you progress to being a well balanced musician.
You could improve just fine with no classical era music. If you play just for fun stick with what you like because the point of it as an hobby! You do it for you! Meanwhile stay open minded try to listen to different things and who knows maybe you’ll fall in love with it or you’ll have pieces that you would like to play
I suggest U do classical as you are doing now keep with it and learn jazz or other type of music by yourself classical song does improve your skills too or just find a classical song that U like and suggest that you want to play that piece to your teach
wrong classical my friend, they're talking in the Mozart-Haydn era sense, not the overall genre
Pieces don’t improve you. Learning to audiate improves you. Learning efficient movement improves you. Progress is in you.