This video was a little different from what I've been making lately. Honestly, like I mention near the end of the video, I've been feeling a little bit robotic and I wanted to switch things up a bit. For me, this felt much more like getting back to doing what I love the most, which is just hanging out with you all and talking about music. Plus, I want to try and play more actual piano in the videos. I hope you enjoy. You can grab that PDF with all these pieces in it here: resources.betterpiano.com/9-pieces
It's a good video man. All of your work clearly has care put into it, but I think I have been feeling the same way as you. You enjoy making this style of video, and I wanted to let you know that I quite enjoyed watching it. Thanks
I think the more you're having fun, the more as an audience it's fun to watch. Plz don't get stuck as one of those TH-camrs just doing the same thing every day because the algorithm likes it a lot.
The first time I heard Clair de Lune I was overwhelmed by its beauty. When I discovered other works by Debussy, it changed the way I viewed music. To this day French music from The late 19th century to early 20th century is my favorite .
The first time I really _listened to_ Claire de Lune, I was sitting by a small pond in the middle of autumn, and a swan swam by. That was absolutely incredible.
1) 0:47 - Minuet in G major, BWV ANH. 114 - Christian Petzold 2) 2:16 - Prelude in C major, BWV 846 - J.S. Bach 3) 3:31 - Gymnopédie No. 1 - Erik Satie 4) 4:34 - Für Elise - Ludwig van Beethoven 5) 6:03 - Träumerei - Scenes from childhood, Op.15 - Robert Schumann 6) 7:13 - Piano sonata No. 16 in C major, K. 545 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 7) 8:25 - Notturno - Lyric Pieces, Op. 54 - Edvard Grieg 8) 10:21 - Moonlight Sonata - Piano Sonata No. 14 - Ludwig van Beethoven 9) 12:20 - Clair de Lune - Claude Debussy
I play all of these, pulling them out at different times from time to time but I don't really learn them, I sight read them every time I play them so I'm playing them very slowly, or at least slower than they're meant to be played. I've been playing piano for about 50 years, taught by my grandmother, and still play every day for my own enjoyment. It's stress relief. It's meditative.
One interesting thing about all starting with earlier composers like Bach and Mozart, and then moving up through Beethoven and Chopin is seeing how the technique and even the construction of the piano itself changed over the years, and how that affects the way you need to play. Earlier pieces you're mostly using the tips of your fingers, with your fingers bent over the keys, because the chord shapes were much smaller, and notes are closer together. As you get into the later Beethoven years and into Chopin and Debussy, the keyboards themselves got bigger, and the chord shapes got wider. Now you're often playing on the pads of your fingers, with the fingers straight and splayed out. The hand moves a lot more too, since they started using sweeping arpeggios. You find you can't hold your wrist as rigidly as you might have for Bach and Mozart, but instead you need to start rolling your wrist to move between the keys. It's really cool to see the evolution of the instrument.
Speaking of the piano, as a fan of your content, I wish you could make a video about Chopin, especially one of his best pieces, Ballade No. 1 or 4 (Krystian Zimerman's interpretation). Chopin is one of the greatest composers and the most important piano composer in history. He even heavily influenced debussy, which is the composer of what seems to be your favorite classical piece, magical Claire de lune.This is what he had to say about him: “Chopin is the greatest of all,” Debussy said. “For with the piano alone he discovered everything.” Ballade no 1 takes you on an emotional journey, a fight between light and darkness. Like much of Chopin’s music, it ends in an incredible, wild coda where the music seems to scream before finally giving in to the darkness. This piece isn’t just beautiful, it’s groundbreaking and rewarding to analyze. His 4th ballade is as good, or even greater. Ballade No. 1 and many of his compositions pushes the limits of harmony, piano techniques, and composition, taking music to a whole new level when it first released. It’s a true masterpiece and one of the greatest achievements in piano and music history.
I’m 48 and have just started learning piano, I love it, practice daily , I hope I can progress to this level - I wish I had the opportunity much younger to learn
I played Satie’s Gymnopédie no.1 live for my grandma’s funeral and while it may seem deceptively simple if you aren’t focused on the beginning phrases it’s very very easy to mess up.
I'm sorry about your grandmother, although the gymnopedie #1 is simple, I think Satie thought of making it simple on purpose, a bass with simple harmony, to focus on the liminal state of things.
Chopin prelude in e minor needs to be on this list. Oh my god what a piece. First one I ever played live, and that along with the piece created such a transcendent experience
Bach has changed my piano playing forever. As Charles, I always disliked Bach as a beginner. Or rather I never understood him and Baroque music. But one day I slammed my fist and said I'm gonna learn Bach even if I don't like him. Started with Prelude and Fugue II in C minor from the Well-tempered Clavier book I and now he's my favourite composer to play. You learn so much finger dexterity and hand independence that everything else will feel easier.
i was the same way. i remember telling my teacher that i didnt like baroque and classical music bc i thought it was boring. i could tell that she wasn't satisfied with that reasoning, but she accepted it. now that im older and better at piano/music in general, I see the genius in baroque and classical and how it influences pretty much all of western music to this day.
I find Bach mechanical and cold, but he wrote my favorite piece of music, the sublime 'Air on a G String', and other lovely pieces like (Schafe können sicher weiden) 'Sheep Shall Safely Graze' which I have sung in German , and 'Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring' which I have also sung. Someone said to me his expression was hampered by his inability to see.
Fun take, the 2 against 3 sounds so weird or difficult for a lot of cultures but here in Argentina is printed in one of our main folclore music genres called Chacarera, we basically learn it as kids messing around and then stays forever
I've never understood what is so hard about 2 against 3. In the end it's just an underlying rhythm of 6. There are other polyrhythms that are worse, as they are like 5 against 3, beign a 15 underlyingly, bit an underlying 6 shouldn't be crazy.
@@tuluppampam2 vs 3 is probably the easiest polyrythm, but when you're inexperienced and have never encountered those before it can be pretty difficult
@@tuluppampam yea, it really sounds like the first step to polyrhythms. But that just means that if someone didnt even have that first step, it may feel hard (that's what she said) while others already went through that and now its more natural
Hi Charles, I really liked and appreciated this video. There are so many videos out there such as "the most difficult piano pieces" (often including Moonlight Sonata 3rd Movement), it is really refreshing to see somebody focusing on extremely beautiful music that is actually accessible. If anything, I would love to see MORE videos like this from your channel! Thank you!
I really like this list bc there is something in all of these pieces for all skill levels. the harder pieces are goals to work towards, and the easy ones for more advanced pianists are great exercises in practicing musicality. I love playing minuet in G bc technically it is very easy so it allows me to focus on voicing and phrasing the independent counterpoints.
When my grandparents were courting, back in the 1920s, my grandfather would always ask my grandmother to play Traumerei for him before he went home. She lived to 102 and was still playing piano we'll into her 90s.
Yes...a special piece. I never looked at it w a teacher, but when I was 13, my grandfather (b. 1905) an economist, not a musical guy, asked me if I knew Traumerei. Never heard of it, but rummaged it up. He sat quietly. He told me that his mother would play it when they were children after they'd been tucked in. It has a lullaby quality to it.
These are all really good. If i could add a tenth though, I would say The Entertainer -- really influenced my early piano learning and taught about time through rag
YES i love grieg’s notturno!! im a suzuki student so i played it about a year ago and unfortunately i’ve forgotten it now, but i had so much fun experimenting with the tempo and phrasing. i think it was the piece that finally got me comfortable with not playing everything like i was using a metronome, and playing in that looser romantic-era style.
How does one play jeux d’eau and has never come across 3 vs 4 before ??? I mean it’s in so many famous and way easier pieces (Consolation 3, Reverie, Nocturne No.2, Revolutionary Etude, Fantasie Impromptu ofc etc. etc )
@@klippklapp3004 Simply because I liked the piece and wanted to play it. It wasn't necessary to start further down the ladder with pieces that I had no personal affinity for.
Thankyou for your presentation im a semi professional guitarist of many decades and have always listened to these pieces over the years but never studied them ususly playing the Great American songbook repotiore like Iriving Berlin Gerswin Cole Porter Jobim and Charlie Parker but you have inspired me to widen my studies s7ch as they are Wonderfull music full of wonder thank you
Yo what's up Charles! I'm not exaggerating when I say that I learned like 70% of the music theory I know from your videos. It's great to see people on youtube genuinely enjoying music and not just hating on it all the time. You're an amazing teacher, keep it up! (btw I think you would like the album "Twelve Chapters" by Glimlip. It's Jazz Lofi but in my opinion it is the perfect blend of jazz and hip hop, especially "Limited Time Only" and "Dr. Disclosure".)
You're welcome for watching. Thank YOU for putting out such great videos. From learning about new pieces, to music theory, to my childhood video game memories; you always have such great topics. I'm mostly a guitar player; and rarely play my keyboard; but I still love your videos. THANK YOU!
At 9:45, another piece that's FANTASTIC for teaching this concept/frame of approach is Manheim Steamroller's rendition of "Carol of the Bells". They build the rhythm of the melody by presenting two ostinatos at duple and triple subdivision independently, and then putting them on top of each other. When that 3 against 2 rhythm begins, the very familiar carol melody emerges directly from it before proceeding into the proper body of the piece. Really incredible stuff, and still helps me to this day play any 3 against 2 passages.
Cool video, thanks for sharing. I'm an adult beginner, I've learned the first three pieces you mentioned. A few of the others were already on my wish list. And I enjoyed learning about the ones I didn't know about.
OMG, I'm a self taught pianist, and I do the polyrythm thing too! ahahhaha, so cool to see someone else using the same stuff, specially someone i admire so much! awesome
Gymnopedie and Träumerei are both matters of taste, and as such infinitely difficult. A master can make them absolutely magnificent. Intermediate players struggle, and even if they can execute the pieces, it's just not the same.
I'm glad you mentioned how fun Clair de Lune is to play. It feels like every few measures, your fingers are doing something new. Speaking of fun to play, have you ever played any of the Piano Guys pianist Jon Schmidt's solo stuff from years back? Waterfall in particular is an absolute blast to play.
Hi Charles,thank you the video!I started learning piano 13 months ago and I was very surprised to see that I have 5 of your 9 recommendations on my list of piano pieces in process of learning!😍🥳Keep up the great work,cheers!
Wow brother thanks for the sheet music. I'm just starting out and picked up the prelude and gymnopedie myself, and had moonlight and clair de lune on the list for down the line, but there are even more great suggestions in here.
From a more experienced perspective, here are some piano pieces that took my playing to the next level. The first is Bach's Fugue in C# minor from WTC1. It's a five voice fugue and it totally kicked my ass. One of the hardest pieces I've ever learned, but really really helped me to improve my ability to play counterpoint, as well as my ability to voice different lines of music. The second would be Chopin's etude op 25 no 6, the infamous double thirds etude. Good luck even playing the first two bars! Probably his most difficult etude in my opinion, but it really helps to shore up a key skill. Next would be Rachmaninoff's Etude Tableaux op 39 no 2, The Sea and the Seagulls. This piece also kicked my ass and it has it all. Polyrhythms, voicing, hand crossing; but when it comes together it feels as smooth as water and really helps you to play more smoothly, lyrically, and freely in general.
Totally tracking with everything you cover here. Had me laughing right out loud remembering all of these learning experiences, really enjoyed thank you !!!!!!!!!
I love your videos, they are all fun and engaging. But this one stands alone in its format. Love this so much! I have played many of them but not all. Great list!!
Hi Charles, thank and thanks and forever thanks for the 9 which I enjoyed. May I make a suggestion? How about doing a performance TH-cam video which will also serve as a tutorial of all 9?
I played all of them except Satie and Grieg. That Grieg piece sounds beautiful! Gotta add that one to my ever growing list of pieces to learn LOL My first early advanced piece is Arabesque 1 by Debussy. It took me months to learn (had learned to play the piano for about 6 months at that point as an adult). Clair de Luna is also one of my all time favorites. I barely get time to practice now since my son was born but when I do I still play this piece almost every time. When will I ever finish learning the Bach organ sonata....AHHHHHHUUUGGGGHHHH (onomatopoeia of desperation)
This video comes at a perfect time, as I have recently AGIN picked up piano playing. Am currently studying and playing unstoppably two of Chopin's waltzes in A minor, off op 34 and op 150. Now, to commence watching your video, to see if it will further open my piano senses 🙂
Heureux que vos deux compositeurs préférés soient Debussy et Ravel. Ce sont pour moi ce qui s'est fait de mieux en France depuis toujours en terme de créations musicales. Le jour ou, enfant, j'ai entendu "Prélude à l'après midi d'un faune" pour la première fois, je savais que j'allais être fan absolu à vie de ce langage musical unique qui prend tout son sens dans le cinéma. Demandez à John Williams...
Not the most original playlist I never hear but well it is good to tell that classic music help a lot with piano technique. I did not remember about Grieg notturno, so it remind me that.
Satie doez some beautiful stuff...his Gnoissenes are haunting and his waltz "Je Te Veux" is SO French and fun to play...might check out his nocturnes and sarabandes...interesting pieces 👍
"incredibly satisfying" are the exact words that come to my mind whenever I listen or try to play clair de lune. It's not at all an intermediate piece in view, due to several reasons: 1. Expression is key in this piece. 2. Harmony is really interesting here. Memorizing all of the chords and their variations and inversion is not easy. If I don't play the piece for few days, I tend to forget many hand positions. 3. Rhythm is tricky, especially because there are so many uneven spaces throughout the piece.
I learned every single song on this list with the exception of the last one. Which I have started and aborted many times over the three decades of my piano playing life. I can play EXACTLY and ONLY the part of the song that you included for the clip. And I usually get asked to play it, so I play that portion then strategically complain that it’s boring and overplayed, and switch back to jazz or blues.
I found the Prelude No.1 is much more enjoyable to play when you slow it down and add rubato; make it become a satin sheet blowing in a gentle summers breeze.
Your course is definitely helpful, I would like a 1-2-1 option as well or a session where other learning in a class we can discuss and have live answers?
umm, yeah, so I'm teaching myself (or should I say, TH-cam is teaching me), so I probably should've seen this first...I started off trying to learn Moonlight Sonata...I'm about 2/3 through the first movement but I can only play the first 1/2 well consistently... also, Bach's Prelude in C, with the consistent arpeggio patterns, is a great starting piece and one could copy down the notes on a scratch paper and learn to make the sounds, but the piece is probably perfect for learning to sight read sheet music BECAUSE of that consistent shape, so you can focus on watching the paper and not the keys. synthesia is a very simple, yet tedious way to learn. but I'm definitely a year or two away from most of these pieces. Really appreciate this content!!!
I've played all but one of these pieces (Notturno). My 2 against 3 "ah-ha" moment piece was Chopin's Nocturne Op.72 No.1. It's still one of my favorite pieces to play, 20+ years after learning it and though it was posthumously released, it's still my favorite of Chopin's Nocturnes.
The ones mentioned are common student pieces for sure. Played some of these. Regarding pieces in the "Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach" the majority of them were not by Bach. It was a notebook for Bach's 2nd wife Anna as a gift for learning to play keyboard. The original contained 4 pieces by Bach (supposedly). The rest of the pages were blank. Anna copied the other pieces into the notebook by hand. Today we can buy printed editions of the Notebook. The Bach "Prelude in C" from the Well-Tempered Clavier is an interesting piece which is not something typical by Bach. Just reading the notes looks somewhat complicated. If we understand why the piece was notated this way playing becomes much easier. The LH part contains long sustained notes. In the early part of the 18th century, the keyboard instruments of the day were harpsichord & clavichord and neither had a right sustain /damper pedal. Today we can hold the left hand notes of the Prelude (the beginning of each bar) with a touch of sustain pedal. When playing on a harpsichord you'd hold some notes longer while playing other ones on top to simulate the effect of the sustain pedal (a technique calls fingering pedaling). As the title suggests, many Bach preludes also have a fugue after. A fugue is a piece with 3 or more voices (polyphonic music) is very typical Bach. A prelude & fugue is normally played together 1 after the other. The Prelude in C is considered an intermediate piece but the Fugue in C is more advance. The majority of intermediate students would learn just the Prelude without the Fugue.
I enjoy your video game music videos, but this is a great change. I came back to piano about 4 years ago after a 20 year break and I've learned a bunch of these in that time, Minuet in G, Prelude in C, Gymnopedie no. 1 & Für Elise. I need to look at moonlight sonata and Claire du Lune. So far, for me, Bach's Invention in C major has been more transformative to my playing than his Prelude in C major.
Could you please do something like this for jazz like pieces, transcriptions, or exercises that really influenced you in improvisation or chord voicing!
Nice list of some of the seminal works of piano. My teacher though thinks that the Schumann and Moonlight- to sound really good - are quite advanced. She says that Taumerei is a beast.
It's a fabulous video, thank you Charles. I've been wondering about ways to improve my repertoire and this really helps! P.S. Baroque is pronounced Ba-ROCK.
This video was a little different from what I've been making lately. Honestly, like I mention near the end of the video, I've been feeling a little bit robotic and I wanted to switch things up a bit. For me, this felt much more like getting back to doing what I love the most, which is just hanging out with you all and talking about music. Plus, I want to try and play more actual piano in the videos. I hope you enjoy. You can grab that PDF with all these pieces in it here: resources.betterpiano.com/9-pieces
It's a good video man.
All of your work clearly has care put into it, but I think I have been feeling the same way as you.
You enjoy making this style of video, and I wanted to let you know that I quite enjoyed watching it.
Thanks
How is minuet in g not bach? I thought it was the first part of the four pieces from the little notebook!!?
Please do Kirby's triumphant return
I think the more you're having fun, the more as an audience it's fun to watch. Plz don't get stuck as one of those TH-camrs just doing the same thing every day because the algorithm likes it a lot.
Can you look at the music from The Princess Bride.and Red Dwarf
The first time I heard Clair de Lune I was overwhelmed by its beauty. When I discovered other works by Debussy, it changed the way I viewed music. To this day French music from The late 19th century to early 20th century is my favorite .
Same! I ended up discovering Ravel, Stravinsky and Shostakovich because of Debussy 😊
The first time I really _listened to_ Claire de Lune, I was sitting by a small pond in the middle of autumn, and a swan swam by. That was absolutely incredible.
Claire de lune is a gateway drug to Gaspard de la nuit by Ravel and there ain't no turning back
"Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun" is just the most beautiful thing that ever existed. I can't listen to it without 😭
Listen to Lili Boulanger's Trois Morceaux Pour Piano, you will not regret it
1) 0:47 - Minuet in G major, BWV ANH. 114 - Christian Petzold
2) 2:16 - Prelude in C major, BWV 846 - J.S. Bach
3) 3:31 - Gymnopédie No. 1 - Erik Satie
4) 4:34 - Für Elise - Ludwig van Beethoven
5) 6:03 - Träumerei - Scenes from childhood, Op.15 - Robert Schumann
6) 7:13 - Piano sonata No. 16 in C major, K. 545 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
7) 8:25 - Notturno - Lyric Pieces, Op. 54 - Edvard Grieg
8) 10:21 - Moonlight Sonata - Piano Sonata No. 14 - Ludwig van Beethoven
9) 12:20 - Clair de Lune - Claude Debussy
Thanks!
Many thanks Buddy 😘
Thank you.
JC Bach? Johann Sebastian wouldn't be very pleased that his Prelude in C major BWV 846 first prelude of the Well Tempered Clavier was misappropriated!
Thank you! Gracias!
I play all of these, pulling them out at different times from time to time but I don't really learn them, I sight read them every time I play them so I'm playing them very slowly, or at least slower than they're meant to be played. I've been playing piano for about 50 years, taught by my grandmother, and still play every day for my own enjoyment. It's stress relief. It's meditative.
❤❤❤
Same here, I've played since I was a small child, I have never mastered any of them but they are wonderful to play anyway.
One interesting thing about all starting with earlier composers like Bach and Mozart, and then moving up through Beethoven and Chopin is seeing how the technique and even the construction of the piano itself changed over the years, and how that affects the way you need to play. Earlier pieces you're mostly using the tips of your fingers, with your fingers bent over the keys, because the chord shapes were much smaller, and notes are closer together. As you get into the later Beethoven years and into Chopin and Debussy, the keyboards themselves got bigger, and the chord shapes got wider. Now you're often playing on the pads of your fingers, with the fingers straight and splayed out. The hand moves a lot more too, since they started using sweeping arpeggios. You find you can't hold your wrist as rigidly as you might have for Bach and Mozart, but instead you need to start rolling your wrist to move between the keys. It's really cool to see the evolution of the instrument.
Speaking of the piano, as a fan of your content, I wish you could make a video about Chopin, especially one of his best pieces, Ballade No. 1 or 4 (Krystian Zimerman's interpretation). Chopin is one of the greatest composers and the most important piano composer in history. He even heavily influenced debussy, which is the composer of what seems to be your favorite classical piece, magical Claire de lune.This is what he had to say about him: “Chopin is the greatest of all,” Debussy said. “For with the piano alone he discovered everything.” Ballade no 1 takes you on an emotional journey, a fight between light and darkness. Like much of Chopin’s music, it ends in an incredible, wild coda where the music seems to scream before finally giving in to the darkness. This piece isn’t just beautiful, it’s groundbreaking and rewarding to analyze. His 4th ballade is as good, or even greater. Ballade No. 1 and many of his compositions pushes the limits of harmony, piano techniques, and composition, taking music to a whole new level when it first released. It’s a true masterpiece and one of the greatest achievements in piano and music history.
Preludes 7 and 4.
Easy to learn, impossible to perfect.
Ballade 3 and 4 are objectively better
@@gmfrunzik *subjectively - music is and can only be a subjective experience. Everyone experiences it differently.
Everyone talks about Ballade No. 1 and while it is a nice piece, Ballade No. 4 blows everything out of the water
@@gmfrunzikThey all tell different stories, why would any of them be better than another?
My takeaway is that my piano teacher growing up knew what was up LOL she put me on nearly all of these pieces and I’m very grateful for that
Same for me! 😊
Arabesque no. 1 by Debussy taught me vast technics such as polyrhythms and expressing myself musically! Very thankful for that musical work...
Love your videos. I'm 74 and planning to learn Clair de Lune and Moonlight this year!
I’m 48 and have just started learning piano, I love it, practice daily , I hope I can progress to this level - I wish I had the opportunity much younger to learn
Yessss, I absolutely LOVE Gymnopédie No.1, it's one of my favorites.
Me too! I have it completely memorized, and break it out sometimes when I want to chill out.
I hate it
I played Satie’s Gymnopédie no.1 live for my grandma’s funeral and while it may seem deceptively simple if you aren’t focused on the beginning phrases it’s very very easy to mess up.
I'm sorry about your grandmother, although the gymnopedie #1 is simple, I think Satie thought of making it simple on purpose, a bass with simple harmony, to focus on the liminal state of things.
You might want to look into Satie's Gnoissenes (especially the first one ) and his Nocturnes...beautiful, haunting and different
Its amazing how within my first year of playing, many of these songs are already on my "list". Thanks for sharing!
Chopin prelude in e minor needs to be on this list. Oh my god what a piece. First one I ever played live, and that along with the piece created such a transcendent experience
Agree.
Prelude in e minor is the piece I properly learnt to use rubato with
Love to hear you talking about classical music :) I hope you do more of this thing if you like it as well!
This is honestly more of the content I enjoy from you. Thank you!
wow, the Grieg piece was such a nostalgia hit for me, I played it for my grade 8 exam many moons ago. I'll have to dig out the music and try it again
Bach has changed my piano playing forever. As Charles, I always disliked Bach as a beginner. Or rather I never understood him and Baroque music. But one day I slammed my fist and said I'm gonna learn Bach even if I don't like him. Started with Prelude and Fugue II in C minor from the Well-tempered Clavier book I and now he's my favourite composer to play. You learn so much finger dexterity and hand independence that everything else will feel easier.
i was the same way. i remember telling my teacher that i didnt like baroque and classical music bc i thought it was boring. i could tell that she wasn't satisfied with that reasoning, but she accepted it. now that im older and better at piano/music in general, I see the genius in baroque and classical and how it influences pretty much all of western music to this day.
That’s so interesting I always liked Bach as a little kid
I find Bach mechanical and cold, but he wrote my favorite piece of music, the sublime 'Air on a G String', and other lovely pieces like (Schafe können sicher weiden) 'Sheep Shall Safely Graze' which I have sung in German , and 'Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring' which I have also sung. Someone said to me his expression was hampered by his inability to see.
Bach’s counterpoint is so interesting
I had a music box that was Traumerei when i was very young, 2-4 yrs old. Even now, it brings me back to that childish 'nothing else matters' feeling.
Fun take, the 2 against 3 sounds so weird or difficult for a lot of cultures but here in Argentina is printed in one of our main folclore music genres called Chacarera, we basically learn it as kids messing around and then stays forever
Correcto!
I've never understood what is so hard about 2 against 3.
In the end it's just an underlying rhythm of 6.
There are other polyrhythms that are worse, as they are like 5 against 3, beign a 15 underlyingly, bit an underlying 6 shouldn't be crazy.
@@tuluppampam2 vs 3 is probably the easiest polyrythm, but when you're inexperienced and have never encountered those before it can be pretty difficult
@@tuluppampam yea, it really sounds like the first step to polyrhythms. But that just means that if someone didnt even have that first step, it may feel hard (that's what she said) while others already went through that and now its more natural
Hi Charles,
I really liked and appreciated this video. There are so many videos out there such as "the most difficult piano pieces" (often including Moonlight Sonata 3rd Movement), it is really refreshing to see somebody focusing on extremely beautiful music that is actually accessible. If anything, I would love to see MORE videos like this from your channel! Thank you!
I'm not even a pianist but I love it here 🙂Thank you for sharing your passion Charles
I really like this list bc there is something in all of these pieces for all skill levels. the harder pieces are goals to work towards, and the easy ones for more advanced pianists are great exercises in practicing musicality. I love playing minuet in G bc technically it is very easy so it allows me to focus on voicing and phrasing the independent counterpoints.
When my grandparents were courting, back in the 1920s, my grandfather would always ask my grandmother to play Traumerei for him before he went home. She lived to 102 and was still playing piano we'll into her 90s.
❤inspiring❤
Real love❤
Yes...a special piece. I never looked at it w a teacher, but when I was 13, my grandfather (b. 1905) an economist, not a musical guy, asked me if I knew Traumerei. Never heard of it, but rummaged it up. He sat quietly. He told me that his mother would play it when they were children after they'd been tucked in. It has a lullaby quality to it.
These are all really good. If i could add a tenth though, I would say The Entertainer -- really influenced my early piano learning and taught about time through rag
The Entertainer is one of my all time favourites. I'm practicing it the moment.
All of Schumann's pieces are just heavenly. So beautiful that they bring out emotions you might not even be aware of. I don't know how he does it.
YES i love grieg’s notturno!! im a suzuki student so i played it about a year ago and unfortunately i’ve forgotten it now, but i had so much fun experimenting with the tempo and phrasing. i think it was the piece that finally got me comfortable with not playing everything like i was using a metronome, and playing in that looser romantic-era style.
PLEASE do more piano music! I NEED THIS! Thank you! Ooohh....Nuttorno! I never played that one!
i play 8 years piano now and only from you of all of my piano teachers i learned to understand what you play and not just read notes
thank you :3
2 vs 3 never gave me that much difficulty, but 3 vs 4 when I learned Ravel's Jeux D'eau was a monumental task for me.
Same for me with the climax of Une Barque Sur L’Ocean which I did this semester!
Yeah, 3 vs 4 is wayy harder, but once it clicks, you will never forget it again
@@maxiapalucci2511there's a bar in Alborado del Gracioso that's like 4 against fuck knows and I genuinely can't do it 😭😭😭
How does one play jeux d’eau and has never come across 3 vs 4 before ??? I mean it’s in so many famous and way easier pieces (Consolation 3, Reverie, Nocturne No.2, Revolutionary Etude, Fantasie Impromptu ofc etc. etc )
@@klippklapp3004 Simply because I liked the piece and wanted to play it. It wasn't necessary to start further down the ladder with pieces that I had no personal affinity for.
Thankyou for your presentation im a semi professional guitarist of many decades and have always listened to these pieces over the years but never studied them ususly playing the Great American songbook repotiore like Iriving Berlin Gerswin Cole Porter Jobim and Charlie Parker but you have inspired me to widen my studies s7ch as they are Wonderfull music full of wonder thank you
Throttle House hoodie? Never thought I'd see these two worlds collide. As always, excellent video!
Yo what's up Charles! I'm not exaggerating when I say that I learned like 70% of the music theory I know from your videos. It's great to see people on youtube genuinely enjoying music and not just hating on it all the time. You're an amazing teacher, keep it up! (btw I think you would like the album "Twelve Chapters" by Glimlip. It's Jazz Lofi but in my opinion it is the perfect blend of jazz and hip hop, especially "Limited Time Only" and "Dr. Disclosure".)
It's nice to hear you actually play, Charles. Thanks!
Thank you! I love all of the pieces. I’m looking forward to seeing more videos.😊
long streak of really good videos! keep it up
You're welcome for watching. Thank YOU for putting out such great videos. From learning about new pieces, to music theory, to my childhood video game memories; you always have such great topics. I'm mostly a guitar player; and rarely play my keyboard; but I still love your videos. THANK YOU!
At 9:45, another piece that's FANTASTIC for teaching this concept/frame of approach is Manheim Steamroller's rendition of "Carol of the Bells". They build the rhythm of the melody by presenting two ostinatos at duple and triple subdivision independently, and then putting them on top of each other. When that 3 against 2 rhythm begins, the very familiar carol melody emerges directly from it before proceeding into the proper body of the piece. Really incredible stuff, and still helps me to this day play any 3 against 2 passages.
Liebesleid is my favorite piece, and is actually tattood on my arm. I love it so much
The arrangement for solo piano by Rachmaninoff is so good!! Not good enough to perform it yet sadly, but it’s one of my goals!
You play beautifully You are fortunate to have such a fabulous instrument.
Cool video, thanks for sharing. I'm an adult beginner, I've learned the first three pieces you mentioned. A few of the others were already on my wish list. And I enjoyed learning about the ones I didn't know about.
OMG, I'm a self taught pianist, and I do the polyrythm thing too! ahahhaha, so cool to see someone else using the same stuff, specially someone i admire so much! awesome
Love this new form of video!
Such a great list! You always give such good advice on new pieces to try.
Wow! I went through a *very* different path in my own classical training lol piano is so cool
Thank you for the video and your commentary to those pieces! Great video!
Excellent selection and beautifully explained. Thank you
Gymnopedie and Träumerei are both matters of taste, and as such infinitely difficult. A master can make them absolutely magnificent. Intermediate players struggle, and even if they can execute the pieces, it's just not the same.
bought the bundle... excited to start my trip... ty for what you do
I'm glad you mentioned how fun Clair de Lune is to play. It feels like every few measures, your fingers are doing something new.
Speaking of fun to play, have you ever played any of the Piano Guys pianist Jon Schmidt's solo stuff from years back? Waterfall in particular is an absolute blast to play.
Chopin’s “Raindrop” Prelude in Db - so beautiful.
Hi Charles,thank you the video!I started learning piano 13 months ago and I was very surprised to see that I have 5 of your 9 recommendations on my list of piano pieces in process of learning!😍🥳Keep up the great work,cheers!
Notturno is so amazing! Grieg's lyrical pieces has some great stuff!
Wow brother thanks for the sheet music. I'm just starting out and picked up the prelude and gymnopedie myself, and had moonlight and clair de lune on the list for down the line, but there are even more great suggestions in here.
All your videos are always so well done 👌🏼
From a more experienced perspective, here are some piano pieces that took my playing to the next level. The first is Bach's Fugue in C# minor from WTC1. It's a five voice fugue and it totally kicked my ass. One of the hardest pieces I've ever learned, but really really helped me to improve my ability to play counterpoint, as well as my ability to voice different lines of music. The second would be Chopin's etude op 25 no 6, the infamous double thirds etude. Good luck even playing the first two bars! Probably his most difficult etude in my opinion, but it really helps to shore up a key skill. Next would be Rachmaninoff's Etude Tableaux op 39 no 2, The Sea and the Seagulls. This piece also kicked my ass and it has it all. Polyrhythms, voicing, hand crossing; but when it comes together it feels as smooth as water and really helps you to play more smoothly, lyrically, and freely in general.
Thank you for being so talented and sharing with so much passion and ever more on your incredible content for which I’m THE target. Thanks!
Totally tracking with everything you cover here. Had me laughing right out loud remembering all of these learning experiences, really enjoyed thank you !!!!!!!!!
You are the one who got me into piano. Thank you kindly...
I love your videos, they are all fun and engaging. But this one stands alone in its format. Love this so much! I have played many of them but not all. Great list!!
Hi Charles, thank and thanks and forever thanks for the 9 which I enjoyed.
May I make a suggestion?
How about doing a performance TH-cam video which will also serve as a tutorial of all 9?
I played all of them except Satie and Grieg. That Grieg piece sounds beautiful! Gotta add that one to my ever growing list of pieces to learn LOL My first early advanced piece is Arabesque 1 by Debussy. It took me months to learn (had learned to play the piano for about 6 months at that point as an adult). Clair de Luna is also one of my all time favorites. I barely get time to practice now since my son was born but when I do I still play this piece almost every time. When will I ever finish learning the Bach organ sonata....AHHHHHHUUUGGGGHHHH (onomatopoeia of desperation)
Debussy is the King. Childen's corner is amazing. Arabesque n1...all my childhood spent behind a piano. ❤
7:13 THIS WAS MY RINGTONE WHEN I HAD A VERIZON FLIP PHONE THE MEMORIES I JUDT HAVE UNLOCKED 😭😭😭😭😭🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Grieg Notturno!! Thanks for highlighting that gem. Also "Butterfly" from Book 3 of the same set
This video comes at a perfect time, as I have recently AGIN picked up piano playing. Am currently studying and playing unstoppably two of Chopin's waltzes in A minor, off op 34 and op 150. Now, to commence watching your video, to see if it will further open my piano senses 🙂
Heureux que vos deux compositeurs préférés soient Debussy et Ravel. Ce sont pour moi ce qui s'est fait de mieux en France depuis toujours en terme de créations musicales. Le jour ou, enfant, j'ai entendu "Prélude à l'après midi d'un faune" pour la première fois, je savais que j'allais être fan absolu à vie de ce langage musical unique qui prend tout son sens dans le cinéma. Demandez à John Williams...
Not the most original playlist I never hear but well it is good to tell that classic music help a lot with piano technique. I did not remember about Grieg notturno, so it remind me that.
Satie doez some beautiful stuff...his Gnoissenes are haunting and his waltz "Je Te Veux" is SO French and fun to play...might check out his nocturnes and sarabandes...interesting pieces 👍
We love you Charles!!
I'm so pleased that you credit The Minuet in G to Pezold. Note - z as in Mozart is ts.
The tz was used by his publisher but not by him.
Good job !
Thank you. 🤗
What would I do without this channel?? 💖
This is the greatest music channel on youtube
"incredibly satisfying" are the exact words that come to my mind whenever I listen or try to play clair de lune.
It's not at all an intermediate piece in view, due to several reasons:
1. Expression is key in this piece.
2. Harmony is really interesting here. Memorizing all of the chords and their variations and inversion is not easy. If I don't play the piece for few days, I tend to forget many hand positions.
3. Rhythm is tricky, especially because there are so many uneven spaces throughout the piece.
I learned every single song on this list with the exception of the last one. Which I have started and aborted many times over the three decades of my piano playing life. I can play EXACTLY and ONLY the part of the song that you included for the clip. And I usually get asked to play it, so I play that portion then strategically complain that it’s boring and overplayed, and switch back to jazz or blues.
Great video. Thank you.
jus got the bundle, thanks for the opportunity!!!
Loved this. Not really for beginners, i know because i am one :-) but i welcome your take on stuff for beginners
I found the Prelude No.1 is much more enjoyable to play when you slow it down and add rubato; make it become a satin sheet blowing in a gentle summers breeze.
Bach is the godfather guru of music harmony.
Your course is definitely helpful, I would like a 1-2-1 option as well or a session where other learning in a class we can discuss and have live answers?
You should make a video with some christmas songs for the holiday season!
umm, yeah, so I'm teaching myself (or should I say, TH-cam is teaching me), so I probably should've seen this first...I started off trying to learn Moonlight Sonata...I'm about 2/3 through the first movement but I can only play the first 1/2 well consistently...
also, Bach's Prelude in C, with the consistent arpeggio patterns, is a great starting piece and one could copy down the notes on a scratch paper and learn to make the sounds, but the piece is probably perfect for learning to sight read sheet music BECAUSE of that consistent shape, so you can focus on watching the paper and not the keys.
synthesia is a very simple, yet tedious way to learn. but I'm definitely a year or two away from most of these pieces.
Really appreciate this content!!!
Thanks, I can already tell I'm going to use this!
I've played all but one of these pieces (Notturno). My 2 against 3 "ah-ha" moment piece was Chopin's Nocturne Op.72 No.1. It's still one of my favorite pieces to play, 20+ years after learning it and though it was posthumously released, it's still my favorite of Chopin's Nocturnes.
The ones mentioned are common student pieces for sure. Played some of these.
Regarding pieces in the "Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach" the majority of them were not by Bach. It was a notebook for Bach's 2nd wife Anna as a gift for learning to play keyboard. The original contained 4 pieces by Bach (supposedly). The rest of the pages were blank. Anna copied the other pieces into the notebook by hand. Today we can buy printed editions of the Notebook.
The Bach "Prelude in C" from the Well-Tempered Clavier is an interesting piece which is not something typical by Bach. Just reading the notes looks somewhat complicated. If we understand why the piece was notated this way playing becomes much easier. The LH part contains long sustained notes. In the early part of the 18th century, the keyboard instruments of the day were harpsichord & clavichord and neither had a right sustain /damper pedal. Today we can hold the left hand notes of the Prelude (the beginning of each bar) with a touch of sustain pedal. When playing on a harpsichord you'd hold some notes longer while playing other ones on top to simulate the effect of the sustain pedal (a technique calls fingering pedaling).
As the title suggests, many Bach preludes also have a fugue after. A fugue is a piece with 3 or more voices (polyphonic music) is very typical Bach. A prelude & fugue is normally played together 1 after the other. The Prelude in C is considered an intermediate piece but the Fugue in C is more advance. The majority of intermediate students would learn just the Prelude without the Fugue.
Thank you Charles. I love piano 🎹
i´d love to see you making a deep dive into the musical " the last 5 years" or someting other robert jason brown. Love your videos thank you
I enjoy your video game music videos, but this is a great change. I came back to piano about 4 years ago after a 20 year break and I've learned a bunch of these in that time, Minuet in G, Prelude in C, Gymnopedie no. 1 & Für Elise. I need to look at moonlight sonata and Claire du Lune.
So far, for me, Bach's Invention in C major has been more transformative to my playing than his Prelude in C major.
this video is exactly what i need, thank you Mr.Cornell😊
9:53 the opening rhythm to Vanessa Williams' cover version of What Child Is This.
Hey Charles, I participated in the last friday’s meeting with you, Tyler and Matt. Love the content. Keep up. And thanks again for the opportunity
My list is:
Fur Elise, Skater's Watlz, Polonaise, Blue Danube, Minute Waltz, Moonlight Sonata, Revolutionary Study, Clair de Lune,
Bolero
Thanks for the PDF! 😃👍
Great advice for polyrhythms, you should make a short about that 9:27
Could you please do something like this for jazz like pieces, transcriptions, or exercises that really influenced you in improvisation or chord voicing!
Nice list of some of the seminal works of piano. My teacher though thinks that the Schumann and Moonlight- to sound really good - are quite advanced. She says that Taumerei is a beast.
It's a fabulous video, thank you Charles.
I've been wondering about ways to improve my repertoire and this really helps!
P.S. Baroque is pronounced Ba-ROCK.
As a fellow music grad, right with you there on Debussy and Ravel bro ✊