Henle Verlag classifies Bach's Musette at level 1 of its grading system. It places Chopin's Prelude in B Minor at level 3/4 and Prelude in E Minor at level 4. If this is true, I have gained 3 of their levels in 10 months. What it's worth is that my work hasn't been utterly futile and there's an end in sight to the period of preparation before I can play some of the songs I've been looking forward to. For example:
- Raindrop Prelude is given a level 5 rating. I really want to play that song. I love it. I am also patient enough to wait till I'm ready.
- Nocturne in E-Flat is 5/6. It's in the last 1/3 of the John Thompson Grade 5 book.
- Minute Waltz is 5/6, too. It's in the first half of the John Thompson Grade 5 book.
I'd like to play Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C# Minor too, and it's given a level 6 rating. So I wait. He's pretty tough, of course. He shows up for the first time in the John Thompson series as the penultimate piece in the Grade 5 text, and consequently in the entire series. The piece is Melodie, the third piece in his third opus (Op. 3, No. 3). By comparison, Chopin (who is also tough) shows up as early as the Second Grade Book: his Prelude in A, Op. 28, No. 7.
In about late January / early February 2015, I tried out Chopin's Waltz in B Minor, Op. 69, No. 2 (Posth.). I acquired the score in the text shown here containing Chopin's most accessible works published by KJOS. I was playing the notes of the piece, but they didn't feel very comfortable under my fingers, so I put it away. Yesterday (Aug 5, 2015) I picked it back up just to try out those first few bars again. I had forgotten the notes by then, but the only delay I found was in re-memorizing them. That took less than five minutes (just the first two bars). Playing them was not hard at all. It only took six months, haha! But at least it's progress and I'm glad to see it has occurred. I attribute much of this progress to the Theme from Second Movement of Beethoven's of Fifth Symphony and Scarf Dance, which are both in A-flat Major and gave me practice balancing my fingers on all those narrow perches (aka black keys). I also think some of my progress is due to the fast fingering of Curious Story, Petite Russian Rhapsodie, Eflin Dance, and Hungarian.
In about late January / early February 2015, I tried out Chopin's Waltz in B Minor, Op. 69, No. 2 (Posth.). I acquired the score in the text shown here containing Chopin's most accessible works published by KJOS. I was playing the notes of the piece, but they didn't feel very comfortable under my fingers, so I put it away. Yesterday (Aug 5, 2015) I picked it back up just to try out those first few bars again. I had forgotten the notes by then, but the only delay I found was in re-memorizing them. That took less than five minutes (just the first two bars). Playing them was not hard at all. It only took six months, haha! But at least it's progress and I'm glad to see it has occurred. I attribute much of this progress to the Theme from Second Movement of Beethoven's of Fifth Symphony and Scarf Dance, which are both in A-flat Major and gave me practice balancing my fingers on all those narrow perches (aka black keys). I also think some of my progress is due to the fast fingering of Curious Story, Petite Russian Rhapsodie, Eflin Dance, and Hungarian.
Overall, I think the jumps in level (Henle, RCM, ABRSM, or any other grading system) are geometric rather than arithmetic. Kinda like the levels of the Richter Scale. It'll probably take me as long to get from level 4 to level 5 as it did to jump between the first and fourth levels. Rachmaninoff by December 2016?
(btw... Happy Independence Day, Jamaica!!)
(btw... Happy Independence Day, Jamaica!!)
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