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Looking for suggestions on new piano pieces to learn
I've recently started teaching myself piano again after a long hiatus. I started by picking back up a piece I half-remembered from years ago -- Chopin's Nocturne in E Minor, Op. 72 No. 1 -- and about the first half of it feels right for my current skill level (basically everything up until all the RH 16th note runs start). While that's going great so far, I no longer have a piano teacher to recommend me new pieces beyond just this one, and I'm not entirely sure where to look myself to find things that are interesting without being too technically challenging. Would love a few recommendations from any pianists on here, either for specific pieces to look into and/or for good ways to find suitable pieces more broadly!
Do you do any writing? Creating your own music can be a really rewarding experience, and extremely cathartic if you (like me) use it as an avenue for exorcising demons. If you haven't tried it, I really do recommend giving it a go.
Otherwise I have been slowly plugging away at Of Strange Lands and People which I actually mastered for an exam during my adolescence and then promptly forgot all about! It's a nice short melody and leans into expressive playing, as well as some delightful two-hand harmony sequences.
Haydn's Finale from Piano Sonata No. 50 in D Major, Hob. XVI:37 is another personal favourite, and although the performer in that video seems to ignore the "ma non troppo" direction, it's a fun piece to play at a bit of a lick.
Fur Elise is a cliche but a classic. If you can't already play the whole thing, I really rate it. The main melody section that everyone knows is kind of played out, but there are absolutely terrific B and C sections to the piece that aren't as well known, and absolutely the most exciting parts of the tune to play.
Bach's Prelude No. 1 C Major, BWV 846 is absolutely sublime, and a staple for any pianist's repetoire. Some of the chords are completely deranged, but it's a lovely piece of music. Bonus: it's really easy to jazz up!
As for finding suitable pieces... Trying to identify an approximate level that you're playing at within a graded system is the most beneficial. I know for example that I am playing at (more or less) a grade 5 level in the UK system, so I can tailor my search for books and pieces that are aimed at students around that skill level. With that said, I am more and more inclined to just hear something (or more likely stumble across it on YouTube) and just want to learn it, regardless of level. Have a skim-read of Fundamentals of Piano Practice if you can, as there are some good lessons in there for how to go about learning new pieces.
These are some excellent suggestions, thank you so much! And I do write my own music from time to time, but usually more electronic/8 bit inspired stuff - haven't written anything for piano in a good long while, haha. May be worth revisiting that!
If you are against instruction books and just want to learn from pieces you select, then you could go to https://pianosyllabus.com/x-default.php and search for a particular grade of piece.
I’ve recently started reteaching myself piano too! Moonlight sonata is a great one to start with because there are arrangements of it that start very simply, and you can work your way up to be more complex as you master it. It’s also one of my favourite piano pieces
Moonlight Sonata is lovely, and I did try picking up the first movement, but my hands are really small by pianist standards, and it kinda makes my right hand achy to play for any reasonable amount of time because of all the octave stretches. I'll probably still come back to it from time to timanyways, though!
I do too. It took me a couple of weeks of practice for my hands to stop being achy, and after that it was fine. Just like stretching anywhere else :)