Level 6 – Repertoire, Course Lists & Discussion Space

Michael Hi Michael. I'm thinking of your Mozart K. 576, which was very solid – with room to develop more facility and explore more expressive possibilities. I think Level 6 seems right to me. That Mozart would probably be a Level 7, which seems right because its challenges required practice and development to overcome, but it was reasonably attainable. If you look at pieces in levels 8, 9, and 10, they should be ones that you'd need to practice for much longer, and go through considerably more development before you could perform them confidently. But those might be the right pieces for you to practice, if you're ready to put in a long-term effort! On the other hand,, you might also like to find some easier pieces you could pick up quickly and add to your repertoire from lower level.

Think of the level assignments more as your current coordinates on a map, so you have a better sense of how to get where it is you want to go.

To find all 12 level pages, just navigate back from this forum post:: click on Piano Level System on this tab right above the top of the thread:

And here's the link for reference: https://piano-community.tonebase.co/category/level-system-forum

Michael Thanks Michael! So far the results are showing a normal distribution, with the most density in levels 5-7, and tapering off to either side. This only reflects those who have responded, and there could be lurking variables. But right now it's look like a wide and low bell curve.

Harriet Kaplan It sounds like the level was more or less accurate, even if you've played works from higher levels, and for the reason you describe! It's important to distinguish between what pieces you're generally able to play your way through, and what pieces you feel a sense of musical and artistic facility with.

My general advice for adult learners wanting to progress to the next level is to focus on general fundamentals/musicianships skills, but not in isolation. Start with the music you're working on, but take a more proactive approach to challenging passagework. I wrote this to another user, but it applies here, so I'll just copy and paste if you don't mind!
 

Too many students (especially adult students) simply learn repertoire passages note by note as if it's the only pattern like that ever composed. Let's say the passage is made of material from the E-flat minor scale: the average student won't even register that fact). So, they may be practicing a level 7 or 8 piece, but their skill level is still below that. If they developed their general fundamentals, they'd have a more comprehensive pool of scale patterns to draw from when learning a new piece, and they'd view the string of notes as part of an E-flat minor scale, which itself is part of the totality of interconnected scale patterns. The passage could then be learned nearly instantly. 

The remedy wouldn't be a 24 major/minor scales/arpeggios regimen, but rather: in the process of learning repertoire, building in activities where you might extract a pattern from the music that feels a bit cumbersome: pause, analyze its elements, determine the key it's in and the scale(s) it's drawing from, try singing the pattern slowly, try playing that scale and observing the scale degrees, try transposing the pattern to related keys, then to a distant key, etc.
This kind of work will expand your musical fluency, and make you feel at home with fundamentals without ever having to drill them separately. And it will directly contribute to your artistry, because it will help you start making connections between your mind, ear, and fingers and make you more sensitive to the detailed ways a composer transformed ordinary tonal materials into something beautiful.

You might want to check out the 10 scales challenge, which approaches scales in this spirit: you drill them a little first, but then the point is to discover how they manifest themselves in actual music. If you start applying this sort of work more regularly when you practice, you'll soon develop more facility and confidence in what you're playing, and naturally progress to more challenging music.

Hannahong  We have yet to fully implement that feature, but it is in the works. We will keep you updated!

LJ Dequina Thank you for your message. We have been aware of the "intimidating" level of content, since we did start as a service for higher level adult amateurs and younger students (and their teachers). Looking at the distribution of member levels, it's clear that we're really trying to serve beginners through virtuosi alike. It's a big challenge, but I think we're equipped to meet everyone's needs! You can look forward to more and more videos that should be useful and relevant for you, and more pieces at your level or just above it.

Constance Lindgreeen Thanks for the feedback. It's a great idea! We have thought about possibilities like the one you suggest, and it's a matter of figuring the best way to organize lesson segments on different topics and also to compile and deliver them to members. One initiative moving forward to is to assign skill tags to every lesson, so members can search by targeted skills and not just by piece or general topic.
In any case, we're always working on these things and there will continue to be improvements along these lines in the coming months!