The Official Lisztomaniac Complete Transcendental Etudes Challenge!

Noel Nguyen Wow! Unbelievable. I’m hideously and hopelessly behind. Although I also don’t have as much repertoire to learn as you do.

Alexander Weymann Noel Nguyen  I have memorized my part of Chasse-Neige but am behind on Paysage!

Noel Nguyen great! I find it intriguing how different everyone's learning styles are. Thurmond is a big-picture-first learner, and after he has his vision he then goes back to the details. For him, the details don't make sense until he knows how they fit into the whole.

I'm really looking forward to hearing all of these etudes in July, especially since I know only a couple of them. Thurmond has a goal of playing them all (eventually), so this has been a good start for him. I think he was planning to actually work on Paysage this month for the unfinished business challenge and make a good recording - the previous recording he made was after less than a week of work, and he'd like to put a little more into it! 

Michelle R I usually listen to the entire piece so I have it memorized and then practice it in sections, paying attention to the details. I sometimes learn a page at a time, but I often divide a piece into sections that musically make sense. 

Maria I often, but not always, listen to the piece first, then I look for patterns and similarities. Then fingering. When I begin practicing, I group similar sections into practice segments, which often means that I’m bouncing around the piece in my initial practices. I try to memorize as I go along, but that doesn’t really come together until I begin playing larger musically coherent sections. If it’s singable, I’ll sing one line while playing the other(s), on solfège if I’m feeling industrious. And I often add a rhythm layer in as well, even when the rhythms aren’t necessarily difficult, because tapping the rhythms away from the piano helps me when I start putting everything together.

Michelle R I almost always listen first; I basically can't read sheet music if I haven't heard the piece first, and listening is also generally how I find pieces to learn.

I usually automatically recognize patterns, but I also often do an informal semi-analysis of the piece, partially because I enjoy doing it, and partially because it is helpful.

I also group similar sections together, but I generally have a piece memorized before I start learning it at the piano. The downside is that it can be annoying when my brain has a piece memorized, but my fingers definitely don't!