Mikrokosmos

[Movies]

Hey y'all,

I just thought I'd let you know about the success I'm having teaching myself piano with Bartok's Mikrokosmos - six volumes of pieces that start simple and, progressively, become more and more difficult.

I am a classical guitarist by training and play, like, rock music or whatever as well. I've spent so much time (the past twenty-five years) trying to get my hands to work together as a guitar player that trying to get them to work independently on the piano has, historically, been a bit confusing.

I've had the Mikrokosmos books (Volumes 1 & 2) laying around for a while and just recently (the past few weeks) have had the time to crack them open. Since I've made the decision to start composing full time, I've realized that there is no way around the fact that I need to be able to wield a MIDI-controller with more than, like, two index fingers.

Not only am I progressing super quickly, but each piece is like a little window into the compositional choices of Bartok himself, one of my all time favorites.

If, like me, you're a guitar player who looks at a piano and sees, like, an undecipherable mess of similar white and black buttons or if you're just someone who is looking to brush up or challenge yourself on, really, any level, I can't recommend these books enough.

[FMiguelez]

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I hear you, Movies.
Bartok's Microkosmos is a great way to learn piano and modern composition.
What I like is that you can see a lot of great writing techniques in a "bare" and obvious manner in every piece.

If you are digging the Microkosmos, I suggest you also check out Dmitry Kabalevsky's piano music. He has more than a few easy pieces that are GREAT in their simplicity, but very modern-sounding and a good window for modern writing. I specifically remember the "Toccatina" and "Sonatina". Some of them are so easy that even I can sight-read them, but still sound so good. Others... well, they would require months to learn

I remember one of them featured these parallel major triads outlining altered scales. Very cool. It was my favorite.

But I totally agree. Bartok is amazing. Keep having fun!

[Movies]

I'll definitely check out Kabalevsky.

Thanks for the suggestion, FM!