PIANO: Can a complete beginner learn Moonlight Sonata Mvt 1?

For my own reasons, this is really the only piece I want to be able to play... at least for a long time.


Would I simply fail if I tried to learn it without any other prior knowledge? (can't even read music). If not, how long do you guess it would take?





Basically, what is the quickest way I could learn to play Beethoven's Moonlught Sonata, Movement 1?PIANO: Can a complete beginner learn Moonlight Sonata Mvt 1?
The ';Moonlight Sonata'; 1st movement was the first piece I learned to play. I purchased the sheet music and a recording. I did know how to read the notes on the G cleft from my dismal attempt to play the violin, however the F cleft was a mystery.





My sister lived two houses down from my house and she had a record player, so I would listen to the recording trying to follow it with the sheet music, then quickly run home and try to find on the piano the notes I heard in my head and relate them to the notes on the F cleft.





This took several weeks and endless hours but I did learn the 1st movement. I wish I would have recorded myself playing it back then. I would very much like to hear how well I did play it. I have been blessed with a very good ear, not everyone would be able to it as I did. That was over fifty years ago.





I do not recommend this approach. Get a teacher, learn to read music then work your way up to it. It will still be there when you are ready to tackle it.





One of the problems is the 1st movement is more than two pages long. I have seen so many wannabe pianist struggle with the first two pages and never get to the other remaining pages.





As you get more into classical piano works, you will find that once you accomplish a goal like playing the 1st movemnet, there will be another piece you will want to get started on and so it goes on and on. You will not be satisfied just playing the one piece.





Don't try to do it on your own, Learn the piano properly and when you are ready, the piece will be a piece of cake (German Chocolate). My favorite.PIANO: Can a complete beginner learn Moonlight Sonata Mvt 1?
There is no way you can learn the Moonlight Sonata 1st movement in 2-3 days (as another responder says), without any prior experience! You will need to learn how to read music, and be able to play the parts of EACH hand - which are often, not doing the same thing at the same time, to put it simply.





There is no ';I just want to learn this ONE piece'; in the study of an instrument. You learn to play the INSTRUMENT - and then you learn to play that piece. This is like asking ';I do not want to get physically fit - I just want to learn how to pitch ONE major league baseball game.';





This is not a reality show, where things are made to look like instant miracles.
I began taking piano lessons at age 40, and it was quite a humbling experience. I wanted to play the ';easier'; pieces by Bach, Mozart and Beethoven--but it took years before I could even begin to do justice to any of these pieces.





But after two years of lessons I tackled the first movement of the ';Moonlight.'; I worked away at it very diligently, and after a few weeks, much to my delight, I had the whole thing memorized. I could play it through note-perfect. But then I did something that took all the glow off of my glorious achievement: I listened to my old recording of Rudolf Serkin playing the piece. After ten seconds of listening I realized that I had only learned to play the notes--there was no music in my pitiful rendition.





So, can YOU learn to play this piece? Sure! You probably can learn to play the notes perfectly if you work away at it for a couple of months. But to bring it to life as a piece of MUSIC will take a long, long time.
It's going to be rather difficult if you have no prior knowledge or musical background. To be honest even if you do manage to somehow learn all the notes, with your level of expertise you'll be playing it just to get by. There is more to music than just merely learning the notes. Moonlight Sonata is not a very technically demanding piece, however making it sound good is a whole other story.
I can't read music either. I learned it all by ear as a beginner. *smiles* Then of course not everyone has ';the ear'; but it took me around a month or so of intent listening. But the quickest way is to learn to read, I still can't, and for my own reasons I do not want to. Though, I HIGHLY recommend that you do- to learn it quicker.


-Ryko
yes, practice, my friend learned that in less 2 months, but he has no constant practice, if you're really good in less 2-3 days, you can master that, i can play Sonata in c major by clementi, and everyone was dazzled ahaha!!!
I whole-heartedly agree with mamianka. I've been playing the guitar for eleven years. There is so much more to playing any instrument than just learning a song. Find a teacher, learn to play the piano. there is no way around it.
Sure, if you try REALLY HARD. :-)





Heres the sheet music to get you started.





http://www.scribd.com/doc/10857299/Moonl鈥?/a>
A complete beginner can learn anything...it'll just take you a lot more practice.
By rote at first, and i hope you have a great ear!