Ok so do Piano techniques really work or is it a waste of time?

Well you can do some things like Studies by people like Czerny as they incorporate techniques and they are very interesting and aren't boring, so you aren't just doing scales up and down the piano. Once you have done some of these you will have much better technique and soon be ready to begin to learn Fantasy. Just a word of warning, fantasy can sound Fantastic if played well, but if you rush through it and don't polish it, it will sound mediocre. Good Luck

As usual, Anya nailed it. Fantasie Impromtu is certainly one of the most festering pieces to learn. The 4 against 3 is so difficult to play completely perfectly and smoothly at such a fast tempo. Not to mention the twisting figures in the right hand that are very difficult and the large, spanned out arpeggios in the left hand that usually cause painfully cramped hands to students not yet prepared to play this piece. It is also very musically challenging. There are many hidden melodies that you must voice. Wait a few years. Before you learn it, I would suggest learning this etude by Chopin, his set of three "Trois Etudes", number 1. Really, you must learn it before you go on to Fantasie Impromptu. Reasons? 1, It's an etude with the same rhythms as fantasie impromptu, 4 against 3. 2, it will give you a good introduction to Chopin, it is very Chopinesque and beautiful and will help you musically prepare for Fantasie Impromptu. 3, It's as beautiful as Fantasie Impromptu, why not? 4, It also has some challenging figures like Fantasie Impromptu that will help you execute the cramped and twisted figures. Here's the sheet music... http://imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/e/e9/IMSLP00329-Chopin_-_3NEW_1.PDF Good luck... --Schumiszt

It's great that you're so enthusiastic. If I was in your place, I would get the sheet music (I saved you a trip: http://imslp.org/wiki/Fantaisie-Impromptu%2C_Op.66_(Chopin%2C_Frederic) ) and bring it to my next lesson. Then I'd tell my teacher that I was really set on learning this piece, even if I couldn't play it for another year or more. Yes, the technical side of piano is extremely important. It's a huge part of musicality. Without technique you can't express yourself emotionally. The more confident you are with your key signatures, hand position, scales, etc, the easier the Chopin will be. The better your sense of time and rhythm is, the easier it will be. Your long-term view is exactly what a musician needs. You should be working on pieces besides the Fantasie, because you will learn more if you do things that are slightly challenging, as opposed to the Chopin, which will be like ramming your musical head in to a brick wall if that's all you do. I've technically been playing for five years, though I spent one year learning counterproductive bad habits and another ~18 months unlearning them. I've been in to intermediate-level pieces for some months now. If you want an idea of how balance is important, this is what my practice load is for this week (bear in mind that this all looks and sounds much more impressive than it actually is): 1) 2.5 pages of this: <- I'm up to about 1:30. The section from about 1:20-1:30 is killing me, but the rest is going well. 2. The first line and a half for the Secondo part of a Mozart piano duet I don't have the K number for. Also tricky. 3. Music theory homework: analyzing the chord progressions in a few hymn tunes, writing down all the chords and inversions. I'm still not doing it fast enough, but it's going well. 4. The Pink Panther theme. Yes, really. You need pieces that you can sight-read, pieces that take a few days, pieces that take a week, pieces that take weeks, and pieces that take months. Working on just one piece will only lead to frustration and keep you from developing some important skills.