Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Piano Study Groups for Intermediate-Early Advanced Levels (anyone interested?)

We are looking for others who want to participate in shared learning groups through the ABF.

Here's how: 1. Let us know you want to participate in this thread , 2. Decide which pieces you want to learn to play (suggest any that are not on the current list), 3. We'll match you up with others who also want to learn to play those same pieces.

The list of participants and piano pieces have been relocated to this thread

Opus, your musical tastes sound like they fit mine pretty closely. So of course that interests me right there. But I'm not sure what you have in mind? Do you mean choosing a piece, and we'd all work on the same piece (hopefully from the same score) so that we could kind of "peer-teach" ourselves through it? If that's what you mean, it sounds like a great idea. Except that I personally seem to be going through an impulsive phase, where I keep adding more and more pieces to my practice list, so I'm probably at the bursting stage! :p

"The Virtuosic Christmas Performer" sounds interesting, "showy solos" that's what I want! off to Amazon for a look.

I need to look at Linus & Lucy again. I'm interested in adding something fancy to my Christmas repertoire this year, one possibility is George Winston's Canon, or his version of the Carol of Bells (which I love!!)

Hello ShiroKuro,
What I have in mind is pretty much as you describe, choosing a piece (or pieces) and "peer-teach".

I would suggest we spend about a week & see who else might have an interest, and then ask for ideas. We'll want to have a little structure, yet be as flexible as possible to accomodate different schedules/etc.. Perhaps we might want to work up a list (separate lists for classical/new age/modern/jazz/other?). I would guess that some folks might only want to participate for certain pieces and not others...perhaps some folks will already have mastered something we're working on in which case might be willing to advise the rest of us, etc...

By the way, the Virtuosic Christmas Performer has a version of "Carol of the Bells"...I have George Winston's December CD & also enjoy his version of the same...not sure if I could play that anytime soon. I do want to master (once and for all) "Linus & Lucy", and I'd like to do it before this holiday season!

One person already responded by Email indicating interest.

Sign me up...! I really really really want to learn Linus and Lucy so I hope that ends up getting chosen.

I just spent 20 minutes looking for my advanced version of Linus & Lucy and can't find it...I think I'm going to have to order it again, but I'll wait to see what else may show up on our group learning list (save on shipping costs).
In addition to sounding cool & being a crowd pleaser, Linus & Lucy really looks FUN to play. I have no doubt others will also want to tackle that one!

Isn't the original key a 4-5 sharp deal? I have a simplified one too, and I thought I had another version, but it must be in the same place your is, Opus! Will look again...

Actually, 4 Flats, which I think is A-flat Major (I usually play things without knowing what key I'm playing in...)

Flats, sharps, they're all black keys to me! :rolleyes:

BTW, I can't find a link for the Virtuosic Christmas Performer (thought I did find another collection by Ms Goldston) I checked Amazon and another sheet music site, any other suggestions Opus?

Linus & Lucy is one of my favorites. It's also one of the pieces I used to be able to play before my 20 year playing hiatus, but no longer can do justice to. I guess I could play the "easy" version, but those are usually so boring.

Opus, I finally found the Virtuosic Christmas Performer (why is virtuosic so hard to spell!)

The Silent Night arrangement looks pretty nice, virtuosic even!

I wonder if I might be so bold as to ask if you could some how scan in just a few lines from Carol of the Bells (preferably somewhere in the middle perhaps?) so I could see what it looks like before I decide whether or not to buy it. I have about a billion arrangements of Silent Night, so it would be Carol of the Bells that I'd be after, but it's really expensive to buy from Japan unfortunately, so I hate to buy without being able to take a look. If you can't scan or take digital picture, could you perhaps describe it a bit? Sorry, this is a lot to ask, if it's a hassle just pretend there was a blind spot on your screen and you didn't see this message. You could always say "the sun was in my eyes."　

LOL, ShiroKuro, sure I would be happy to do this for you. I have a scanner in my office...if I'm out & able to stop in I'll do this today or tomorrow, otherwise it will be Tuesday morning (Monday is a holiday for most of us in the U.S.). I think you will like this version of Carol of the Bells, it's not as difficult as George Winston's version, but not as "plain" as many versions that you find in generic Christmas music books. (Didn't see your last post last night...I was probably already sleeping when you wrote it...funny thing being on opposite sides of the globe) Now I'm having my morning coffee & you're probably getting sleepy.

Edit [ShiroKuro, While you were sleeping, I stopped by my office to scan the Carol for you and saved it as a PDF. I sent Email to you through this forum...if you respond back to the Email address I provided, I'll be able to attach the PDF document and you'll have it (hope you appreciate this because my boss was there & I got sucked into working a bit )]

Sign me up! I've been thinking about starting a Christmas piece already and with my lessons ending for a couple of months it sounds like the perfect way to keep me in line.... although I do have a full plate of "needs polishing" and "can't remember anymore" pieces and a new one!!... that I have promised to work on.... :rolleyes: But I really would like to have an impressive Christmas piece under my fingers by November!

Please add me to the interested list. Thank you.

Sandy,Are you interested in "Linus and Lucy", or a different piece?
folly, you've been added to the list (glad you decided to join us)
ShiroKuro, I just sent the Carol to your EMail.
TX-Dennis, so are you in?

Hi Opus,

Count me in. I just found my music for "Linus & Lucy" but I'm not sure if it's the same version as what you guys have. My score is from the book called 'Charlie Brown's Greatest Hits".

Glad you're joining in kawaigirl !
Is your version of Linus and Lucy an advanced version?
I still can't find mine, so I'll need to order another one.

Once you know what version is the best to work from, can you post a link to amazon or sheetmusciplus so I can order it? I was baffled by the large number of options out there when I googled it.

p.s. I'm going to be out of town all next week, so I may not be able to order it and/or start on anything until I get back.

Sure! Sign me up. I am in the late intermediate level. I have the Linus and Lucy song in my book, "The Vince Guaraldi Collection" It has four flats, A,B,D and E. Is this the arrangement you are refering to? I wouldn't mind learning to play it, I have never tried to learn music over a forum before so it could be FUN!

Monica, I've been told the advanced version with 4 flats (key of A-Flat) is a good one.

Everyone: I was thinking of continuing the recruiting process until at least June 5th?? Then polling everyone who is interested for ideas in terms of how best to organize our learning group (i.e. different groups for classical, new age, jazz, modern, christmas, etc...how many pieces (maybe 2 ambitious classical pieces for rest of 2006 (one per quarter?) just to see how it goes) etceteras.. for a possible start time toward the middle-end of June? How does this sound?

petrof1, Excellent. Glad you're joining in!

sounds good! I wouldn't mind learning Victors Piano Solo, anybody else?