Hello all. Just ordered books 1 through 3 this week and will be joining your ranks soon. I'm excited to dig in.

Hi All,

I'm new to this forum although I've been reading all the posts for about 2 months now. I'm self taught, no teacher, I know it's not a good thing but well... I have the 3 Alfred books (all in one) and I'm currently at page 95, "Lullaby".

I don't have any idea how it should sound and so I'm having a hard time with the rythm and also with the fingering on measure 5 (D & E). The thumb was on E and there are these two 1/8 notes (D & E). How are we supposed to play those two notes ? Finger 1 & finger 2 ?

Thank you for your help.

Welcome Dilbert. You'll find many of the Alfred's method books members' recordings on the first page of this thread, as well as YouTube videos such as the one done by "PianoNoobAlexMan" below as another point of reference.

Brahms\'s Lullaby

And in regards to the fingering in measure 5, yes, you are correct in using the right thumb (finger 1) from the previously played E key down to the first eigth notes to play the D, and finger 2 for the E.

Good luck to you.

Key Notes

Thank you Key Notes, I will listen to that tonight, youtube is blocked at work. I wanted to achieve it without listening to it, it's more challenging, but it's becoming very boring and I have the feeling that I'm wasting my time with Lullaby because I want to move on to something new.

I hope that I won't mess up the fingering though. Like others said here, for me the hardest part is to figure out the fingering of a piece. It is mentioned in Albert's book but I'm trying to play the "Greensleeves" piece, there is no mention of the fingers that should be used so it's quite difficult to get something satisfying.

I'm making progress on the two When the Saints, its just that darn F cord that throws me, there seems to be a hesitation getting there since there is only one in the song, my fingers stop to think about it. I've found when I start getting mad that I didn't do it right, that it actually starts sounding better with that particular song, but I know it won't work that way with all songs, so I try to stay relaxed.

I'm at a point that I'm finding that my brain is ready to move along to new theory but my fingers aren't and not sure if I should move on and let the brain learn more and let the fingers catch up, or make the brain wait on the fingers. Any advice on that one?

You will find that as you progress through the books, that fewer and fewer fingering indicators are given. When you purchase sheet music, usually, no fingering is given at all.

One of the first things I do when I start a new piece is figure out what all the notes are, and pencil in missing fingerings. This may require some trial and error to find the fingerings that work best for you. Though it is not really taught explicitly in Alfred's Method, figuring out fingering is one of the key skills you are learning.

One of the downsides of playing ahead, or skipping material, is that you lose out on the experience you get from the preceding pieces. I have found that regardless of how uninteresting a piece might be, I always learn something new (not necessarily what is being taught officially) from learning the piece.

Personally, I like "Lullaby". But, it seems I might be in the minority here.

The hesitation you are finding with chord changes will lessen as you practice, and your fingers get accustomed to changing. However, I still find it very difficult to make smooth chord changes; you can't really play them legato, so there is always an audible break between chords. I can hide this by using the pedal. But, it just shows how much further I have to go.

As far as when to move on, I am following the advice of others on this forum: I don't polish every piece to recital quality. I make sure I learn the point of the piece -- it's usually pretty obvious. I want to be able to play the piece up to at least 75% of the intended tempo, while keeping errors to a minimum. Having the CD so you know what the piece should sound like helps a lot.

BarbVA,
As far as what point to move on, a teacher might/probably would disagree, but when I get to where I can more or less get through a piece I take on a new one. But I always have several 'new ones' going at once.

When I go back to older pieces, I just keep getting better and better at them. I remember playing Jingle Bells about 50 times and couldn't get it down without big mistakes. Now I can play it fairly well. Same thing with other pieces. My plan is to get through the whole book (I am using the Self Teaching version, not the all in one)then just go back and work on everything again until I feel comfortable with them. I'm up to the blues piece around page 130, I forget the name of it, after about two plus months.

I'd like to hear what a teacher would say about this if one checks in to the forum.

Keynotes... I think that Brahms lullaby is from Book two of Alfreds..That might confuse Dilbert. The song in book one doesn't have the arpeggiated chords and is a little easier.

Bye the way I got my version of Its a Small World from the Greatest Hits book submitted for the PW Recital 13. Yea!!! Now on to other things.

Hi and welcome
for what it is worth, I think Lullaby is well worth learning, but that should not stop you from moving on to other pieces while continuing with Lullaby. I am a little confused if your version of Alfred's has broken cords or not

Welcome
I have found this thread to be very helpful to me, as I work through the course, and the people who post here are a source of encouragement and motivation.

Hi wj3,

I appreciate and thank you for your interests and expressions of concerns. And I'm sure that Dilbert does too.

In reference to Dilbert's original question:

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Dilbert:
Hi All,

I'm new to this forum although I've been reading all the posts for about 2 months now. I'm self taught, no teacher, I know it's not a good thing but well... I have the 3 Alfred books (all in one) and I'm currently at page 95, "Lullaby".

I don't have any idea how it should sound and so I'm having a hard time with the rythm and also with the fingering on measure 5 (D & E). The thumb was on E and there are these two 1/8 notes (D & E). How are we supposed to play those two notes ? Finger 1 & finger 2 ?

Thank you for your help.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/b][/QUOTE]

I believe that with Dilbert's acknowledgements of the answers I've provided that it may be safe to assumed that both of our versions of the Alfred's Adult All-In-One, level 1 book does both have the same Brahms' Lullaby version in which the two 1/8 notes at the end of measure 5, on page 95 was referred to.

I'm not quite sure which version of the Alfred's Adult All-In-One, level 2 book you may be referring to, but according to mine, page 95 has a lesson on "V7 Chords in All Positions"[/b], and not of any particular piece of music or song.

Thank you once again for your thoughtful concerns.

Key Notes

You're welcome Dilbert. Yes, I can definitely relate and understand your interests in trying to learn a piece without having to rely on a recording as a reference point for the joy and sheer challenges of figuring them out on our own. I have to admit that I've done this for most of my pieces in the Alfred's Adult AIO, book 1. Although, I'm not so sure that it's necessarily a good idea since it'll only work if you are certain that you know that particular song very well, and even then, I'm not so sure that we won't be missing out on many of the subtleties and nuances in the rhymths, phrasing, timing, tempos, etc.

Regarding "Greensleeves" or any other pieces of music wich doesn't have the complete fingering notations, you can always write them in once you've worked out and find the most practical and comfortable positions for yourself.

While I'm still pretty new at figuring out the best or optimum fingering positions for anything more complex than the pieces in 'Alfred AIO, book 1, I've been managing pretty well so far, and I'm sure that you will too with practice and time.

For example, starting with the first two indicated finger 1 and finger 2 of the note A and C in the first two measures of "Greensleeves", you can safely assumed that the third finger 3, will be able to play the next note D, and finger 4 for E, 5 for #F, and then return back to finger 4 to play E again in the 3rd measure, finger 3 for D in the 4th measure, and so on, comfortably.

I've found that it's also very helpful and important when figuring out the best or optimum fingering positions to already know your Major Scales such as C, G and F, where you have to cross both of your left and right hands' thumbs and third fingers to go under and over each other in order to set the rest of the other fingers up to play the next set of notes correctly and comfortably. These major scales lessons can be found from pages 100-118 in the AIO, book 1, in case you haven't covered it already.

I hope that these tips will help you instead of confuses you even more. And just an FYI, it'll also be to your advantage to post some of your more intricate and complex technical questions out in the main ABF thread, where there will be even more traffic and readers, and therefore perhaps you'll get even more helpful hints and experts' advise.

Best of luck to you!

Key Notes

Thanks all for your comments and advices. I'm still on "Lullaby". It is not the same version as the one shown on youtube. He is playing a F# which I don't have in my version (page 95 of Book 1, it comes just after Café Vienna on page 94 which was really ok btw). The bass clef has 4 different broken chords.

It is going a little better now but this is really the first piece with which I'm having a lot of fingering problems (with the right hand, the broken chords of the left hand are easy).

Also, the "Greensleeves" I was referring to is in another book, and there is no fingers indication. I just realized after Key Notes' post that "Greensleeves" is also included in Albert's book 1 on page 130. Awesome but my learning speed has dramatically fallen to one page a week lately so I'll reach page 130 around december ! Scary. I'll finish the series in 6-7 years at that speed. Anyway, I'm having fun so it's ok.

Let's try that Lullaby once again.

Cheers.

Keynotes. Hi, I am sorry but the Brahms Lullaby performed by Pianonoob you refered to is from page 58 of Alfreds AIO book two. It is a little bit harder than the Lullaby on page 95 of Alfreds AIO book one. The book two version features arpeggiated chords in the left hand like Scarbourgh Fair and Raisins and Almonds which I think require a little more skill.

Dilbert. Welcome. I think you should learn Lullaby as with all of Alfreds songs they build on the skills from previous songs in the books. Like having two versions of the same song in the next level of the course. Fingering is another skill that you will learn as you progress. As in Lullaby, measure 5 the 1/8 notes D is 1, so the E would be 2, and the F in measure 6 would be 3, and then 1,1,2,3 for the rest of the measure. Don't worry as your skills improve you will continue to progress though the course. Its been taking on average one year to finish book one. A few talented people have finished earlier. For me, my teacher has me working on other stuff and Alfreds has been supplemental. I have finally finished Scarbourgh Fair and I am working on the last songs in the book. I hope to finish soon and move on to book two.

Worked though "Got Those Blues"... tricky, tricky.
Heading up the Smokies next. Maybe take the ole snowboard along.

I am working on both of those, and yes I am finding them tricky, I am doing the bluesy ones as a separate entity and carrying on, as I feel I may struggle a little with them. got the blues is starting to come along. I find for example the 5th bar where it changes to E,G,A,G it is hard to maintain the rhythm and sound good for me. I look past a few pages to the can-can going to be a challenge for me to get that one up to speed

For me it was bar 9- where the right 1-5 goes from E-Bflat to F-D and yet the 2-3 stays on G-A.
My 2-3 always wanted to move to the A-B keys. Plus fumbling for the G7 cord in the left hand did not help. I usually play the G7 as D-F-G-B so, I have to fight the normal tendency.

Which brings a question to mind for those with a better theory background than I. Why (as stated) in the AAIO is the D usually dropped in the G7. Is it so the tonal quality more closely matches the triad configuration of the C and F cord?

Hi All,

Still on Lullaby, but I've made good progress mainly because I downloaded the "Harmony Assistant" tryout and put all the notes on the staves. You can't save it, but you can listen to it and it helps a lot. Key Notes, you're right it's better to know what you are playing, it's already difficult like that. I have figured out the correct fingering and now I'm trying to improve the rythm but Lullaby should be history by the end of this week. It's no so bad, quite entertaining actually.

Cheers.

Hi wj3,

Ahh, thank you so much for the clarifications, I thought that you were referring to our books being different instead of the video for some reason. Yes, I recognized that it was a different version of Lullaby, but I didn't know that it was from book 2. I did scanned through book 2 TOCs quickly that evening to see if there was another version of it in there because I remembered listening to one of our other member's, John Frank, recording of it once, but couldn't see it. I thought that it would still give Dilbert a general idea of how it should sound as well as direct him/her to the first page of this thread where there would be even more linked samples.

Please accept my apologies for any misunderstandings, and thank you so much once again for the additional informations and clarifications.

BTW, congrats on your submission of "It's a Small World" submissions to the PW's recital.

Dilbert,[/b] My apologies to you as well if I've added any confusions for you at all.

Best Regards,

Key Notes

Fabulous! Glad to know that you've made such great progress.

Key Notes

I have a question regarding fingering. In the beginning of Albert's, you start with a home base of C position and it's pretty easy to find notes for the ten fingers because there is a frame of reference, kind of like typing.

It seems now like it's heading more and more to having no particular starting point. So my question is this, how does an experienced piano player navigate and know which fingers to use, where and when? I know sight readers can just automatically position their fingers but what about those who don't sight read? Does anybody know how this works, maybe had a teacher explain it? Is this a dumb question and I should just wait to see how it is done?

Hello all! It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted here. Been very busy lately and I want to share with you all that.......

One. My wife and I are preparing for a new addition we will be having in our home come April 3rd. She, (girl), will be our first in the household, so needless to say, I am VERY excited about that.

And two. I finally received my Alfred course yesterday. I ended up getting the Self Teaching Adult Course that was released in 2008. I did a lot of homework on it and I know some people on here have been asking if there is any differences or similarities of this course and the All-in-One. My findings show that the Self Teaching Adult Piano Course and the Basic Adult All-in-One Course Level One, are completely identical.
The similarities are: everything.
The differences are: 1) for each piece you are about to practice/play, there is a study guide on that piece. and 2) 5 additional pieces are added to the end of the book; Over The Rainbow, At Last, Singin' in the Rain, Laura, and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. Other than that, this self teaching course is the All-in-One in a new package with a tad bit more sugar. The 5 new pieces and the study guide for every piece in the course is all that differentiates the two courses.
I hope this helps anyone who's thinking about which one to get. Enjoy all!

Congratulations!!!

Congratulations! We had our little girl on Dec 1, though she is not our first. We have a boy that is 17 months older than she is.

Needless to say I am not getting the practice in that I want/need, especially now that the wife is back to work.

Thanks for the info regarding the book. I'll have to check it out.

I think a "study guide" for each piece is a wonderful idea. I wish that the Self Teaching version was available when I started.

The self teaching guide does sound cool, and maybe if I had found that first I would have forgone the teacher. But I'm thoroughly enjoying my lessons as well, so no regrets there. In fact I have my 3rd lesson in just a little over an hour. I'm excited, I feel totally prepared, hope I don't blow it when I get there. I actually went 14 pages beyond what she assigned, hope she doesn't mind. I'll post a follow up as to how it went when I return.

Oh, and Congrats on the baby girl Luvrofkeys!

Hello All:

I'm wondering.... just how important do you think it is for us self-learners to supplement Book 1 (and the other two books for that matter) with other material?

Thanks,
Angelo

Thank you all, I appreciate it!

I forgot to mention one more thing about the Self Teaching Course, it also comes with the cd....so that definitely helps.