Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Alfred's Basic and ALL in One Adult Piano Course Book #3

Look, I don't know what else to say. All I know is that I'm somehow beyond that wall. Can't tell you when I passed through it though. I practiced and still do 2 plus hours a day. So, for me hard practices is necessary. What I've noticed that many people talk about it being acceptable in putting in small amounts of time at the keyboard. Such as a half hour a day or a few days a week. I believe is will generally not bring the solid results need to play well. One hour a day to two hours a day is generally need to make any substantial progress. And this at any age. How much more older people like us. At 39 I new I would have to work like a dog to get anywhere.

I believe some teachers are afraid to ask a lot from their students. Is this cause they are afraid their students will lose heart and quit?

Lizzy1234, just a friendly tip,. . .make sure your not stuck doing the first section of Hanon. After six months of these exercise one has exhausted there usefulness. It then that one must go on to diatonic and the second two sections of Hanon exercise.

Hi, did you every get through that wall?

Mark

Guys, I just dug up my old book. And have the piece in front of me. Just looking at it now. I learned, that when a training piece is difficult sometime the piece will use staccato in one hand. This poking, makes one playing of the piece a little easier. I believe it requires less out of the players mussels and nerves.

As to the next two pieces in the book, this is where were real playing begins.

Your going to have a lot of fun with these two pieces. The key to learning these next two are to play hand separate first. Mark, if you want my advice play through the entire piece one hand first. Then the other hand by itself, afterward combine them. Its a short piece.

The following two pieces after them are very beautiful. "A very Special Day" is a great piece to sing along with, if your inclined. It slow too, which lend itself well to adding a third voice, your voice! "Grand Piano Band" is fun, but its faster, and demands much more LH RH coordination. I think i was on this piece for three weeks and never did play it fully correct before I moved to "A very Special Day"

Mark-

Yes, I did, moslty. I'm still going back to now and again to reinforce the technique, but we've moved on in the book. This one is going slower than the last one, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

The unfortunate part is that I am going to be travelling a good bit of the first part of October and then I have to have a bit of surgery done, so after these 2 weeks, I don't know when I will get back to regular lessons. My teacher and I are going to set a plan in these upcoming 2 lessons so that I will have some things to work on in a more structured manner.

The reason I asked is that since you are ahead of me in Alfred, I like to see how people work through the program. Its nice to know that you can eventually get through the tough spots. I have a while to go before I'm in book 3.

Hope everything goes well regarding your surgery and piano layoff...

Mark...

Well, I think with the right attitude and some perseverence and, of course, work, it can all be gotten thru. I suspect I was just frustrated becasue on the surface, that particular piece looked easy. But nothing is really easy if you don't get it, right? And easy is subjective, espeically in this area. What I find easy, you may find impossible and vice versa. That's also one of the things I like about having a teacher- when I get stuck like that, she can usually see and/or hear the real trouble spots (which are sometimes not what I percieve them to be) and can help work thru the real problems, even if it means working on some exercises or scales or whatever outside the actual piece.

As for the layoff, I'm just hoping I don't slide back too much without my regular lessons. But that's why we are going to try to come up with a plan of action!

I came upon this topic, and am feeling newly motivated to continue with Book 3. I had set it aside because 1) I am no longer taking lessons (my teacher was encouraging me to finish), and 2) I convinced myself that moving into the Piano Handbook would be a better and more interesting way to spend my piano time. Now that I see that there is a community that I might be part of, I will take a fresh look at Book 3. Right now, I don't recall where I was in the book, and I'm having trouble locating it.

More later,

Stan

Welcome to book 3 Stan...keep us posted on how you are progressing.

Mark

Hello everyone! Congratulations on reaching Book 3! It's an incredible accomplishment. I'm still working on Book 2 (very early on in Book 2) but I'm wondering if the selections and theory in Book 3 are "worth" working through the book or if it would be better simply to continue to repertoire selections. Does anyone have an opinion on this?

My Opinion is the "stay the course".

The book is well thought out and planned by professionals, how could you do much better? The purpous of the book is to train the student to play music with a little theory on the side. Staying with the program encourages good discipline. That is what is needed in learning to play. My thinking is "that if you trier and quit this series It will only serve to encourage you to quit something else later on if it is not to your liking. or Working out in the moment.
This is one secret to which helps me keep going on "the journnee". It is a task oriented mentality. In my case, my minds satisfaction comes equally from striving to finish the task i have committed to. Not whether I learn something or not or even enjoy it. The only down side to making a plan is that you learn as you progress. In the process of learning you may realize what you have committed to is inferior to a newly discovered way, program or whatever. This is when strong temptation comes to quit what you committed to. But we are talking about the "Alfred's adult series" and the series is not too extensive to commit to. It should take the average beginning student, assuming enough practice, about three to four years? maybe. Something like that.

Oh, yes my opinion on the theory is that you leave it alone. Learn your theory elsewhere. From a theory teacher. Someone who does theory, arrangement or composition all the time.

Just some of my thoughts on the matter.

David P.


This seems to work for me.

Since I'm more than half way through book 2, today I started looking at book 3 to get an idea of whats in it.

Boy if I can get through that I will be amazed...
Some of the classics in the back are just some awesome pieces.

I originally thought I could get through book 3 in a year, but know I need to expect it will take much longer. Thats ok because if I finish it, I will have accomplished more that I ever expected.

Now I know why my teacher recently added Hanon...

So how are you book 3 people doing?

Well, I'm not much farther than last time, but I had mitigating circumstances! lol I will be resuming my lessons this Tuesday, so will, hopefully, get back into the book quickly.

As for timing, yes, I think this one will take a while to get thru well. But I also think the challenge will be worth it in the end.

i am officially done with level 3! i started level 1 in may of last year and i finished level 3 a few weeks ago. now i'm just working on whatever my teacher gives me:

turkish march
chopin nocturne 20

things like that

i'm also writing music and scoring out songs, yeah.

Congrats...thats a great accomplishment and at quick pace too

the...

Congratulations! Good work! I really loved hearing that you're writing music and scoring songs. I think composition is so fun, creative, and valuable... there's nothing like hearing something in your head and being able to translate it onto the keyboard and the staff.

Mark,

Yup, Hanon will definitely get you in shape for Book 3! I think they're pretty cool, too. I like repetitive, organized things like that -- they appeal to my sense of order, I guess.

Happy practicing and Happy holidays too!

Kim

Congratulations Mark

I'm almost through book 2, and now thinking about book 3. Does anybody know if the CD is available?

I was under the impression there was no CD available for that book. I looked, and never saw a book III for sale with a optional CD. I believe the publisher choose not to include a CD with the last book. Regardless, I found I did not need a recording. I believe a recording is helpful chiefly with complex pieces, pieces from which expression plays a major part. Few if any of the practice pieces in this series make a great demands on interpretation skills.

So, I got through book 2, and was ready to start book 3. But, I decided to go back and work through book 2 and pay close attention to the dynamic markings and get each tune up to speed. My goal is to polish tune enough that I wouldn't be shy about playing it for somebody.

There are a couple of songs in book 2 that I just don't like, so I may skip a couple of them. Book 3 is on order, but EST is moved up to April 1. I would love to find a teacher, but so far, my teacher selections have be disappointing. (There is a difference between a good musician and a good piano teacher!)

Well it took a while, offically started book 3 today. Still cleaning up the back end of book two...

Also the first anniversary with my teacher...