Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Alfred's Basic and ALL in One Adult Piano Course Book #1

Thank you for the quick response mom3gram! Looking at the youtube versions is a really good idea. Good luck starting book 2!

Isolde, Welcome to Alfred Book 1 and best wishes. Hmmm… how fast? It takes me about 11 months and I'm still not done yet, others maybe more, some 3-4 months.


I don’t know the answer as I am also self-learning. I do this sometime though: Slow down and watch my hands to see if they are in the position the book shows, wrist raised a little above keyboard etc… any soreness after a 2 hour practice …, Am I breathing comfortably (this is quite difficult to do at first), Do I sit straight (I tend to not sit straight but I’m working on that)? These are little things I picked up from the Book and tips from various threads here. Besides these, I have no idea if everything else I do is right or not.


I don’t know any Repertoire books but for practice, I like the Fingers Aerobic Book. I am not that far into it, just about 1/2 way. At my level, there are some very challenging/difficult practices to strengthen the 4th and 5th fingers. I like it not because it’s fun or musical, but rather I realized my fingers need more work.


Last but not least, it’s official Mom3gram has graduated Book One. Congratulations!

Hi Isolde, I am also self-teaching and although I am sure that it is impossible to avoid ALL bad habits the two things that I recommend are:

1) Go slowly - there is no rush to finish the book, and the more time you spend drilling the simple concepts into your brain the easier the later concepts will be. Don't skip over things like counting a rhythm, playing dynamics, etc...

2) Be meticulous - be your own worst critic. A lot of times I will play a piece and my wife will compliment me and say that it sounds nice and my response is usually "Well, yeah, kind of, but I sort of flubbed a note here and didn't play loudly enough there", etc, etc... I try to be painfully aware of every mistake I make, while at the same time remembering to congratulate myself on my accomplishments. Even though it is hard to play a piece perfectly, I always know where my weaknesses are and what I need to work on the most for future pieces.

One thing that I do which has proved VERY useful is every 2-4 weeks I start the book over and very carefully go through it from the beginning. Obviously, it should be pretty easy since you've already been through the material so you will move through the book pretty fast. But carefully read each page and check the way you are playing to ensure that you are doing everything properly.

It is hard to spot mistakes when you are first learning a song because you are spending so much mental energy trying to learn new concepts. But by going through the whole book every few weeks, from Page 1, each song is much easier to play and so you have extra brain power to really watch and listen to your playing and look for mistakes.

Finally, I agree with everyone who recommends comparing your playing with the CD that accompanies the book and with youtube clips. I have found and corrected a few mistakes this way. I usually try to play the song on my own at first and once I get to the point where I can "mostly" play the song at a slower tempo, I then check myself against the CD before I really start practicing it over and over again.

Use these forums (and google, of course...) to get answers to any questions you have!

Hopefully some of this helps... I am no expert and have only been playing for 3 months, but all of the tips that I suggested have personally helped me spot mistakes that I made. I am sure that I have other mistakes and bad habits that I haven't spotted yet, but at least I have corrected some of them.

Good luck!!!

I have watched YouTube video's on the proper sitting postion, what the proper wrist position should be. I always stay aware on if I'm tensed up or not. I just pay attention as best as I can.

How fast should you go? I've only been playing for 4 weeks (which means I have no valuable advice) but I just keep on working as fast as I want. I keep a list and keep going back to older stuff until I get it down completely, then I cross it off my list. I have some supplemental books of other practice pieces that I also play as I go through the book. Just more practice at the level I'm at.

I bought a metronome to help me keep the beat and so I know if I'm up to tempo in other books. (I only use the metronome now and then.)

I'd also suggest using some on-line sights to learn some theory. I use http://musictheory.net and http://www.teoria.com/exercises and http://pianolessons.com.

I've played a woodwind instrument in the past so I can read music and know some theory. But I had to learn the bass clef, trying to understand chords and so forth yet.

Another thing I saw suggested, is video tape yourself and then you can better see you body and hand positioning.

Good luck! Welcome and have fun!

Welcome, Isolde! I can't add anything to Mooshinator's post. This is nearly identical to the way I'm approaching things. However, I'll be very busy on the piano learning other things, so will probably not get back to the book until sometime in Feb., and will probably start over at that time. Good luck, and don't forget to have fun!

Hi All,

I have finished the Book 1. The amazing grace took me a lot of time, especially the appregio and count. I did the recording sometime ago before Xmas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hko6FgPAPCQ

I would like to concentrate proceeding with Book 2 (I am on the second song of Book 2 now). Hope to see you all in Book 2 thread.

Regards
Andre

Well, Andre, you played it better than I can. Congratulations. See you in the Book 2 thread.

You just can't leave book one can you...lol

Very nicely done Andre. Congratulations on finishing Book 1.

I am happy to report that I have found a teacher and will be starting lessons next Wednesday. He uses Alfred's and wants me to bring my book and will evaluate me to see where we should start.

I am currently working on Standing In the Need of Prayer and really enjoy playing this one. It must be the nice way the chords sound. The tune kinda sticks with you and I find it stuck in my head all day. I am also tuning up Beautiful Brown Eyes and Alpine Melody. I had been doing Hanon Exercise 1 prior to starting Alfred's AIO so I use that as a warm up and it wasn't anything I had to learn when I got to it in the book but I am having a time of trying to get the pattern of Exercise 2 down. I'll wait for my teacher to show me how to do that one if he uses them.

I probably won't go any further than this before my lessons start.

PS mooshinator - Where in upstate NY are you? I'm about 20 mi. SE of Rochester

I'm about an hour South of Albany, on the east side of the Hudson river.

I am not all that familiar with the Rochester area; I've been out there a few times for weddings and to see friends, etc...

I went to school in Potsdam, NY, (3 1/2 hours NW of Albany... practically Canada) and a lot of my friends from there are from the Rochester area; I seem to remember them talking about some restaurant with "garbage plates" or something like that...

I am never sure what area is being referred to when someone says "Upstate NY". I have heard it used for pretty much anything above the general NYC area. We are sometimes called Western NY but that seems to be more often thought of as the Buffalo area. We do include ourselves in the Buffalo Bills (ouch, and I am a die hard Bills fan) fan base but have a sibling rivalry with Buffalo so hate to be included with them when talking regions. Anything from Syracuse to Albany seems to be Central NY so we mostly say "Upstate NY" when someone asks 'Where ya from?'. Most people immediately think NYC if you just say you're from NY.

The restaurant you are referring to is Nick Tahou's and the "Garbage Plate" is well known around here, although I have never had one from there. It's something like a hot dog, a burger, beans, macaroni salad, fries and hot sauce all piled up on a plate. The restaurant is in a somewhat seedy area so I stay away. There are much better places to go for a quick bite.

WEll, I was hoping to be spending some quality time with my piano for the rest of the week starting today, as our friends were due to fly home yesterday, but after the disaster weather (for UK), 3.5 hour journey to the airport (instead of 40 min), 3 hours at the airport waiting, we came back home all five of us. So, my godson is trying to have a nap now (or is being forced to, as he clearly is not in the mood for it now), I am exhausted and getting a cold, and have no spare minute to sit at my piano!!!!!

It is nice having them around, though. We managed to reschedule their flight for Friday hoping that all this malarkey will be sorted by then. At least I will have a weekend to rest before going to work (or should I say clean the house...)

Andre, you play it very well. I was wondering the other day where you and some other folks have been. Now I know, been hiding to hone your AG. LOL. It’s a pleasant surprise, very nice. Congratulations and best wishes in Book 2.


How come we haven’t heard anything from some of us? I’m getting nosy again.

Fanatik, How’s your teacher search going? Can’t find one yet? Is that why you’re so quiet?

Karen627, Haven’t heard from you in a while. How’s that RH D7? Must be in perfect form now after all these weeks.

Eveline72, Lessons going good?

Auggiedoggy, how’s your method books search? If you’re still out there, please fill us in what you decided to go with?

Oz Leikela, how is it “down under” there? Hiding to polish Amazing Grace I suppose.

n303y, still practicing hard over there? Sight-Reading improves lately?

icanplaytoo, what can you play now? We want to know.

RonF, doing good Ron? Found your teacher?

Laterlearner, have you been learning lately? We want to know too.

Starbug, how are you? We haven’t heard from you in a while.

Zbear, are you doing well? Gotta be somewhere in the book but don’t want to share?

Metusion, “Scarborough Fair” going good? Hope you are still with us.

Gabe, I don’t recall hearing from you lately? Are you still checking the posts more than practicing? LOL… Just kidding. Where are you now? Speak up.

I hope everyone is doing well. We’d like to hear from you and your progresses. I miss reading all your posts. Just a “hi” or “hello” once in awhile is nice to see.

Hello everyone, I'm just getting started with the piano and I would like to pick this book up but I'm wondering exactly which Alfred's Adult book it is. Can someone post a link to the right Amazon page or the right Alfred's page.

It seems there's more then one Alfred's Adult beginner book. Also should it be one that comes with a CD? I'm not quite sure if/when I'll be looking for an instructor (Finding and choosing one is a whole different topic, any idea where I can educate myself on that process too?)

Thank you for any help. Sorry if this seems like it should be obvious but I want to make sure I get the same book everyone else is using.

gintarec, what a disaster with timing of the bad weather. I know you were looking forward to getting back at the piano. In about 48 hours you'll be back at it again.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm not liking the "middle C" position they have us doing in the book (particularly pg 74 & 75). One of my other books had more doing the "middle C" position too and it would've been more fun to just to bang out the songs with one big toe.

Much more fun to be doing the chords in one hand and the melody in the other. Well, off to start Standing in the Need of Prayer.

http://www.amazon.com/Adult-All-One...mp;s=books&qid=1262802468&sr=8-1

ISBN 088284931X is the number off my book (which included the CD) Yes, I would recommend getting the once that includes the CD.

MiddleT, if you're going it alone I would recommend this one:

Alfred's Self-Teaching Adult Piano Course

It has everything the Adult All-In-One has plus Study Guide pages that explain more and a few extra songs. It will fit in with everything discussed in this thread.

ISBN 978-0739052051

Hi Nguyen,

Yes, I found a wonderful teacher, thanks. I had 3 lessons before the Christmas break and I start again this Thursday. Getting a teacher has really made a difference, and even though it's still early days, I'm quite confident about progressing.

Ron

Thank you GracieCat and RonF. The two books seem quite different (looked them up on Borders and used the Google preview they have.) The songs appear to be mostly the same but the one GracieCat linked to seems a bit more workbook like (writing in note names and such)

Can anyone chime in and say which book they're using or if they've looked at both and what might be more beneficial to a complete beginner?

Thank you

MiddleT, I don't believe that they are fundamentally different. I use the version that GracieCat posted, but I looked at DougF's version using the amazon preview and from what I can see in the table of contents Doug is exactly right that the study guide contains everything the All-In-One has, plus extras.