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Joined: May 2008
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"How critical is it to be able to recognize notes by ear?"
I don't think I can name any note by ear. I know there are some people with perfect pitch, but I'm not sure that would really help.
Recognizing intervals seems to be learnable and more relevant. The ability to say that's a "C" doesn't strike me as being at all important. Maybe that's because I can't.
My two cents.
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Love's Greeting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWAAXkmV9hgThis piece has really frustrated me. . . I have actually passed the Aria from the Marriage of Figaro as well; I'm on Danny Boy.
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Joined: Jul 2009
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Waltz, I have now turned to Solace, one of those songs I skipped before, and I'm finding it a bit challenging. It looks easy. I have to get used to playing G with the 4th left hand finger and stretch the 5th left hand finger to C, a good fifth interval for those two weak fingers.
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MIM, I can relate to your experiences with that piece. There are a LOT of stretches in it, but I think it is one of those pieces that just gets easier as you practice. I think that is an excellent piece to learn, however. It is challenging and it sounds nice to play. Out of curiosity, did you learn La Bamba when you last played from this book?
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Joined: Jul 2009
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Yes, I did La Bamba and I thought it was fun, but I never mastered it. It got messy after a few measures! I'll be going back to it soon.
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That's great you found it to be fun, but in order for it to be fun you had to play it pretty well, which, to me, is an accomplishment. Feel free to make recordings and post them here. I'll listen to them, and there are many here that are working or have been recently working on the Theme from Solace.
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Joined: Jul 2009
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Yes, that's why I didn't list La Bamba as one of my favorites, because I still can't play it well.
I will post some of the songs I can play once I get set up for
that, and would appreciate your feedback.
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How many times do you guys & gals generally have to play a song like Solace or La Bamba before you learn it? I mean from stone cold to playing it pretty smoothly, with maybe a couple of mistakes, but no longer hunting for notes. Twenty times, 30 times. Three days, one week? Just curious.
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You're already on Theme from Solace? Didn't you start this book last week? Regardless, it will vary by piece, by person, and by practice style. I dedicate around 45 minutes a day to practicing my current "new piece". I'm currently on Danny Boy, and I'm guessing by the time I finish it will have taken me 7-8 days (only a conjecture) as opposed to the one before it "Aria from MOF" took only 2 days. As by my recordings, I don't consider myself to really "master" the songs, I simply play them to where I feel comfortable, which is another variation in any estimate you'll receive.
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Joined: Jun 2009
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You're already on Theme from Solace? Didn't you start this book last week? Regardless, it will vary by piece, by person, and by practice style. I dedicate around 45 minutes a day to practicing my current "new piece". I'm currently on Danny Boy, and I'm guessing by the time I finish it will have taken me 7-8 days (only a conjecture) as opposed to the one before it "Aria from MOF" took only 2 days. As by my recordings, I don't consider myself to really "master" the songs, I simply play them to where I feel comfortable, which is another variation in any estimate you'll receive. Did I start the book last week? Seemed longer.... 30 years ago, I used to be able to play at the intermediate level, but that was then. I've been away too long, so I have to start again from scratch.... I'm asking to get some perspective. If beginners are moving about the same speed as me, mastering a song after 10 to 20 passes, then I am doing something wrong. But if it takes a beginner 100 times to learn a song, then I just need to practice more. My head is saying this music looks simply, and my hands are saying this is hard! Thanks for the input, though. Sounds like I need to practive a bit more than I have been doing.
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Like Waltz said, some songs took me a couple of days, roughly 3-5 sittings, each for about 30-45 minutes. Some other songs like Solace and La Bamba I just get stuck and go for something else. I would say, on average, it takes me a total of 5 hours spread over a few days to play well the "average" book 2 song. That's my best guess.
The thing is that if the piece looks reasonable to you, and you got the essence of the song, and you like it, you should be able to do it rather fast. There is no way to feel that way with all the songs in book 2, though. These particular pieces seemed easy for me:
Guantanamera, Light and Blue, Hungarian Rhapsody #2 , Scherzo, Waves of the Danube, Sakura, Village Dance, Brahms's Lullaby, The Riddle, Black Forest Polka, and Hava Nagila...at least these are the ones I remember now.
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Joined: Jan 2009
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MIM, did you learn Danny Boy?
It's pretty tough so far
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Nope,looked at it and tried it a little bit but pushed it aside!
I know I'm gonna do them all soon, no doubt about that.
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Joined: Jun 2009
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Like Waltz said, some songs took me a couple of days, roughly 3-5 sittings, each for about 30-45 minutes. Some other songs like Solace and La Bamba I just get stuck and go for something else. I would say, on average, it takes me a total of 5 hours spread over a few days to play well the "average" book 2 song. That's my best guess.
The thing is that if the piece looks reasonable to you, and you got the essence of the song, and you like it, you should be able to do it rather fast. There is no way to feel that way with all the songs in book 2, though. These particular pieces seemed easy for me:
Guantanamera, Light and Blue, Hungarian Rhapsody #2 , Scherzo, Waves of the Danube, Sakura, Village Dance, Brahms's Lullaby, The Riddle, Black Forest Polka, and Hava Nagila...at least these are the ones I remember now.
That helps, thanks. I also started doing as Waltz suggests, playing each one longer at each sitting. Instead of playing a song a few times then come back the next day, I am now playing it 30 minutes in one sitting for the same song. That's working. BTW, I didn't care for a lot of songs so far in book 2. I had a hard time liking Guantanamera. Had to literally force myself to learn it. Hungarian Rhapsody #2 was ok.
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Joined: Jul 2009
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4ever, listen to the actual song (Guantanamera) or a good recording of it, I think you will like it..check on YouTube. Of course people have different tastes.
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Joined: Jul 2009
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ok,here is me doing Guantanamera. This is the first test of uploading and checking the quality of both my playing and the recordi Alfred Book 2 Practice ng. Comments? 
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Joined: Jan 2009
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MIM, great job  . You sounded very comfortable playing that, you really nailed it
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Joined: Jan 2009
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Aria from the Marriage of Figaro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfg_gcxBPEMStill progressing through Danny Boy For anyone that's played it: on the second page, the fingering 4-1-4 for the left hand, that feels like crap, anyone agree?
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Joined: Jul 2009
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haven't tried it yet, but sounded good to my ear.
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Joined: Jan 2009
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Thanks MIM  , For the question, I meant it for Danny Boy. On the second page there is a measure that has the LH playing (if I can remember) Ab-G-F Using 4-1-4. I see they did it so the 5 finger will be conveniently placed to play the upcoming Eb, but still, it feels awkward for me.
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