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I also found Auld Lang Syne to be significantly easier than the pieces preceding it. Guess that's just how the songs fit in with the theory / technique that was being taught at the time.

Yesterday I started working on Limbo by Einaudi as more of a long-term goal ( although I don't find it very difficult so far ) I can play the first page with relatively few mistakes already

Could someone please tell me the difference between

Alfred's Basic Adult Piano Course: Lesson Book, Level One by Willard A Palmer

and

Adult All-In-One Course: Lesson-Theory-Technic: Level 1 by Willard A Palmer

Both are by the same author, so if I get Alfred's Level One, am I wasting my money and time going through Lesson-Theory-Technic: Level 1 ?

Is it the same content... a horse of a different color, as it were?
Are are both highly recommended working through independent of each other ?

Thanks,
AC

@AC26XP: The books are essentially the same, but people here recommend the All-In-One course because it has it has theory and technique in it too (so it has more pages). The Lesson Book only has that: Lessons. But you can buy the theory and technique books separately. So in that sense, the All-in-One course is the best value. You don't need to work through both of them because the lessons are the same. (Just get a supplementary book)

Also, there are a few additional songs in the All in One Book.

Well I've moved on from Marines Hymn and Can Can finally, and now I'm working on the dreaded Little Brown Jug in earnest. I've got it pretty much down hands separate, and now I will try to put hands together.

I'm holed up in my office at work playing a lame unweighted keyboard with the volume way way low. It's my only free time! My AIO book at home as "Good People" in it, but the regular lesson book doesn't have that one. So I'm practicing Good People in the few minutes I have at home, and LBJ on my lunch hour. People around here probably think I am a freak, but, well, maybe they'd be right.

Good to hear that you're on to Auld Lang Syne mom3gram. Hope the pain has subsided somewhat.

I think I've hit the point where my patience will be put up to the test, Blow the man down. On paper, it honestly looks much easier than the next easier, and not all that much harder than previous but, its pretty damn hard. I've got the RH down, thats pretty easy, the LH almost down but not up to the right speed. The problem with this song is that its played rather fast, and there's pretty much anywhere you have to use both hands at the same time, which the brain won't adjust to right away it seems.

Not sure how long ill be stuck on this but my guess its gonna a lot longer than any previous ones, gonna feel even better onc I get it down as well.

After that I think ill have to review the theory again, I still cannot read the bass line properly at all it just seems so confusing to me. And I even had big problems figuring out the keys in Michael row the boat ashore.

Quagles,

I know exactly what you are talking about and how you feel...
Blow the Man Down was very difficult for me too. It was probably the first piece that I found fairly difficult and the first piece that took a while to learn and master. But trust me, keep practicing and your hands will soon do what they're supposed to at a fast speed. And once you do get it, you'll be so proud and you'll want to play it over and over again

I also understand what you mean about not being able to read the bass line properly. I remember when I was at that piece, I had trouble reading the bass line too. It didn't click like the RH staff did. But again, trust me, as you move on in the book, you'll get more practice working on the bass clef notes and you'll be able to read them instantly. I actually went back and did the lessons for the LH over again after finishing Blow the Man Down and it helped.

The trick with Blow the Man Down or with any piece that seems difficult is just to practice it over and over again at a very slow speed, slow enough where you are hitting the right notes all the time. Then slowly increase your speed. The next day, you'll be able to play it as your brain will have had time to register what you practiced the day before.

Quagles,

I'm with Romolo, Blow the Man Down is generally a challenge for all of us once we get there. But something happens with that piece and your brain starts to learn how to do something new, and just when you think you'll never be able to get it, you nail it and do indeed feel proud of your accomplishment. Just be patient, don't let it frustrate you, those that are past that song have all struggled (at least I don't think I've EVER read anyone say that it wasn't a big challenge). But I also don't think I've ever read anyone say that they just couldn't get it, it comes around for all of us eventually. Good Luck!

I'm officially up to Good People, then its on to LBJ, not sure yet if I'm anticipating or dreading it, lol.

I have a super quick question. Thing is that I keep messing up with the counting. I can play the song fairly good without counting but my teacher told me that counting is really important later on. So is there anyway to improve the counting? Thanks.

Yes, counting is important not just later on, but even earlier. The sooner you get used to counting, the better. The only way to improve the counting is...to count!! Do it at the very start of the piece, counting very slowly... then when you get the hang of it, use a metronome (do you have one?) to check if you're keeping exactly to the beat.

Ok, I have a question now about counting...
How exactly do you count? Does it depend on whether or not there are eighth notes present in the piece?
Cause when there are only quarter, half, and whole notes in a piece, like with most of the earlier pieces in the book, it was easy to count...it was just 1,2,3,4
But when there are eighth notes, I know you're supposed to count 1 and 2 and...or 1 n 2 n (the way I do it) but sometimes it just slows the tempo down cuz if I try to count faster I get confused trying to count at a certain pace while playing the notes.

So those of you who have a teacher...how did they explain to you how to count?

Oh yea, forgot to mention...
I'm almost done with Scarborough Fair. I'm just making 1 or 2 small mistakes with it each time. I've got the first to lines down perfectly but I keep messing up at measure 14. And sometimes I find it hard to go from the last measure of the line and on to the next measure on the line underneath...sometimes.

@romolo: Congratulations on making it all the way to Scarborough fair! That's definitely one of the songs I'm looking forward to. Though I'm surprised you got that far without having a clear understanding of counting! I suggest you go back to some of the earlier pieces and practice them while counting the rhythm, and NOT relying on how you know the rhythm of the piece sounds like. That is the biggest hurdle to correct counting of rhythm, IMO. Some Alfred pieces have slight variations from the rhythm patterns of the original songs that you won't notice unless you count carefully. Some examples off the top of my head : the first measure of Lullaby (took me quite a bit of effort counting to get right. My teacher pointed out to me that I was relying on my familiarity of the piece and not counting! Well, she was right ) The very first note of Little Brown Jug (my teacher said most people play it as a quarter note, but it's an eighth. The correct counting is "4-AND" (silence on 4, play the note at "and"). My current piece, "Auld Lang Syne." Again, the biggest hurdle here is that everyone is familiar with this song. This piece has a lot of dotted quarters and eighth notes, so it's good practice for counting

How I count. There are counting purists who insist on counting a steady 1-and-2-and-3-and.... but that doesn't work for me. I only count the "ands" when it's necessary in the piece. That is also how my teacher taught me. It worked for all the pieces I'm learning so far. Some examples of my method in 3/4 time:

quarter quarter eighth-eighth ------ (1...2...3-and)
dotted quarter eighth quarter ------ (1...2-and-3...) - hold first note until "2," play the eighth at "and"
eighth eighth half note ------------- (1-and-2...3....)

I'm particular about rhythm because I am a very rhthmically challenged person (can't dance!) so I have to work harder at it than others Hopefully you get something useful from this post and get the the hang of counting - I heard it's necessary to advance in piano

I also struggled mightily with BTMD, and felt great when I mastered it. It has become a running joke, affectionate of course, among my family members how proud I was to finally nail such a silly little song.

I had a similar feeling on Friday of last week, while trying to finger the F-major scale, hands together. That's the one with a flat at B, and the right hand fingering is different from the left hand fingering.

When I first tried it a couple of weeks ago, I thought - no way! this is going to be what completely halts me in my tracks. Then I just turned off that voice, and tried it hands separate, very slowly, then hands together, very slowly. And then on Friday, without thinking, I nailed it at a pretty good speed, hands together! What an unexpected and delightful surprise to teach myself something new after all these years.

BarbVA, my happy scales moment on Friday agrees completely with your observation about taking it slow, slow, and gradually building up speed. Something just kicks in, much to my surprise.

At least having some improvement on "Blow the man down". I can play half the song up at the speed that I think it is, but the eight notes seems a bit rushed at times, and rhythm is a bit awkward, such as rushing it sometimes and sometimes I will also kinda just bang one of the notes down in a rush to get it right so the sound gets uneven. So still some way to go.

Can do most of 2nd part but at start of third line my hands keep trying to do one of those C chords with C-E-G for some odd reason. Other than that the rest is pretty much down except the last 3 notes is a bit of a problem as well, but I think ill have the song down in a few days. At least to some degree, maybe not exactly musically but enough to play it the right pace and hitting pretty much all the right notes.

Zenobe
Small steps... but huge morale boosters!
I have come expect difficult task to "click" on the 4th day if I practice it (3) times a day for (3) days.

I have just mastered Scarborough Fair!
Taking a break from a song really does help. I have learned not to get frustrated cause I now know that it'll just come to me the next day.
I'm on to Raisins and Almonds now...doesn't seem too hard. I've got the first half done without error so far.

I'm almost done with Book 1!!!

More good news...
With half an hour of practicing, I got Raisins and Almonds down perfectly.
I thought this was going to be another one of those pieces that would take a few days of practicing to master. But I practiced it for 30mins and at the end I was able to play it perfectly over and over again.
I feel like learning new pieces is getting easier and easier the more I practice which is good.

@romolo:
Wow, you 're really fast.
May I ask how long have you been learning the Book 1?
If possible could you also tell me what is your practice routine? Thanks.
I just want to compare my practice routine with yours since I am really slow.

Have pretty much blown the man down now. Hitting the right keys pretty much everytime, though I think I might actually be playing it too fast. And first line it seems I act more on instinct than the rest where it might seem to flow just a bit better. So first line kinda just seems to sometimes have me hitting the keys sometimes too hard making an uneven sound overall.

Other than that the rest is down, so I think just a bit more practice and I should be ready to give Cafe Vienna a try, I think that is the next one at least, maybe ill give the rest of the day to perfect this. Think I'm gonna have to use blow the man down as a warm-up for quite some time to master it.