Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Alfred's Basic and All in One Adult Piano Course Book #2

Oh goodness, I almost quiver to submit this, after such discussion, but here is my rendition of La Donna E Mobile:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkvDK1luWQY

The ending is not perfect, but I became weary of, every time I retried, having to play the beginning part three times repeatedly.

Ooh, that looked and sounded like a hard piece to play Waltz. Was that pause near the beginning intentional?

Yes ! There is a three beat (an entire measure in this triple time piece) pause near the beginning. There is a short explanation of its purpose in the book.

I read your question regarding ARB. I hesitate to answer, because I am not sure that I remember how I played that selection. I do remember the fingering to be hard and tricky, however. I believe AWTPP modified the fingering to better suit his/her hands. Occasionally, I will do that as well, if the indicated fingering "just doesn't work". My past instructor has also, herself, written in modifications to indicated fingering in my book, when she felt there were other valid ways to play the piece. For me, I use fingering that minimizes pain and maximizes agility, whatever that may be. Sorry I'm not that helpful, but hopefully others here will have better advice.

Thanks Waltz. I see what you mean regarding the pause in La Donna E Mobile after taking a look at the music and the write-up.

And no problem regarding ARB, I can definitely understand since it's near the beginning of the book. Yes, while I recognized that we are entitled to find the most practical and comfortable fingering postions, I didn't want to be too off-base at the same time. I kept wanting to switch the fourth finger to be the third for the C# since it felt and sounded a lot better and stronger.

Thanks again.

Thanks Undone, Waltz and Key Notes. I'll stick with my iphone for recordings since it seems to work - gotta work with the tools I already have


Waltz - I liked your La Donna E Mobile. I never got that one very well polished. My teacher sometimes has me move on when I've got the concept enough and on that one I have to say I was relieved

Thanks Nancy

Are you currently on Canon in D? I remember you saying your instructor gave to you it to work this summer.

The fourth finger, for me, is one of the weakest and with least agility. I can see why playing with the third would feel much better, especially on a black key; so I can relate to what you mean there.

I am working on Canon in D. I can do the first page reasonably well; and then I start slowing down after that.

In my last lesson I played both hands together for my teacher as we ran through it the first time (I always tell her I'm torturing her when we do that as I play it soooooo slowly and with no semblance of rhythm, so it can't possibly sound like music) and we talked about how it's basically repeating the same pattern throughout, just adding extra notes as it goes. My brain can see that; but getting my fingers to cooperate is another thing.

We also spent some time on just the left hand until I had that down reasonably well; and I repeated that exercise in my practice at home too. For the first 2.5 pages, the left hand is all the same and if I don't have to think quite as much about the left hand, I can focus on what the right hand should be doing.

It'll be a fun piece to work on over the summer. We skipped a few pieces towards the end of book#2 to get to Canon for my summer break; and she said I can do those as desired. I'm also going back and playing a lot of the pieces in book#2 for fun.

Thanks for the update Nancy. So are you not going to have piano lessons over the summer? If so, you'll be like me, I haven't had a lesson in 4 months or so. I've actually done, at least to me, as well without my teacher as with (as regards to my subjective interpretation of my progress). I think once I finish book 2 (probably at the end of the summer), I will look for a new teacher, and this time, thoroughly explain to her/him my goals and learning propensities. My last instructor was not a great fit. If you don't mind my asking, which pieces did you skip?

Due to financial restrictions, I decided no lessons this summer. My daughter is also taking lessons (she's 7 yrs old and just starting out) and since we do our lessons at the same time (but with different teachers) it's double the cost

I started last October with book#2; and we haven't done every song in the book. We'd skip ones that she didn't like, or I didn't like. Not all the pieces were done to recital level; some were "Ok, you've got that enough - let's move on" after a week. Others she would have me stay on that song for another week or so to fine tune the dynamics or timing or something. We've also been doing Scales and Theory as we go from other books which I think has been invaluable. It makes me understand why music is written the way it is, and has made certain parts easier to play because they follow along the scales.

Some songs we skipped:
Alexander's Ragtime Band
La Bamba (don't remember it at all and no scribbles on the page; so must have skipped)
Rock-a My Soul
Calypso Carnival
Hokey Pokey
Hava Nagila (this was a lot of repetition; she felt it was better to move on)
Olympic Procession
The Riddle
He's got the whole world in his hands (I told her I'd go nuts if I had to play this one)
Ballin' the Jack
Nobody Knows the Trouble I've seen
Black is the Color of my true love's hair
When Johnny Comes marching home

All the songs from Fascination up to Canon are on the work on them if you feel like it list.

I've also played a few songs that I wanted to (like Hedwig's Theme - which is something else I need to work on over the summer - need to work on it with the metronome, and that end part is supposed to be played super fast - and I'm a medium speed right now).

I anticipate starting book 3 in September when lessons start back up again - after she corrects any thing needed on the stuff I did over the summer

What I have found, with regard to dynamics and feeling, is that it’s one of those things where the better you get at it, the more you realize how much further you can take it. For example, the first line of Canon in D is dead simple, yet playing those bass notes pianissimo and trying to keep the level even throughout can be a real challenge. It’s hard not to hit one or more of the keys with a little more force than the others. I don’t think it’s necessary to work long and hard at bringing out every nuance in every piece in Alfred’s, but as getting the correct notes becomes easier, it’s something that should be considered a another skill that needs practicing.

Undone

That is my main issue. The pieces I currently play are right about dead on my ability level, therefore it takes every bit of my effort to simply play the notes correctly with the correct rhythm.

Nancy,

I certainly think you made a wise decision skipping "La Bamba". I loathed that piece and never could play it well. It ruined my piano confidence for quite a while. Sounds like you're going to take it easy for the summer, mastering the finals of Book 2 and some of your other pieces, and then preparing to start 3 this fall. I'll probably be starting 3 around that time as well

I tried starting book 2 a while ago, then I went back to book 1 to improve on my playing for each piece, then I got distracted with the recital piece and some other stuff. Now I'm back!

For some reason I like to work on a lot of pieces at once so I'm currently working on Guantanamera and Light and Blue from Alfreds. Im also working on pieces from Alfreds All-Time Favorites book 2. The first two are Dance of the Hours (tune for Hello Mudda, Hello Fadda) and Gypsy Love Song. This book has recommended page numbers (for alfreds book 2) to start working on the songs so I'll add songs from this as I reach those page numbers. All up I think I counted 102 pieces in the two books so I think I'll be at it for a while!

I had also planned to work on pieces from an easy intermediate classical book called Melodious Masterpieces but I think that will be too much at the same time so I'll just finish the first piece that I started, Song Without Words by Fritz Spindler and leave this book until later, it gets hard quickly after the first few easier ones. The Spindler piece is quite easy, easier than some alfreds book 1 pieces and I love the sound of it.

Some things I want to focus on:

1) Get a recording of every piece that I'm happy with before ticking the song off.
2) Pay attention to the musicality of the piece rather than just play the notes.
3) Reduce the amount of looking at the keyboard.

Thats it for now, time to practice!

Welcome back Wrenn. I tend to be opposite of you: I use a single lesson book and rarely look outside of it. I have less fun but it keeps me focused and moving forward.
If you make recordings you're welcome to post them here. I, for one, would like to hear them.

Hi, Key Notes. I have been out of pocket for a couple of days, putting in long hours at a (potential) customer. Sorry for the delay here.

Is your question still on the table? I do recall some VERY specific things I did on the fingering that made this piece much easier, for me. The recommended fingering for a lot of ARB simply didn't work for me.

Without looking at the music (and my notes thereon), I would say what clicked for me was mercilessly pounding on that phrase in the middle of the piece... the "that's just... the bestest band what am" portion. I did a "Chuan Chang" on that part, which means (based on the recommendations in the "Fundamentals of Piano Practice" book) I played that part, in rapid repetition, over and over and over again, over the course of many evenings. Once that was down, and once my own fingerings became cemented in muscle memory in other places, it came together quickly.

All told, I spent about 3 weeks on it.

If you're interested, I will get the music tonight and tell you what adjustments worked for me.

Oh, thank goodness. I have Joplin's Theme from Solace down good enough to begin the next piece, which is La Bamba (but not good enough to move on completely from it). My impression of La Bamba is... not positive. Seriously. The idea of spending the time I think it would take to get it presentable (3 weeks at least, knowing me) was a little depressing.

MOVING ON!

I think that's the real problem with this piece, AWTPP; it's not that it would be impossible, instead, it's more like "who would want to spend three weeks learning "La Bamba"". I think it was silly to make one of the challenge pieces something that, I would guess, many of us have little interest in learning or playing.

I actually have passed both Frankie and Johnnie and Black is the Color of my True Love's Hair. They were both easy and I didn't spend a lot of time on either. F&J would have been more challenging had it not had nearly identical LH as HGTWWIHH. Black... wasn't hard but it was lovely.

I made recordings of each but, since I have not really polished either piece, they both sound "rough". I don't think I'll post them, but maybe I'll rerecord later, who knows.

I'm on When Johnny Comes Marching Home. I'm pleased to be learning this one.

I'm really glad my teacher had a realistic view of these things as well so I was able to skip some that I had no interest in.

I agree too that Frankie and Johnnie was a fun easy one to play - I only had that one on my list for a week.

It'd be great to hear your recordings - even if they aren't polished

-Nancy