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Craigslist is great isnt hit??

I found a good site for free sheemusic but most of it is "one liners." freescores.com,they seem to have a little bit of everything.
I got a few Irish trad songs there. They look like they are scored for C instruments and I will use one for sightreading tomorrow. Set dance pieces are hard to find. Also if you have more than 4 couples they are long.
The last two times I practiced,it seemed like an unintentional concert. Once there was a lady and her kids,this last time it was a lady and her kid.
that is unnerving. very unnerving....I wont even touch a keyboard in a music store.

I'm currently at page 40 after 4 weeks. Is this about the normal speed? And after how long do you guys think i'll be done with this book. Because it'll get harder and harder every week :p

Took me 7 months to finish book one, but I was still cleans up stuff while I was in book two. Your milage may vary. Remember its not a race, take your time and enjoy the journey.

Mark...

Daily stop for me. Unfortunately, somebody beat me to the $200 PX-575R. It's a shame I wasn't downtown that day.

I'm glad you reminded me of this. There are some pieces I worked hard to polish. After moving on, I've gone back to play some of these, and find, to my utter annoyance and dismay, that I can no longer play them well first (heck sixth) time through. I figured once I "finished" Book One, I would take another month or so to fly through the book a few times, and see if I can get some of these back up to speed. In theory, each lap through it should be quicker, and the level of polish should improve. That's my plan, anyway.

7 months is probably about the time frame I am looking at as well. I already have Book Two, but my eyes glaze over and roll back into my head when I look at what's in there.

I know it isn't a race, i have the feeling i can play the songs good. And that's what my teacher says too . By the way i'm 15 years old. I just hope to go through the first book fast because the second book has much more fun songs because of the knowledge you already have gained from the first book.

See, for me, I know it's not a race, but that doesn't make me less impatient. I want to improve quickly, as I assume the more interesting (and difficult) music is more fun than, say, Chiapanecas.

That said, I am falling short of my practice time goals these days, and may not catch up until late summer.

Its all relative. I still play the Entertainer and Amazing Grace from book one and once and a while play around with other pieces. Some take a few takes to play right.

Book two was initially scary but now I look back from book three and say wow, I can play many of them ok. (Not all), I'm still cleaning up many pieces in the back 1/3 of book two especially Canon.

When I looked at book 3, I again was scared, but it does start to come together. Some work out really well, some I hack to heck... By the way I'm very average and struggle to play anything clean. Just by brute force and lots of practice can I make anything from this wonderful instrument sound remotely like music. Maybe in time I can play like those that sound so gifted. Because I'm sure not...

Hi JohnFrank, Very nice demonstrations and beautiful playing. Thanks for taking the time to record and shared them.

I can now see where we can add intros and endings, but how do you select which parts to use for the repeats?

Thanks again for all of your wonderful tips.

Regards,

Key Notes

Daily stop for me. Unfortunately, somebody beat me to the $200 PX-575R. It's a shame I wasn't downtown that day.

Man that sucketh!!!!!(ya want some van seats?) I got my 1st keyboard from a pawn shop. I was looking for the cheapest thing I could find. Now I have a Roland d-10. Big enough for the nieghbor cats to hang out on. The b takes a while to sound until I play it a few times.

Key Notes - I'm not sure which "repeats" you're referring to so I'll cover the possibilities:

1. You can, of course, repeat the entire piece (if you wish to do that) even if there are no repeat symbols at the end of the piece. Or, if the piece is in two separate, distinct parts or sections (say like alot of pop songs with a verse section and a chorus section) you can choose to just repeat perhaps the second section (it's your choice - there are no firm rules - whatever appeals to you and/or sounds good).

2. Instead of the above (or in addition to it) you can repeat just the very ending part of the piece. This would be perhaps just the last several measures (or more precisely, the last phrase as indicated by the phrasing marks over the music - again whatever sounds good.

So, you could have a case (like I used in "Black is the Color...) where you play the piece thru once, then go back to the beginning and play it thru completely again, and finally repeat the last ending phrase again (the 3rd time it would have been played).

If the piece was in two sections you could, for example, play the entire piece thru once (sections 1 & 2), then go back to the start of the second section and play thru to the end, and then repeat the last phrase (3rd time played).

Or you could have the case where you simply play the song thru once and then repeat just that last phrase as a finishing touch.

There are usually several choices when you're enhancing a piece according to your own desires and tastes - there is no right or wrong way, just your way. And this isn't even considering the possibilities involved with choosing how to do intros (which can really round out your interpretation).

Hope this helps.

Regard, JF

Thanks JohnFrank! IOU big time. I love all of these ideas and the different variations and options to personalized any piece of music. I'll definitely have to try them out along the way as I get better.

Thank you so much once again and have a fabulous day!

Key Notes

I am sort of messing with dropping stuff an octave,.or up an octave. so play the 1st verse,then the 2nd up the octave.

fingering is the same. Just move paws up or down the octave. Simple. Works on Irish music well.

My sightreading still sucks but I did run thru 3 pieces today. Finished one of them. Stopped at a few bars on the others.

JF,
Those are some great ideas for spicing up Alfred's!!
If I ever finish the Can-Can song, I will have to try them!!

Thanks Triyche - yes, do give them a try - I think you'll find they enhance the music, and your enjoyment, a great deal.

Regards, JF

Well, I've moved on through the Middle C position songs, "Waltz Time", "Good Morning to You", "Happy Birthday" and a couple of short one liners. They were easy, probably because I spent so much time in the Bastien beginner book which started with Middle C. I'm still butchering "Brown Eyes" and "Alpine Melody" some days, but today I tried "Standing in the Need of Prayer". It looked hard, but it's actually not that bad. I'm still playing it slowly, but WAY better than I did with "Brown Eyes" and "Alpine". I think I'm going to like this one.

I'm also working on "Morning Mood" in the Bastien Level 1 Classics and "Lean on Me" in the Faber Adult All-in-one". I'm only on page 32 in Faber, and "Lean on Me" is a very easy song in middle C position with no chords, but I'm having trouble with the timing because it's slow. I've set my metronome to 50 and feel like I'm waiting a year to play the next note.

On an slightly off topic - two of my grandkids are in their piano recital tonight, and I'm worried about how they will do. They are doing a duet, and the older one reads music well, but occasionally makes a mistake. The younger one has a really good ear, but doesn't read music well, so she has memorized her part to compensate. They can't seem to coordinate their playing and have been arguing more than practicing. I can't be there to see them play and am kind of relieved, because I'm afraid that if anyone makes a mistake or slows down it will be a disaster. They are both in their second year of piano. Keep your fingers crossed for them.

"Standing in the Need of Prayer" so far is one of my favorites from Alfred's. When I first started learning it, it was the most intimidating looking piece I had encountered in the book.

I will keep my fingers crossed!!

Standing in the Need is hard only because the eights are triky because the piece if you ever heard it sung gospel style like i have is normallyu done with swing notes. That means the 8ths are not equal. I can not play it with straight 8ths because if that.
I have beenstuck on that for weeks. I am about to just give up on this one. My teacher is not real happy about that.
on a waltz for me ( lot of alfred's stuff)I dont have that problem

1silkyferret,
can you swing the 8th's instead of playing it straight?

my teacher doesnt want me to do the swing 8ths. I have been on this piece for over a month. Now its kind of a moot point. I am going to OK for a show there for a while so I will be on my own there. I also have the same problem on Alouette.
I am hoping to get a lesson or two there.
I can sort of get the 8ths if I am not doing the left hand part.
my left paw is still kind of useless. I also picked up a Bastiens book of real simple looking stuff (its a kid's book with cute pix/)