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

Look how much we care for each other. I feel good. I feel special... LOL OK, I'm not quitting


When I start a new song, I count to figure out how it goes. I usually (not always) challenge myself figure out a song not listening to the CD first. Once I know how a song supposed to go, and can count playing both hands (very slowly of course), I stop counting. Then I listen to the CD many times and focus on its dynamics (mood, rhythm, flow, tempo etc…) and polish it based on my understanding of the CD. Once in a while, I challenge myself and count at tempo, but it doesn’t always work, especially the fast pieces.

I don't count because I find it hard to count and play. On some songs, when I first work it out, I either say "one and one and one and" or tap my foot. I only really need it for upbeats where the new note is on "and" or foot up.

I've finally finished! Amazing Grace took ages to get smooth, it's still far from perfect but I'm sick of playing it and I'm moving on to book 2

Scarborough Fair
Raisins and Almonds
The Entertainer
Amazing Grace

Congratulations!! I am sure that your Amazing Grace is smooth enough to move on; I read people in this thread moving on to Book 2 all the time and still go back to practice Amazing Grace and smooth it out. Have fun in Book 2!!

BazC - Congratulations!!!! Good job on keeping on and best of luck with Book 2!!!

Ok, The Stranger, Go Down Moses and Greensleeves - all done! As before, I am not going to stop playing them, (well, maybe apart from Go Down Moses), and just keep repeating them every time I am at the piano. I just love Greensleeves! I can play O Sole Mio without mistakes, but I just don't like that tune, so I am just trying to keep going with it. Maybe another few days and I will leave it alone. Basically, I have 5 songs left in this book!!!! No chance to finish before Christmas (I am not even trying), but I hope I will finish it not too far into New Year! (Although, hearing experiences of Amazing Grace, it might be either Easter or next Christmas before I can put this book to rest!)

I have bought yet another book today - The Library of Christmas Favourites. So, I guess that will keep me busy with some of the Christmas songs (it is a huge book, 240 pages!!!) I guess I will never need to buy another Christmas book again!

Congratulations, BazC! Enjoy Book 2, and you can always keep polishing "Amazing Grace" as you move along.

gintarec - Good job getting through all those pieces. Wow, that Christmas book is going to keep you really busy!

I keep thinking that I can give myself a pass on "Greensleeves" - sometimes it sounds SO good, and then I play it just horribly a few times and know that it still needs work.

I've got the first section of "He's Got the Whole World In His Hands" to where it's recognizeable, but I have a slight hesitation in there that I just can't get rid of, even when I slow it down and count. But the good news is that if I get that worked out, the rest of it is just a repeat in other keys and should present no problem. In fact, I think I play the second part in the key of G better than the first (C) part.

I can't imagine how I'm going to get through the last two pieces though. It is just getting harder and harder with each new one. I was hoping to finish up Book 1 sometime in January, but as gintaret said - it could take till Easter or next Christmas. LOL

Correction - I see that I was mistaken - the first part of "He's Got The Whole World..." is in G, and the second in C. :-)

Thanks folks!

@ Gintarec I'm looking for a Christmas book, are the arrangements nice and not too difficult in The Library of Christmas Favourites?

BazC - there all sorts! Some of them look easy, and I hope to be able to play them with not too much trouble at all. Others are way too advanced for me. There are lots of traditional Christmas songs, and some classical pieces, so it should keep me entertained for many years to come!!!

Sounds ideal, p'raps I'll grab a copy, thanks!

CONGRATULATIONS BazC. Have fun in Book 2. You’ll miss us.

Gintarec, you’re my favorite to model after, so yes, Easter is a very good time to celebrate our achievements. I really like this idea. Don’t change; I need some breathing room.

Mom3gram, Congratulations on your progress. “He’s Got…” isn’t an easy piece for anyone so you’ve done quite impressive. I’m sure it’ll come together for you soon.

As for me, I have closed the page on “He’s Got…” One of the earlier posts I forget whose, makes sense, “playing faster doesn’t necessarily mean better”. This applies to this Piece for me. I have tried increase to CD tempo but it’s way too fast for my fingers and doesn’t sound right. A little slower than CD tempo and I think it sounds ok, so I move on.

FYI mom3gram, “The Entertainer” isn’t as bad as advertised IMO. 3 nights in and I can play each hand smoothly at tempo now. With hands combined, I have to slow down but it’s getting there. I think the Entertainer is similar to when we started BtMD. We overcame that song; we will do just fine with this one.

Last night, after about 2 hours wrestling with “The Entertainer”, my mind finally gave in. This was almost midnight but somehow I didn’t want to go to bed yet; so I took out the “Basic Adult Christmas Piano Book 1” and gave it a go. To my surprise, in about an hour, I was able to play those songs a little bit beyond the first haft of the book with only a few tries. The one thing I was surprised most was for some of the songs, I was able to read both hands and play reasonably good on first try. This is great news for some of us wondering if this Alfred Adult Method works. I’m not sure about the future or the next few Books, but up until this point, when we are about done with Book One, we can actually read easy songs both hands and play. I never try any supplemental pieces or on the side songs before so I never know until last night. Now I know I can read baby-step both hands and play. I’m so happy, not only for me, but all of us here. Cheers!!!

BazC: Congratulations. You are the first one I've seen graduate to book 2 since I joined here.

Most people seem to be ahead of me so in a few more weeks there won't be many left!

bolt, Don't worry. The last few songs of the book take forever to polish. You'll catch on.

Congratulations are due for all completing Book 1, for sure! I am way back at Beautiful Brown Eyes and just dream of that day. It is a terrific accomplishment.

I did good with my teacher’s session after the holiday break. I had spent very much time in practice and managed most every assignment well. Except Beautiful Brown Eyes. The broken chord on the left hand causes me to commit all kinds of errors – on both hands. I found a very similar left hand in my Christmas book. The Chipmunk Song has the same broken chord pattern the whole way. So I am focusing on that one as my supplemental. Plus it is just a fun tune.

Speaking of counting… I am in love with 3.4 time. I count it as an exercise all time. I mean ALL the time. I count it while walking, while cooking, while pumping gas. I breathe to it, I swivel my chair to it and I dream it when going to sleep. Is it love or infatuation? Time will tell.

Well, sooner or later I'll be stuck here polishing those last few for weeks on end while most of you have trotted off to pastures greener!

Thanks for the congrats people! I'm sure you'll all be joining me in book 2 before too long!

Looks like I'm coming in at the end. I just ordered book one from my local bookstore. It should be in in about 7-10 days. I'm excited to begin. I will go back through this thread as I progress through the book, and who knows, maybe some more newbies will join me. Either way, thank you all for a valuable resource.

This thread doesn't have an "end"... it just keeps going and going as new people join and work through the book. I was new a month ago, you're new today, and a month from now someone even newer will join.

So welcome aboard, Mike!!

Lots of the people who were late on with this when I first started are just beginning to move on to Number 2. I'm up to the "Good People" piece now (Page 117).

Finding this one quite hard.

I found "Good People" very difficult too. In fact, it's the only song that I gave up on so far without being able to play it even halfway good. I couldn't get it, didn't like it, and was sick of it. When I get to the end of the book, I may go back and give it another shot, or maybe not.