Very nice Waltz! I'm going to have to bust out the Camera and brush up on mine to get a recording (or several) up!

Thanks TTigg !

This is the one Palmer piece I really liked. I think this is a piece that can definitely have multiple interpretations.

Good job on "A Very Specail Day" Waltz. I agree; this was one of the better Plamer pieces.

Undone

Very well done Waltz - you're really moving along at a good clip thru Book 3 - it looks as if your work outside 3 is helping you here too.

Regards, JF

To all Book 3ers - here's a summarized version of a rather extensive discussion that took place in this thread ealier this year about the possibilities of where a diligent student might go next after finishing Book 3, especially if that student were leaning in the direction of concentrating wholly or partly in the Classical music genre. These suggestions were supplied by an editor/piano teacher at Alfred in response to an email from me.

The Essential Keyboard Repertoire Series (Vol. 1 currently being used by me):

Essential Keyboard Repertoire


The Spirit Series:

The Baroque Spirit

The Classical Spirit

The Romantic Spirit

Beyond the Romantic Spirit


The Masterwork Classics Series:

Masterworks Classics


The Neil A. Kjos Piano Repertoire Series, as edited by Keith Snell and Recommended by DragonPianoPlayer (Rich)

Keith Snell Series

Hope you find this info helpful and useful in your future piano studies.

Regards, JF

Thank you Undone and JF! I am very appreciative that you guys take the time to watch and comment on my playing.
It means and helps a lot.

That was beautifully played. Wow.

I have lot's of work to do, especially with increasing the tempo. Nice job

You and me both mate! nicely done un-done
- SC

Thanks for reposting that JF. I was reading this thread back when that was originally discussed and had meant to “keep a mental note” of its existence for later reference. My “mental notes” aren’t what they used to be, so having it summarized and reposted is very helpful.

Undone

Thanks Waltz and TTigg, I enjoyed working on that piece. Speaking of tempo, I just recently finished with “The Star-Spangled Banner” and had a good lesson in the importance of practicing things slowly. This selection took some time for me get anywhere near being able to play through without egregious errors. All the while I was playing at a very slow and stately tempo (as this piece is sometimes played). When I finally got through it and had a semi-decent recording I decided it would sound better at a quicker tempo. I had never tried to speed it up before, and was very pleased and surprised at how easily I was able to do so after having “mastered” the piece at a slower tempo. In the past I would often start to build to the desired speed as the piece was progressing. This experience would seem to indicate that doing so is counter productive.

Undone

Thanks for the "tip". I'm supposed to be working on that this week (along with the second Prelude but I've let my other side projects get the better of me this week (irk)

SC

Thanks for the advice . I actually am putting it to use in learning A Classy Rag. My tempo is probably around 1/2 of yours, and I really don't think I could, as of yet, practice it much faster. It's a tricky piece, and learning it at a slower pace well, and then increasing speed is probably the way to go.

I would like to listen to JF's version, but I can't seem to find it...

I've been away from this thread for a while. I've been reading and listening, just not posting! Sorry.

You all are doing great! Making progress and the recordings are all lovely.

Me? We've cleared Fur Elise from lesson time, tho I still work on it. I'm the odd one- I actually enjoy playing it! And Toccata is just about finished as well. The last page is not quite as speedy as it should be, but at this point, I think it's beating a dead horse, so that may be set aside for a bit. The Chopin Prelude is starting to come together, and I've begun looking at the first page of the Moonlight.

All that said, I have some busy weeks coming up between now and mid-October (chili season is winding down and I STILL haven't qualified for Worlds in 2 of the three categories! Better get cooking, literally!!), so progress to the end of book 3 may stall a bit.

OT:

I have been desperately trying to find the sheet music to a piece of music. It is from the film "Silent Hill" and it is called "Alessa's Harmony". It's a short and haunting little piece:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2ddzvD5ntg

I just can't find the sheet music; it's like it doesn't exist. Also, how difficult would you put this piece? Something comparable to an A3 piece or harder?

Good to hear from you again Mak. I’ve been resisting the urge to look ahead at what’s to come in Book 3 (I have enough to deal with in the present), but from your post I see that there are a lot of great works in the later sections of this book.

Good luck with what’s left of this year’s chili season, and knock ‘em dead in Charleston!

Undone

Waltz – After a brief search I’d say that you are not alone in looking for sheet music from Silent Hill. You may have better luck finding a MIDI file and then using a “MIDI to Sheet Music” converter (there are some free ones out there).

Undone

Thanks Undone

I have not heard of a MIDI to sheet music converter, but it sounds very promising (and neat).

I actually found what the "deal was" for this piece. The movie "Silent Hill" soundtrack lists it as Alessa's Harmony

However, it was originally featured on the game (albeit slightly modified) and was called the Promise / Reprise. I was able to find the sheet music for it (although it's kind of sloppy.)

Here is Musette in D, by Bach:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru5c_9aPeOo

This is the one where the "jumps" gave me trouble. I still don't do them very quickly, but I think it's acceptable.

Great job Waltz! I’m lousy with names, both of people and classical music, but I recognized this piece as soon as you started playing it in the recording. Sometimes you will hear this piece being played very fast. I guess that to do so you have to have those jumps down in “muscle memory”.

Undone

Thank Undone !

You're right, the indicated tempo is Allegro. But I cannot do that yet (at least with any reasonable accuracy).

Where’s Undone?

He’s gone on vacation, but will be back in about a week.

Undone.

A Classy Rag:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTzEgYFk8PQ

This one took me a while. Let me know what you think!

Waltz

Undone - You're welcome - I thought it might be helpful & useful.

Sorry it took me so long to respond - my wife and I were on vacation for most of the last two weeks in big, beautiful Maine, slowly driving along the coast from one harbor town to another, and ending in the resort of Bar Harbor on Mt. Desert Island (along with Acadia National Park) - an amazingly gorgeous trip!

Didn't touch a piano once on the trip and strangely didn't miss it - I used to worry about being away from it, but I've learned during previous vacations that you don't lose much at all in terms of skill and technique (such as they are) and that after a day or two of "getting the rust off" you are pretty much back to where you were.

Waltz - real good job on "Classy" & thanks for you kind comments on my version in the September Piano Bar.

JF

Edited to add that I'll be picking up where I left off - in the middle of "Blue Rondo", a somewhat interesting piece...

Thanks JF!!!

Sounds like you had a nice vacation, glad to hear it

JF, I was in Maine for about three weeks as well, didn't practice, but suffered greatly for it when I got back. After about a week back, I'm finally getting into it again. My mental and muscle memories are just not what they used to be. But the funny thing is, today my teacher and I started working some stride piano into the ballads I'm playing and I found that the stride piano I had learned as a teenager was still in the system. The mind is amazing.

JF, I'm glad you enjoyed your trip to Maine. It is a beautiful place and the people are so real and so friendly. It's nice to have you back.

Bob

Bob - good to hear from you again, and hopefully we'll have the pleasure of your company more often in the future!

Just to go a little bit more OT, Maine is a beautiful place and the people are great - we started our driving trip at Kittery at the southern end and ended it at Bar Harbor a couple of hundred miles to the north, but actually went about 3 times as far because we drove down all the peninsulas that jut out into the ocean along the coast, visting Ogunquit, Kennebunkport, Cape Elizabeth, Portland, Freeport, Brunswick, Bath, Boothbay Harbor, Pemaquid Point, Port Clyde, Stonington, Rockland, Camden, Belfast, Searsport, Castine and Ellsworth (among others) - it's awesome country! But there's much more to it - the regions to the east, north and the mountain/lake region to the west (which we'll see on our next trip up that way from PA).

JF

Anyone got a recording of Star Spangled Banner? Not growing up in the US means this one is for sure kicking my ass

Thanks
SC

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?

Oh Lord! Is that really a piece we have to learn in A3? I tried a google search but I couldn't find an Alfred's version of it. Here is a random piano version on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET2lFcDy1f4

Don't know if that's helpful though.
I did not know you weren't born in America. Where were you born?

Thanks Waltz,

That helps a little. I was born & raised in Oxford England. I moved here in 2000 with my wife (who's American) after our wedding in an old coach house..

I had a good lesson, I've got the basics of it down now, just need to polish it up so I'll be on it for another week. Then it'll be back to the Prelude in C

How's it going with you?

SC

I'm all right I guess. My teacher has me doing a lot of pieces and other things, so I'm kind of diluted. For example, I haven't exactly finished with the first movement of Clementi's Sonatina 36/1 and she already has me working on the second movement. In Alfred's, ironically, I'm working on Clementi's Prelude in D (which is pretty). I am also doing a Bach Minuet, and this really simplistic, but kind of annoying, Haydn piece. I'm having fun though, so things are fine. I had no idea you were from England! I had once considered doing my post graduate medical training there, but the process is very convoluted and involved. I still have an interest in moving there for some period of time, some day (perhaps never, but I can always hope). California is very, very far from England, I'm sure that's been tough, being so far away. Yet, I have always felt it to be brave and admirable to take on changes with a sense of adventure and possibility.