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

Your accountant, right? Not Elvis. I suspect he's not eating much lately
Doesn't the radio station get a touch boring? Sure, Elvis was prolific, but all of his recorded songs cannot fill a day of music can they?
I remember my step mom loved top 40 radio too. They would play the # 1 song once every hour. It would be mind numbing to hear the same thing over and over and over and over and over. I haven't listened to the radio since living with my parents!!

Hah, my colleagues always listen to a radio station that airs the same music every day. It's almost the same playlist in a different order each day.
Thankfully they don't have one particular song repeated every hour, that'd completely drive me insane!

I often get to work on my own in a somewhat separated workplace with my own little radio, which I always tune to the national classical station.
Sometimes I get help there though, so we have to figure out what we tune the radio too, since I'm the only one in the entire factory that likes classical music.
Usually we just switch it, part of the time classical, part of the time pop.

It works out well that way.


But to get back to Alfreds;
Finally managed to get a start on Beautiful Brown Eyes, which I had hoped to have done by Thursday last week, but couldn't do it because I fell ill.
Too my surprise, I found this a lot easier then it looked.
I sort of looked forward too it, since I often played a much easier arrangement of it, which I really liked.

Maybe I need to play it well before I can honestly judge the Alfred's arrangement, but I think I like the really easy one a lot more then the much more complex Alfred's variant!

Congrats on beautiful brown eyes, Pianosaurus! That is such an interesting observation regarding the very easy/harder arrangements. It might be fun to compare them side by side (literally). Maybe that would allow you to know exactly what you don't like about the Alfred's (other than its harder :D).

Thanks Rex! I think I'll pick it up.

So it seems I am way behind the group of you but I am also using Alfred's book 1. I have been playing piano for - lets see - 4 days I made it to Jingle Bells! Of course it is quite a challenge for me and probably seems so simple to the rest of you. Getting my left hand to do something different from my right hand is a nightmare!! I sure do hope it gets easier.
Any beginners out there near Jingle Bells in the book?
Any other players got some good advice?
I would love to hear it!
Thanks All!
Sabina

Sabina, Jingle Bells kicked all our butts at first. Keep working on it, and you will be so proud when you nail it. In some ways the hands together stuff does get easier, and in some ways it doesn't because there will always be a new, more difficult piece to play. Right now there is a piece in Book 2 that's really kicking my butt, and I've been working on it for a month. Just enjoy the challenge and keep at it, and soon you will be telling some newbie how you conquered Jingle Bells.

Thanks mom3gram! I'll keep working at it. I know it will be a thrill when I get it mastered!

Hand independence will get easier (There's an active thread about this going on in the ABF at the moment.) but the material you learn will also get harder!
So yeah, good luck!

I'm sure there's more people starting every now and then, so you're not the only one at the start of Alfred's!

Keep us updated on your progress, and best of luck to your piano adventures!

Welcome Sabina! I started playing on Christmas Day (in fact, MUCH of Xmas Day was spent playing!!!!) I love it...just take it so and enjoy the process! Welcome to the group..please share your experiences..there are alot of great musicians here to help! And we are all beginners!

Sabina...you're just a wee beginner...having played the piano for all of a month now I can say.... heheheheehehhe

I know exactly what you mean! I posted another thread about making the hands/brain do different things at the same time!

Lots of good info around here! Stick with it and we'll commissurate together!

Welcome Sabina.

Hand independence is something that will take time to develop and even then each new piece will require practice to get down. I am currently working on The Stranger which is towards the end of the book. I could get through most of the piece without much trouble but there was one particular measure that was giving me a hard time when I tried to play it hands together. I went back to the basics and went through just that one measure hands separate counting each beat as I played it and then gradually brought my hands together very slowly. After a few times through it all came together and now that one problem measure doesn't give me trouble any more.

Patience, perseverance, and practice are the keys. You will also notice that things that seemed like you would never get one day are suddenly quite doable the next.

Welcome, asc and Sabina!

My book doesn't have Good People in it... hearing you all say how hard it is makes some weird perverse part of me want to torture myself and try it.

Had class today.. passed Raisins and Almonds, got to skip He's Got The Whole World.., and I'm on to the Entertainer. I looked ahead and tried Amazing Grace. Some of the sections look pretty hairy!

There was a slightly odd moment today. I noticed that I have a floppy left pinky. Last week in class, my teacher noticed that my pinky kept laying on its side. All week, I've been trying to correct it. I was tensing up my back and getting frustrated every time I played, because I couldn't get it straight. Today I was looking at it and found that I could roll it on to its side while my hand was completely flat. I can't do that with my right pinky. Anyone else have an issue like this? At least now I know it's not just me being lazy

Hello! I have just started Jericho and it's not as hard as I thought that it would be. Still quite challenging, though!

I noticed that I am having a left pinky problem too. Mine wants to hold all of the notes it plays longer than it's supposed to.

Have a good day,
Ann

I'm back from vacation. I missed my piano!

Sabina, Jingle Bells was hard for me when I started playing it. I just tried playing it again and still made mistakes! LOL Just take it slow. You'll be amazed at what you can play two months from now.

My recorder is the Tascam Dr-07. I'm going to start recording most of the songs in Alfred's from here on out. I may even go back and do some old ones that I liked.

Ooh, I really look forward to hearing that!

Hi everyone. I am new to piano and loving every minute. The only other instrument I have played is the Clarinet years ago starting in elementary school. I have had 6 lessons using Alfred's. I really don't get to practice sometimes only 20 minutes a week. I have a 3 year old daughter and 20 month old twins(girl and boy). Very busy and disruptive,but my other passion. It has been interesting for me. 6 month back I used a device that uses sound and led lights to balance both hemispheres of the brain as well as some brain gym exercises. I am amazed how well playing has gone for a beginner who was intimidated for years. I just finished When the Saints. I try new songs and fumble then I seem to dream about it and play it through the next time or close to it. I feel that those exercises have made it easier to get out of my own way. This forum seems really friendly as well as helpful.

Welcome Colby! You've got your hands full right now. One of these days they'll be old enough to get their own drinks, make a sandwich, put on their shoes and brush their teeth all by themselves. (My boys are 8 & 9.) Glad you're joining us.

I went back and picked out two other songs that I enjoyed playing and recorded them a few minutes ago. Got Those Blues and Jericho. They aren't perfect but good enough. Personally, I think they're kinda choppy...something I didn't realize until I recorded myself playing.

Does anyone know of a better place to upload these so that people don't have to download them to hear them?

Outstanding GracieCat. I enjoyed your recordings. You are doing well. If you convert you file to an MP3 Box has an MP3 player. I use Audacity. Its free to download.....You will need something like that if you want to participate in our quarterly Online recitals......

Those were both excellent, GracieCat.

Welcome Sabina and Colby! I have a 14 month old, so sometimes practicing is challenging. She likes to sit next to me on the bench while I play, but she is at the stage where she wants to get up and down often (usually in the middle of the song!)

GracieCat - love your recordings!

Ann