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Was talking with some other piano students last night. Someone said he should hire people to watch him practice at home and scowl at him and make rude comments. Then with that, playing for the teacher would be easy. The joke was funny because we all know it would almost work. Everyone messes up when we know someone else is listening to us and the amount of messing up is proportional to how carefully we think the person is listening and how many of them there are. I think this happens to all students.

My teacher is always supportive and friendly. Just why I have anxiety over playing anything with her in session is beyond me. It is not typical, something specific to Lullaby maybe. It does nt make sense. It is not an intellectual response. I know she is trying to help, not being judgemental. It is purely physical reaction - but it is real. I said as much to the teacher.

She related a personal story to me. She is experienced in piano ccmpetition with judges that observe and rate the players performance. She had one experience where she completely blanked out the performance. After the session she could not recall having played. She described how at one point she had an eerie out of body sensation, just watching her hands. But could not recall what she was playing after the fact. She is certain that her performance was miserable, and wishes she had been able to maintain focus and being in the moment. But it was physical impossibility at the time. A nightmare in waking time.

I don't know if that is encouraging or discouraging. That anxiety happens at all levels of skill.

I am thinking about it a lot.

Encouraging. I practiced a piece for 2 months. When played it for the teacher, I completely lost it somewhere in the middle and had to restart, then lost it again, only the 3rd time that it comes together. I do make mistakes in practice, but never loose it completely and have to restart. I just smiled and told her “it’s harder for me to miss than hit when you aren’t here”. She passed me. Not sure if it merits a pass or cuz I made her laugh.

Hello folks,

I'm new here and indeed I am using the alfreds book one to teach myself the piano. Although I own a privia keyboard I've been going to local colleges to practice on the real deal pianos in practice rooms. I even made sure that I wasn't taking anyones place- i found out that the rooms are usually seldom used and never filled up.

I am also working on getting through lullaby. i usually skip ahead and find that the next piece is easier but right after that there is joy to the world which is really hard too.

Anyway, its cool to find this thread-

J

Hi guys, well I just wanted to give an update on where I am...

Last I checked in here I was struggling with Lone Star Waltz, but I have that one down pretty well now. Also got Cafe Vienna down pretty easily. I am still working on perfecting the Rainbow Connection from the Greatest Hits book.

So my newest piece is Lullaby, and I am finding it surprisingly hard. I say surprisingly because the first thing I did was play right-hand only, just the melody, and it was really easy. Then I tried it with hands together and it feels like a completely different song. I can't get past the first two measures without making a mistake.

One issue I think I am having is that the rhythm is slightly different than what I think it should be just based on my own knowledge of the piece. So I tend to want to play it "my way" and am having a bit of trouble adjusting to the rhythm as it is written.

So that's basically where I am, struggling through Lullaby and itching to get on to the next piece... the reason I want to move on is because the next piece in the Greatest Hits book is What a Wonderful World which was my wedding song so that will be very exciting for me to start!!

Oh and on another note, I am reading lots of you guys talking about having issues playing for a teacher and I just want to add that although I don't know exactly what it's like because I am self-teaching, I always find it very hard to play for anyone other than my wife and daughter. When friends or family visit and I try to play something for them, I usually screw it up terribly even though I know I can play it fine on my own. So if I have trouble playing in front of friends and family I can't imagine how hard it must be to play for someone who is intently listening to every note you play! You guys should feel proud of yourself just for getting through it at all, and if you play it halfway decent that's just a bonus!

Well mooshinator, I am having trouble with Lullaby too.

My assignments from my last lesson were to continue to work on Cafe Vienna, start Lullaby and Rock It Away and work on some scales hands together.

I have Cafe Vienna down pretty good. I like it and it came together fairly easily. Rock It Away was very easy for me, only took a couple times through to get it.

Lullaby is another story. I mentioned in a previous post that I started playing it as I remember hearing it but that's not the way it's written. My teacher demonstrated how it goes and we worked on counting it for a while. I have the rhythm correct now but am really struggling to put it together with both hands.

I agree that it is so simple to play hands separate but there's something about it when you try it HT that throws me off. I can do the first 4 measures and the last 4 measures OK but still need a lot of work on the middle. I must have played it about 25 times tonight. I am making progress with it but it's painfully slow.

I don't get nervous at my lessons (well the first one was a bit nerve wracking I guess) but still struggle some weeks with Lullaby being a prime example. I too couldn't get the 1st measure after the pick up correct as instead of playing the dotted quarter-eighth note-quarter note rhythm I'd always play it as a half note followed by two eighth notes which is the correct rhythm for the next measure (at least in my book)but not the one I'm trying to play. It took a couple of weeks just to get the timing of that down and finally I got it by counting out loud and marking the score with the break down of each beat. I also play it at 72 bpm on the metronome so it isn't quite as fast as other songs we work on (usually 92 bpm is our starting speed for new songs). The teacher will pass me if I can keep the rhythm correct and stay on time, she won't worry much if I miss a note as long as I can pick the song back up on beat quickly.

My book is much easier than Alfred's IMHO as Alfred's has the left hand doing much more than the block chords that predominate my book. An example is "Lavenders Blue" which is in my book also, I read how Doug F hated it but I loved the version in my book so I went looking at it in Alfred's and yes it is a bit more challenging in the left hand. Another area my book lacks is dynamics but I've had a few side pieces that came out of a Faber book to work on that just a bit. I'm glad we are starting to incorporate more of Alfred in my lessons as there are more things to work on.

GracieCat, try not to fret too much about the lesson, I've had some that I never got to play the keyboard and it was an hour long lesson! One time I was just tapping out rhythms on two sticks trying to master half and quarter note beats. Not much fun but great foundation and I know it will help down the road. I can relate to playing well at home and then freezing up in the lesson, I played "Lavenders Blue" flawlessly at home many many times before trying it in class and ended up banging my head into the keys as I just couldn't get it right!

heyy.. m a true beginner.. in the literal sense.. m done wid 4 classes which have barely covered one melody, a few finger exercises and an exercise to start wid sandman's lullaby.. frankly m a bit demoralised by my speed.. n d fact dat m starting now n not like 10 years back.. either way..its awesome.. m starting alfred's in a couple of days..!

Hi shruti. Welcome to the forum. Better late than never. You will enjoy it.

Hey! I'm new.

I played for seven years in my childhood/teens and quit for many reasons.....that was almost eight years ago.

Restarted lessons in September, in a group piano lab setting and working through Alfred's #1 Book. I practice between 45 minutes to 1 hour a day and an hour fifteen minutes two times a week on lesson days (because lesson periods are that long) I am also working on Moonlight Sonata and Fur Elise on my own, just for fun. My teacher's goal is for me to finish the book by the end of the semester.

Am on "Cafe Vienna". Working on phrasing. Fun!

Welcome GamzattisBallade,
I think it would be quite fun to play in a group context. Cafe Vienna is a really nice piece, I enjoyed playing it a lot. I am now working on Little Brown Jug. Slowly, but surely!!
You will really love the information and support here at piano forum.

Also working on Book#1. Got to page 49 today. I think I already get the two songs down. I don't really know the slur, tie, or any of the terms. Guess hvae to go back and read it.

New to piano and this forum also. Ordered my Alfred books which will be here tomorrow. Looking forward to being part of this forum and learning all I can.

cmm

Welcome to the Alfred Book 1 forum JDSY, shruti, GamzattisBallade, Uyhor_Eav, and CMM.

It's nice to see a bunch of new folks joining us. I'm sure you'll find motivation, support, helpful suggestions and others who have struggled with the very same things you will need help with. I know I have and it has kept me going when I thought I couldn't get past something difficult. This forum and particularly this thread has been one of the most important parts of my piano journey so far.

Good luck with your Alfred's Book 1!

Wow! great to see so many starting the Alfred's course, welcome aboard folks!

Welcome to all the new people here! I'm a newbie too. I got my Yamaha keyboard for Xmas and I am having a BALL!!!!! I started with a couple of other books, but needed more help, so I found this place and Alfred. I'm now on page 50 or so...up to the BTMD song. EYYYYYYYY. Now I know why people have so much trouble with that song. The fingerings aren't difficult..the rhythm is! I give it two or three shots and then I move on to some other song I can already play pretty good.

The piano has given me such joy...it's unbelievable. Although I would REALLY REALLY love to have a piano, my hubby is in a wheelchair and we don't have much room...so the keyboard is the perfect thing. Plus, I will be able to take it places once I get better and play for my family.

Welcome again!
Nancy
Crivitz, WI

I just got my Alfred book this weekend spent some time on Saturday with it and yesterday I didn't get to play anything from it but I did do some finger exercises. Right now I am trying to get my hands working better so I can hit the chords right which seems to be where I keep getting stuck on anything. As for Alfred I am only on pg 23. I keep repeating a lot of it until I am happy with it before I move on. I understand a lot of the timing concepts because I used to be a drummer in high school so the one thing I can do is keep decent time and read music sort of (just not what notes are what) I am very excited to be learning the piano I always wanted to learn. One day I may get an instructor but my schedule sucks for having a teacher and we don't seem to have many by me for some reason.

Just keep going back to review. You'll get it all under your belt before you know it.



Good luck to all the new people that are joining us. Keep updating us on your progress. I love to hear how everyone is coming along.

I have another lesson today. I hope it isn't as bad as the last one.

I just got back from my lesson and it went great. I don't understand it. I wasn't the least bit nervous and I played almost as well as I do at home. Last week I was so nervous I couldn't wait to get out of there.

She has another new student that is now coming in before me. When the lady came out I saw that she was using the Alfred AIO book! LOL At my first lesson the teacher looked trough the book and liked it. She wrote down the UPC code and everything. Guess she was telling the truth.

I'm glad this lesson went better for you GracieCat. I'm sure you'll have more good ones than bad ones over time.

I had a lesson scheduled today but I have a cold and called my teacher to see if he still wanted me to come. I felt ok enough to do it but we both felt it would be best to put it off for a few days until I'm not spewing germs all over the place. The lesson has been rescheduled for Saturday.