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Joined: Jan 2006
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In addition to the Alfred's Adult Book 3, I am working on some Hanon (slowly) and scales and such. And I recently pulled out my copy of Romantic Impressions (Book 1) by Martha Mier. This is also an Alfred published book. I bought it a couple years ago when a group of us here decided to do some focused sight reading work, and this was the book we used. When that was over, I put the book aside. And because that was for sight reading, I never did dig into the pieces to learn them. But I was looking for something to add to my Book 3 lessons and thought this might be good.
Well, my teacher loves it! lol She had not seen this series before (there are 3 in the Romantic series, and a Rock, Pop and Jazz series, and a Christmas series) and was really happy to see something different. So we've been working a lot out of that.
I like it a lot. The style is, as the title suggests, very like Debussy or Ravel's style of music. And I do love a good, melodic, pretty piece of music. But I also know that I am not ready for much of Debussy's stuff. This lets me play that style, with music I can handle. I am definitely getting the other 2 in this sereis, and probably the first Christmas one.
And that's what I've been doing lately.
-Mak
1889 Mason & Hamlin screwstringer upright Kawai MP-4 digital
--------------------------- When life hands you lemons, throw them back and add some of your own. Stupid life.
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Hi gang - currently nearing the end of Alfred 2 - really looking forward to 3 - seems to be a number of good pieces in there from what others have said in the 3 thread, etc.
I also work from several other sources at the same time as Alfred including:
Alfred Basic Adult Sacrad Piano Book, Levels 1 & 2 (90+ classic hymns/ beginner to intermediate level - may upload several of these here.)
The Big Book of Christmas Carols (getting an EARLY jump on the holiday season)
The Easiest Book of Piano Classics
Regards, JF
Every difficulty slurred over will be a ghost to disturb your repose later on. Frederic Chopin
Current favorite bumper sticker: Wag more, bark less.
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Originally posted by Mark...: Not a lot of time for side work. My wife did give me a piece from the TV show "Lost" which is simple yet very nice... Thanks to you, I fell off the sheet music wagon and ordered that piece from Musicnotes last night. Which version do you have? The one I have is 6 pages long and has about two pages of introductory stuff I don't hear on most of the YouTube clips. It also has some mighty big chords in the left hand I'm having a hard time reaching. Sure is pretty in a slow, haunting way, though.
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Originally posted by Monica K.: Originally posted by Mark...: [b] Not a lot of time for side work. My wife did give me a piece from the TV show "Lost" which is simple yet very nice... Thanks to you, I fell off the sheet music wagon and ordered that piece from Musicnotes last night. Which version do you have? The one I have is 6 pages long and has about two pages of introductory stuff I don't hear on most of the YouTube clips. It also has some mighty big chords in the left hand I'm having a hard time reaching.
Sure is pretty in a slow, haunting way, though. [/b]The piece I have is just a two pager of the opening theme..."Win one for the Reaper: Life and Death" It does have some 4 note left handed cords...very slow and interesting sound. And your welcome on the sheet music addiction...lol I'll be looking forward to your recording...
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Hey, Monica-
Remember Carousel Dirge? LOL I started that last week....
-Mak
1889 Mason & Hamlin screwstringer upright Kawai MP-4 digital
--------------------------- When life hands you lemons, throw them back and add some of your own. Stupid life.
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Joined: Nov 2009
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Thought I'd give this thread a bump and see if anyone else wanted to comment on what they're working on. I'm 2-3 pieces into Alfred #2, and am giving Friedrich Burgmüller's Ballade (Op. 100 No. 15) a try ( YouTube, peek at p. 1). I worked on the first page today and it wasn't too hard, so I'm thinking I should be able to knock out the rest with a couple more days of practice, plus extra for polishing. I like the sixteenth-note lick.
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I'm also playing Friedrich Burgmüller's Ballade and many of the William Gillock pieces like Lengend. October Morning, Autumn Sketch etc to name a few...
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Working hard on Clair de lune. Put meas 15 and 16 hands together today. Starting on 17-18 tonight/tomorrow hands separate. Should get back to Alfred for a while after that. Best of all my CLP380 was delivered today!
Liebestraum 3, Liszt Standchen-Schubert/Liszt arr Sonata Pathetique-Adagio LVB Estonia L190 #7284
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Working hard on Clair de lune. Put meas 15 and 16 hands together today. Starting on 17-18 tonight/tomorrow hands separate. Should get back to Alfred for a while after that. Best of all my CLP380 was delivered today! Congrats on the new piano!
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Mark, I just noticed you had reactivated this thread and thought I'd pass along my efforts since I finished Book 3. My teacher handed me a very old copy of "More Easy Jazz Standards" arranged by Lee Evans. I love them. At the moment I'm working on "I'm Beginning to See the Light" which is fun to play sloppily, and hard work playing it properly. Although it's an overall swinging rhythm, there are a number of chords that come on the "swinging and", so you have to count very carefully. This is new material for me as there was none of this sort of thing in the Alfred series.
In addition, I've gone back to my roots where I'm doing some very modest arrangements of a lead sheet with a stride bass here and there. It's coming a little easier for me this time as the Lee Evans arrangements seem to train the fingers to go to the open voicings.
I miss the discipline of the Alfred series, but I love playing the "jazzy" arrangements of the standards. I think I could be happy spending the rest of my life learning all the Lee Evans arrangements. It would not have been possible for me before Alfreds, but now they are within my grasp, albeit with a lot of work on each piece.
Aspiring Retirement Home Lounge Pianist
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Hi OldFingers, sounds like all the hard Alfred work has paid off. I know many of us sometimes didn't care for some of the pieces in Alfred, but they are an end to a means. I feel its paying your dues. Although, I still am working some of the Ambitious stuff in Alfred 3, my teacher has moved me into some late beginner/early intermediate stuff. Some of it for some reason comes easier than the Alfred pieces. If you like Blues and Jazz, Willian Gillock has some wonderful stuff just right for our level. Check them out on U-tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbb3I6lR2nYMark
Last edited by Mark...; 11/10/09 10:20 PM.
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Hey, I didn't know about this thread. I felt kind of silly posting my supp. pieces in the A3 thread and in the piano bar (since they're not that great), but this is the perfect place for them. Heck yea,
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I was gifted a stack of beginner to intermediate level piano books, and was pleased to discover Jane Bastien's Intermediate Technic 1, 2, and 3 inside. Level 1 looks like a good place to start, as it has some good finger-builders as well as proper fingerings for two octave scales (Alfred only does one, I think). I should be able to find some nice stuff to assign myself here... plenty to keep me occupied until I get a teacher or switch to Snell or whatever I decide to do. Burgmüller's Ballade is coming along, but still needs work. I can play through it now, though. It seems weird that I'd have more trouble with the 2nd page than the first, since it's in the key of C and has fairly simple chords in the LH. It'll come with practice.
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Submitted my Clementi Sonatina (Opus 36 Number 1, part 1) as my ABF recital piece. That was a real stretch for me, and to get it presentable, and I had sort of set aside my Alfred's Book 2 work during the last couple of weeks.
Seeing some Satie recommendations... anyone gone that route?
Casio Ap-200 Almost midway thru Alfred's All-In-One Book Two Blogging my family's piano learning experiences: http://aw2pp.blogspot.com/
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Just got a good new recording of my Recital piece "Leaves on the Seine" by David Lanz - currently working on an excellent arrangement of the beautiful piece "Ashokan Farewell" by Jay Unger (this is the theme from the PBS series "The Civil War").
JF
Every difficulty slurred over will be a ghost to disturb your repose later on. Frederic Chopin
Current favorite bumper sticker: Wag more, bark less.
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John,
I can't wait to hear you play Ashokan Farewell. I have a favorite recording of it as a piano solo by Chuck Leavell. (just fired it up on itunes while typing this). What would you say is the difficulty level for this piece?
Liebestraum 3, Liszt Standchen-Schubert/Liszt arr Sonata Pathetique-Adagio LVB Estonia L190 #7284
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John,
I can't wait to hear you play Ashokan Farewell. I have a favorite recording of it as a piano solo by Chuck Leavell. (just fired it up on itunes while typing this). What would you say is the difficulty level for this piece? Jim - it's the Dan Coates arrangement and is probably "early intermediate" or maybe "intermediate intermediate" level I would guess - it's 4 pages long, has a very active left hand accompaniment part and has consumed more of my study time (a month and a half) than any other piece I've worked on in my 4 years at this great instrument - and i still don't have it down yet! But it's a beautiful piece and a very nice arrangement and well worth the extra effort! JF
Every difficulty slurred over will be a ghost to disturb your repose later on. Frederic Chopin
Current favorite bumper sticker: Wag more, bark less.
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AWTPP: Seeing some Satie recommendations... anyone gone that route? Yep. I did. I have spent summer 2008 working on Gnossiennes 1,2,3,4,5 (6 is still on the list of things to do). I was by that time somewhere in Alfreds book 2 I think. I loved the music, and am still playing them very regularly. Currently I am doing quite a bit of Yann Tiersen next to my alfreds 3 book. Atmosphere wise the music is a bit similar to Satie (listen to the intro of La Valse d'Amelie for example, very Satie-esque), though often a lot faster. Satie is wonderful to play in the evenings. It makes me feel very relaxed, almost meditative. And it sounds so good, while not being terribly complicated. It's also very satisfying to play certain pieces for a longer period of time. They grow on you. They keep sounding better. With the 'normal' Alfreds oieces it's often learning them, playing them, and then move on to the next. But it's good to see what happens if you allow a piece of music to really become 'yours' (hmm. Does that make sense??) Ingrid
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It appears this forum is gone quiet for a while too. I just posted a similar thread over in Alfred's Book 1 forum. For supplemental I picked up Alfred's Jazz, Rags & Blues, Book 1 (so far). I am wondering if anyone cares to comment on that series? I don't think I would have ever even look twice at a Rag if I had not found this book. Now I find I do have some interest there. Book 1 is elementary level - but I have to start someplace. I now have some competency (or at least comfort) with the first three pieces in the book and look forward to continuing.
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