Ah, now I understand. Actually, when I read “working on some beginner teaching pieces for my instructor”, I thought she might be having you help with some teaching in someway.

Me? I just had my butt kicked by “Just a Good Old Tune” in book 3. I finally put it to bed and made a recording that I wouldn’t want anyone to hear. The alternating between a 3-5 and 2-4 fingering really did me in (in one spot I could manage it, but in the other I never did get it down satisfactorily). Like trills, it’s something I’m just going to have to keep working on.

Undone

HI to all the Alfred threes! I will also do what I can to keep this thread from disappearing as well. I am with you "IngridT" in moving slowly through this book. I have finished the "Well Tempered Clavier" and am now on "Trumpet Tune". I intend to continue through to the end with "Moonlight Sonata" which I started last year, but we ( my instructor and I ) thought it best to wait.

I am also working on pop music and just playing around. I am also looking forward to starting a band with like minded folks who just want to play. There are three of us and we really won't get going until July. I need to finiah these last two sections of my final course and I will be partying in May!

take Care

I've started working on Laredo now. I'm just getting past the initial "note reading" fumbling and into the part where it starts to sound like music. I've been finding a lot more "finger challenges" in some of the recent selections. Especially for someone with fat fingers like me.

Undone

Hi all!

short update from me: currently working on Blue Rondo. It's been ages since I played anything blues-like. I've got the separate 'sections' more or less under control, now I only need to smoothen the transitions a bit. Although I used to really like playing blues/boogie/ragtime pieces out of the previous books, this one doesn't really excite me. It's kind of nice, but nothing more then that. Oh, well, I still like working on some 'shorter' pieces again, and I really enjoyed the last 2 ones in Am. Especially the Adagio. I worked on it a bit more last week, trying to get the melody a bit louder, and the rest (chords & part of the right hand) more as a background. Good technical exercise, made me quite proud that I really improved. Different loudnesses between 2 hands (or even within one hand) is something that's not one of my stronger points.

I seem to remember that the next piece is Laredo? So we're quite close Undone!

Ingrid

IngridT - I agree with you 100%. Blue Rondo didn't do anything for me either, but I thought Adagio was a very nice piece.

Undone

Hi all,

Well I'm certainly behind in my #3 stuff but that's only coz I've been busy "wondering in another meadow" Almost ready to (hopefully) record the following...

Forest Gump - Feather Theme (my nemesis)
Bella's Lullaby (Twilight)
River Flows in You (Twilight)
La Nascita Delle Cose Segrete (Einaudi)
Primavera (Einaudi)

I'm hoping to start squeezing back into #3 and I've also changed my lessons to twice a month as oppose to weekly. Just too much going on at work to have enough done each week in time for lessons.
- SC

Undone...



Ha. So it's not me. I'll just finish it up and move on! is Laredo a good piece?

I'm spending quite a bit of time at the moment with a small music group that my kid's elementary school started up a few yrs ago. It's fun! I'm working with about 5 kids aged 8-12 in preparing a few songs for a small recital next month. really beginners stuff... but's it's nice to work with the kids and make something cute out of 'oh when the saints go marchin in'! Back to square one! (although..to get a flute, violin and piano to sound good together is quite a challenge!)

Ingrid

TTigg – So what you’re basically saying is that you’ve gone out into the big wide world but hope to come and visit book 3 sometime when you get the chance. Well, at least you’re still writing home from time to time. (All said in jest – good to hear that your keeping active and working on some great pieces).

Undone

Yep but I do have to squeeze #3 back in there somehow else it's going to take WAY too long to finish it! I hope to be back onto this in the next month-2 once I've got the other recordings finished up

I just wanted to drop in and give a quick update.

I'm currently working on "Adagio in A Major". I'm working on various other pieces as well but I'm still stuck on "Nocturne".

Good to hear from you Cyborg. I liked both of those pieces your working on, and if memory serves (a rarity), they both lead to even better pieces in the Advanced section.

Undone

I've been skipping around and working on "Trumpet Tune". Now, I have some more free time... no grad school and spring break from work!

Just a quick check in-

Finished the last piece in the 2nd Romatntic Impressions book. Now waiting for book 3 to arrive. Am almost but not quite there with the Vangelis Hymne. A few chord transitions and the tremolo at the end still hanging me up. And we started on Crisofori's Dream, also.

On an outside of lesson note, hubby and I went to see Trans Siberian Orchestra last week. They are touring right now with Beethoven's Last Night. As always with them it was a stellar show. And made me start pulling out the few Beethoven pieces I have attempted to play. Haven't quite mustered the courage to go back into Moomlight Sonataa, tho!

Happy Birthday Mak

Thanks!

Yes, a belated Happy Birthday Mak and I’m jealous of your getting to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra live!

Undone

Progress update: I finished “Jazz Ostinato” this past weekend and have now moved on to “The Tap Dancer” and “Moonlight Sonata”. Jazz Ostinato is nothing I’d care to keep in my repertoire, but it was a lot of fun to play (especially if you try to speed it up a bit). Moonlight Sonata is at the end of the book but at the bottom of Jazz Ostinato it states “you can now try Moonlight Sonata…” so I’ve started working on it. I’m sure I’ll be working on if for some time to come which is why I’m also continuing on in the main section of the book.

Undone

Yea, Moonlight mov 1 seems like only moderately difficult technically, plus it has a slow pace, but it's quite long. Learning the whole thing would take quite a while.

One of my long term fantasies would be learning the 3rd mov of this haunting classic

HI Mak and belated Happy Birthday! Aren't TSO GREAT! I missed them last year and vowed that I wouldn't miss another concert! I am just starting "Moonlight Sonata" (1) and I am only on the seventh measure:-) I agree with Waltz, the piece is slow pace.

Take care!

Thank you! Yes, TSO always put on an awesome show. We missed the Christmas show last year, so whane we got the fan club info about Beethoven's Last Night, we had to go!

Moonlight is slow piece, but there are tricky bits! I can't say I ever "mastered" it, but for where I am now, it was ok. My teacher says we will revisit it at a later date!

Quick question (that makes NO sense whatsoever because im only half way through book ONE!) but, where do you go after you finish book three ? if your teaching yourself from books as I am, what are your choices once you've finished this series ?

SsL - see the link below to a post of mine in this thread from Feb. of last year - this should give you some ideas, at least if you're at least partially interested in Classical piano studies:

What's maybe next?

As far as popular music, etc. the choices are virtually unlimited - check out the many compilations and anthologies avaiable at www.sheetmusicplus.com for example.

JF

JF – You beat me to it, and I was just going to recommend you as a source! Here’s what I was about to post:

This post mentions a few ideas: Life After Alfred Book 3

There was also another series of posts that had a great list of some of the various repertoire books that would make a good place to go after book 3, but I haven’t been able to find that one again. Maybe JF would remember it.

Undone

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I just had a quick look at Alfred's Essential Keyboard Repertoire and thats pretty much exactly what I was looking for. Id never heard of that before but it looks really comprehensive. 8 volumes I think !

I suppose another good way to go for developing technique and sight reading skills after finishing the All In One course would be the study books for the actual piano grades ?

I stopped in Alfred's #3 without doing much there. I just didn't enjoy the music as much. I'm doing the Piano grades that they do here: http://www.nationalmusiccertificate.org/index2.html

I started on level 3; then didn't take the exam (we missed the sign up date. Oops) and now I'm working on level 4 stuff. I enjoy the music and if you do the studies, there's a combination of shorter pieces with the longer pieces in the repertoire book.

I'm currently using EKR 1 - nice selection of early intermediate pieces in their original form, covering a wide time period and variety of composers - easy to read format - recommended

JF

P.S. if you're interested two Baroque minuets recorded by me from EKR 1 can be heard in the April Piano Bar thread.

Nice job on those, John. I enjoyed your playing. I've been taking notes on this thread and the previous ones and compiling a list of books to look forward to when I am at (or almost finished with) Book 3. Since I am currently struggling with the early book 2 pieces, that will be a while, but it's never to early to have a plan. :-)

P.S. I just couldn't get "Light and Blue" in book 2 until I listened to your recording and internalized your LH rhythm. Thanks for posting your pieces. It really helps those coming up behind you.

Thanks mom3 - glad my recording of L&B helped - mine was a modified and slightly expanded version of this, and was one of the few pieces I recorded from any of the 3 books that I was (and still am) completely happy with.

JF

Back after a week away (from pianoworld, not piano), this thread was on page 6 or so, and needed a "bump".

An update: I finished up Invention 8 a couple of weeks ago and actually started on Burgmuller's "25 easy and progressive studies". I also started learning "Zanarkand" (I had learned the intro a while back, but now it's time to learn the entire piece...). Making great progress on both, but contrary to the name, Burgmuller's studies really aren't that easy.

Welcome back (to pianoworld) Waltz. I'm still plugging away at Moonlight (and will be for some time to come) and I'm working on Soldier's Joy (which is taking longer then I initially thought it would).

Undone