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

Banjoman - Playing another instrument generally is a great aid in learning piano. You'll have quite a leg up on the average beginner with it. I'm so glad that you'll be playing in Charlotte this September. I'll probably make the trip to see you! Remember us "little people" when you're playing in Ovens or the Belk. Hey, James Taylor can't hog all the NC publicity forever! Here's a nice little ditty from 1854 that we could duet to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YrfLnlrquo&feature=related

Jeff - I'm left-handed too! At least we'll never have "weak bass" notes!

Coriander - Welcome, and may you find a "piano home" here as well. Life sometimes "waylays" our plans, but we can all find our way back in time! Congrats on finding a teacher too!

I am working on Strangers in the Night right now, just after having finished "When the saints go marching in" at tempo and by heart (teachers decission!). My teacher main assignments are Prelude in C (BWV 846 Bach) and Solfeggietto (Bach) out of the book, but they are nice pieces.

So things are going slowly with the book, but they go forward anyway!

I got passed on the Prelude in C and the Saints so now I will try to go for the other two...

Welcome to the thread Banjoman, Coriander, and Jeff. Welcome back GustavoF, haven't seen you in a while.

I have finally started working on The Entertainer and Amazing Grace. Amazing Grace seems fairly easy to me but The Entertainer is a challenge to get through so far. I've only tried it a couple times though. I like both pieces so I won't mind working on them.

I have several pieces waiting for my teacher to pass me on. Scarborough Fair, Raisins & Almonds and He's Got the Whole World are ready for approval (He's Got was actually ready at my last lesson but we ran out of time). The only problem is my teacher is away at a conference for a couple weeks and the lesson I should be having this coming Wednesday has to be rescheduled and I don't know yet when that will be. So I keep playing them. The extra practice wont hurt but it takes time away from new pieces.

I'm also working on Memory from the Greatest Hits book. It's pretty easy and sounds nice but there is one little spot that gives me trouble. I am zeroing in on that spot and doing it over and over but when I try to play the whole thing through I get stuck there again.

I'm also trying to find time to start working on Christmas pieces. I have Alfred's Christmas Piano Book 1 and they all have duet parts. My son's girlfriend is a very good pianist and she want's to play the duet parts with me. I think that will be fun and will provide me with some practice playing in front of people (shudder!!). More Eggnog please.

My work in the book is going really slowly as she is mainly giving me work from outside the book... but I don't mind, I feel I am progressing, so that is a great feeling!

But I keep an eye here.

Thanks for the welcome Coriander & Doug F.

Coriander - Finding others pursuing the same goal is very encouraging. Right now, just having the muscle memory kick in on the very simple left hand / right hand exercises is thrilling.

Doug F - I can relate to your tag line at the bottom:

I have a great memory, it's just short.

I really like that.

What a difference a day makes!

After stumbling through a completely unrecognizable rendition of The Entertainer a couple times yesterday, I have the right hand just about beaten into submission today. This one might not take me as long as I thought it would at first pass.

Yippee!! My weekend will probably be spent working on the left hand and then hands together. It's supposed to rain here anyway.

Hi! Enjoyed my trial lesson so onward I go! Made it through Rock-Along on page 13. Homework is pgs1-13 and the corresponding sections in the coordinating theory and finger aerobics pages.

hi. I started the AIO book about a week and a half ago and am having a lot of fun learning to play with both hands. I used to play the violin during high school, so playing an instrument that can do chords makes music sound so much richer. Anyway I'm up to When the Saints (both versions) and am working on getting the chord changes on LH and RH nice and clean without hitting wrong notes. Cya!

Welcome singalfromzero and agentmorgan. It's nice to see some new people getting started. Keep us updated on your progress. Lots of new people getting moving in book #1 now, and several other people have made it to the middle.

For me, I'm half-way finished Entertainer. I do pretty well until I hit the 11th measure. I've played that stinking measure over and over and it's still like hitting a wall when I get there. I did finish Amazing Grace but I haven't had a quiet enough house so I can record it.

Looks like Doug, Emissary, NancyMae, and AimeeO are just about ready to get into book #2. When do you guys think you'll start to book #2? I'm thinking about 2 weeks for me. I still want to work a little more on a few things before changing books.

A big welcome to singalfromzero and agentmorgan from me too!

GracieCat I think it will probably be at least late August before I am ready for Book 2.

I am well into The Entertainer and play both right and left hands separately fine and can do HT very slowly. Amazing Grace is a little further behind, I am still working on it HS.

I still have to get passed on Scarborough Fair, Raisins & Almonds and He's Got. They have been ready for a while but my lessons are only every 2 weeks and my teacher is away this week. I normally would have had a lesson tomorrow but it will have to be rescheduled and I don't know when yet. I have to keep playing those 3 pieces to keep them fresh and am kind of tired of them. They take up precious practice time.

I am coming along pretty good on Memory and may have that one finished too by the time I have my next lesson.

Hey everybody! Welcome to all the newcomers in the past couple of weeks!

GracieCat - I am finished with book one! My still teacher hasn't decided if we are going to continue with Alfred's, so I don't know when I am going to start book 2. I bought it and book 3 before I started lessons, so I will eventually start it, even if I have to do it my own. Maybe on the next week or so. I remember having the same problem with the Entertainer. I had to play it over and over before I got it. That's one of those spots where I am my own worst enemy - I know I'm going to mess it up, and I do.

Doug, I hope your lesson comes around soon - I would go crazy if I kept having to play Scarborough over and over. I don't know why, but that one was my least favorite.

Thanks for the welcome. The "one horse open sleigh" two measures of Jingle Bells is *killing* me. And I think the more I practice, the worse I got. Decided to stop and try again later.

Welcome all new people! This is a great forum and you will get alot of great advice on how to proceed...we have all been there...so there are alot of areas of problems that are similar with the music. The people here are just wonderful and so supportive!

Interesting discussion on left handedness. I have recently changed over from using primarily a digital (not one that has the weighted keys like a piano) to an acoustic. I have had to put more pressure on my hands in order to change. I have noticed that I am really pounding alot harder on my left hand, so much so, I'm drowning out my right hand. I guess I should be practicing some right hand exercises in my Aerobics book.

Getting to Book 2. I'm on Entertainer now and my teacher is pushing me fast. She doesn't need me to make sure pieces are polished. I used to spend about a month on each one...and I sort of miss that. I don't want to move on until I can get something down well. I'm not in a rush...so I have to talk to her about that. She gave me Entertainer, Finlandia, Whole World in His Hands (ick) and a piece out of a classical book, I haven't even started yet!! (My lesson is on Wed!!). But I would rather work and do my pieces almost perfectly before moving on. But that is just me. I think I almost have Entertainer down--so I think she will put me on Amazing Grace this week...so I should be in Book 2 sometime in August.

I haven't even looked at Book 2..think I will tonight!

Have a Great Day everyone!

Nancy

agentmorgan - Don't feel too bad about Jingle Bells! I didn't exactly "blow it out of the water" when I was learning to play it. After reading your post, I tried it again and it took me about 3 run-throughs to get it up to snuff! The Entertainer seems easier to play at this point! For the level you're at, it's a hard song! Hey, maybe a shot of "Captain Morgan" during the evening session might reduce your stress level!

GracieCat - Speaking of the Entertainer, I still have a bit of a problem with measure 11 too. My hands "tense up" just for that little collection of notes. I wondered if it was me being left-handed, but I'm not sure this is the case. The rest of that piece I could probably play with my toes by now if I had to. Amazing Grace isn't that "amazing" but is getting a little more "graceful"!

DougF - I feel like I'm in the same boat constantly playing The Entertainer and Amazing Grace to death relieved only by "Good King Wenceslas" which is coming along rather well! You realize that if you don't play the material your teacher expects you to play well, you'll get rusty on them, but then play them so much you're starting to get sick of them! A quandary of sorts!

The nice thing about Good King Wenceslas is that it is constructed of a series of chords that need to be played rather quickly to sound musical! It's also in 4/4 time so it's kind of a break from Alfred's which seems to have a lot of 3/4 pieces. I've also played a couple of musical selections (e.g. Brahm's Lullaby) from the Faber's Adult Piano Adventures 2. It has some nice pieces and even though it's their level 2 book, I'd say it starts with music that's on the same level as Alfred's Book 1, after Blow the Man Down! It has a little more theory and practice pieces and every once in a while, I pick up a concept or idea that seems worthwhile and can apply to a current Alfred's selection. Hey, I'll steal from anybody!

I'm going to switch to Book 2 in another week or two! I just need to polish up the last two Book 1 pieces to a point where if I had a teacher, I'd get passed on both of them!

Thanks for the welcome everyone. I'm finding it now taking much longer to move on to the next tune. Lullaby I can play passibly every once in a while. Joy to the World is in the same boat. Got Those Blues! I've only messed with once. I did manage to get What a Wonderful World learned and have uploaded it to youtube.

Nancymae - I was wondering how you were doing with your new piano. When I went from my non-weighted old digital piano to my new one, it was quite a shock! I've also noticed a difference in touch and feel between my digital piano and my friend's acoustic piano. It's hard to describe the difference, but it's there! I also have to restrain my "smarter" left hand a bit, otherwise I have a tendency to drown out a bit of the melody, altho', that seems to be less of a problem as time goes by. At least, with a "weighted keyboard" your fingers are going to get stronger the more you play! This will make it easier to "strangle" any "music critics" out there, which can be a very handy attribute!

Banjoman- Another nice job on "What a Wonderful World"! The Greatest Hits books tend to have sightly harder material than Book 1 so you can give yourself a pat on the back for that one! I always think of the late Louis Armstrong when I hear that tune, as it's been used so widely in TV commercials. Keep those videos coming!!!

I am having a love-hate relationship with Scarborough Fair. I really do like the piece but I can't seem to make it all the way through without a mistake somewhere if I am pedaling. Hands separate, hands together, slow, fast no problem. As soon as I add the pedal, whammo, mistakes appear out of nowhere. It's getting very frustrating since I have been playing it for over 4 weeks now. I don't have any trouble with Raisins & Almonds and it's very similar to SF. I don't have any trouble with He's Got... and I'm not having much trouble with The Entertainer. I am longing for my teacher to either help me with it or tell me we can move on but I don't know as yet when my next lesson is. I feel like the person who needs their shrink and he/she's out of town.

Doug F - I think the vast majority of us who are at the end of the book have a love-hate relationship with pedaling! I'm in the school of either all-pedal or no-pedal at this point. In looking at Scarborough Fair, I can remember pedaling constantly on until "one who lives" and then going back to full-on pedal. That eliminated a lot of problems with the song! I just think that if you can pedal like the book suggests, then more power to you! I can't, at this point, and probably won't be doing it as indicated, for quite some time! I just don't think it's a critical issue to deal with. If I had a teacher that had a "problem" with my attitude on this, if they had strong objections, he or she would be an ex-teacher in short order! It's funny you bring up this issue ... my "50 Greatest Christmas Hits" just uses a simple "with pedal" with none of those pedal point lines ...on songs that need it! That's just the way I like it! Pedal to the metal and play on!!!!

Craig, my teacher is a stickler for things like rhythm, dynamics, and tempo. He doesn't mind the occasional missed note or starting over a couple times. We have been working on proper pedaling techniques so I wouldn't get away with not lifting at least in the vicinity of the markings. I can miss by a little bit but I have to at least be trying. I can tell by the sound now when I should lift but it's just something else to complicate things. I get excited now when I see a new piece with no or little pedaling. So far it seems I can only do 4 things at once, LOL

Doug - It's interesting how pedaling is much easier on some songs than others. I didn't seem to have a problem with Raisins and Almonds like I did with Scarborough Fair. It just felt more comfortable to pedal at the marked points. I guess I empathize with the description of Gerald Ford, by Lyndon Johnson as "that guy can't chew gum and tie his shoelaces at the same time". I resemble that remark! But it's not like I ever played Scarborough Fair at "prestissimo speeds" either and couldn't keep up! Raisins and Almonds just "breathes better" for lack of a better description and I can manage it for some obscure reason! Does that, in any way, make sense to you? If it does, please explain it to me!