Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum After Alfred's Level 1 - Am I ready for a repertoire book?

which series are you working out of again?

Keith Snell.

Cunparis,

I'm so glad things are going well for you!

I'm sorry the melodies weren't too interesting. They always won't be. But level 2 is, yes, where the 'real classics' begin. There are Bach minuets, a Burgmuller etude, and quite a few other pieces that are very nice and staples to a good background.

Was the material in the etudes book actually easier, or did your playing improve enough from playing the Classical/Baroque book that your were able to pick them out easier? Either way, congratulations, and good luck with levels 1 and 2.

I think it's a combination of both, but the Etudes book is definitely easier. I spent a 30-60 minutes on each piece in the classical book and I'm already half way through Etudes. Maybe at the next levels the Etudes would be as or more difficult, I do not know. I'm just enjoying a "break".

I "finished" the Etudes book. My goal was to work through all the songs before I go on vacation. Next up is the Romantic Book. And then I'll have to pick some pieces to polish and work on them for a few sessions. And I also have festival collection prep book to do.

I was not that motivated for Etudes because I thought it'd be hard and not real songs, just exercises. I was wrong. They were easier than baroque/classical and they were melodical (somewhat). The reason I really enjoyed the Etudes is because I could work through the book quickly. It wasn't frustrating for me. I feel like I'm making progress. I feared I had purchased too much music at the prep level getting Snell + Festival Collection but now that I can work through the pieces quickly it's actually quite fun to play a variety of pieces. And I feel like I'm building a good base.

Romantic & Festival Collection will have to wait until after my vacation.

I thought I'd update this thread with my progress. I had to take off for 3 1/2 weeks while we were on vacation to see my family. It turned out to be a wonderful vacation. While near the canyons and national parks in northern Arizona I was introduced to the native american flute. I just had to come back home with one. Which I play daily. That has taken some time away from the piano unfortunately. Once one goes 3 1/2 weeks without practice it's hard to get back in the habit, especially with a new toy. Fortunately I'm pretty bored at our weekend meals with the grandparents and they have an old out of tune piano. So I still get a few hours of practice a week, much to the dismay of the family who'd rather watch TV.

I "finished" the Snell Prep romantic book which concludes the Snell prep level. I'm a bit ashamed to say I didn't polish any of them. So I decided that I will pick pieces from the Festival Collection (prep level) for polishing. The main reason is that it comes with a CD and I can use that to get an idea of what my playing should sound like. I didn't realize that would be so important. With the Snell books I did not get the CD and I could be missing out on things such as phrasing, dynamics, etc. I hope the Festival Collection with its CD will help that and I can finish off the Prep level.

I also realized that playing one song for 30-45 minutes isn't that much fun. As II has suggested, I want to split it up. I plan to play one song from the repertoire book and one song from Alfred's Level II. I'll see how that goes.

PS: For anyone interested - the native american flute is really simple to play. Mine, as most, is tuned to a pentatonic minor scale. With 5 notes (6 including octave) you can pretty much play any combination of notes and it sounds good. I use it to practice improvising and or just relaxing. I don't try to play western music with it but rather just play whatever I feel. I highly recommend it. If anyone is interested they cost around $100 and I can give you the name of the flutemaker who made mine. If I can get my microphone working I will try to record something. I just got a new mic and it's not working so I have to exchange it so it'll be another few weeks. My goal is to play something on the piano as an accompaniment and then play the flute on top.

Hi cunparis,

I know this thread is pretty old now, but I was reading it with so much interest and I was wondering how its going with your Keith Snell books? What level have you reached so far?
I myself am doing the Masterwork Classics series and just finished the Level 3 book last week, I just have to polish some more pieces and then I'll start the Level 4 book.

All the best.

Hi, sorry for the late reply. I hate to admit it but I've slowed down on the repertoire book. But I haven't stopped piano. I've just been playing out of song books that I like and I've been learning some accompaniment patterns in order to make some simple backings for the other instruments I play. I guess I'm not that motivated by the classical music pieces. But I really do want to finish the books I have. I got through Snell's level 1 and I'm half way through the Festival Collection level 1. I already purchased level 2 so I really need to finish level 1 and get on with it. (It starts at Prep which is like level 0 so I'm about half way through the books I purchased)

So the RCM's Celebration Series and Masterwork Classics are the only series that have their pieces organized by level of difficulty in their books whether in the book itself or in the teacher handbook, is this correct?

Because I wanted something like this except the RCM series seems better because it has studies, allowing the student to refer to those pieces when he needs to revise a specific technique. Besides it also has another thing in the teacher handbook I wanted, which is small notes about each piece and what concepts it introduces.

[EDIT] Never mind, I just found out about Masterwork Practice & Performance books that complement the Masterwork Classics series. Still, I'd like to know about more series similar to these two.
I might be wrong, which is why I'm posting this. Is there another series that fits these requirements?