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I wonder if the relation to jazz that your friend was hearing is the freeness of the playing.

Okay, here is my recording of The Cuckoo: Cuckoo.mp3

I played it an octave higher than the middle C, and slowed it down on the ending.

Nice! I thought of slowing down at the last note, then I thought that was Johnny D's signature play! Thanks for sharing! I really enjoyed it. what's the tempo in your play? I think mine was set to 150, I thought that was fast. Yours is even faster. I can't keep up with your play:)

Lyn and PianoStudent88, thanks for sharing the thoughts! now that you mentioned it, I started thinking about those blues pattern taught in the book and I don't see the similar pattern in the notes of Amazing Grace. I think you both are correct! I guess my friend's ears are trained with classical music, anything that is non-classical may sound like jazz to her... (she can recognize it's Amazing Grace melody immediately but it may sound very different from what she knows about the song...)

Yes, I have a tendency to speed up my play. It would probably be better for me sometimes to slow it down and try to keep the rhythm, especially while learning a new piece, but you know a lot of times I'll hit a part in a song where I have to concentrate more on where the fingers go and then I get nervous and speed up. Then I just end up playing the whole thing faster.

I used the metronome one time while learning this version of Cuckoo. I had it set at 136 and that was a little slower than I had been playing it. For the recording, I didn't use a metronome. I just sat down and made about ten quick takes until I played it correctly (at least I think it's correct).

But what I really liked about learning this song was playing it an octave higher. It reminds me of the sound a song being played on a music box.

Congratulations on your new keyboard! It looks and sounds really nice based on the promo video I saw of it.

Now that you have weighted keys and pedals, you might want to go back and review some of the pieces that use pedaling and/or varying dynamics (forte, piano, etc.).

Johnny D
Being self taught I had the same idea and I've been doing that -the sound is so much different and my playing smoother that it's really worthwhile to "expand and polish" within level 1. I had set a goal to move onto Level 2 this year but I'm not in a big hurry to do so.

Wish 4 Thing and Johnny D
I really enjoyed your versions of The Cuckoo - I don't have that song in the Basic Book - but it's so good to hear how everyone is doing.

Here are some more recordings:

Scarborough Fair.mp3

Scarborough Fair was one of the songs I looked forward to learning when I first got my Alfred's book. It didn't take too long for me to basically learn it, but I still kept making mistakes on it in the following weeks. Perhaps my problem is that my sight reading needs to be a little better. Anyhow after a few attempts to record this over the past couple of weeks, I finally got something I am happy with. It's not perfect but it sounds a lot better to me than it did a few days ago.


Raisins & Almonds.mp3

Raisins & Almonds didn't seem as difficult as some of the previous songs, maybe because there wasn't too much new to learn in it. It is in D minor just like Scarborough Fair, and has a similar bass line. I know I kind of messed up the arpeggio ending on this recording, but I decided to post it anyhow.


Cuckoo.mp3 (Alfred's version)

Also, I decided I'd go back and record the Alfred's version of Cuckoo in case anyone was interested.


Comments and critique welcome.

Wish4 Thing, I just realized that I think I didn't play the Cuckoo an octave higher, only the left hand was played an octave higher, the right hand was the same as it was in the sheet music.

Nice work, Johnny D!

I like the softness of Scarborough Fair, left hand softer.

I also like Raisins & Almonds, very clear dynamics.

smooth 1/8 note too! I remember it took me some time to smooth out the 1/8 notes in these 2 pieces.



I was wondering...:) I played by the original sheet... it's probably better for me coz I can't play soft on my piano (I think I mentioned my keys seem heavier than others, my friend said that's because I didn't play often enough... so I tend to bang it so it will make sound:), left hand being 2 octive lower made it sound softer, I hope:)

Lyn: thanks for the comments! How's the new piano? I have a 76 non-weighted keyboard that got me started... then one day I was on business trip in Denver Convention Center Marriott, they have a grand piano sitting in the lobby, I played Lullaby from the book, it felt so different! So I upgraded my keyboard to a baby grand, then tried to replay some of the pieces from Alfred's book. Till today, I still can't play those Hanon exercises on this piano up to the tempo on the CD because of the key weight! I used to be able to do it on my non-weighted keyboard... Hope you are having fun!

Ok, I need to get back to my Amazing Grace, haven't been able to get a satisfying recording... and haven't got time to practice for several days... will report back in a couple of weeks, hopefully:)

Thanks, I have been trying to get the left hand to play softly and consistently on Scarborough Fair. It took an awful lot of practicing.

As to the 1/8th notes, the metronome helped with that. Practiced with the bpm set a little slower until I got a feel for it, then just tried to relax. For Raisins and Almonds the 1/8th notes didn't seem too difficult because of having practiced it on Scarborough Fair.



Not sure if you've heard of it, but there's this guy from Estonia who has a video piano course on the internet: Jaak Sikk's Video Piano Course

The first month is absolutely free with no obligations, no credit cards needed or anything. You just need an email address to sign up. Then if you want to continue after the first month, you can pay to subscribe to the rest of his course, but there is no pressure to do so.

The course is actually quite good for self-learners like ourselves in order to get a little instruction on exercises to build strength in the fingers, learning proper technique in striking the keys, hand positions, etc.

Supposedly you can video yourself playing and send it to him and he will comment on your playing.

Nice recordings, smooth. I also noticed the dynamics, sound good in the piece.

I am now in "The Stranger" - page 129. "Jericho" still need training.

Thanks for the information, Johnny D! I'll keep this in mind. will give it a try in late Sept...

(a friend of mine bought me a guitar and one year lessons that I haven't had time to get on it for 3 months now... too many things to learn/do, too little time...)

Finally, this is my Amazing Grace...


Man, I sweat over playing this piece more than walking on trail for 80 minutes... still, it's not perfect... As always, welcome any feedback and critiques.

Congratulations on your continued progress.

The Stranger isn't in my book. Looks like they cut out a lot of the jazz numbers.

As to Jericho, I struggled for a while trying to get the timing right on that one. I even went back and would relearn earlier songs in the book while trying to get Jericho down.

Finally one night I was watching an American football match, and when they went to a commercial break, I rushed downstairs to the kitchen. On the way I first stopped by the piano and sped through Jericho without really thinking. To my surprise it came out right, for the first time. I'm not sure why it did, but it did.

So, anyhow, I think you're right to move on to the next song but to still keep practicing Jericho a bit here and there. It should come together for you.

Wish4 Thing, very nice on Amazing Grace. You play with a steady and appropriate tempo, no hesitations, a clear sense of pulse, and handle the rolls in the second half with grace and musicality. Well done!

It sounds good. Wow, I wasn't expecting so many triplets in that song.

If anyone is interested, here is a video reply he sent one of his students about piano playing technique. It should be quite helpful for anyone trying to learn by themselves:



In his online lessons he introduces the basics of what he is talking about here, but in this video response he is going into more depth.

Thanks for the encouragement, PianoStudent88! I was playing along with the CD... that was why I sweat so much trying to keep up with the tempo with no mistakes (and to correct my sinking wrist problem at the same time...)

Now with the first few songs in Faber's book, since they don't have tempo mark, I feel a little bit lost but I guess I'll just keep going with my own tempo... maybe it will turn out to be a good exercise for me. As when I played Amazing Grace, I felt more at ease without CD even at a faster pace...



Thank you, Johnny D, for sharing the good stuff!

Interesting... I trained myself lifting my hands between slurs (is it called "phrasing"? ) This teacher does it even within slurs, I got to try this when I get to this piece

Oh one more observation that might be relevant... my friend's son's teacher taught him to rotate his hands left and right (instead of up and down), I guess it makes his hands rolling across keys more smoothly. I thought it's a good exercise too...



Those blues were always road blockers for me... somehow I felt like they can twist my mind so that my fingers don't listen to me any more... I had to stop for a while (days, weeks, even years ) and then come back to them later when my brain functions more properly...:)

They must have caused trouble for a lot of people because Alfred's removed many of those from the updated Self-Teaching version published in 2008.

Blues songs that were removed are:
Chasing the Blues Away
Blues for Wynton Marsalis
Good People
The Stranger

Note that all of these songs are available in a separate book, Alfred's Basic Adult Jazz/Rock Course, so if anyone still wants to learn these kinds of songs, they are still available as a supplement, side study.