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

Can-Can just about drove me nuts, but I managed to get it fairly passable. I moved on, but will keep practicing this one a lot. Being a Marine myself, the Marine's Hymn is pretty close to my heart and I found that one pretty easy. Working through Why am I Blue now. That one has sort of a strange rhythm to it, but doesn't seem all that difficult overall.

My new-to-me acoustic piano is up and running after the tech brought the action back on Friday. Trouble is, everyone in the house is annoyed when I practice on it. We have sort of a small house and the piano is in the main living area. I'll give the old "stuff a big blanket in the back" trick to see if that tones the volume down a bit. I don't want to have to go back to playing my crappy Casio again.

I have a question for those who got past the middle of the book:
Have you already memorized the position of the notes on the staffs?
Cause I didn't, so far, and I find it hard to count the notes in order to identify them every time I learn a new piece.

You really have to work at knowing the notes - you will find your progress impossibly slow if you can't recognize them.

There are a lot of internet games you can play to help you develop the ability to read the notes, for example this one:
http://www.novelgames.com/flashgames/game.php?id=42

I'm not past the middle of the book and one of the things that I'm working on is memorizing the notes on the staff. With the treble clef, at worst it takes me a second or two to know the note. The bass clef is a different story. I know a few of them by sight and have to count to find the others. If they're single notes though, I have been doing a pretty good job of recognizing the intervals and my fingers seem to play the right thing without consciously knowing the note name. The feeling is kind of creepy and if I recognize that it's happening, I get all messed up. I'm guessing that if I keep practicing it, it will come more naturally though.

This is exactly what you want to happen. You actually SHOULDN'T be recognizing the notes as you play, any more than you recognize letters when you read. You can name them if asked, but you don't tell yourself what they are. And you are right; with practice it will come very naturally. And you won't get messed up anymore!

Hi, also new and working my way through alfred's book one. I was quite surprised to find this thread and lots of helpful information. I actually picked the book out at random from a huge wall of books mainly because it had the cd, which is ironically the worst thing about the book. I agree with previous comments in this thread, some solo piano would have been infinitely more useful, rather than the midi fanfare. I actually don't have a piano at the moment and relying on the synthesizers in my setup. They have decent actions, but no pedals and nothing quite like a decent piano sound. Enjoying it nonetheless and plan on finding a teacher to smooth out the rough spots.

I'm on page 55 and working on the infamous blow the man down piece - exactly half way if you count the contents pages. :P

I'm just about half way, and find I still have to 'count up' on most of the notes. A few I recognize by sight, but for the most part, I'm counting to get a 'starting point' From there, I'm relying on intervals. I questioned whether that would impede my progress later, but for now, I'm not worrying about it. I figure the immediate note recognition will come in time. I'm trying to not go the flash card route, although I will if I have to.

I like Michael's reply about not thinking about them. But that may be because I can't recognize them on sight yet

I have an app for my Android phone that will quiz you on the notes. You have to press the corresponding piano key on the screen when the note is shown. There's a practice mode and a 60 second timed mode. It makes for great time killing.

@casinitaly

Thanks for the link, it should come in handy.

@Lefty Chev

I know what you mean; it's just amazing how your fingers will sometimes 'know' exactly what notes to play and I'm sure that with constant practicing it will get better and better.

Thanks to others who also answered to my question, going back to practice now, still got a whole hour ahead of me

I always do this, based on Alfred advices

1) Clap (or tap) the rhythm & count
2) Play & count
3) Play & sing (or say) the notes names
4) Play & sing the words, if any

This will help to memorize the position of the notes




Welcome to this thread Peace-Piece.



I am still working on "Cafe Vienna". I decided to have a recording session this weekend. Here are some pieces I have recorded:


From Alfred All-In-One 1 Book

030 - Waltzing Chords
http://www.box.net/shared/0l8e928gbb

031 - Love Somebody
http://www.box.net/shared/sx8pl9lccr

032 - A Friend Like You
http://www.box.net/shared/ilbtnt1mjo

033 - The Bandleader
http://www.box.net/shared/qexv9usnvo

034 - Money Can't Buy Everything
http://www.box.net/shared/ijtx8ah9io

035 - The Cuckoo
http://www.box.net/shared/dah37u2cfv

054 - London Bridge
http://www.box.net/shared/0hie1aknz8

055 - Michael Row the Boat Ashore
http://www.box.net/shared/8g3s6vsnk8

056 - Blow the Man Down (BTMD)
http://www.box.net/shared/1ip7fiaf6u

057 - Lone Star Waltz
http://www.box.net/shared/4tj9pu76l5



From Alfred Teach Yourself Book

034 - Skip to My Lou v1 - 2011-04-30 v02
http://www.box.net/shared/5keiovetjs

035 - Skip to My Lou v2 - 2011-04-30 v02 (Broken Chords)
http://www.box.net/shared/i2fp2la5zi


Any comment is welcome

On Little Brown Jug now. Not as bad as I thought it'd be. I was expecting worse. Should have it in a day or so.

Fliper,

Listened to several of your recordings. Sounds like you're doing very well, coming right along. I finally finished Alfred 1, then did some songs from other Alfred books and finally am doing songs I find in several places (working up the nerve to try an Einaudi piece).

I quit playing my dp's when I got my Hamilton upright. It sounds great when I play it but not so good in recordings. I miss the easy recording with dp's. Your roland sounds very good and must make recording very easy (but what are all those cables going to mixer?)

Thanks for your comment Edtek.

Regarding recording the piano, you can see the threads
Recording your piano
Recording using the Zoom H4
in "Important Topics on the Adult Beginners Forum" thread
https://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubb...cs%20on%20the%20Adult%20.html#Post972650

If you want to read more, you can see here
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr09/articles/uprightpianos.htm
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan08/articles/pianorecording_0108.htm
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may99/articles/recpiano.htm


To record a DP, the easy way is connect the line out (or headphones out, if there is no line out) to line in of audio interface (that is connected to the computer).

I am using a mixer in the middle because I want to control the monitors through it. Line out of mixer is connected to line in of audio interface. I never tried to record a wav file directely to a usd pen (this is possible with my DP).

I finally nailed The Entertainer. I had major issues with the rhythm HT...then one day it seemed like a light bulb went off, and suddenly I was playing it! Teacher passed me on that one last week.

I'm still working on Amazing Grace. I can pretty much play it HT now, but I haven't added pedal yet and it still sounds "blocky" and "mechanical" and not yet smooth and musical. But its coming along.

I also started on the first piece in book 2. It's extremely easy compared to the last few pieces of book 1 (which is a bit of a relief, TBH), but looks like they pick up in difficulty pretty quickly.

Well, for some strange reason, Little Brown Jug was a snap for me. I play it better than any other song in the book so far. Weird. Chiapanecas on the other hand -- this one is brutal. I can barely get through it at a 60 tempo without mistakes.

Well done. You are almost graduate in Alfred 1 !


My "Alfred All-In-One 1" book does not finish with Amazing Grace. It has more 7 pieces (pages 144 to 159):
- Over the Rainbow
- At Last
- Singin´in the Rain
- Laura
- Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
- The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle
- Chattanooga Choo Choo

Everybody finished Alfred 1 with Amazing Grace. Are these pieces a bonus and should be considered extra to Alfred 1 course?

You must be using the newer Self Teaching book, and yes, they are extra, or a bonus as you say. Enjoy!

Finally done with blow the man down. I was skeptical after reading posts here describing it as relatively difficult because it looked quite simple on paper. It took four practice sessions and two days to put it all together. Those damn eighth notes. Also finished lone star waltz which is fun to play, though I still screw up the switch the higher octave on the repeat.

I then decided I would try to record the pieces I'm worked on so far, to make sure I really had them down and wasn't just deluding myself. Wow, I'm a horrible performer under pressure and the recordings also brought out those little imperfections I must have blocked out - lots of work to do. Also a little bummed out that I don't have a weighted keyboard and it could be holding me back. Might have to take the plunge and get one second hand, it's only been 3 weeks but I look forward to practice everyday.

I'm going to fill out that certificate and give it to myself when I'm done.

You guys might think I'm nuttier than a fruitcake, but here goes -

I practiced Amazing Grace with the pedal a couple of times yesterday after my previous post. And, frankly, it didn't go very well. So I put it down with plans to try it again sometime today.

I had a CRAZY dream last night about stacking and rearranging cans of soda and beer. I was stacking the cans on a shelf, then rearranging them, then taking them off of the shelf and stacking them in an ice chest. There didn't seem to be any particular pattern or order to the arrangement of the cans that I can recall, but I distinctly remember consciously putting the cans in a particular arrangement in a particular order, thinking "this one here, that one there," though I didn't know why they should be arranged in that manner, or exactly what the order was.

I woke up this morning, and the first thought in my head (after "wow, what a crazy dream" LOL) was "I want to go play Amazing Grace.". And guess what? It's not perfect, but it's VERY GOOD, miles and miles better than yesterday!

I'm not one to try to "interpret" dreams, but I can't help but wonder...during the can stacking dream, was my brain processing and rearranging information subconsciously, and "learning" the piece of music while I slept? Was my can stacking dream how my consciousness perceived my subconscious learning while I slept?

Pretty crazy stuff, huh?

Oh....and thanks for the congratulations, fliper! My lesson is later today. I think my teacher might pass me on Amazing Grace! Wish me luck!

Gahdzila,
I'll bet that's exactly what happened! Your unconscious brain was processing the information you'd fed it, and though you didn't recognize what it was doing, it somehow reorganized the material into a useful form.

OTOH, I dreamt last night that I showed up naked to a job interview. My playing hasn't improved as a result.