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I'm afraid now! I didn't quite get past Lullaby this week (couldn't convince myself I would make those octave jumps correctly and so hesitated which threw off my timing) but it is very very close. My fear comes from when my teacher assigns Lullaby from both books to be played back to back. I have two songs that I do that right now with my book's arrangement called "A" and Alfred's is called "B" and I have to play them going from one to the next without pause in the pattern A-B-A or B-A-B. Lucky for me the songs aren't difficult (Mary Ann and Saints go Marching in) but I know that Lullaby is lurking out there in both books and the Alfred one is more difficult on the left hand with broken chords vice the block chords I get to play in my book. I'm losing sleep over Lullaby instead of being lulled into a stupor.

Good to hear you had a productive lesson GracieCat, and my teacher too likes Alfred's, I wouldn't be surprised if she moved over to it soon. I showed it to her when I started but she didn't take too close a look at it but when another student also brought a copy in she saw lots of good things to work on.

Zinfan, what two books are you using? I have run into playing the same song in two different books and it's weird. Makes you pay closer attention when you go between the two.

DougF, hope you do well in your lesson. I was really surprised mine went so well.

Feel great, doesn't it?

Piano is patience & persistence. If you struggle, don't be discouraged. No matter how difficult, if you practice enough, it will eventually come together.

Welcome all you new folks. Best wishes to you all.

I'm using this one http://www.amazon.com/Progresssive-...mp;s=books&qid=1267165473&sr=8-4 that my teacher uses and since I have Alfred's AIO book one as well we use it for the variation in songs. What makes it a bit tougher for me is that the songs she picked out use different hands for the melody and chords. If you look at Alfred's version of Mary Ann you can see the left hand plays the melody while the right plays chords. My book is the opposite in that the right hand is playing the melody while the left hand plays chords (broken in this case which makes it a bit harder than the Alfred version)so when I move from one book to the other I have to quickly switch my brain around to which hand is doing what. When the Saints Go Marching In is the same thing with the Alfreds version on pg 47 using the left hand. If you play both versions of Alfreds Saints back to back it is very similar to what I'm doing.

I have to say I'd rather be using Alfreds book as my primary guide since it adds dynamics and more left hand skills earlier than my book does plus the pedal which my book has no mention of at all. And I'd be able to post more in this thread as well

Well, I think it is time for me to move on. My 'Entertainer' is sounding good, and 'amazing Grace' is acceptable. I am not going to put down these two pieces anyway, as I like them so much, but it is time to close this book (almost). I am going to ask my teacher on Monday to say what she thinks about my last songs and if they are ok, to sign the certificate.

And I am going to start Book 2! I might resist over the weekend and start it officially on Monday - March 1st.

Thanks everyone for the support here - there were rough patches along this road, but with your help, it all has gone well! Good luck to you all!

That's fantastic, gintarec. See you over in the Book 2 thread!

Thanks to you too. You've also been a positive influence through Book 1. Congrats! See you in 2.

thanks nguyen.. i am! the thing is i noticed dat a lot of ppl say dey have made progress.. n i dont really know how to do dat.. how do i decide whether i have made any progress..?? lol my tutor gives me d "good for nothing" expression every time i play!

shruti, just keep practicing. You said you are a true beginner. It'll take a little time to get moving as you learn the basics. Most of all, enjoy the process of learning. Go buy a new basic beginners book to have something additional to play with as you go through Alfred's. Enjoy the learning process.

For me, my progress comes in spurts. Right now, I feel like I'm not making any progress. I feel like I'm stuck in one place in the book. We will both move forward once our brains and fingers learn. It just takes time and practice.

Enjoy the process.

I had a lesson today. This was a make up from Wednesday which still included a make up 1/2 lesson from 3 weeks ago. We are finally caught up. I still have a cold and it was exhausting to go but I made it through and am glad I went.

The lesson didn't start out too good. Another one of those "I can play it fine at home" but it falls apart at the studio. However, after I struggled through the first piece it started going fine. In fact a couple pieces surprised me.

The pieces I was ready to perform were Cafe Vienna, Lullaby, Rock It Away, Joy To The World, and Cockles and Mussels. Out of those I thought I had Cafe Vienna, Rock It Away, and Cockles and Mussels down pat.

Cafe Vienna got me. I had played all of these well at home just a couple hours before the lesson so they were fresh, not like when my regular lesson is right after work. I fumbled with this for about 3 times and then finally got it right. I got passed on this one.

Lullaby was next. This one has been a tough one to get together and I thought it would be my worst one. I went through it with no problem other than I still miss the timing in the first whole measure. He passed me on it but suggested I work on it a bit from time to time.

We moved on to Rock It Away and he was impressed by it so it got a pass.

Joy To The World is close but I will keep working on it for next time.

Cockles and Mussels got a pass too. I like this one because it has an "Irish" flavor to it and I like Irish music, being half Irish.

I also played Love Me Tender while he provided a drum and bass beat for me. This went well and was fun to do.

We set up the blues pieces for me to work on and I picked What A Wonderful World as a supplemental piece to begin. We worked through it hands separate.

I have a question if anyone is still reading. When we started the blues pieces he pointed out 2 ways to do the eighth notes. One was the straight eighth beat and the other one was a shuffle or swing beat as pointed out at the bottom of the page. He wants me to be able to do it both ways. Have any of you with teachers run into this yet? Having to do a piece in two different styles?

Hi Doug,
What a great question!! I swing (probably because I listen to jazz music all of the time and it just feels right) without knowing it or intending to. As a matter of fact, my swing was something my teacher asked me to work on (I have to work to NOT DO IT). I don't know how to, in words, describe how to swing. I will leave that to the more knowledgeable and musically articulate individuals on this site (I have read a textbook definition of it and it involves giving unequal timing to the 1/8th notes in a piece). All I know is that my violations against proper timing are very much influenced by the music I listen to. I feel cold and awkward playing pieces that are supposed to be played with swing without it. Do you listen to jazz?

I've run into a song in my book that the teacher said many of her students tend to "swing" the eighth notes, the song was Shortin Bread that apparently they have heard over the years but I'd never run into it. It is the first song that introduces eighth notes and my teacher wants them played equally which turned out to be no problem for me as I still to this day have no idea how to swing notes. She did play it for me in the swing style and it seemed to me it was like a dotted eight note followed by a 16th note i.e. the first note was longer than the second one.

Not very much. I listen mostly to classic rock, country and blues. The swing beat is used extensively in the blues and a lot in country so I hear it a lot there. When I started out with Got Those Blues I went naturally into a swing beat on the eighths without even realizing it. It just felt like the right way to do it. That rhythm will be easy but the straight eighths will be more difficult because as you said it doesn't sound right.

As far as how to do it, you are right, it's all in the unequal timing. My teacher has me giving emphasis or extra time to the first eighth beat, a very short second eighth, a long 3rd and then a short 4th. Once you get the feel of it you hear the sound and go "oh yeah, I know that rhythm"!

Thanks mom3gram and nguyen! I'll see you in Book 2! I am sure that one is going to take much longer than the first one, though!

Just started in Book 1. I have a piano teacher and we're looking forward to using this book. I played piano when I was 8 years old but that seems to be eons ago and I have not played since. I'm really liking this book. I'm up to page 50. I'm not having much of a problem with the right hand, but I'm slow with the left hand. Just can't read those bass notes very fast! I want to play for enjoyment and I'm serious about learning and practicing regularly. What a wonderful resource this forum is!

Welcome CMM, you're going to like it here. You will find lots of help and support here.

Patience and practice are the keys to bringing the left hand up to speed. It will come naturally with time.

I am happy to see so many new forum members. I hope you find the community enjoyable. I most certainly have. I am kind of an infrequent poster – but I do read it most every day. I have always held to the adage two ears one mouth. But I encourage others to post away. I’m listening.

I’m maybe even happier for the group moving on to Book 2. Renewal and growth, it’s a beautiful thing. I have followed those graduating people for several months now and found a lot of encouragement and insight in their entries. Congratulations.

I am doing so much better in sessions now. It was such a struggle with Lullaby… that was a low point for me. Now that I have gotten through that battle, I seem to have just relaxed. Maybe it is because I don’t have to wonder how bad it can get. Now I know. Now I just do what I practice and performance anxiety doesn’t enter the equation.

I am in the midst of the blues section of the book now. And I am really into the swing eights. Talk about relaxing! If there is a precise definition of swing rhythm – I don’t want to know it. I just feel right doing the swing patterns. Maybe it is anti-Lullaby or something like that.

The Blues Scale Performance Piece is my current challenge. I am okay with the opening section. Then it shifts from using B-flat to B. It goes from minor third to major third. It just feels weird to me. Like a big transition in mode and character. I am having a hard time making that musical. Not like Lone Star Waltz change – that stays in the same key. Sure the waltz seemed Jekyll and Hyde different when I first tried it too. But I got it to sound musical in the end, once I was playing through smoothly. This switch in the blues tune is really freaking me. I am struggling to find the emotional context through that change.

I've played through some of the blues pieces and it's almost foreign to me. I never listen to blues. I like it though (I think!). I'm hoping to get my pieces passed at my lesson on Wed so I can get on with it.

CMM, just keep going back and go over everything again. You'll get it. Some parts are a struggle for me, but with practice I do learn it.

Back from my lesson. I wasn't nervous at all.

I got passed on Blow the Man Down. She wants me to add octave notes for the first bass notes in each measure, then I bring my hands up and do the 2nd two notes as written.

Passed on Cafe Vienna.

I have the right hand down for Lullaby, but next week I'm suppose to add the left hand. I've tried it and it's hard for me.

Passed on Rock It Away.

I'm to do Joy To The World for next week. Am also to do Andantino and Waltz of the Young from my Alfred Masterwork Classics book. I won't get all three accomplished in a week, but I'll do my best.

I finished up figuring out and playing by ear Sweet Hour of Praise. Melody in the right, with chords and octave notes in the left.

Great job.. Nice to see a lot of new entries recently to this book