Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Alfred's Basic and All in One Adult Piano Course Book #2

Heh, only fast because I've skipped so much I shouldn't have! That's why I'm here trying to acquire some patience and proper learning technique from those of you with more experience.

I'm officially in book 2. My instructor preferred to get started on the second book while I continue to work on tunes at the end of the first book.

Looking forward to continuing the journey.

Jim

I'm working on the first few pieces. Had some trouble getting my left hand to play stuccoto while the right played legato but it fell into place after a few days.

Gives me hope I might actually learn to play someday!

Jim

Tararex: I agree that more "musical" pieces are more fun to learn and play--who wouldn't prefer them? But the very reason I'm doing the Alfred books is because they are instructional and I need instructing! At this point in my piano learning career, discipline is worth something, too. Each piece demonstrates some aspect of theory or practice and therefore I plow through the pieces I like the least and linger over the pieces I like better.

Sometimes I even discover that the pieces I think I don't like I don't like because they are trickier for me to get right. I just started "Ballin' the Jack" and man, my first reaction is UGH! But it's got a lot of sharps, flats, and naturals and a tricky rhythm, so I will stick with it until it's presentable, then put it in the closet.

By and large I like the pieces in Book Two, especially after the first half of the book. I find myself playing Village Dance, Night Song, Hava Nagila, Chopin's Etude Opus 10, Swinging Sevenths, and Battle Hymn of the Republic (man, I like banging out the finale on that one!) as warmups. Will probably continue to play those.

So I would say keep at 'em. By the second half of Book Two, you should be able to not just play the pieces correctly technically, but play them with expression as well.

Good luck! Good practicing!

Hi Stubble.

I think it was the Mexican folk songs followed up by the "Hokey Pokey" that caused the book to take sudden flight -- and my husband's eyes to get saucer big :-) as it flew over his head. At this point I've worked through book 3's Serenade and am much calmer now. I know your advice is dead-on correct and have decided to return to complete the remainder of two's selections. I'll let you know how it goes.

Kindest,

Tararex

I have a digital piano on which I can play MP3 (or midi or wav) files. The CD which comes with the Alfred book has the music in some other format because my piano will not recognize them. Does anyone know of a good free tool to convert these files to MP3 or WAV or MIDI ?

I looked on the internet and there are numerous tools. I would like to save myself the problem of downloading them and finding that they are not very good.

Thanks

If you are using a windows PC, Windows Media Player will "rip" the CD into MP3 files for you. If you are on a Mac, I believe iTunes will do the same. Both programs should already be installed on the respective computer.

I just checked out the CD that comes with the book. It does not have the pieces from the book played on a piano. It has the pieces demonstrated with band arrangements. Is that it or am I missing something ?

I got it. Thanks.

Turn off your left or right speaker/earphone. Piano only on one, other instruments on the other.

The CD is truly poor. Why would you make a CD for a piano instruction book using a band ensemble??? The CD is not worth the extra few bucks, IMO. If I want to hear how a piece sounds, I go to YouTube and find it there.

Yeh ... I figured that out.



It is basically a ripoff. I am not sure if the "piano" part is actually a piano that is playing. It sounds more like a guitar to me.

Working on Light and Blue this week. A fun one. My teacher has me playing the left hand in a sort of semi staccato as he looks at the piece as a somewhat Joplinesque style.

Had a lesson last night. No matter how I try, I always screw up in front of the teacher. I "thought" I had Light and Blue nailed down but still took a couple of tries to get through the first two measures!

Then I settled down and played like I should. As I neared the end of the first time through, my teacher told to just play the second ending.

We then went over the next couple of songs for my new assignment. The songs are a lot more fun in general than the first book (I am still working through the songs at the end of the first books and some of them are fun!).

Jim

The CD has two uses: 1. to find out what the piece sounds like (listen to just one channel, to hear the crappy "piano" playing). 2. to play along with the crappy "band", to get the feel of playing with an ensemble, and this can also reinforce rhythm.

Not that I'm defending this particular CD, of which I have never heard anything good. But #2 is why the band ensemble might be included.

Working on "Plaisir d'Amour" now. Moving very slowly through Book 2 while using several other sources. I'm really liking the Masterwork Classics and the Faber Adult right now.

the songs are boring to me minus a few. i cant wait to be done im at like pg 114

My teacher is also going to get me a couple of auxiliary books for additional pieces to work on while going through book 2. It may slow down the progress through the book but I will get more practice on the techniques being learned and more variety.

Looking forward to it.

Jim

Jim [/quote]
the songs are boring to me minus a few. i cant wait to be done im at like pg 114 [/quote]

I actually LIKE the book. I think it's a good self-teaching tool, and the music is mostly old familiar pieces that I grew up with, and I find them fun to play once I get the hang of them. "Blow the Man Down" for instance. I hated it at first, because I just couldn't get it, but then when I did, I loved it because it was so much fun to play. I do get hung up sometimes, because I'm a really slow learner, so it's nice to have other pieces that I can turn to for more practice before moving on. That's where other books come in handy, but I still always go back to my Alfred books because they teach me what I need to know to progress.

I'm with you mom3gram, I am enjoying most of the pieces. Many of them are familiar tunes that anyone who finds themselves unexpectedly trapped in the presence of my practice may, at some point, say: "hey, I know that one!" Most of them will not become a part of my permanent repertoire but they have, for the most part, been fun and interesting to learn. I also know that if I don't like some of them I can tell myself that I am supposed to be learning something from it, not necessarily liking the piece, and I don't have to ever play it again after I move on from it if I don't want to. I am progressing through book 2 at a satisfactory (to me) rate and can see the progress I have made. I have little to no interest in classical music so that may explain why I think Alfred's is a very useful tool for learning to play.

There has been a lot of Alfred's AIO bashing going on lately and it's good to see a few folks sticking up for it. After all, this is a learning book, not a book to keep handy to entertain people with. It's possible that those who think the music sounds uninteresting or 'awful' may just not be playing it well enough. It makes a HUGE difference in how it sounds when my teacher plays them compared to my playing. Just the subtle differences in technique can make or break a piece. We keep working on them until it sounds decent and then move on.

It's also good to see this thread revived. I was beginning to think everyone had given up on it.

For the record, I am currently working on finishing up Divertimento in D, Brahms's Lullaby and Village Dance. They are all close but I need to clean up a few details in each before my teacher passes me on them. I am also working on Circus March and have started The Hokey Pokey. My teacher told me at my last lesson that we wouldn't be spending much time on Hokey Pokey. He said it was to painful to keep listening to after having to play it and listen to it so many times over the years

Which ones do you like?

I think my favorite of the final pieces in Book 1 is Chattanooga Choo Choo. (I know this is the Book 2 thread, but I figure you wouldn't see this if I put it on the Book 1 thread.)