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

Howser - All of us on this thread understand completely, your frustration with Blow The Man Down. In my case, it drove me to stop playing for a month, because I started to believe I was too stupid or uncoordinated to master this piece! I think I even had dreams and nightmares about it during that time. How could something so simple, be so hard? But I wasn't going to let BTMD defeat me, and a few days later, after starting to play again, it just kind of came together. The first time you play it correctly, you're going to feel like Sir Edmund Hillary at the top of Everest! Keep at it, in whatever way works for you and you'll get it! Perseverance pays off big with this one!!!

Howser - What worked for me on Blow The Man Down was a technique suggested by mom3gram, who has since moved on to book 2.

First make sure you can play it hands separate.

Then...

Her idea was to mark up the piece by drawing a vertical line between the left hand notes and the right hand notes where they are played simultaneously. The ones played together would have a line and the ones played alone would not. Then play it VERY slowly at first so your hands get used to which notes get played together and which ones get played separately. Then gradually start picking up speed. This worked very nicely for me and in no time I had "mastered" the seemingly impossible.

I actually used this technique again for He's Got The Whole World because I was having trouble with the syncopated notes.

And welcome to the book 1 thread!

Emissary52 and Doug F, thank so much.

I had the lines drawn vertically, but I could not get it right. After reading both responses, I went back and slowed down as Doug suggested. Wow, it is amazing what a difference slowing down made for me.


Thank you, thank you.

I'm itching to start book 2.

I just finished practicing and have The Entertainer in fairly good shape. I hesitate a bit in one spot and need to polish it up a little but it's basically in pretty good shape. Amazing Grace is not too far behind. I am still a little slow with it because I have to keep looking back and forth between my hands and the book. It doesn't sound too bad though since it's a piece that can be played fairly slowly and with emotion. I am really surprised by how quickly both of these pieces came together. They seemed so unreachable when I started the book in December.

My problem is that I haven't had a lesson in almost 4 weeks. I do have one this coming Wednesday but I have a big backlog of pieces that need to get passed by my teacher and there probably isn't enough time to get through them all. He likes to take the time to give me feedback and go over certain things on each piece. I need to get passed on Scarborough Fair, Raisins & Almonds, He's Got the Whole World, and now possibly The Entertainer and Amazing Grace. Add to that the version of Greensleeves he has me working on, my supplemental piece (Memory) and the scales he wants to check and I will need a 2 hour lesson to get through them all!

If I was self-teaching I would have passed myself on SF, R&A, & HGTWW 2 weeks ago but I have to keep playing them to keep them fresh. I would have also started tinkering around in book 2.

I'm so close I can taste it.

Oh yeah, I'm also starting some Christmas stuff.

Doug, tell your teacher that your dog ate book #1, but you brought book #2 to start in.

LOL

That's a great idea!

Hope you get passed on all of them on Wednesday, Doug. Looking forward to having another poster on the Book 2 thread.

I realized I never recorded a normal version of Amazing Grace, so I did that today and will be putting book one permanently to rest. Link Here

Doug, will your teacher have you continue on with book #2?

Yes, we talked about it a few weeks ago and he said it is a good method so that's the plan. I have started reading the book 2 thread from the beginning and am listening to some of the early pieces to get a feel for them. I'm tempted to start the first piece but I'll wait. I don't want to jinx myself on the remaining book 1 pieces. I don't expect to get passed on The Entertainer or Amazing Grace yet, they still need some work. They're close but need some fine tuning and I am sure he'll find something to improve on. The other pieces though should get passed, I hope.

Outstanding job on Amazing Grace, it sounds very nice.

Do you have the means to convert your WAV files into MP3s? It would make it easier to listen to your recordings. If they are in MP3 format they play directly from the Box.net page, but in WAV format they have to be downloaded first. It's not a big deal, just a little more convenient.

Don't forget to grab your Book 1 Graduate signature graphic!!

Actually, I was just reading on how to convert the WAV files into MP3's. Hopefully I can figure it out and convert them tonight. I want to submit a song to the Recital here this time around and they are suppose to be in MP3 format.

My recorder will record songs as MP3, but it won't allow me to divide up what I record. However, it has the ability to divide WAV files. Usually I just start a recording and play the song 2-4 times and then I cut out which version I like the best.

Truth be told, I didn't polish Entertainer. I never did smooth out that one measure on the second page. Hated the song.

Ok, I converted it to an MP3 file. I'll change the others tonight.

I know which measure you're talking about. I have trouble with it too. I do like it though, it's kind of fun for me to play and instantly recognizable when someone walks in, unlike some of the other "things" I play

You might want to check out Audacity, it's free and will convert WAV to MP3, and you can divide the files with it too if you want to record straight to MP3.

Hi Everyone!!!
I hated that measure too!!!!
I doubt that I ever played it "recital style," but I played it well enough to pass.
I have been having a wonderful summer playing pieces assigned by my teacher. I use a theory book (Kjos) and work on a variety of pieces from many different sources.
Enjoyed your recordings GracieCat!!! Will you return to the same teacher in the fall?

No, I don't plan on getting any teacher for a good while. I'll be learning on my own. Glad you've had a good summer with your new pieces GlassLove. When the kids go back to school I'll have some time to pull out some new supplemental stuff.

Hi Folks! I guess we can all conclude that measure 11 of "The Entertainer" was not our finest hour on the piano! But being the glutton for punishment that I am, I now have four "Easy Scott Joplin" (one is an Alfred Version) books, in addition to the Schirmer (the Real Thing! ) version. They all do "The Entertainer" differently, both note-wise and hand-wise. Who knew?

The mailman also brought Alfred's AIO 2 and 3, along with the AIO Christmas book! Yeah! I bought AIO 2 with the CD, just to see what the fuss was all about! I haven't played it, but at least they labeled it with the piano being in the right channel. I was so happy to have a music book that lies flat, that I tore into "Down in the Valley" and gave myself a pass on that! It's a book 2 "easy gift", before you end up getting "schlonged with the harder stuff". I even started on the Bridal March (not in the regular Adult Bk 2)...it's not too bad ...and you feel like after a few days you might be able to "pull it off" at a wedding! You could rightfully conclude that I was getting desperate after playing those last two pieces in Bk 1, along with "Good King Wenceslas" a million times! The AIO books are a much better deal than the regular Adult Books are.

Doug - The AIO Christmas Book "Merry Christmas" seems to have more level 2 material than the one you bought. I went back and forth, trying to decide between the two. You might want to check it out in the future.

I guess I'll be adding the Alfred's 1 logo to my signature soon!

Well, I'll fess up that after I practiced this afternoon temptation got the best of me and I went through the the first 2 pieces in book 2 as well. They both seemed pretty easy and they won't take much to get up to speed on. I had a good practice and played everything from Scarborough Fair through the end of book 1 well enough that I think I would have been passed on at least 4 of them. My lesson is tomorrow (Wednesday) so I am hoping for the best when I play for my teacher. I still don't expect to get passed on The Entertainer (it's possible) or Amazing Grace (not likely), although I am playing both of them without mistakes, just slower than I would like.

Craig, I'll take a look at that book when I get a chance. I'm a book junkie so if it looks good it'll be hard to resist.

Congrats to you Emissary!!!! I'm almost done with AG...but just need to get it smooth--like Gracie's! I think I will be done with The Entertainer tonight..at least I practiced perfect last night..but that doesn't mean I'm not going to do a meltdown at the teacher's!! I need to get my recorder out. I also got (FINALLY AFTER A MONTH) Findlandia--I just needed to smooth out the parts. Had a great practice last night..the fingers did what I wanted!

Doug--that's awesome you are playing both with no mistakes. That is the clue...you will get faster. It's more important to get it down perfect before "fast"!!!

I had to send back my Xmas book yesterday. I purchased from Amazon, where you can't see inside most music books. My mistake. I ended up with just a melody portion and a cut down version of the songs. So that was a bummer. But, I went right back out to Sheet Music Plus and got the 2 Xmas books that are offered by Alfred. (shhhh...I also got a Broadway book by Hal Leonard..ooohhh I can't wait till I can play those!!!)

My music library is growing by leaps and bounds. My music box that I found at a re-sale book store is almost full--it will probably not be able to fit my new Broadway book!!!! :-(

My husband and I have more books than anything else. The highlight of our vacation last year (besides painting the colors of the Kettle Moraine--I'm an artist too) was finding a really old used book store. It was like stepping back in time. We came out wtih so many books that I had a hard time holding them...and we plan on going back this year. Anyway...they also had TONS....of sheet music there. So, I'm going to be perusing through them next month on vacation! I'll let everyone know my finds!!

Happy playing!

Nancy

Hi all, as you can see I'm new to this forum, but it was this thread specifically that sparked my interest.

I've been browsing this thread (albeit not thoroughly due to the 136 pages) and I just have a few questions about the Alfred method if that's cool. I've been playing piano for about 6 weeks with a book a friend lent me, but now I'm almost done with it I want something more substantial, and obviously I was drawn to this method as it appears most frequently amongst the proven learning methods on various websites.

Firstly, what is the material like? I've had a look at some of the songs on the first page and it seems ok, but not hugely stimulating, does it stay fresh and interesting? And what does it include in the way of trechnique and theory etc? For example scales and such. I know basic music theory from some guitar and my 6 weeks of this, but I was wondering of the practical sides of it.

Also I generally prefer playing classical music (although much is beyond my rather limited capabilities), so would it be prudent to find a more classical orientated learning method, or use this one (presumably because it's better than most) and find some classical supplementary material (Although this isn't a huge deal because I'm flexible in what I play).

Finally what is the community like in this thread? Obviously there is lots of useful information (I assume, having not read most of it) in the pages preceding, but I've noticed many of the posters are almost on book 2, so are there people left here that are near the beginning of book 1?

Hello Giano and welcome to the Alfred's Book 1 thread.

You will find the material in this book to be all over the place as far as interesting, boring, challenging, easy, and directed to varying genres of music. I think the method is designed to give you a solid base on which to build off and will complement any kind of style you may be ultimately interested in. You'll find old folk songs, show tunes, some classical, blues, jazz, pop, etc.. If you don't like the piece you're on just keep going and a future one will appeal to you. We have all had our likes and dislikes and they are all different.

If you get the All In One book it will have scales, and theory in it. Many of us also have a separate theory book so that is an option too.

You will not find a friendlier or more helpful bunch of folks to hang around with either. There is so much to be learned from current and former posters and most of the former posters still drop by to say hi and give advice if needed. You can't go wrong here.

Having said that I myself find that it is time to start out in the book 2 thread. I was assigned my first piece in book 2 at my lesson today so I can say I have officially started book 2. I can't call myself a book 1 graduate yet because I have a bit of fine tuning to do on Amazing Grace and The Entertainer but with a bit of luck and a lot of practice I will get my certificate signed at my next lesson in 2 weeks.

I will still be a frequent visitor on this thread though.

I've had a little more of a look round and I think Alfred is the way to go, so I expect I'll be ordering it early next week once I'm done with my current material.

Good luck with book 2 Doug and I hope to be round here a little more in the very near future.