Yeah, I agree, Classy Rag is tough to get sounding good. It needs a certain amount of speed, a bucket of confidence, and the bouncy spirit/syncopation of ragtime.

I don't have any of those with that piece, so I always stank at it.

I'll try to resurrect this thread with a lament.

I did Swan Lake - the pedal is tricky, it doesn't sound amazing but it's there, and I like it. Then I moved on to Scheherazade and the theme from Schubert's Unfinished Melody and well... I am in a rut! It's happened to me before, but not this bad. I try to apply all the good practicing methods but my progress with these pieces is terrible and I would do anything else instead! Maybe I'm hitting a wall because I went too fast with the first two books... or maybe I'm just not used to working so hard. Any thoughts?

I'm pretty sure the rut is because you are all alone on this thread!
Hang in there--gahdzilla and I are both slaughtering Danny Boy, so it won't be long until you have some company up here in Book 3.

Seriously, you're probably doing fine; up and down is the normal course of things. You know it is; you told me yourself! Play something fun or work out something new and easy. Or load up an online Wish list of sheet music.

Thank you malkin, I'm feeling stuck right now, and I guess listening to Martha Argerich all the time isn't helping!

Sinophilia, glad you resurrected the Book 3 thread, even with a lament!

I agree--Scheherazade and Unfinished... are tricky. Scheherazade never clicked with me and Unfinished's dotted eighth-sixteenth note combos in the left hand were (and are) difficult for me. The next piece, Spooky Story, I played through once and that was it.

But the pieces that follow clicked with me: Steal Away (easy, but very peaceful), Come Back to Sorrento (peppy; a lot of fun), Magic Carpet Ride (eh; once through and that was it), In the Hall of the Mountain King (kind of fun and such a familiar tune), An American Hymn (again, peaceful and not too hard but ultimately kind of boring in the left hand), Adagio in A Major (went from here to Chopin's Prelude in A Major in the back of the book) and so on.

All of this is the long way around to saying that, in my opinion, Book 3 is far less linearly graded in difficulty from front to back than Books 1 and 2--i.e., earlier pieces in Book 3 are not necessarily easier than later pieces (many pieces introduce new keys). I think moving around in the book is reasonable and sometimes just a little more time and experience playing other pieces helps with the harder ones. So--give yourself permission to try some of the pieces that follow and see if they click with you!

I can only share your feeling of being in a rut. I don't think book 2 is particularly linear and since I ordered book 3 at the same time I alternate between them. I can tell that even if I mastered book 2 I would still have got stuck in book 3. Both books have some easy songs and then some doozies. But I believe each of the hard songs has something specific to teach me, that will be required later on as well.

My solution to the problem is to incorporate small sections of the songs (the tricky bits) into my regular practice. So I might only practice a difficult chord shape or progression. I find this helpful but because improvements only happen at a snails pace I just have to wait until ability catches up with enthusiasm.

I've just noticed that it's been over a year since I've started with Alfred's #3. I really haven't made much progress in the book. 'Fandango' was fun and not too difficult, 'Modern Sounds' a bit boring, and now I play other things again. I also upgraded to an acoustic piano (a used Yamaha C3) in November, which required some adjustments I'm still planing/hoping to finish Alfred #3, so I will definitely continue to check this thread.

Since it might be somewhat helpful to others, I add a few words about my experience with some non-Alfred-AllInOne pieces.

For instance, I've learned two minuets from Anna Magdalena's Notebook (BWV Anh. 114 and 115), which were pretty difficult for me. Especially the left hand (and left-right hand coordination) felt very different from the typical Alfred pieces. Anyway, I believe these minuets really helped me advance (at my very modest pace).

I've also worked on Erik Satie's Gymnopedie No. 1 for several weeks. At first I was really excited about my progress but never finished the piece because I still don't have enough control to pull off the right sound in a reproducible fashion.

A good choice (in my opinion) is Beethoven's Sonatina in G Major. It's in Alfred's Sonatina Album and I hope to play more of those. I also bought Schumann's Album for the Young but haven't tried any of those pieces yet.

I also noticed that I've increased my "storage capacity". At the end of Alfred #2, I could usually memorize 1-2 pieces at a time. Whenever I've learned a new one, an old song dropped out. This has gone up to 4-5 or so.

What's the next Alfred highlight? The Haydn Serenade? I still feel bad about not sticking closer to our dear friend Alfred ...

EDIT: I've just checked my old post. I reached #3 in August--thank God (and registered in February 2012). That makes me feel a bit better ...

Thanks for that tlh1, I was looking for something classical away from the Alfred books that didn't look too advanced so I just downloaded the music for the two minuets from imsip.org. Will get stuck in.

Thank you Stubbie, I guess I'm too focused on the progressiveness and don't allow myself to wander about much.

On one hand I feel like I should be better now, after over 1 year, than I actually am; on the other hand I can see that I have gained some general skills - specifically I can read much better and my fingers usually know where the right keys are. I find myself looking around more, downloading scores and trying out things that are not in the Alfred's book. I did this with the song I'm supposed to record for the ABF recital. Plus I'm doing quite a lot of sight-reading. Still, the more I go on, the more I realize how terribly complex this is. I once thought the piano was a somewhat easy instrument, because you don't need to struggle just to hold the thing or produce a sound like with a violin or woodwind. But with most instruments you only produce a single note at any given time! Sometimes I'm a bit overwhelmed.

I think you are being a bit hard on yourself sinophilia, obviously if you are on Alfred Book 3 after only a year you are way ahead of most. You like many others here have also decided to give it your all - anyone can play piano in a pop style and sound pretty good with only a scattering of knowledge and a book of chords. To take the life long learning path is not the easiest but the most satisfying.

Hi sino, sometimes it's better not to overthink the process (i.e. the opposite of what we are doing in this forum). I believe we all go through tougher phases when we just practice and don't see much progress. And anyway, you have been super fast.

I do understand your earlier statement about listening to Martha Argerich. On the weekend I sometimes practice, then (just by chance) listen to a Gould CD or some semi-pros on youtube etc., return to my piano and am deeply surprised how "different" it sounds. I guess that's subconscious wishful-thinking ...

Hi earl, please ask me if you need fingering tips for the minuets. They are beautiful pieces.

Yeah well, unfortunately I'm a very impatient person, it's a miracle that I got this far

Talking about extra stuff, I had tackled Bach a few months ago but couldn't learn anything properly for the life of me. I think I'll try again this summer (I have the First Lessons in Bach book).

I bought the same book. My impatience shows in the number of sheet music books/albums that I've bought already during my short (and sluggish) piano career. Buying them is so much easier then playing just the first few measures ... Thank God, they are rather inexpensive

Thanks again tlhl, I started the first minuet yesterday and actually had a lot of fun trying to work out the fingering. First time I have ever had to do that as most of my pieces are with my teacher or from Alfred's

I have finished Alfred #3.

Congrats!

I am drifting away from it right now but I want to get there too sooner or later!

It is nice to hear of someone finishing Book 3, especially as I am just starting it.

Most excellent!

Congrats!!
That's quite an accomplishment.

Is there life after book 3?

After book 3 is the beginning, not the end!

Seems to be