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

Congratulations Ryan!

It's really an accomplishment.

I'm getting ready for "O Solo Mio"

Hopefully I will finish Level 1 in 2012.

Congrats, Ryan!

Congratulations, Ryan. Hope to see you on the Book 2 thread.

As for adding you to the graduates list, Mark has been taking care of that, but he hasn't been around for a while. I'm not sure if anyone else knows how to do that. :-(

I tried to PM him when I finished book 1, but his PM box was full .

Hellow everyone,

I've just discovered this amazing forum and am so happy to find this thread. I just started to take piano lessons in October, using Alfred Adult Book 1. Now I'm approaching the end of the book (finished all the "lessons" but still have quite a few songs left). I've run into a few hiccups in the book: Little Brown Jug, Mexican Dance, and most recently, The Entertainer, in increasing difficulty. It took me a lot of practice with The Entertainer, and finally I recorded a video last night. Still played two notes wrong and had bad tempo in one place. Anyway, I'm bold enough to post it here and eager to hear all your comments (welcome to commment directly on Youtube as well), either good or bad!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRvnGBIR0nI

Thanks all. I'll be a regular visitor here from now on.

Hello,

Thanks fo rbeing brave and posting the video, I'm brand new to all this too and it's given me much courage!

Your piano sounds lovely, I wish I had a real one, but I don't think my neighbours would be too pleased.

I'm waiting for Book 1 to arrive from Amazon, after reading about it alot on here, i've got some bits of sheet music to be going on with, but thought i'd give this a go.

The book that came with my new DP is insane, there is a little picture of fingers with numbers above them, then the first song is Nocturne Op. 9-2 by Chopin!

I'm thinkin' more Jingle Bells lol

that was great would never of picked you as someone just starting, cause you didn't hesitate. Sorry don't konw how else to say it... like if I'm doing things I stop and slow down and kind of stutter - but you didn't, you played it smooth. Hope I can play that as well as you when I reach the end of the book. I am only up to page 45 Looking forward to more videos too!

Nice video. Thanks for share. It is one of the musics I really want to play in this book.


Welcome to this thread. Here are some free links that can be used as additional to Alfred:

Pianology (38 videos about piano technique, recommended before start lessons)
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL21598D1259C2C8EE&feature=plcp

Piano Play It web site - Free Piano Lessons and Music(I use it as reference)
http://www.piano-play-it.com/

Gilbert DeBenedetti Free Piano Music with a nice theory workbook
http://www.gmajormusictheory.org/Freebies/freebies.html

Making Music Fun - Free Piano Music
http://www.makingmusicfun.net/

A few more recordings. Any comment is welcome.

067 - The Can-Can
http://www.box.com/s/b48q8xgue7lagi0mrdzk

068 - The Marines Hymn
http://www.box.com/s/vu6v58otl2tvz6vvvbzl

069 - Why am I Blue
http://www.box.com/s/0dio7gfryp7m5qe1m87b

070 - Good People.mp3
http://www.box.com/s/h66t135mmvabec42xukl

fliper, those were very nice. You might want to try and "swing" your eighths in Why am I Blue. As I remember it, that was one of the teaching points of the piece.

Good work.

Jim

Thanks Jim, you are right. I do not know why but I forget the "swing".

I started today "Chiapanecas" - page 120.

"Little Brown Jug" is almost ok, it needs improvements in dynamics and the staccato". Those jumps over the black keys were an issue to me.

I am also training the "swing" of "Why am I Blue". It was more difficult than I expect. I think it is because the eights are not always there (there are also quarter and syncopated notes in the middle).

piano arrives tomorrow or Friday, when I officially will start Level 1. I was able to read through the lesson book in super speed with great comprehension. I'm about 3/4's of the way through it. So, I cant wait to get my hands a piano. I've sat down at a piano and played a total of 5-6 times in my life, so we will see how this goes. Comprehensio is great...so I know I'll dislike how my mind is way ahead of my hands

fliper
Congrats on getting through LIttle Brown Jug. It drove me crazy seemed like it took me forever to finish with it.

I thought Chiapanecas was a lot more fun - but I've been familiar with that song all my life - so I enjoyed it.

Seems like when you don't enjoy a piece very much it's a chore and you just have to push through it.

Hey guys,

Just wanted to drop by a say hi. I'll be joining you, as I just got my Alfred Self-teach All in One and my now digital piano! I played on and off in middle school and high school (but was never that devoted) and am now picking it back up a stress relief/hobby now that I'm in grad school.

I've forgotten quite a bit, so I've been going through the book carefully to make sure I can play/understand the pieces. I raced through a good chunk of the book fairly easily, so I haven't completely forgotten everything. I'm starting to slow down, though. I'm currently on Blow the Man Down and Lone Star Waltz. Been practicing them a couple hours, but am having a little trouble with just a couple measures in each song. Having skipped around my family's copy while I was home for the holidays, I know I can do many of the songs through and including Greensleeves. Beyond that, the songs are above my ability level, so it'll be back to practice practice practice.

For those of you using this series (especially the all in one), do you have any recommendations for supplementary material? I have a gift certificate to Barnes and Noble and want to buy the Greatest Hits Level 1, but I need to get a couple more books to get the free shipping . I was thinking about getting a theory book, as I find it extremely interesting and I'm not sure the all in one book spends enough time on it. Any recommendations? I was also thinking about getting another method book to supplement this.

~Hi! I am considering getting the Alfred's Basic and ALL in One Adult Piano Course Book #1 to help me play the piano . Is this a good first book? With it help me learn to play with two hands ?

Here are some books mentioned in this thread, as supplement to
the Alfred Basic Adult course or Alfred AIO Piano Adult Course

Alfred's Greatest Hits Book 1
Alfred's Pop Songbook Book 1
Alfred's Sacred Book 1
Alfred's Jazz, Blues and Rags
Piano Handbook by Humphries (I have this book. I did not start it yet. CD has nice piano sound)
My First Book of Classical Music
Alfred All Time Favorites (I have this one. Pieeces are challeging for me. I only played the first two)

Faber Adult Piano Adventures (Method Book, as Alfred)
Bastien Piano Basics Book 1 (Method Book, as Alfred)


The first two books are the most popular in this thread. Each piece has the piece number of Alfred Piano Book you should know to play it.


See also these threads
Sources for simple music
http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1671838/

Classical for beginners
http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1730080/

http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/printthread/Board/30/main/114269/type/thread.html

Yes it will help you to play piano. I use the Alfred All-In-One Adult Piano #1, that has theory also. I recommend it. This a thread dedicated to Alfred booik 1, if you read it you will understand a little more about it.

I'm using Alfreds Adult Basic Lesson and Theory Level 1 they are individual books. I think they go into a little more detail than the All in One. So you might want to add the separate Theory Book altho some of it will be repeats. I also use the Finger Aerobics Book that I like for practice. The Pop Hits Book starts out with easier songs than Greatest Hits and All Time Favorites. All of the above books all refer back to the page number in the Lesson Book but are not always in order of easiest to hardest.

I did pick up Faber and Faber Chordtime level 2b at the used book store that seems to fit in real well.

I really like this book for learning scales:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sca...mp;itm=2&usri=complete+scales+chords