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

I see thanks for giving so much information. I will go ahead and order the alfred All-in-One--it seems like it is pretty laborious to go through anyway, and I'll tell my teacher I picked it up.

I guess I shouldn't bother with the DVD's either...There are a lot of online materials out there!

See this videos
http://www.piano-play-it.com/piano-key.html

http://www.youtube.com/user/pianoologist

I had the Finger Aerobics book and found it a waste of time.

i just started this book today, so im only on page 21..

Hey,

I don't have the all in one book just the lesson book from Alfred. I'm new to piano and will be learning from this and also with my daughter who is 5. I have just purchased our first piano, Kawai CN-43 in rosewood arriving next week. I'm looking forward to learning as it has been a goal of mine since I was a kid (now 26) to play piano. Now with a AU$2500 digital piano I have a massive amount of motivation lol.

I hope this online forum will greatly benefit myself and my daughter whilst playing and forever learning the piano. I will post pictures when the piano arrives.

By the way, when I say I'm 'new' to piano, I literally mean the only thing I know is middle C. Got to start somewhere right. Hey I can only get better that's for sure

I have the "Alfred Adult All-In-One 1" book and the "Alfred’s Teach Yourself to Play Piano" book with DVD (see link).
Alfred's Teach Yourself to Play Piano

As I am self-learner, the DVD is very usefull to me, true piano sound and I can see the teacher playing the peaces. For you, as you have teacher, I think you do not need it.
The Alfred’s Teach Yourself to Play Piano book has less pages a less pieces than Alfred All-In-One



squiggyflop, Simon and Nevaeh, welcome to this thread

I picked up the book today from indigo...and I have to say this thing is a lot easier than I thought! Technically I have already been playing for nearly a year, so that's probably why but my technique was really bad up until 6 weeks ago when I got a good teacher....Anywho I'll probably whiz through this in a week or so, I guess I should order part 2 from amazon so it'll be ready for me once I'm done.

Anyway, i know I skipped over a lot of easy stuff in my learning and went to tougher stuff, and this probably made my learning a lot slower....but it was worth it, I needed to learn some exciting stuff to destress....Now I'm more free to devote myself to the tedious but helpful things in this book!

practice each transition several times over, to really cement in my fingers how *that particular* transition goes, before going on and doing the same for the *next particular* transition.

I like this advice.

I am sure this was answered, but there is no way I can go through 153 pages.......

My teacher started me on the Alfred basic adult piano course. I read inside about the DVD and also the CD. Questions: 1) Is the CD worth purchsing? 2) Does this mean the CD will be midi? 3) Is midi something that I should be looking into helping me practice as an absolute beginner?

I am an absolute beginner and practicing everyday. I am working on Jingle Bells as we speak (and struggling....lol) Starting out at this at 30 years old, I have a new found respect for those that play instruments. It's truly amazing. Thanks!

I also had trouble on Jingle Bells and still do when I go back to it. I found the CD to be useless. You can hardly ever hear the piano part of the song.

Don't give up!! If, as your handle indicates, you went through Marine training, then Alfred's #1 is going to be a piece of cake. 30 is still young. I started in my 50s, and I've sailed through the #1 pretty well.
Go slowly, do your hands separately at first, and when you put them together, play the piece at about 1/4 the speed you'd like to play it eventually.
All of a sudden, things will click.
As to the CDs, forget them. They're useless. Go to YouTube and look for renditions of the pieces you're trying to play. Most of Alfred's #1 has been posted over and over. Some, of course, is better than others, but you can learn a great deal from watching and listening.
Good luck.
BTW, thanks for your service!!

BillC1, the CD is recorded in stereo so the "instrumental" accompaniment is on one speaker and the MIDI piano part on the other. Turn off one of your speakers and you'll be able to hear just the piano part.

However, it will be in a crappy MIDI rendition, so you may still fund the CD a lot less useful than YouTube.

Thanks for the answers everyone. And also for the motivation. I don't plan on giving up any time soon. The Marine Corps was a breeze compared to learning to read music and playing piano.......



P.s. When I was talking about the 153 pages, I meant the number of pages on this topic. Not the book. Thanks again!

Welcome to this thread USMCGRUNT.

As I am self-learner I prefer to have the CD than nothing. At least you can listen the music and tempo.

Here, in this long thread, and in YouTube you can find a lot of recordings of the pieces from Alfred book 1 (see at least the first page of the thread). Please remember that all of these recordings are made by beginners like us.

I printed all the thread in a PDF file and I use the "search" function to find the information.

Pie, what kinds of technical issues is your teacher helping you with?

See this thread:

3 Top Reasons Why Adult Beginners Quit
http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1651966/1.html

Nearing the end. My current assignment is At Last, Singing in the Rain, Laura, and Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas. The rough spots are slowly getting less rough.

I have a hard time making myself practice slowly enough and on just the problem parts for long enough. (Although, since I just play for my own pleasure, it's really just balancing my own desires... play a piece for fun with mistakes, or put it in the time to play it better, so later I can play it for fun without mistakes.) I also have a problem where I'll think I've mastered a problem part, but when I put it back in context it falls apart again. I guess the cure is to put it back in a small piece of context, even just one note before, then from two notes before, and slowly build the context back up.

Last week's pieces (Entertainer and Amazing Grace), I got to the point where I had some really excellent run-throughs, and thought, "Aha, I have mastered these!" Then I was all butterfingers in my lesson. So much for mastery.

Someone has the quote about "The amateur practices until she gets it right. The professional practices until she can't get it wrong." I don't know what the latter would feel like. When I've played it several times right, I don't know how to tell if next time around some wierd error is going to suddenly creep in, or I'll suddenly revert to an error in the harder spots, or whatever.

After I finish Book I, my teacher will start me on repertoire, and not go on to Book II. I'll probably be going on to Piano Literature, Volume I from Bastien.

Hi All,

I am looking into getting "Alfred's Adult All in One" - Book #1.

I found one that comes with a CD and another one with a DVD. Both are selling for the same price.

The reason I want to get a CD is to check how the songs sound. It will be no brainer to get the DVD if it covers all the songs in the CD that will also show me the technique for each song.

Does someone know if the DVD covers all the songs included in the CD? Has anyone viewed that DVD before?

Thank you.

Here is information from this thread regarding Alfred Books
"Re: Alfred's Basic and ALL in One Adult Piano Course Book #1 - 09/05/10 03:04 PM
Posted by: mom3gram

Alfred Basic Adult Piano Course - has lessons and pieces to play, but you must buy a separate theory book. Levels 1,2, and 3.
Alfred Basic Adult Piano Course All-In-One - same lessons and pieces as above with the exception of maybe two or three different pieces, includes theory and exercises. Levels 1,2 and 3. (Has spiral binding with is nice because it lays flat)
Alfred Self-Teaching Piano Course - same lessons and pieces but with more explanation and study hints for each piece. Has some bonus pieces at the end of book. No spiral binding.
You can post here with any of the above, as MOST of the pieces are exactly the same."


http://www.amazon.com/Alfreds-Basic-Adult-Piano-Course/dp/0882846167

http://www.amazon.com/Adult-All-One-Course-Lesson-Theory-Technic/dp/0882848186/

http://www.amazon.com/Alfreds-Self-Teaching-Adult-Piano-Course/dp/0739052055/

Note you can purchase the book with CD or without CD.

Fliper, thank you for the info.

I probably will just get the one with a DVD.