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

I'm curious why you're memorizing it, is it intentional?

I used to memorize songs as a crutch for not being able to read the music fast enough to play it. But now I've been working on not memorizing them to force myself to read it real time. I end up memorizing difficult passages anyway from having played them so many times but I still try to read the notes as if I hadn't.

I find it nice to be able to memorise some tunes and play them without the music, especially if I take a liking to them. I also find it frees my thinking up a bit, so as I can concentrate more on the feel of the song, dynamics etc, so when I play them at my leasure, I can can get the maximum pleasure. Like you, I was never brilliant at sight reading, but I am getting much better at it all the time. Without the sight reading practice, I would never have been able to memorise it, or even got this far in the book. Mind you, I have to keep playing it every day for a while to retain it in my memory. If I leave it now for a week, I will have forgotten it almost completely.

I was also useless at memorising stuff in the past, so I aways needed the score in front of me. But I am now committing a lot more to memory than I ever have, with ease (that is after playing them by sight over and over again)..This must be a sign of improvement maybe. Not much goes on in my head anyway, so I probably have plenty of free space for a few tunes etc etc.

But yes, you are right in a way, I still need to get a few unfamilar songs in and get more sight reading practice..

I have looked at the Ambitious section in Book 3. I don't think I will ever commit any of that to memory, Come to think of it, It will take me eons just to learn it by sight. Interesting times ahead maybe.

Hello everyone, I'm just starting book 2 but I couldn't resist order Phantom of the Opera easy piano version and I've been practicing in that. It has some finger positions for a few spots but not all of them. I find myself wondering how to finger some of the more difficult passages. And a few times I think their finger positions do not make sense. I'm curious if others have had similar experiences playing from "easy piano" songbooks?

I'm wondering if I should even worry about it. I hate to pick up bad habits. It's my first time adventuring out of the Alfred's books and I really enjoy it, especially when it's music I really love.

Thanks

Had my bi-weekly lesson yesterday and it went very well. I finally got passed on La Bamba. It's not perfect but I played it the best I ever have at my lesson. Go figure. I'm glad to leave that one behind but I plan on putting a note in my book to return to it later (much later) to see if it gets any easier as I progress through the book. Also got passed on Tarantella. I need to polish up Mexican Hat Dance a bit, and speed it up a little. I had started Festive Dance on my own a few days ago and it's coming along pretty good. We started Scherzo at the lesson so it's on the agenda next. I am enjoying all the pieces in this section.

I showed my teacher the book I mentioned in my last post and he seemed very interested in it. He said he had some other students he would like to encourage to check it out.

It looks like you are doing good there Doug. Very Well done.

I have just spent my last two evening sessions playing a constant series of mistakes and duff notes with a tune intermingled in there somewhere.

Aghhh! How frustrating, when I just can't play a single note right. Even on those well practiced tunes I have been playing so faultlessly over the last week. I'm sure it is just a phase I'm going through.

I'm sure most of you have days like these. best thing now is to switch off the EP, and do some relaxation therapy until my next session me thinks.

I have those days too, seems more often than not. Then all of a sudden something clicks and it's another step forward.

Since I'm on Scherzo in the book, I have to ask the significance of your screen name, i-Scherzo.

Hi Doug

I did dare to have another short attemp at the piano last night. And it did improve slightly.

The Scherzo thing. Well, as you see by it's meaning " a musical joke". I thought that would just be fitting to my own character. A joky, happy kinda guy! Though not necessarily "musical". The term "probably" applies to my piano skills too!, Perhaps. Besides, it would get confusing if there were two Doug's (hint!)on this forum.

I'm not sure if I will get a chance to practice this weekend, as I have two dinner parties to attend.

Good luck with Scherzo.

At Last! I have now made a start on the Canon variation. So far, so good. I appear to have handled the 1st part ok, but the last two pages will take some concentrating on.

Doug, how are you liking Scherzo? I like it.

At my last lesson my teacher was looking at my Alfred book and I had "hate" written on some of the pages with the Mexican songs. She was like "wow!". I told her I had zero desire to learn to play them, so we're skipping them all.

She gave me a book titled, "Easy Piano Classics" by James Bastien (WP42) that we'll work some out of. It seems to have easier piece that I can actually play and others will take a little work to be able to play.

i-Scherzo, good luck with the Canon piece. It looks hard.

I don't actually HATE the Mexican ones, I just wish that they didn't come all lumped together like that because I got really tired of them. LOL I didn't skip any of them though, except for quitting halfway through La Bamba, but I will go back to that one eventually. I actually enjoy playing Mexican Hat Dance.

I like Scherzo, it's kind of fun to play and is coming to me easily. I learned at my last lesson that I was pronouncing it wrong. It's pronounced 'skĕr'tsō' for those who may not already know.

The only "Mexican" piece I have left to get passed on is Mexican Hat Dance. It's in pretty good shape and I should get an "OK, let's move on" from my teacher this coming Wednesday at my lesson.

La Bamba didn't get to the point where I was satisfied with it but I told my teacher I've had enough of it for now and would put a note towards the back of my book to return to it. He agreed with me that it seems to be introduced MUCH too early. It is doable for me but it took a lot of work to get it where it is. I liked it when I started it but now I don't much care if I ever see it again.

The rest of them were OK. It does seem odd that they were all lumped together.

I am very much liking Festive Dance. I am able to work in the dynamics and expressiveness and it actually sounds pretty good to me for a change. I'm not committing to it but I might actually try to record and post this one. It would be a first for me.

I am trying to figure out why I have such a difficult time with some of the supplemental pieces I pick. The one I am working on now is My Heart Will Go On from the Greatest Hits Vol 2. I can play hands separate both left and right hand all day long with the metronome at tempo with few mistakes if any. As soon as I try to put them together I struggle. There are sections I can do fairly well slowly but there are others that no matter what I do I don't seem to improve on. It's driving me crazy because it doesn't seem like it should be this difficult. I isolate the sections I have trouble with and practice just them alone over and over but when I try to combine them with other sections I have trouble again. Eventually I get it but it seems to take me WAY too long. Does anyone have any suggestions for getting past these difficulties faster?

i-Scherzo, not only do we have the same name, I have the same piano as you as well.

Hi Doug

Wow! you are like me, as long as you don't claim at having the same father LOL. That would scare me.

About the supplimetary book. Don't worry, I have trouble with some of the Supplimentals too. My heart goes on gives the same problems. Yet some of the other pieces I pick up much easier. God Help the outcasts is a real show stopper when played well (if only)...I bought another supplimental today to give me more sight reading practice from the "Easy piano" series. It includes the Feather theme from Forest Gump. I look forward to. having a go at that one, Espicially as I already have the MIDI backing track to it.

As you have the same piano. Did You ever have a slight irritating buzz from the wooden board which sits at the back of the keys? The successor (the DGX-640) has this problem fixed by making it part of the plastic console. If you do, I have the perfect fix. Parcel String...

Canon is proving challenging, It looks complex, yet is is not over difficult I'm glad to say. It is just the same broken chords repeated in different paterns over several phrases. I still have to go over the 29th to 32nd bar over and over again to get the fingering correct. Then I try and combine it with the left hand and it all goes wrong!...I will get it eventually

I haven't noticed a buzz from the wooden board. I have had several buzzes but have found it is usually something touching the keyboard somewhere, a wire, a piece of sheet music, etc..

The one thing I do find very frustrating is the significant lack of volume from it. Overall I like the keyboard very much but I just can't get enough oomph out of it. I have tried hooking up powered speakers to it as suggested elsewhere on the forum but I don't like the sound produced. I am currently trying to find a virtual piano setup that works for me.

All of this has me looking longingly at a new keyboard. The CP-300 is currently at the top of the list but it will be a few months before I am ready to upgrade.

I have noticed the lack of volume too. But that isn't a bad thing in my case, as I live in an appartment and I do have to be mindful of my neighbors. It will be a long, long time before I think of upgrading at my rate of learning...

I have just tried some of the tunes in my new supplimentary book. There is more to think about on getting the left hand rythm co-ordinated with the right hand melody on this one. It isn't easy (as the title of the book depicts).

Have you tried using a headphone amplifier?

If you mean just using headphones with the keyboard, yes I use them frequently and the volume is fine with them. It's when I am playing through the built in speakers that the volume isn't satisfactory. It's ok for just me practicing but when I try to work on dynamics I really notice it and it bothers me.

If you are talking about an additional headphone amp, no I haven't tried that.

What is a headphone amplifier?

I Save my favourite piano sounds with the main volume set to 127 (max) to registry memory, which is one way round the problem, as it can be recalled at any time after switch on. But as soon as I change the voice selection from the main console controls, the volume defaults back to its original setting annoyingly!

Yamaha got this feature wrong me thinks. Things like touch sensitivity etc will save when the piano is turned off, but not the Main Volume setting, which is different for each voice..

I find Volume setting 127 gives me ample volume. But it would be nice if it stayed there after switching off.

Hi, I'm wondering if others have noticed pieces getting easier now that they're a ways into AIO Book 2?

For myself, I certainly would not say playing has gotten easy (or even good!), but I'm becoming more comfortable with reading notes, playing them, and just "getting" a piece. Part of this is knowing that even though a piece looks difficult (impossible) at first, it will come together after working on it for a time. Maybe it's a matter of more confidence now than earlier.

I'm currently working on Etude Op 10, No. 3, and Swinging Sevenths as new pieces, with several earlier ones in the polishing stage.

So--anyone else finding it a little easier going now? Or just as hard as at the beginning?

No I am finding that as well. My sight reading and time it takes to learn/memorize a piece has improved/progressed rapidly.

I too am finding I am getting better at remembering. And had quite a good run through this part of the book. But I find it does all come in runs. I go very well for a time. Then it all comes crashing down around me.
like this evening, I just can't get it together. And it has been like that for the last few days. I am going through one of my frustrating, going backward, unable to concentrate phases!!!..I need a break! :-)

I can't even play the stuff I was good at!

I am still progressing (fumbling) my way through canon. I can play each phrase independantly, when I can bring myself to concentrate. But when it comes to stringing it all together. It all falls apart and my muscle memory just fails on me. I will get there eventually, though it will take me some time, in my current state of (crazed) mind. I do hope those good times return soon, when It all comes together again :-)

Anyway: You will enjoy Etude Op 10 stubbie. It sounds great when you get it right. There are one or two places which you will find slightly difficult. But just keep at them and it will come.

Good Luck. While I just go and set light to my piano(well turn it off anyway) ;-)

D. "Fumblefingers".