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, GracieCat, on your ABF Recital entry. I was so impressed to see someone from the Book 1 thread enter the recital - and your "Amazing Grace" was excellent! I wish I had the courage to do that, but then, your "Amazing Grace" is much better than mine. :-)

Thanks mom3gram. I guess they have the recital entries up. I'll have to go listen to everyone's. I figure it's a good idea to prepare a piece for each upcoming recital as if I had a teacher. Some extra motivation and it will make me actually polish a song into a finished product.

Hello to all. I'm Tony. I'm new here. I have played a little piano for years but now seriously self teaching. I enjoyed reading everyone's posts here. I have a question: how well do you learn a piece before moving on? So far, book 1 has had very short, easy pieces and I'm flying through it. I was wondering if I'm going too fast. i can play cleanly and up to speed before turning the page but i certainly can't memorize them all. Maybe I should have started in book 2 but I wanted to do the entire course from the start. Any thoughts?

Hi Tony and welcome! It sounds to me that you're proceeding in the right direction and are doing well. You don't have to memorize any songs. Many of us who are near-noobies just end up playing some of the pieces so many times that they're "semi-burned" into our memory. Since you mentioned that you've continued to play over a longer period than most of us who have started with book one, you may have be "ahead of the curve" and that explains why you are progressing at a fast clip. As long as you are comfortable with the material, keep on going! We'll be happy to have you with us in Book 2!

Thanks a bunch Emissary52. I have already learned a few things in this forum so I'm glad I found it. Regards to all.

Hello everybody. I'm Thomas and also new here.

I've been working on self-learning piano on and off for about a year now in my own pace. Recently have gotten more and more serious and have now bought a Kawai CN33 to practice on.

At the moment trying to get inspiration for going trough the blues pieces where I am in Alfred's.

Thomas, what pages are you working on? When I first started those blues songs I thought I'd hate them. I ended up really enjoying them and bought a supplemental book with some other blues songs in them. Still not my type of music, but I enjoy playing them to some extent.

Hi, Tom. I'm with Gracie in that I hated the blues pieces in Alfred 1. Even after I learned to play them, they weren't my favorites, but I did learn them.

Is that the Masterworks Classics 1-2 that you are learning from? How do you like that book? I've looked at the couple of sample pages on Sheetmusicplus.com, and the list of pieces, and I'm thinking of getting it to work out of. Of course, every time I see a new book mentioned I look it up to see if I should get it. I'm a book junkie, and that includes music books and art books. But this one looks like it might be worth it.

GracieCat, if you like the blues pieces, you will probably love Light and Blue in Book 2. I found it very difficult, never did get it to really sound good, but I've listened to the recording at the beginning of the Book 2 thread - either John Frank or Undone, can't remember which, and I really like it. One day I will go back and see if I can play it like that.

GracieCat, I just started with "Got Those Blues!" on page 107.

mom3gram, Yes, the Köhler tune is from Masterworks Classics 1-2 but the Menuet in G Major is from Masterworks Classics 3, I skipped ahead to that piece to have something more long-term to work on. (You probably have heard that one, though. It's one of the Christian Petzold, thought to be Bach, from Anna Magdalena Bach Notebook.)

I really like these simple classic small pieces in Masterworks Classics they feel like more complete tunes than some of the exercises in Alfred's, so it's a good complement.

TMAndersson - welcome Tom. I was following the discussion you and mom3gram had about the Masterwork Classics series and went to sheetmusicplus.com and ordered the 1-2 and 3 books in the series. As I just started Alfred's book 2 and not being overly "enchanted" with the musical selections found there, I figure the Masterworks Classic series will be a good supplement. It's an Alfred's publication, so I consider that a plus! I prefer to learn a few simple classical music pieces in place of the kind discussed in the next paragraph!

mom3gram and GracieCat - mom, I'm with you when it comes to the blues pieces in Alfred's Book 1. They do nothing for me! It seems the magic formula for blues in Alfred's is to take a song in C major and flat 3 or 4 notes (preferably B to Bb!)and call it a day. "Why Am I Blue?" quickly became "Why Am I Bored?" as I started that one. Gracie - I admire your ability to make a silk purse out of a bluesy sow's ear. I can kind of do that for some material, but not blues songs!

Emissary52...silk purse out of a bluesy sow's ear! LOL Now I'm going to have to go back and play those pieces again.

I have the first masterwork classics book. It's alright. (Just not my preference.) I much prefer it in my bench than on my music stand if you know what I mean. The book isn't bad and I imagine that you guys would like playing out of it. At this point in my journey, I'm pretty much happy with whatever I can get to sound musical.

Well I took the plunge and my copy of Alfred finally arrived yesterday morning. I went for the self teaching one (192 pages) as it seemed the most inclusive, although the spine is a bit of a pain (it's not spiral bound).

I really like the look of it so far. I already have a basic understanding of music theory from 2 years of guitar and I began piano 6 weeks before getting this book so the beginning is pretty easy. I'm up to the g position with love somebody and a friend like you and it's the first real bit I've had to think about aside from jingle bells and when the saints.

I was concerned I was moving too fast but I've been back over and played everything through and can consistantly play everything up to 120bpm so I figure I'm fine (although I stumble occasionally on one or two songs, never consistantly though so it's not like there's something I'm not getting).

I also gave my self 'To Zanarkand' as a long term piece which is slightly ambitious but I've got the first minute down and it's almost up to speed which I'm happy about. Problem is my 61 key only drops 2 octaves below middle c so there are many classical pieces I can't attempt properly, and indeed To Zanarkand drops below at one point, so I'm figuring out my own shortened version. I wont be able to get a decent DP anytime soon though so I'll have to deal with it. Location and funds mean I'll be self teaching for at least a year, and there's no chance of a new DP until I'm out of uni and settled down, which is at least a year away.

Sorry to ramble but I figured I'd formally introduce myself now I have the book and all.

PS. I just couldn't help attempting RH only through some of the last pieces for half an hour or so and I can't wait to get to them. This version of the book has bonus ones like singing in the rain and somewhere over the rainbow too. I especially look forward to SotR because I can play it on ukulele, so I want to record it on piano and do a sort of duet thing with myself.

Hi, Giano. I looked at that self teaching book recently, and I think it's great. I would definitely have benefitted from the extra explanations that aren't in the regular all-in-one. I don't know why they didn't do a spiral binding on it though.

I used a 61-key keyboard when I started out. I didn't have a problem with the number of keys - most of the beginner music used the middle of the keyboard, but it was a bit of a problem not having weighted keys and not being able to control the touch. Still, it was better than nothing, and I don't think I would ever have gotten started if I had had to make a major investment at the time.

Just enjoy where you are at now and take it slow.

Thanks for the advice mom3gram, I tend to want to ... I wouldn't say rush, but I'm not one for the slow way of learning. I do like to get through things once I put my mind to them.

For the next month or so I have the luxury of time so I want to advance as far as possible whilst I can give piano my full focus.

I've also finally read through this entire thread, which was a long term project in itself. It's inspiring to see the progress of everyone and it has me thoroughly motivated to put a lot of time into this whilst I have most days free. "Enjoy the journey"; that's the mantra I've seen throughout this thread and I'll need to remember it so as not to rush.

Happy playing everyone and good luck to all those just going over to book 2!

Yes, don't rush Giano...it will all come together...it just takes time and practice..the more you practice, the easier it will get and the better you will sound! I also started on a 61 key keyboard, and I still use it when I want to play when my hubby is asleep. I just put on my headphones..and crank!!!

When I started Alfred, I, too, tried to rush through--to get at the "end", but then I heard the wonderful recordings of people like Gracie Cat..and saw how much I was missing...so backwards I went...to get that beautiful sound!!! I just finished my book One..and am over at the Book Two thread. I also found reading all the comments and found comfort that others were having problems on the same songs as I was...(see the many moans of Blow the Man Down!!!) Also, don't forget to see where you can go...check out the recital thread and hear/see the wonderful musicians there.

This is a great community--full of support and laughter. I visit here daily!!!

Good luck to you!

Nancy

I ordered a digital piano (Casio AP620) and hope the better action over my old Clavinova (from 1989) will improve my speed with supplementary scale study. The clavinova had weighted keys but they felt like bricks and were sluggish. What kind of action do people here like? I favor a lighter action for speed on scales and such. At the music store I tried a Steinway acoustic upright (great action, needed work), A Yamaha acoustic upright (wonderful), a Yamaha digital( not impressed), Kawai Acoustic (bright but fast) and Roland digital (terrible action and sound). All just my neophyte opinion.

This is slightly off topic, but I was wondering what are people's opinions of Einaudi? I remember him mentioned in this thread a few years back, and I love his music at the moment. The thing is some of it, whilst it sounds nice, actually seems like it would be beginner-intermediate level, and fairly enjoyable as a long term project.

So what, if any, is the general opinion of his music and difficulty from those working through Alfred's (so I have a vaguely accutate frame of reference)?

Giano, Ludovico Einaudi is a very popular composer here at the ABF. AnthonyB and MonicaK would be the people to talk to, but I have his "The Best Of" book in which there are several songs that a beginner could learn. The songs "Limbo" and "I Due Fiumi" come to mind. I haven't tried to learn any of them yet but they are high on my to do list. Maybe I'll break out my book and try something soon. Right now I am on a John Denver kick.

Hello,

My name is Jim and I am new to this forum. I purchased a piano a few months ago and promptly started lessons for my two girls (6 and 8). After watching them, I became very interested and started the self-teaching process. Like other here, I do not have any musical background.

I purchased Alfred's Basic All In One course and have progressed through Alouette. I feel pretty good in C and G position. The part that is killing me is when the fingers have to start moving up and down the keys covering notes that are not all in C or all in G.

I've been told it will come to me but we'll see. I hope to learn from everyone here and hope others will be able to learn a little from me : )

I hope to play classics as well as more modern songs such as the Beatles. However, I must admit I love hearing Rock songs such as those from Metallica and Led Zeppelin when played on a Piano. I don't plan on being on stage one day but I hope to find a life-long hobby and have something I can enjoy with my family.

Jim

Welcome RDSTR! Don't worry, it'll start coming to you. Congrats on your new hobby!

Aimee