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

Me too .

I am in the group of "need weeks to learn a piece", but I have fun with the learning process. Play chords, RH and LH together, play the BTMD (LH RH independent) was fun because I never thought to do that before decide to learn piano.

Had my second lesson last night (1hr lesson every two weeks). So far the lessons have been more like an hour and quarter (perhaps the benefit of being his last lesson of the day).

Only reinforced that I selected the right teacher! He's an experienced teacher (including adults), technically proficient and has a practical side as he's been gigging locally for years.

The main plus is that although he's been doing music for 40+ years, he's not in the least burned out. He likes doing music and likes teaching. Although I'm already pretty pumped about learning the piano, after a lesson I'm even more pumped. He certainly has me convinced I just might be able to do this thing.

This ole dog is learnin new tricks!

Jim

BTW what does BTMD mean?

Thanks,

Jim

Jim, BTMD is the song "Blow the Man Down". It is a milestone in Alfreds book one. Its the first song that has broken chords in the left hand and takes a bit to get co-ordinated.

Yesterday I bought all in one level 2, today I bought level 1 too. End of book one is more difficult that end of book 3 of Thomson. The nice thing about the Alfred method is that you are force to start very early with chords. Because I know already a lot of things from level 1 I try to finisch level 1 mid next moth. Then I can start with level 2. Why do I tell the world this... I dont know but I love to play my piano :-)

Chris

wj3,

Thanks

ChrisGerrist,

Don't know about you but I have nobody to talk to (other than my teacher every two weeks) about learning the piano. None of my friends or family plays any instruments. My wife will listen politely and is hopeful I'll learn some Christmas carols by this season but......

so this forum is where I get to hear what people are up to in their learning and playing. Sort of the support group........


Hello,

I'm Jim and I'm a pianoaholic.

Jim,

my wife plays French horn and all her brothers and sisters are playing a instrument. None plays the piano. But when some of them are here and try to play a piece that I am learning they play it in 10 minutes. Thats frustrating but also fun. I go to the piano teatcher every week for 30 minutes.

Chris

Chris,

How long have you been playing?

Jim

Got through Lone Star Waltz and working on Cafe Vienna now. That one's trickier than it looks. Seems no matter how slow I go, I make the same mistakes. I'll get it though.

I've been using this book for a few weeks now and I really like it. At least I can say that I am really enjoying learning piano.

I play guitar and for whatever reason, I haven't gotten very far with music theory with the guitar. I think that in a large part that has to do with not memorizing the fret board. I had thought that it would be much easier to learn theory by learning the piano since notes are much more visible.

I didn't have expectations that I'd make fast progress, but the way the book is designed, I've felt like I have. I had honestly thought it would be much tougher to play with both hands, but I feel like I play a lot of things now without even thinking about it.

Right now I'm on When The Saints Go Marching In, and I've spent about an hour on it. I'm close to playing it cleanly and in time. Do I like the song? No.. but It's still fun to play right now because of the challenge.

Jim, 10 years ago I had lessons for 3 months. Then I stopped because I was frustrated. I didnt touch the piano anymore, Three months ago I started with lessons again and playing took me again. In the three months I did 2 Thomson books. But a lot I learned 10 years ago was still hanging around in my mind. So, it was quiet easy. The teacher want to start with all kind of styles maybe I start with Alfreds books. Level 1 is more difficult then the three books from Thomson. Today I bought level 1 and started with it. I could handle till page 38. This because Alfreds is starting very quicly with chords. I like that because the sound is more full.

Chris

Chris,

Although you have more background, it sounds like we're close on the Alfred book. My first assignment was to page forty something. My lesson last night is the next batch of 40 pages or so (my lessons are every two weeks).

It'll be fun to compare notes (pun intended )on how we do on the various songs etc. For instance in that first section, I'll be going back to revisit the Saints go Marching In as when I would play the left handed version followed by the right handed version (or vise versa) I was having trouble with one the hands forgetting which version and either both play chords or both try to play melody......

I'm sure there will be more fun stuff to overcome!

Jim

I've been lurking for a few weeks now, and thought I'd say hello. I started with Alfred's (not the all in one) about six weeks ago, my first venture into learning to play piano (although I admittedly only have a Yamaha digital keyboard).

I've been playing guitar for over 20 years, including some relatively extensive music theory training (although it's been years). Completely self taught on guitar, I never learned to read music, which has been my biggest hurdle. I really want to learn to sight read. It became difficult to learn on guitar because playing 'Row Your Boat' to learn to learn to read was a bit too painful when I could already play Van Halen without it. Trying to not make the same 'mistake' on piano. My other hurdle is the same that everyone falls into, L-R hand separation. BTMD was a snap...with one hand at a time..put them together, and a catastrophe at first!

Seems like several of us are at about the same point in Alfred's, I'm past BTMD (admittedly a feeling of accomplishment!) and working on Cafe Vienna. No immediate intentions of seeking out an instructor, perhaps when I feel like I can't make any additional progress on my own. But I think that will be a good while.

I've also read some comments on here about whether or not to 'listen' to the piece prior to playing it. I know there are arguments on here (as well as from some of my piano playing friends) that there is no reason to NOT listen to the music played prior to learning it, but I'm still of the mindset that it's 'cheating' to hear it first. I think that's partly my strong desire to learn to SIGHT READ properly. I have a somewhat good ear, and tend to 'memorize' melody's relatively quickly. Not hearing it first tends to force me to read it, at least until I can play it correctly myself.

Sorry for the long post!

Just wanted to add a comment to a previous discussion....that although the music is not at all my cup of tea (I'm strictly a rock guitarist), I'm not finding it boring at all at this point. I'd eventually like to learn to play classical music, but as a stepping stone, I feel the selection in Alfred's is serving it's purpose.

What I've also noticed being a guitarist as well is that my left hand is better at chords and better at chord changes without having to think about them. I'm guessing that's because of the finger strength developed by playing guitar and the skill developed in that hand to be able to mindlessly change chords on a guitar. Funny enough, playing melodies isn't as easy. My right had is pretty weak in comparison and it really doesn't want to cooperate with chord changes. I've been taking time to go through the 3 chords that have been presented so far and practice changes between them. With the left hand, I can carry on a conversation while I do them. With the right, I still struggle to make the changes correctly when I'm focusing on them.

I'll just keep doing that until my right hand is as good as my left.

I'd expect the same thing Chev, but surprisingly I'm not having any problem with my right hand. (Maybe 20 years of typing has helped!) Mine is strictly coordination, my right hand wants to follow my left rhythmically, obviously from strumming with the right.

I think that if your goal is PURE SIGHT READING--that is reading an unfamiliar piece and playing it right off without practice--then listening to it first is kind of cheating. Though you have to work out the notes and chords at sight, the tempo and rhythm are in your head and you don't have to work them out at the keyboard.
But if your goal is just to play the pieces nicely and to practice them to "musicality," then I see nothing wrong with listening ahead of time. After all, unless you're a savant, you'll never be able to exactly reproduce anything you hear. you'll always be putting your own spin on it. Therefore listening ahead of time just saves you some work and makes practice so much more enjoyable.
After all, if one day your goal is to play "Moonlight Sonata," how can you imagine NOT hearing it ahead of time?

I'd like to say my goal is both. I want to be able to play musically, but I also want to (eventually) be able to be handed an unfamiliar, complex piece, and play it without hearing it.

I'm still plugging away. Working on "Got Those Blues" now. My tech will finish up the work on my upright tomorrow, so once it's done, I'll go through the book again from the beginning. I'm sure I'll have to relearn some things after getting used to playing everything on an unweighted Casio.

I see my new assignment takes me just past BTMD. I'm out of town for a couple of days (my younger son is graduating from college). So only messed with it for a few minutes last night to get a feel for it. I believe with some practice I'll be able to smooth it up but can tell it will certainly feel like an accomplishment when I can play it properly.

Glad to hear several of us are are in the same general area of the book.

I'm making some progress with the sight reading but a long way to go. Wouldn't it be something to sit down to a new piece and be able to flesh it out with both hands at near tempo first time through......not sure how long it will take to get to that point (or even if that's reasonable....at this stage, I don't know what I don't know )

The other aspect I'm not sure about is progress. At this point, progress is rapid which is partly due to the excellent book, good teacher and that I like to practice. I figure that probably in the next few months, it will get hard enough that I'll be in a slogging through it mode with minor improvement between lessons........just trying to prepare myself for that so I don't loose steam when I hit that point.

Jim