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

You're saying Brits are not familiar with Loch Lomond, Danny Boy, and Morning Has Broken? Nor Brahams' Lullaby nor Pomp and Circumstance?

I know that citizens of the US may not always have the broadest world view, and that the selections in the Alfred books are not always anyone's favorite, but your argument about Alfred being "American centric" is not convincing. Conversely you could also simply state that you have a preference for a more British centric method book.

Kenneth Baker: Complete Piano Player is still available, vols. 1 to 5. I got some of mine secondhand from Abe books for a reasonable price. The pieces are 80s pop-oriented but with some classical & jazz. I do not think the theory & learning aspect is up to Alfred's standard but they are useful as a supplementary. Also, not many of the pieces are available on YouTube.
Later editions of the early vols. now have CDs, I believe.

Did anyone else find Happy Birthday to you difficult, Seems ridiculous but I'm struggling with it !

I'm on book one, which doesn't have a lot of what you've mentioned and yes, a Brit centric book would be good for Brits but I guess Alfred's is good for Americans. But I look forward to playing the ones you've mentioned when I get to them.

If you notice. Every piece in Alfred's has some sort of twist to it. That's because they're trying to teach something. Focus on what they're trying to teach. Don't let it throw you thinking you're just playing the song.

I don't know about brit/american-centric versions - i'm from Sweden. Fact is, i don't recognize many of the songs in many of the practice books i learn. But i still have fun playing them - so far about half into Alfred's first book and it's been both fun and educational .

All Dorothy did was wake up. I had to bump this thread. Who would knock out a child? High above the chimney tops that is where you'll find me. Escape, Escape...

If all the boys were girls they would of been here by now. Now that is a sexist with reason. They will never take a female's beauty.

Beauty and the Beast?

Hi all,

Could someone tell me the difference between the accompanying CD vs DVD ?

There are two distinct products:

http://www.alfred.com/Products/Alfreds-Basic-Adult-All-in-One-Course-Book-1--00-5756.aspx

http://www.alfred.com/Products/Alfreds-Basic-Adult-All-in-One-Course-Book-1--00-37748.aspx

Many thanks.

Hi HaraldC, Welcome.

I am a big believer in the DVD version. Gayle Kowalchyk takes you through the book and plays the pieces for you. This way you get to see the fingering as well as hear what it should sound like on a piano. It is my understanding that the CD version contains tracks taken from midi files - it's not the same as hearing and seeing the real thing. If you are going through this book on your own I would definitely recommend the DVD version (that is what I did).

Many thanks Scorpio This is exactly what I suspected but I wasn't sure.

No vendor seems to carry the DVD version, I'll have to check if Alfred ships overseas.

Cheers

sheetmusicplus.com carries the DVD version, and ships internationally. Here's a direct link:

Alfred's Basic Adult All-in-One, Book 1 with DVD

If you don't pay the extra for the express shipping expect to wait a bit of time. I have ordered a couple of times from this source and waited the full six weeks quoted.

The Book Depository in the UK has faster shipping time and the book with DVD is also there.

Many thanks to all that replied and even more thanks for those that mentioned SheetMusicPlus and Book Depository UK

In my previous searches I missed both because the "DVD" is buried within the description and couldn't find it.

Shipping times it's not a big concern to me at the moment.

I bought from both (in the past) and my personal experience is that Book Depository has often better total prices (shipping!) and ships faster for an Australian buyer while SheetMusicPlus has an obviously larger collection.

Cheers

I have just joined this thread, been working through the first Alfred's all in one book, obviously, and I am loving it.
Being from South Africa doesn't seem to matter much as I know most of the music from American movies etc.

I have reached "Scarborough Fair". This piece is challenging yet beautiful. Still have a lot of work to make it sound good.

I am also looking forward to the bonus pieces at the end, especially "Over the Rainbow" and "Singing in the Rain" as these bring back memories of watching movies with my grandparents.

My teacher and I are talking about continuing with the Alfred's series with book 2.
What are everyone's thoughts about continuing with this series?

Welcome to the thread Jeremy SA,

I did not do book 1, I guess because I was learning other things with my teacher but I did start book 2 and 3 simultaneously. A bit unorthodox I know but I do not regret it. I thought I would be more disciplined with the books but there were many pieces that just did not hold my interest and that's important if you are going to spend a significant time on them. I would not put you off doing book 2 but I ended up doing less than 10% and probably around 30% of book 3.

We are all different but I found I was drawn mainly to classical works and after reading some favorable reviews here I bought several books from the Keith Snell series "Essential Repertoire from the 17th, 18th & 19th Centuries". These are not method books just selections of works from the Baroque, Classical & Romantic periods. If I had known of "Fundamental Keys" at the time I probably would have considered this also.

The Alfred series offers the structure of a "method" and is ideal for the self teaching student. However since you have a teacher, with their guidance you can afford to be a lot more involved in the selection of works you enjoy and is also fit for purpose in your development. As I said, I am drawn more to classical works and many have said here that learning works by Bach is essential. Sadly the only Bach work in the series (Toccata in D Minor) is only to be found in the advanced section of book 3. This does not imply that the Alfred series are bad books because they don't contain Bach, just that no one method is perfect.

Hi and welcome Jeremy. I'm about 1/3 of the way through AIO book 2. Not every piece is engaging musically, but that is part of working through a method book, I believe.

I'm supplementing with a lot of pieces outside the book, like Earlofmar indicated, there is a ton of early intermediate repertoire that is nicely graded that becomes accessible at some point. I really enjoyed the bonus pieces at the end of book 1, they are challenging but very fun to play. From where you are to the end of book 1, it's quite the ride. Enjoy it!

I went through book 1 on my own. I've had a teacher for book 2. I'm about halfway through and considering just stopping with the Alfred book. I've switched over to playing from RCM grade 1 books.

I do enjoy many of the pieces in Alfred 2, but not as many as I did in book 1. I think book 2 is worthwhile to use, though.

Hello guys,

I was told the Alfred's adult course is one of the best methods out there especially for self studying. The only problem with that is lack of classical pieces.
What do you think the best pieces book to complement it with?

Personally I like the Keith Snell Essential Repertoire of the 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries. This is not a method just a collection of pieces.

"Fundamental Keys" has gathered a number of good reviews from posters here but I have never used it. It is another method book but concentrates on classical works.