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Still plugging away at the same pieces, although I did add "Gravity Blues" from Alfreds to the list. I feel a like I've hit a learning plateau, but I still enjoy sitting at the piano. I think I've reached the point where I have to tighten up the practicing regimen in order to make decent progress. Up to now, admittedly, I've been a bit self-indulgent in how I approach things. Or maybe I just need to lower my expectations...(again).

Alex, My teacher has also had me playing scales, triad inversion, and cadences. I try to mix it up a little each day.

My lessons didn't go through since the only timeslot available didn't work out with my work schedule. Very disappointing However! I'll get a new chance to subscribe in December so I'll just look forward to that.
Currently working on Introduction and Dance and it's truely horrible. I don't like the song and my fingers are not even remotely doing what I want them to do.

Hey GB, Hope the scheduling works out better in December! I didn't care much for the "Dance" part of Introduction and Dance. I thought the intro was kind of fun. Try a little rubato, it sounds better I think, more Italian maybe.

Ahhh found another teacher and will have my first lesson the day after tomorrow. I'll show him my best of La Cucaracha!

Well I have finally given myself a pass on book and am on to book three. Wish me luck. I am working without a teacher so now I am self teaching. Hopefully it won't take me another 4 years to complete book three. See you all in book three.

Well done, to complete the full book is a great accomplishment.

GB, hope your lesson goes (went?) well.

wj3, congrats, I originally though I might be able to finish book 2 by the end of this year but that's not going to happen. I'm perfectly ok with it taking longer since I'm happy with my progress. I didn't really set a time-based milepost or anything because those always seem to turn negative in my experience. Anyway, at the rate I'm going, I'll be finishing book 2 late next year. I haven't decided whether or not to continue into book 3, have to talk to my teacher about it when the time comes.

Thanks ajames, the lesson went very well. We worked on my posture and on scales. It seems that my teacher isn't too fond of Alfred so I might be doing this more on the side now. He says he prefers me to suggest some songs I'd like to play, and we'd work from there. It sounds pleasant but I feel like a method book wouldn't hurt either, since I don't 'just' want to play songs I like, but also want to learn how to really play the piano.

How are you doing with playing on a different piano in class? When I came back home I suddenly felt unhappy with my own piano, after playing with a much better one.

Gravity Blues, Sounds like you had a good first lesson. I would say give your teachers method a shot, it may work out well. I understand what you are saying about developing skills, and maybe your teacher will suggest some pieces or exercises along the way if you ask. That's kind of how I work with my teacher, Alfred's isn't really my primary focus, it's just another source of pieces to work on. I bring them in and play them and get good suggestions on how to practice them and make them sound better.

I know what you mean about the piano, my teacher has an older Steinway L, and I was playing on a Casio DP when I started. Within two months, I had bought my Kawai baby grand. It cost about the same as a used Yamaha U3, and I like the sound and feel much better. And I had the room for it.

I ran into a issue with "Nava Havita"- it seemed to irritate my left wrist. I talked to my teacher and we decided to move on and now my wrist is fine. The left hand part has a highly repetitive big stretch broken chords. I think with repetitive stuff like that, if your technique isn't spot-on, it can really cause problems. It's given me a new focus to reducing tension in my playing...

Really enjoying "Space Shuttle Blues" and "Olympic Procession". These are fun little pieces.

Have a look at this James: http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title...-complete-comb-bound-sheet-music/3537476

I have the same issue at times due old age so to help build strength & dexterity I use Hanon. Talk to you teacher about it and see what he/she says.

Well it seems piano was not at fault for my wrist pain after all. It's all fine now and I play more than ever. Not sure what happened there.

Since I enjoyed Marth Mier's Jazz, Rags and Blues book I tried her "Romantic Sketches" book 1 and I like it even more! Slightly easier than most of the other stuff I work on, but they really sound nice.

Also working on a recital piece, not sure if it will come together or not.

Scorpio, I agree with you that there are diverse pieces outside the Alfred books. I must rely on a teacher to pick those pieces for me. Unfortunately, I do not have a teacher at this point; I decide to follow the Alfred books. I am learning book 3 now. Xiao

Xiao Qin, congrats on making it to book 3! I believe you can easily find a lot of music that is within your reach, even without a teacher. Just sticking with Alfred's pieces is fine too, if you are enjoying yourself and making progress.

Hi all.
I am glad I finished book 2!!!
It took me 3(!!!) years! And, I enjoyed every moment of it. Long time, ea, I know. During this time I also completed twice all 12 scales from book Scales and Cadences ( each scale includes parallel, contrary motion, 3ds, 10ths, all chords and inversions, 1-4-5 in all inversions, arpeggios in 3 inversions, dominant 7th arpeggios in 4 inversions ).

My plan is to have 2-3 month break for repetition, check on what is in supplementary materials. I want to check Blues book by Tim Richards as well. And then, of course, continue Alfred book 3.

I wish you all to enjoy this fantastic hobby!

congratulations qwert that is a great achievement, I wish I had the discipline for all that scale and chord work

Congrats qwert, I don't think 3 years is too long, especially considering the extra work you did.

I have spent some time on "Aloha Oe", or, as I like to call it, the "hawaiian ukelele song". It's impressive how the rolled chords on the piano can simulate the slow strum of a stringed instrument. I've been working on making the rolled chords sound evenly throughout the piece, and playing them without tension. My teacher has helped immensely with this.

Next is the "Black forest polka", or the "transposition song" as my teacher calls it. It's composed almost completely of I, V, and V7 chords and arpeggios so that makes transposing pretty straightforward. I've already been messing around with C->G.

For fun, I'm still working on the Martha Meir books (JR&B1, and Romantic sketches #1), I also added Kabelevsky "A night on the river", from his Op. 27, to the rotation.

Going to start on Christmas music soon! It'll be interesting to go back and work on the same pieces I played last year at this time to see if I've actually improved...

Time to give this thread a bump up- maybe some Alfred #2 lurkers will pop out of the woodwork.

Enjoying "Pomp and Circumstance" --it seems like a nice arrangement to me. Still working on some Meir and Kabelevsky pieces. And Christmas music of course...

I've just started working on Loch Lomond, but I'm also working from other books: John Thompson's Grade 2 book, Faber's Piano Adventures 3A, a book called "So You Used to Play Piano", and miscellaneous other pieces that catch my interest and are within my reach.