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Thank you. It's a fun piece to play.

Thanks, Brian. My teacher actually suggested I play the Malaguena for our upcoming class recital. I'm keeping it under my fingers as a back up plan.

It does indeed sound like a great year for you. But wait, the year's not over yet, so there's still time for more greatness.

Thanks Mario! One of the pieces I submitted to the ABF recital the last time around. Should be easily accessible to listen to. The other three I have not had a chance to record yet, at least being played with my own hand.

There was an audio recording made of our duet last Sunday. Once I get it I'll publish it in this thread.

A quick check in after a little holiday. Currently working on Oh Sole Mio in Unit 2, which I now feel like I've been working on for an infinity years. I refuse to move on until I perfect it, or go insane. Whatever comes first.

Thanks for checking in Trevor. That piece was a favorite of mine, harder to perfect that one might think just scanning the notes.

For those of you who live in the States, Happy Thanksgiving.

For those of you who live outside the U.S, thanks so much for checking in here when you can. To me, having participation at a global level makes these topics more interesting and affirming.

Hey, Trevor. Nice to hear from you.

My teacher (community college class) recently assigned me Ol Sole Mio, but from the Alfred's AAIO book, which is the coursebook for the class. So far, I've neglected it, choosing instead to work on my recital piece, a baroque piece from a book I recently bought, and learning scales two hands together (a recently upgraded personal goal in my routine). I'll start on Ol Sole Mio very soon.

I walked through it two weeks ago when it was first assigned, and, my initial impression was that the struggle would center around the frequent chord changes. Unlike previous pieces I've learned, this one seems to incorporate chords more into the melody, rather than confining them to just accompaniment. I think I'll start it tonight.

Hi Everyone,

No lesson for me this week due to the holiday. Some of my fellow classmates were at the same place in the book as I was at the last lesson, but they're moving on to the next unit even though their pieces were nowhere near polished. Our teacher is a very easy passer, so I'm slowing myself down and will work on each piece to where I can play it smoothly and musically.

For unit 5 I pretty much have Gavotte and Swing Low Sweet Chariot under control. But the other piece, a lead sheet for Song of Joy, is giving me some grief. The right hand plays mostly first inversion chords, with finger #5 voicing the top-notes melody. I can more or less do it, but not without some discomfort in my forearm so I think I should stop trying for now.

Other than that I'm making some nice progress on my Gavotte in G Major recital piece.

Trevor - Try to keep your sanity. What's your idea of "perfect"? Are you working on other pieces also, or just that one?

Brian - Looking forward to hearing that duet recording.

Ralph - I found the Alfred's version of O Sole Mio to be more difficult than the Faber's one. I'm sure you'll do better with the arpeggiated chords than I did.

Wow Linda I'm impressed! It took me two years of concentrated study to be able to get to the point in Level 3B where I was able to learn and perfect Swing Low Sweet Chariot so I could play it in public.

Your progress is quite noticeable in 2015. No stopping you now!

Hey, everybody. I hope you are all doing well.

I have not returned to my Faber books yet, as, I still have a couple weeks of class which uses the Alfred's. These last couple of weeks will require me to complete two more songs from that book, a new piece given just before the final, and to play all scales and cadences for the major keys. Though I have been resistant to learning all the scales at this early juncture, I have recently taken on the challenge of playing all the scales, two octaves, hands together. The hands together goal may be more a reflection of the particular keys I am currently working on, F# and C#, which, using all of the black keys, are not that difficult to learn. I may have to back off some when I get to the major flat keys.

I had a bit of a revelation recently, not in terms of new knowledge, but rather, in terms of better understanding of existing knowledge. A couple weeks ago I found a book of baroque and classical pieces at Level 1 or 2 (can't remember just now). Out of curiosity, I sat down to plink away at the first piece, Rigaudon by G.P. Telemann. It is a short piece in ABA form. I only had a little time right then, so, I slowed way down in order to be able to "hear" the piece before having to put it away. I was happy to find that I got control of the melody (right hand) surprisingly quickly for the A part. I could tell that I liked it, so I elevated it to a high priority piece, and have been working steadily on adding the left hand part, as well as the B part.

Over the course of this little venture, I remembered how well I learned the right hand, A part by going slowly, and have been keenly aware of the benefits of that practice throughout. Now, two weeks later, I am ready to record it, and, am pleased with how it sounds.

About an hour ago as I stopped practicing my Rigaudon piece, I got curious about the next piece in the book. It is a selection from the notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach (I hope I didn't butcher that name). It is in the key of F, a key I have not spent much time in. It also is short, and in AABB form. I started very slowly, and, had the right hand melody for all parts playing smoothly in less than an hour. This is very fast learning compared to my recent history. I'm getting kind of excited about the prospects, in terms of how much more music I might be able to learn now.

The slowing down thing REALLY, REALLY works. Previous pieces at this level have typically taken me a month or so to get into nice shape. I also used the super slow approach to resurrect a couple of pieces I had learned previously, and allowed to slip into dis-use. They came back quite nicely with the slow practice method.

It's funny how you (I) can know things on a cognitive level, but still not actually utilize them. I have known, cognitively, for months about the benefits of practicing very slowly. But, it is only recently that I believe I am coming the point of REALLY knowing it, i.e., it is incorportated into my practice regimen with the same reliability as sitting down, or placing my hands on the keys.

I think I may be getting smarter!

Hi Linda, I think your approach is correct. My teacher does not move me on until the pieces are musical and polished. I think it's a good habit because I'm working on some side pieces and all of that attention to detail carries over to when you're working on something without the assistance of your teacher. I say continue on your path, you will be all the better for it.

Good luck on Gavotte and your recital. I'm super excited to hear how yours goes. I'm also working on my recital pieces and this week, unfortunately, I'm struggling with nervousness and getting my pieces perfected so I can play them from a cold start perfectly every single time. I'm putting aside my other work until I can finish my recital which is next week.

I saw that monstrosity and was initially intimidated, and bewildered by it. But, I was in class at the time and had the opportunity to ask the teacher what that "snake" was doing in my music score.

After he explained it, I was less intimidated. I realized that quite a few of my chord attempts to date had come out "semi-appregiated" anyway. So, I figure I'm already half way there.

I got the right hand melody of Ol Sole Mio under control last night, except for the second ending where the appregiated chord appears. That will probably come tonight.

I think I'll learn to spell "appregiated" first.

Linda and Blackjack: I'm envious of your recital opportunities. Playing in front of others is something I really want to get accustomed to. I'm frequently disappointed with the way mistakes creep in when I play for my teacher. Probably about 70% of my performances for him are marked by mistakes that, in practice, I had already long put behind me.l And, I absolutely know that it is just from nervousness, fear of failure, etc.

So, I was thinking of hosting a piano get-together for fellow ABF members, or for all PW members, even classmates from my piano class. I've seen several members of PW and ABF from Texas, so a nice turnout seems a real possibility. Perhaps some of our ABF fellows would even travel to join in. I envision it as a fun, informal opportunity to play in front of supportive, caring colleagues, to receive encouragement, and get inspired by each others' successes.

And, playing would in no way be required. Just available, and supported if chosen. Listeners would be welcome.

I thought of renting a banquet room or a piano room at our college with a quality piano for a day.

Do any of you have experience with such an event? I would love your feedback or ideas about it.

I hope you are all doing well.

A couple of things... (1) I don't play it perfectly, as I still am a little clumsy in a couple of spots, and (2) it's a simpliler verson than the one you played. For example my version doesn't have sixteenth notes. So while I don't deserve the "impressed" comment, I do feel like I'm making good progress, so I'll accept that one. Thank you.

I'm with you on the slow practice. Even though I know better I keep speeding up and have to remind myself to slow down. Same thing with other bad practice habits I have such as wanting to play the whole piece every time. No wonder it takes me so long to learn a new piece.
I'm still waiting to get smarter.

Thanks, Blackjack. In some ways I like having control of when I can move on from a piece, but the other hand it'd be nice to have a teacher with a higher standard.

Thanks for wishing me good luck at my recital. Good luck to you too. Believe me, I'm nervous also. I'm working on getting it memorized so I can focus on the musicality of the piece. Right now I'm focusing on getting the last third memorized. And same as you, it's cutting into my regular practice time which of course is slowing down my progress in my method book. But I guess working on a recital piece is progress of another sort.

A piano get-together sounds like fun. I'm not sure that I'd be brave enough to play in front of strangers, though. Especially if my recital goes badly and I end up humiliating myself - I'd be forever traumatized and spend the rest of my life playing to an empty room.

I'm happy to say I have grown accustomed to playing badly (ie: in the midst of learning a piece) in front of my classmates. At first I was very self conscience knowing everyone could hear me, but now I don't even give it a second thought. Of course, that took weeks of classes to get to that point. However, playing in front of new people still scares me. My chance of participating in a new group is greatest with the least amount of people attending. And the more informal, the better.

If you decide to go ahead with this, let me know if there's anything I can do to help.

Hi Linda, yes definitely try to get your pieces memorized. My pieces are memorized. There is no way I would attempt a recital trying to read the music it would be a 100 times more difficult for me at this point in my piano career.

Ralph, I think your idea of a piano get together is a good one to get exposure to playing in public. Another resource you might try is the site meetup.com. I know there are some piano groups out here in my area of CA, I'm sure TX has the same.

In general, I am not the type of person that particularly has a goal of playing in public, I'm mainly doing the recital because my teacher really wanted me to give it a try. If I enjoy it I may do more public playing in the future, but it is definitely not one of my main goals. Too much pressure, I enjoy the relaxing atmosphere of my piano room

Here you go. You can ignore the last 20 seconds of the video; I built the project for youtube before I realized the end contained applause and comments from the audience.

https://youtu.be/BVRocZXWgq4

Double Feature: Swing Low Sweet Chariot

https://youtu.be/H9It8knOMjs

Just to prepare for the EOY: I would like each poster in this thread to list their 2015 accomplishments, and more importantly, their 2016 goals.

I'll have my list ready by the 25th.

Hey, Brian. This is a nice idea, as, overlooking past successes is easy to do, and it is nice to remind oneself of the successes we've had. I think the following represent my best 2015 adventures, and the objectives coming soon.

MILESTONES:

Bought my daughter a Roland, her first piano, in January
Bought and played my first digital piano in April
Completed Piano Adventures Primer Level
¾ Complete Piano Adventures Level 1
approx ¾ complete Alfred's AAIO under direction of CC teacher with A grade
All major scales, two octaves, hands separate
All major scale Cadences, hands together
Two ABF Recital submissions
Played my first acoustic piano at CC
In two weeks I will have 3 credit hours with grade of A toward a music degree I'll never complete :-)


ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

Recorded piano performance via midi connection from piano to computer/Audacity
Recorded piano performance via midi USB connection to computer/Pianoteq
Made some music that sounded like music

PIANO SKILLS UNDERTAKEN:

Sight reading (duh)
Playing over full range of grand staff in major keys of C, G, and F
Thumb cross-under and finger cross over in an actual song
Playing songs with eighth notes
Left hand block chord accompaniment to right hand melody (I, IV, V, and V7)
Right hand block chord accompaniment to left hand melody (I, IV, V, and V7)
Playing two handed pieces with non-chord left hand accompaniment to right hand melody

CURRENT FOCUS/'GOALS:

Phrasing and dynamics, to go beyond mere note playing
More independence and control of fingers 4 and 5
Rigaudon by G.P. Telemann
Little Dance, by Turk


“ON THE HORIZON” FOCUS/'GOALS:

Sixteenth Notes
Clear Sailing, by Mary Leaf
Village Dance, and, The Swing by Czerny
Sonatina in G, 1st Movement., by Attwood
An American Tapestry, by Timothy Brown
Celebration at Dunvegan Castle, by Mary Leaf
Playing live in front of people

Hey Ralph, this is exactly what I was referring to.

Thanks!

New to PW and wanted to pop in and say I just started AIO Adult Piano Adventures 1. This is my second go around with the piano. Played for almost 2 years with a teacher, got busy with life and haven't touched my piano in almost 5 years. Trying a new method to learn this time:

Faber series + Musiah. We'll see how it goes! I'm currently on level 3 of 13 in Musiah and surprisingly, the two years of private lessons are quickly coming back into my hands and fingers.