Considering the weather around New York, perhaps I shouldn't complain too much about the conditions here....

@sinophilia Good to know that You like the Jazz/Rock book. I didn't order the one with the CD as I thought I would be able to find the tunes on Youtube, but after seeing your message I cancelled the order and got the one with CD. Thanks for notifying me.

It sounds like you guys should make some recordings and put them up on youtube when you get the pieces mastered!

The last ragtime piece I played, the youtube version I chose had an error in rhythm, and of course, after that, so did I.

Our thread has slipped down to the bottom of page 2!
*bump*

I'm in the thick of the Chopin Etude (arrangement). Very slow progress. Very very slow. I can tell that it would be pretty when played well. sino--I read in another thread that you were working on it too. How is it coming for you?


My new Martha Mier piece Jelly Bean Rag is coming along; I'm at the ragged stage of putting hands together. There are some cute kids playing it on youtube. I would love my back to be as straight as this little girl!

I have finally achieved fingering satisfaction for the first page of my Sleigh Ride duet for the holidays. In a few places, the paper is getting thin because I wrote and erased so many finger numbers. Now that I'm happy all I have to do is speed things up. I'm not too worried about it though, because my husband and duet partner doesn't really have time to work out his part, so maybe I'll just be getting an early start for Christmas 2013 or '14 or whenever.

I'm working on "Whole World in His Hands". It's been a while since I've wanted to punch a hole in my piano and set fire to the Alfred's book, but this one is doing it! All those fast big chords in the right hand are killing me!

I'm also working on "La Donna e Mobile", which seems much easier except for those darned triplets at the end.

They're not big fast chords. They're chords. Practise changing chord at a speed that you can manage for two or three minutes a day. Then go on to your other piece(s). When you can change chord comfortably and fast enough go back to the piece.

If memory serves Alfred's does chords in threes, I, IV and V. Practise a twelve bar pattern, one chord per beat, in each hand so that you practise changing from each one to the other two at about the speed of a gentle quarter note. When you're changing chord in brisk triplets at 12/8 time you'll have solved the problem.

For 'La Donna' play just those triplets. Play them slowly and mechanically, no time pulse, just move from one note to the next. When it's mechanically sound and the motion familar get it rhythmic to a slow metronome or count. When the tempo matches that of the piece go back to the piece. Again, two or three minutes a day at that little exercise before going back to that piece.

Keep a journal of what parts you're doing of what piece. When all the parts are done, start working on that piece in larger units. When they're all good, do the whole piece.

If you can't solve a problem with three minutes a day then make the problem smaller.

You'll make faster progress working on half a dozen pieces, just a few bars of each, at three minutes a day than twenty minutes on one piece getting frustrated, bored and constantly repeating your mistakes.

Richard zrtf90,
Thanks for all that!

I would do well to remember and practice all the things you have listed!

I'm only up to "Divertimento", but last night I was thumbing through the book and saw "Fascination". This was very popular way back when I was in 8th grade, and it was a favorite of mine. In fact, it inspired me to ask my parents for violin lessons back then, but they couldn't afford them. The arrangement looked much easier than many of the pieces before it, so I gave it a try, and it wasn't very hard at all. I'm going to work this one up and then go back to where I left off. Maybe I'll even try the "strings" setting on it.

Ops sorry for the late reply, I spent the week in Dublin and away from both computer and piano.

I sort of learned the first page of the Etude but at the usual super-slow snail pace. In the last 3 weeks I've been really bad with piano practice, what with work and other things. Will have to get back to solid daily practicing and try to learn that properly before moving on or I'll never ever finish book 2 by January as I intended to.

Oh-- well, if I had had even the remotest chance of spending the week in Dublin I would have certainly done that!!

I don't care when I finish book 2. I don't even care if I finish it!

The Chopin seems like one of those one or two measures per day pieces. The second page is quite a bit more difficult, isn't it?

Actually I struggle the most with combining the two hands in line 3 (same LH pattern repeated on the second page with different notes), while the last half of the second page seems the easiest part. I guess now it's the time to start studying a measure or two at the time and concentrate on that, while until now I thought I could manage learning a whole song or half of it at a time by playing very slowly.

I'll have to try not to spend too much time on the jazz/rock book, as that's much simpler and entertaining and therefore very tempting when I start to struggle too much with the other book

Oh, I think you should keep the easier/fun music too.

The Etude pretty much demands the one-measure-at-a-time treatment which to my mind isn't all that fun or satisfying, just necessary. (My teacher said several times: "Don't go on until you get this section."

Having something a bit easier makes it easier to hear some progress. And gives something to do besides playing the same 8 notes over and over.

I'm not sure how this happened, but after months of having but not touching the book, I've finally started on book two of Alfred's. Previously I thought the songs boring, nothing of the book containing anything of interest, but after reading around PW a bit, I decided to open the book and see where it takes me. It's actually quite fun, not half as bad as I thought it might be. The songs aren't entirely the same in my book as the All-in-one mentioned in the original post. So far I've played Down in the Valley (yawn) and Tumbalalaika (yay). Determined to play through it this time. I did finish book one.

I must say that I'm enjoying this book more and more as I move forward, I skipped several songs in the first part but now I find myself playing each song at least a few times, although not memorizing and polishing everything.

I was getting a bit frustrated trying to memorize the Etude (the only way I could dream to play it properly), so I had a look at the following two pieces and feel a bit relieved now! Swinging Sevenths sounds good and is quite easy to learn. The Polovetsian Dance is also nice, I need to figure out the chord progression but I'm almost there. It's weird how these books put a difficult piece here and there and then go back to more feasible stuff. Or am I the only one who thinks that not all songs are progressive in difficulty? Am I the only one who had a hard time with stuff like Alexander's Ragtime Band, Hava Nagila and the Etude?

You are quite right, Sinophilia. I had a hard time with the second page of Alexander's Ragtime Band. And absolutely could not play La Bamba (did you have this one in your book). After struggling with La Bamba and a few other somewhat easier Mexican type pieces, there were several pieces that I thought were pretty easy. I haven't gotten to Hava Nagila and the Etude yet, but I can tell from looking at them that they will give me trouble. And like I said in an above post - I recently tried Fascination, which is almost at the end of the book, and it wasn't really any more difficult than many of the way earlier pieces, except that it's in a new key. In fact, from now on, if I come to a piece that I can't get with a few weeks of hard work, I will just skip it and come back to it later. I know now that some of the next pieces will be easier.

Tonight I am leaving for a two week visit to my daughter and family. No piano in their house. I hope I don't regress too much.

zrt - you're right, of course...they're just chords! thanks for the practice tips!

malkin - the second page of Étude isn't necessarily more difficult than the first. I mostly struggled with the top two lines of the second page, the part leading up to the ritardando.

Sinophilia - I agree 100%. The jumping around in difficulty is a little frustrating. On the other hand, it's kinda refreshing to have an easier one thrown in the mix, as it boosts my confidence a bit.

I'm still working on the same two Alfred's pieces, moving slowly because I'm concentrating more on my other stuff right now - Miniature Waltz by Rebikov (which is nearing completion!) and Mozart's Sonata Facile (which is probably a bit over my head, but is slowly but surely coming along).

I did ok with La Bamba--it was hard, but I really liked working on it, but I thought I might never finish Hava Nagila. My teacher said he has had students ready to quit piano altogether because of La Bamba.

I can play the Etude up to the hard measures on the 2nd page, and I can play the RH separately through that section in a sort of grounded out way. For the bottom of the second page, I think the music is so pretty that it will come together all right when I get to it.

It is a pedagogical principle to alternate hard and easy material or at least to slip in some easy stuff after a real killer, not just in music. You can see this in lots of learning materials.

Yeah, well I kind of like the emotional roller-coaster
It keeps me from getting bored, and unfortunately I'm not the kind of person who can spend weeks or even months on a single task. I'm currently working on 3 Alfred's songs, a couple of Czerny's studies, the jazz/rock stuff, and... yes, I confess... a simple arrangement of Downton Abbey theme

After all, I don't seem to progress at all if I repeat a passage for over 10 minutes or if I spend my entire daily practice on just one song. So I'd rather go back to it the next day and it usually gets a little bit easier.

WAAAAAAH!
Friday morning is my usual uninterrupted, play as long as I want time. Today we are having new window installed, so I spent the early morning covering the piano and the furniture and I will spend the rest of the day waiting for these guys to get finished and out of my house. Then I will spend the evening cleaning up after them.

It will be nice to have efficient windows though. The house is 100 years old and while I love the wiggles in the glass, the draughts have been remarkable.

Where is everyone?

I'm working on the 2 hardest measures of the Etude. It takes as long as it takes.

There is no étude in the basic book Is it only in the all-in-one?

I'm working through the 'repeat' sections at the start of the book. It's not very hard yet.

I have the AIO-the piece is a simplified arrangement of a Chopin Etude.

My hard work paid off, and it looks like I will be able to play the whole thing by next week--knock on wood, and of course there will need to be plenty of knocking on the keys this week! Using the pedal the whole way through may be a bit of a hitch, but I'll give it my best shot.

Hi Everyone.

I'm new to the board and Piano. I had a question about Alfred's book. Whats the best way to go about walking through it? Should I stick to a page until I learn a song and play it perfectly a few times or just kinda skim through if I can passably play? What are your recommendations? Thanks all and I'm excited to start reading everyone's progress here

Firstly, let me be the first to say welcome to Piano World!

To answer your question - It depends. I can't speak for everyone, only to my experiences. Do you have a teacher? Are you working on other pieces in addition to the Alfred's book? How far along are you in book 2?

I'm working with a teacher. When she says I'm done with an Alfred's piece, I'm done with it. Sometimes, she seems to me to be overly lenient, and sometimes she seems to demand perfection. I'm paying her to make these kinds of decisions for me, and so I trust her judgement. I guess maybe that sounds a little naïve, but I'm comfortable with the way I'm progressing. I'm also always working on several other things in addition to Alfred's.

Hi syntoast and welcome!

For me a teacher is essential, because I would give up immediately on just about everything, but lots of people make lots of progress on their own.

It is a fun forum!

Good for you! I got so frustrated with the Etude that I moved on to the next few pieces. I'm working on 16th notes and Bourlesq right now - not too hard in itself but hard to play as fast as it should. I keep practicing the Etude, it's a bit better but I haven't tackled the hardest part yet. There's something about this piece that eludes me... I'd love to have a teacher who could show me what it is.

This morning a weird thing happened to me... I saw a black wooden piano stand with a 3-pedal unit near the rubbish bins, I gave it a look and understood from its shape that it was meant for my digital piano... so I picked it up!

So now I have 3 pedals to take care of

Congratulations on your new pedals and stand!!!

Much of the instruction I got on the etude consisted of 'slow down and don't move to the next section until you've got this one down.' Also "don't get frustrated." So I worked phrase by phrase and very slowly. The top of the second page is still pretty dicey. And when I pedal everything falls apart so I need to slow way down again. It does seem to have fallen back into the realm of possibility though which amazes me.

I would have bailed on the first day without a teacher.

Hi all!

Sinophilia: Congratulations on your pedals and stand!

I hope you are all doing well!

I'm currently working on Brahm's lullaby, Lonesome Road and the chromatic scale. How are you doing?

A few weeks back I got a new DP with pedals, and it's surprisingly difficult to pedal and play simultaneously! Just as malkin says it all falls apart. Ah well, I refuse to give up, so eventually things will come together....

"Whole World in His Hands" and "La Donna" are officially DONE. "La Donna" definitely had some tricky parts (I now officially DESPISE triplets....but I digress), but it eventually came together ok. I never got "Whole World" to the point where it felt nice under my fingers...the chord changes in the right hand always felt strained. For one thing, some of my fingers are too fat to fit way up between the black keys, so I'm rather awkwardly jumping my hand forward to hit black keys with my pinky then back away from the blacks so that my middle finger hits only the white key instead of a white key and two black keys! I'm sure with a lot of practice I could have eventually gotten that chord change buttery smooth. And if I actually liked the song, it might even have been worthwhile LOL.

For now, it's crunch time. The fall recital is Sunday. I'll be playing the Rebikov waltz that I've been working on.

Gahdzila, I'm working on Musetta's Waltz right now, so I'm just some ten pages behind you!

I'm getting frustrated though, as most of the pieces require me to practice very slowly no more than one line at a time, or maybe even a single measure. I know this is how it should be, but I'm not enjoying the process very much and my progress is so slow. Sometimes I wish I could just learn building blocks and then be able to play popular tunes instead of struggling with specific pieces, a bit like when you learn chords on the guitar and you can start playing plenty of different songs in no time. Now every single seemingly easy song in the Alfred's book requires so much focus and patience, plus I seem to forget them so easily even when I've memorized them well as soon as I put new material in my brain.

I guess it will only get worse as pieces become more difficult...

I love my current Martha Mier piece, Red Rose Rendezvous, and could practice it all day (and still not get it right!). Not too interested in my current Alfred piece (piece of what?!) I forget what it's even called--the one with all seventh chords in the left hand, stomping up and down the keyboard. I can't play it well, but I looked ahead to the next one anyway and arrived at the Postalopavlovladivostokilovanianilaikan Dances or something like that, with the whole note chords that I can't read in the left hand.

*sigh*