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Wow, y'all flew! I was hoping to get book 2 done in a year, and I am a little dubious at this point that will be enough time.

Of course, I have not been heads-down in it, as I focused on other things (job search, public recital). But it is my summer goal to complete more or less one piece per week in Alfred's Book 2, and we'll see where that takes me.

Congratulations Undone on your accomplishment. I wish I had a little of the talent that you and Tigg have.

AWTPP. I don't think that I will be able to complete a song a week. I guess it takes me longer to learn each song. I guess its not a race. I am still working on the first three songs. I am not working on Alfreds as my primary method. But I guess I need to give it a little more practice time. I'll be here for awhile.

wj3, that makes two of us. I am on Solace, and therefore there is a LOT of Book 2 ahead of me.

You already play great so don't sell yourself short. I've learned a lot already but still so much more to go (that's the beauty of this journey). There are some things I do well and others not. Believe me, I've still got lots of work to do..

You already do, I've heard your stuff


Nail, head, hit. Yep I learned early on that although the competitive side of me wants to move on quickly, I can't be skipping anything since it's theory, background that I need to ensure I pick up and learn.

Although I have now finished #2 I'm still going over the theory of the circle of 5ths (last part of book) and will do for a little while...

CONGRATULATIONS to TTigg and Undone!

Please continue to give criticism of my recordings, I still very much need it.

Thanks for the kind works TTigg. It helps with my motivatonn...
I will try to get a recording of Bridal Chorus today...

TTigg and Undone,

This might some slightly lame but... I thought maybe you'd like to reflect upon Book 2 as a whole. I am nearing the end (although I still have quite a while) but many others here are beginning or still have many of the songs left. Any major challenges, favorite works, interesting anecdotes etc. would be, at least for me, very lovely to hear! I'd especially like to hear your opinions of the top three HARDEST pieces and the top three most ENJOYABLE pieces in the book.

-W

/\ Ooh, nice question Waltz. I'm all ears and eyes.

Congrats Undone and TTigg!!! Bon voyage and do come back and visit sometime.

Key Notes

Hi Mark...,

It's so nice to hear from you again. JF was really worried about you, and me too. I'm still plunking away at it whenever I get a chance.

Thanks as always for all of your inspirations and good sound advice and reminders. I hope your piano studies has been going well for you.

Cheers,

Key Notes

OK....just thought I'd add my first "Official Book 2 Progress Report."
Here it is: Finished "Down in the Valley" (the first piece in the book)......

Not a bad idea so here goes....

Major Challenges
Staying focused! No really, I do love the Alfred series but as my experience has grown the "itch" to do other side projects was getting much larger. During #2 I had 2 live and 2 online recitals. With regards to the book itself it obviously progressed much slower than #1 since we were moving into much more theory such as chord progression, triads, diminished triads, augmented etc. I am finding that I still have a challenge with reading the timing of notes. By that I mean that I can sight read a piece, begin to play, listen to a different version and be "oh that's how" and then bam I'm doing great. My teacher and I are going to address this slight downfall during #3 but overall I'm not too worried. This part of my brain it seems is learning the details slower than the visual side which is just enjoying all of this great music it's being fed

Interesting anecdotes
I think it's uncanny that as I've progressed along the book with also doing scales (from another Alfred book) side by side each week that it's easy for me to build a scale, practice arpeggios, and generally understand where I need to be and what I need to be doing. For instance this week (now on #3) we're going to be practicing A Major. I literally played it straight off without even thinking up 4 octaves. Of course now I'll work on doing cadence patterns and both hands for this week.

Favorite works
Not fair :P (lol) there are too many but ok, here goes...(not in any particular order)
1. Tumbalalaika
2. Night Song
3. Swinging Sevenths
4. Musette
5. La Donna E Mobile
6. 1st Movement
7. Canon in D

Top 3 HARDEST pieces
This is also quite a tough one. Again, in no particular order but here is what I remember challenging me over the last 9mths.
1. Canon in D! (but was well worth the wait)
2. Musette
3. The Hokey Pokey (the timing is slightly different to the one you think you know!)

Top 3 most ENJOYABLE pieces
1. Canon in D (although I'm looking forward to learning the other version)
2. Night Song (I may search out the sheet music for the complete works, love it)
3. Tied between Le Donna E Mobile & Musette

SC

I have mostly lurked in this forum and have really enjoyed hearing others play the same songs I'm working on from Book#2. I am taking the summer off from lessons and my teacher gave me Canon, the last song in the book, as one of the songs to work on for homework over the summer

I thought I'd try to record a song and share it here. It's Braham's Lullaby - I have been playing it at bedtime for my son off and on for a while. It's probably my favorite in the whole book so far.

I recorded it using Voxie on my iPhone. I'm not sure what the small static crackle is in the very beginning; but it didn't happen again so I decided to not re-do it. (It only took about 25 takes to get through the whole song once).

http://www.box.net/shared/m52dvrrlgy

I'd welcome any feedback - I hope the audio is loud enough to hear well.

-Nancy

Angelojf - I spent about three months on book 1, then it took me about a year and three months to complete book 2. Working on my “A Bag of Rags” took up a lot of my practice time over part of this period.

Undone

Waltz – Allow me to stray a bit from your direct inquiry and instead list a few of the lessons I learned during the course of my time in Book 2.

1) I can take a week’s vacation, not worry about doing any sort of practicing, and pretty much pick right up where I left of once I return.

2) It doesn’t matter how long it takes me to progress through these books. There will always be those that move much faster than me and those that move slower, just as there will always be those that can play better than me and those don’t play as well. What matters is the enjoyment and personal satisfaction that I get each time I sit down to practice. If I think “I’ll start enjoying this when I get to such-and-such a level” I’ll probably never get there (or there will always be that “next level” in which I expect something magical will happen).

3) Getting the notes down is often the easy part. Making a piece sound as musically pleasing as I can is what takes the most work (and I can almost always make it sound even better through more work). A great pianist can make Twinkle Twinkle Little Star sound special (and I’m referring to just the basic version of the song here), and a hack can hit every note in a Chopin Etude yet leave it sounding dead and uninteresting.

4) Be my own worst critic. Some people really want direct critical feedback, others need to hear that they’re doing well. It’s difficult to know which is which, and safer to give the latter, so that’s what most people do.

5) It’s okay, maybe even beneficial, to work on some things outside of Alfred’s while going through this series. I just need to find out how best to budget your practice time accordingly.

6) There will always be good days and bad days, and I can never be quite sure what type today will be until after I’ve finished the day’s practice session.

7) Participating in the PW-ABF is a fantastic way to stay motivated.


HARDEST pieces (hard to say - some pieces seemed very difficult at the time but no longer are, and it's tuff to remember how I felt about some of the earlier pieces when I first started working on them. So it's only natural to think of the more recent challenges as being more difficult.):
Canon In D
Etude Op10, No 3
Danny Boy

Most ENJOYABLE pieces (also hard to say):
Etude Op10, No 3
Ballin the Jack
Theme from Symphony No 6 1st movement


Undone

Nancy w - Wonderful job on Braham’s Lullaby! When I read that the recording was made using an iPhone I thought “a oh”, but I must say it worked very well.

Undone

Very, very well played! An appropriate gentle and soft texture combined with an excellent performance

And I agree with Undone: it was fine sound quality.

Hi Nancy w: Very nice performance of Brahms's Lullaby. A lucky child your son is.

TTigg and Undone: Thanks for the wonderful summaries and reviews. As well as the always grounded advice from Undone.

As for me, I'm having fun learning Alexander's Ragtime Band. And although I believed that I've already fingured out all of the fingerings for it, I wanted to double-check with you all anyway.

Specifically the melodic fingerings for the last phrase in the last three measures of the last bar. For the D, C#, D, C, A, G, F, I've selected to use 5454321. Is this correct? Or what have you all found to be more effective and comfortable to use?

AWTPP: You have a wonderful recording of it. Any recommendations?

Thanks,

Key Notes

Undone,

Thanks for taking the time to write that, I am very happy to have read it and believe it was candid and thoughtful. I thought #4 was both interesting and a tad alarming. Yet it is true. ABF, and especially Alfred's 2 thread, tends to be a very supportive environment where we see the best in each others playing and progression. I believe, for whatever it's worth, that both aspects of critical evaluation are important. Everyone I've heard on this forum had done, at minimum, fine jobs with their performances submitted. Yet occasionally, certain aspects of their performance could be given criticism that is constructive. But, you're right, it's hard to do so, due to the extreme benevolence and solidarity of the forum and thread. Yet, I feel that many of us do try to offer both. Acknowledging the fine performances while also, when necessary, providing appropriate criticism.

Many times, I feel like the "hack" in #3, hitting the notes correctly. I think this is directly linked to the sentiment of #2: demanding progression of myself faster than is appropriate and thus not taking the time to stress the dynamics of a piece or play it in the elegant manner for which it is meant. Sometimes I am a hack that simply hits keys in the correct order, and it makes me feel negative about my own playing.

I am now looking forward to the Theme from the Sixth Symphony and dreading the final two pieces; they will both probably take a while and be frustrating. Most things in life worthwhile are so, however.

Thanks again for your post, I liked it.