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Originally posted by OldFingers:
John Frank, well at 68, the fingers are pretty old, but thankfully, not yet too old to learn to play the piano.
I continue to visit the Book 2 thread and notice that you are also progressing quite well. It won't be long before you are joining me, Mak and Mark. It will be great to have you along for the ride.
Bob I'm looking forward to it - both the challenge of new, interesting pieces and the excellent company of all three of you (and hopefully some others)  Regards, JF
Every difficulty slurred over will be a ghost to disturb your repose later on. Frederic Chopin
Current favorite bumper sticker: Wag more, bark less.
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Originally posted by John Frank: Mark - I think that's a real good idea for you - at several points I felt the same urge - ultimately I decided to do what I call "concurrent review", which means that I'm always moving forward on new pieces, but at the same time I'm reviewing (in depth ) one or two old pieces that I originally started say about 6 months before - as I move ahead with each new piece I also move ahead with an old piece or two, thus "polishing off" or "cleaning up" as I go trudging forward - of course, being retired I have the time to do this - you have 2 1/2 jobs? 
Regards, JF
P.S. I may have some time this next week 1 or 2 new pieces from Book 2 for you to upload - will PM you when they're ready. The jobs do take up quite some time. Last week was a killer...Vacation time is coming. Looking forward to your new book 2 pieces... Mark
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Can I join in here? I'm currently working on the Serenade and the Classy Rag in Alfred 3. That Classy Rag thing may just be the death of me. I spent forever on it last night getting the fingering right in that second section.
I have a deep and satisfying relationship with my Yamaha U1...
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Sure Fitswimmer - come on in - the water's fine (so to speak, given your name  ) - I'm not working out of Book 3 yet, but hopefully will be soon, and am very interested in what those who are working there have to say about the pieces and their experiences. Welcome. maybe one of the other "regulars" can give you a hint or tip on the fingering for Classy rag. Regards, JF
Every difficulty slurred over will be a ghost to disturb your repose later on. Frederic Chopin
Current favorite bumper sticker: Wag more, bark less.
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Originally posted by Fitswimmer:
Can I join in here? I'm currently working on the Serenade and the Classy Rag in Alfred 3. That Classy Rag thing may just be the death of me. I spent forever on it last night getting the fingering right in that second section. Join right in! And welcome. Are you talking about the first repeat section in Classy Rag? Measure 5, I think it is? I found the right hand fingering pretty straightforward. The left is a bit jumpy. My teacher told me to try to "rock" the left hand back and forth, rather than pick it up fully and make a big move out of it. And "relax, relax"- yeah, easier said than done! Just go slowly and carefully at first.
-Mak
1889 Mason & Hamlin screwstringer upright
Kawai MP-4 digital
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When life hands you lemons, throw them back and add some of your own. Stupid life.
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It's the second line of the second page that got me...I'm at the office so I don't have it in front of me right now. It was the left hand though, I kept changing my notations as I found easier ways to do it!
I have a deep and satisfying relationship with my Yamaha U1...
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Originally posted by Fitswimmer:
Can I join in here? I'm currently working on the Serenade and the Classy Rag in Alfred 3. That Classy Rag thing may just be the death of me. I spent forever on it last night getting the fingering right in that second section. Welcome! Yes its going to take forever for me to get the Classy Rag up to speed. And the worst part is the bottom of page two...
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you're not kidding. It took me a while just to figure out how the darn thing ran.."I go where after I finish this line???" I know they only wanted to use 2 pages, but YIKES, there had to be a better way!
I have a deep and satisfying relationship with my Yamaha U1...
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All those wacky "repeat, and go back to here" directions are the least of my issues with sight reading. (Hey, at least I can say I can read SOMETHING decently! LOL) I sang in a chorus for 18+ years and you ought to see what they put in some vocal music for direction, esp. in medleys, where the book is large enough without printing up all the repeats, etc. each time! Stuff that interpreted as "sing from the beginning to page 12, then go back to page 3, sing to page 7 and go to page 13 for the end" was not uncommon. You do get used to it eventually. Really. You do. <grin>
-Mak
1889 Mason & Hamlin screwstringer upright
Kawai MP-4 digital
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When life hands you lemons, throw them back and add some of your own. Stupid life.
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I know I'm setting a poor example here but I skipped "Classy Rag". Generally I don't like to spend my time on the non-attributed pieces unless I can see significant tutorial value. In this case it seemed to me that the diminished chords were the new item, so as penance for skipping the piece, I did the all the diminished chords going around the circle several times.
I have just about finished Serenade except for getting the accents right on the two-beat slurs. It is really enjoyable to play as the Alberti Bass moves right along. I'm also working on Special Day as I find it a good exercise in getting my fingers into the black keys. Having skipped the Classy Rag, I've taken on the Prelude in D Minor and in C major. Those two will probably take me to he end of this term.
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Originally posted by OldFingers:
I know I'm setting a poor example here but I skipped "Classy Rag". Generally I don't like to spend my time on the non-attributed pieces unless I can see significant tutorial value. In this case it seemed to me that the diminished chords were the new item, so as penance for skipping the piece, I did the all the diminished chords going around the circle several times.
I have just about finished Serenade except for getting the accents right on the two-beat slurs. It is really enjoyable to play as the Alberti Bass moves right along. I'm also working on Special Day as I find it a good exercise in getting my fingers into the black keys. Having skipped the Classy Rag, I've taken on the Prelude in D Minor and in C major. Those two will probably take me to he end of this term. I'm finding it difficult to get Classy Rag up to speed. Maybe thats a learning concept in itself. Prelude in D minor is one of my favorites. I'm getting very close to nailing it. PS: I'm also having a great time with "Spooky Story" as lame as it sounds...  Interesting piece...
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Let's see- Serenade- I hate Alberti bass! For some reason, my fingers just don't want to play it right. This one gets pulled out now and again, for the practice. Speical Day- I rather liked this one and found it not too difficult. It got cleared pretty quickly. Classy Rag- Never did get it completely up to speed, but it wasn't one that grabbed me so we let it slide. Prelude in d- I like this one a lot, along with the rest of you. It gets played at least once a day. Someday, I may even be able to do it justice! Star-Spangled Banner- Finally making some progress on this one. There were a few left hand moves that I just found very difficult to get smoothly, but it's starting to come along now. Swan Lake- I liked this one, too. The repetitive bass line helped me get some good solid tempo work in. Scheherazade- Triplets were tricky, but a lot of slow, steady practice got them reasonably decent. Unfinished Symphony- Added the next section this week. Finally got the counting straight (I think!) and hope that helps progress. Spooky Story- Cleared this one from the lesson list this week. It is fun to play! Love the sound way down there at the bass end of the keyboard. I'm now working on this one on my own, trying to get that "mysterious" sound consistent. Steal Away- Just started this one, and I do think I am going to like it. Of course, I do like spirituals and I have sung this one, so it's somewhat familiar. My progress report...
-Mak
1889 Mason & Hamlin screwstringer upright
Kawai MP-4 digital
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When life hands you lemons, throw them back and add some of your own. Stupid life.
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Originally posted by IrishMak: Let's see-
[b]Serenade- I hate Alberti bass! For some reason, my fingers just don't want to play it right. This one gets pulled out now and again, for the practice. Speical Day- I rather liked this one and found it not too difficult. It got cleared pretty quickly. Classy Rag- Never did get it completely up to speed, but it wasn't one that grabbed me so we let it slide. Prelude in d- I like this one a lot, along with the rest of you. It gets played at least once a day. Someday, I may even be able to do it justice! Star-Spangled Banner- Finally making some progress on this one. There were a few left hand moves that I just found very difficult to get smoothly, but it's starting to come along now. Swan Lake- I liked this one, too. The repetitive bass line helped me get some good solid tempo work in. Scheherazade- Triplets were tricky, but a lot of slow, steady practice got them reasonably decent. Unfinished Symphony- Added the next section this week. Finally got the counting straight (I think!) and hope that helps progress. Spooky Story- Cleared this one from the lesson list this week. It is fun to play! Love the sound way down there at the bass end of the keyboard. I'm now working on this one on my own, trying to get that "mysterious" sound consistent. Steal Away- Just started this one, and I do think I am going to like it. Of course, I do like spirituals and I have sung this one, so it's somewhat familiar. My progress report... [/b] Wow! I'm at Steal Away too. At first I was intimidated by it, but have been working on it a lot. Very nice sound. Like it a lot also. This is where I'm going to stay in a holding pattern till I can clean up all the stuff you mentioned.
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I'm still holding on the Serenade and the Rag. The Serenade is going pretty well, but I'm still struggling with that Rag. I'm also working on the Fur Elise in the Aaron book-my teacher likes to use multiple method books. It means that I get to skip some stuff in each one, which is kind of nice. I skipped Special Day in Alfred, but I will be doing the Prelude after I get the other two in better shape.
I have a deep and satisfying relationship with my Yamaha U1...
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Mark, IrishMak, Oldfingers, Fitswimmer, someone else: Would love to *hear* how you guys are doing with all these great sounding Book 3 pieces - anyone interested in recording and uploading their take on them to the OP here in the Book 3 thread? You are hereby strongly encouraged to do so. If so, you are welcome to use the proceedure or "system" that Mark & I have been using to upload samples of pieces from Book 2, which is: 1. Record the piece; 2. upload it to your Box.net acct. (or other file sharing site); 3. Provide a link to it in the topic JF Uploads in the Just for the fun of it Forum, which we have been using for a number of the Book 2 uploads; 4. Mark then copies it over to the OP for the respective Alfred thread. If you need more details let me know. Hoping to "hear" from you! Regards, JF
Every difficulty slurred over will be a ghost to disturb your repose later on. Frederic Chopin
Current favorite bumper sticker: Wag more, bark less.
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Originally posted by Fitswimmer:
I'm still holding on the Serenade and the Rag. The Serenade is going pretty well, but I'm still struggling with that Rag. I'm also working on the Fur Elise in the Aaron book-my teacher likes to use multiple method books. It means that I get to skip some stuff in each one, which is kind of nice. I skipped Special Day in Alfred, but I will be doing the Prelude after I get the other two in better shape. Since we are all struggling with the Rag, I'm not feeling too bad now... Did you know the full version of Fur Elise is in the back of book 3? And skipping "Special Day" is no big deal. JF, I uploaded an early take of Modern Sounds, but need to update it. I play it much better now. I hope to record some book 3 stuff soon as well...
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I'm kinda stuck on recording right now. Audacity does not seem to like working with my new laptop here. I can record, but as soon as I try to do anything else- play back, save, etc- it freezes up. The IT Dept. (read: hubby!) is looking into it, but a solution seems to be evading us for the moment.
-Mak
1889 Mason & Hamlin screwstringer upright
Kawai MP-4 digital
---------------------------
When life hands you lemons, throw them back and add some of your own. Stupid life.
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Originally posted by Mark...: Originally posted by Fitswimmer:
[b] I'm still holding on the Serenade and the Rag. The Serenade is going pretty well, but I'm still struggling with that Rag. I'm also working on the Fur Elise in the Aaron book-my teacher likes to use multiple method books. It means that I get to skip some stuff in each one, which is kind of nice. I skipped Special Day in Alfred, but I will be doing the Prelude after I get the other two in better shape.
Did you know the full version of Fur Elise is in the back of book 3? And skipping "Special Day" is no big deal.
JF, I uploaded an early take of Modern Sounds, but need to update it. I play it much better now.
I hope to record some book 3 stuff soon as well... [/b]I saw that! I'm looking forward to getting to it because then I can add the rest of it to the part I already know! I have to decide if I'm going to pony up for a Zoom or something to record my playing. I was considering getting a digital keyboard to plug into my Mac, but I don't know if that will be as effective as just getting the recorder.
I have a deep and satisfying relationship with my Yamaha U1...
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Originally posted by Fitswimmer: Originally posted by Mark...: [b] Originally posted by Fitswimmer:
[b] I'm still holding on the Serenade and the Rag. The Serenade is going pretty well, but I'm still struggling with that Rag. I'm also working on the Fur Elise in the Aaron book-my teacher likes to use multiple method books. It means that I get to skip some stuff in each one, which is kind of nice. I skipped Special Day in Alfred, but I will be doing the Prelude after I get the other two in better shape. Since we are all struggling with the Rag, I'm not feeling too bad now... Did you know the full version of Fur Elise is in the back of book 3? And skipping "Special Day" is no big deal. JF, I uploaded an early take of Modern Sounds, but need to update it. I play it much better now. I hope to record some book 3 stuff soon as well... [/b]
I have to decide if I'm going to pony up for a Zoom or something to record my playing. I was considering getting a digital keyboard to plug into my Mac, but I don't know if that will be as effective as just getting the recorder. [/b]Unless you have a need for a digital, the recorder should be cheaper.
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OK, you have all made me feel a little guilty so I hacked my way through Classy Rag a few times, but I am still not motivated enough to work at it. Please don't drum me out of the Book 3 club.
JF, I think your suggestion that we record some of our pieces is a good one. Here we all are breezing through Book 3 and you're probably thinking we'll all full of hot air. It's worth getting us calibrated. I once threatened to record Danny Boy, and I will after my piano is tuned next week. It hasn't been tuned in almost a year as I've been messing around filling my room with acoustic panels to try to quiet it down. They do work marvels, but now the mis-tuning is killing me.
Did no one take the option of going to the Prelude in C Major? If not, why not? I'm going to spend some time on this one because I like the chords although I haven't figured them all out yet.
I've slowed down a bit on Prelude in D as I don't have a good feeling for all the finger positions, and I refuse to look at the keyboard.
Fits, definitely get a Zoom. I have the H2 and I love it. I get my teacher to play the Book 3 pieces for me which is a huge help in getting the musicality of the pieces.
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