Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Alfred's Basic and All in One Adult Piano Course Book #2

Fur Elise will be doable for you now. (I started it at about the same time in Alfreds that you are.) Just take your time. Good luck! It's musical.

Fur Elise - that's awesome!

Awesome that you have finished the "Spinning Song" too. And cute that your kids have been humming it.

Yes, "Festive Dance" and "Scherzo" are both easier than the previous few pieces. I was so happy when I reached them. But now I'm stuck on "Introduction and Dance" and "Plaisir D'Amour". They were easy enough to learn the notes, and I CAN play them, but I can't get rid of the hesitations and the random mistakes, no matter how I chunk them, work on one measure at a time, slow it down, etc. I like them (okay, I did like them, but now I'm starting to get sick of them), and I want them to sound musical, but it just ain't happening. I think it may be time to move on and come back to them later with new ears. I think I will just work on the next pieces in my Faber Adult and my Masterworks Classics.

on black is the color of my true loves hair. man i didnt have as much fun in book 2 as i did in book 1. it was boring to me i cant wait to be finished wow and play what i like. alfreds is a great foundation though for me

I get the sneeking suspicion that Willard Palmer and crew were "closet folkies" when I look at the song selections in Alfred's Book 1 and 2. So many of those songs were mainstream hits in the late 50's and early 60's. And for me, therein lies the problem. I know them only too well!

The problem with a lot of these pieces is that no matter how well you can play the arrangements presented here, is that they pale in comparison to the way they sounded on the radio or TV.

Even if you can play "La Bamba" perfectly it just doesn't seem like much after you hear this version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp6j5HJ-Cok

"Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair" is a great song. I can remember John Jacob Niles (the composer) singing it in his weird falsetto voice on TV in the late 50's But it really works only when presented like this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwYroTUqmyE&feature=related

It's hard to get enthusiastic about a "bare" piano arrangement after hearing Joan and her guitar. A good number of the folk songs in Alfred 2 just seem to work better for the guitar than the piano. I just couldn't get any enjoyment out of these songs in Alfred 2, which is why I gravitated towards Alfred's Masterwork Classic series. Glenn Gould's playing of Minuet in G is better than my playing of it at this point, but I can at least be on the same "playing field" as him, and it seems to impress people more than "Streets of Laredo" does!

Thanks for the Ritchie Valens link, Emissary. (I wonder what my mom did with my copy of LaBamba and the rest of my 45's). I never got Alfred's "La Bamba" to even sound playable. I intended to go back to it some day, but who knows.

I don't actually recall "Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair". Where was I when that one came out??? I listened to a couple of youtube versions of the Alfred version, and it sounds pretty boring. I'm not looking forward to it. I know there are a few good ones in there that I am looking forward to, but these two aren't it. LOL

Try singing the lyrics too. It's a nice song.

Hi there Remember me. I have been off for a time. I have put Book 2 down for most of the Summer months. But I have been trying to keep my hand in on a few supplimentary pieces (just for fun). But now I will be getting back to The structured course and will also be putting book 2 to rest sometime in the next 2 or 3 months before attempting book 3.

Beenlooking: This Sonatina (you posted 3rd May)...It isn't Opus 36 by Clementi by any chance? I have just given myself this one as a starter project as I quite like the sound of it. There is no pedalling involved so it gives me a chance to work on Phrasing, stacatto and trills (I am struggling a bit with trill technique, but I'm sure with practice)...

It will be interesting to see how you got along with your sonatina ..
See link to see op 36 being performed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2vt9UFsjNI

Hello,
Thought I'd introduce myself. I'm currently on Alfred's Book 2 (I only have the basic book), starting the song Waves of the Danube.
This topics seems to have been pretty quiet lately, so hopefully it picks up again and there are others of you doing this book at the same time as me?

I'm still here, Jaiburn!

I'm only just a couple of pages behind you! I finished up Plaisir D'Amour today...what a lovely little piece, especially the ending! I started on House of the Rising Sun and Sakura today for this week.

I am also still working on Fur Elise. I seemed to be making progress very well for the first week or two, but now it seems I've hit a brick wall It's kinda cliched and overplayed, I guess, but it's a beautiful piece that I would really love to be able to play....so I'm struggling on!

I also picked up Bach's Polonaise in g Minor Anh 119. I'm enjoying this piece a lot. I would get REALLY bored if I had to play too much of this kind of stuff (Baroque sounding stuff), but I very much enjoy it as something a little different on occasion.

Anywho...... I guess that's why I personally haven't been very active in this thread. I'm still muscling through Alfred's, but the biggest focus of my lessons and my practice time isn't the Alfred's stuff anymore. My son finished book 3 of the children's Alfred's series, and my teacher is just giving him sheet music now rather than going to book 4. So....it's possible that I won't be doing Alfred's book 3 at all.

I put Alfred 2 aside for a while a couple of months ago. I was working on "Plaisir d'Amour" at the time, got all the notes down but couldn't play without hesitations or random errors and finally just got frustrated and quit my Book 2(for the time being). I really like the piece and will definitely pick it up again, but I've been working in the meantime with Masterwork Classics, some of the Keyboard Classics from Gil DiBennetti's site, Alfred's Pop Songbook, and some Christmas music. The frustration is gone, and I'm enjoying myself. I'll get back to Book 2 eventually. Glad to see the thread work it's way to page 1 again.

mom3 i put mine on hold for awhile too since i have been playing quote on quote "real" pieces with a teacher. but i have started back on it and i am on fascination eager to get to book 3 and more advanced pieces.

Same here, have been working on Alfred's Greatest Hits. Tried my hands on Masterwork Classics, did not get anywhere. I am told Alfred's Top Hits is something I should consider.

Hopefully soon, I will get back into Book2

Oh, I forgot that "Fascination" is in Book 2. I loved that piece when I was in 8th grade (1958), and for a while I dreamed about taking violin lessons. Of course, my parents couldn't afford lessons of any kind.

yea. alfreds gave me a great foundation but i must admit I've gotten rather bored in book 2. it introduces music as all chords which it mostly is but not all music especially baroque and classical music. i wish i could play the violin too. i still have trouble hitting the right keys on my keyboard.

I'm glad to see there are still others, especially that ghadzilla is about my level. I too find some of the Alfred's pieces a bit annoying, but was thinking of dropping to 1 a week + a supplement piece a week and starting to concentrate more on scales as well.

Are there any players out there who have gone through the old versus the new or updated version of Alfreds adult piano lesson books?

I used to have a studio in town with about 65 students, and about 10 of them were adults. I remember that I was always so disillusioned with the old version of Alfreds adult book because it seemed so similar to the kid's book but with more adult graphics etc.

I'd really like to hear back from any of you that have seen the transition between the old and newer version and what you think of it. Thanks

Lots of news in piano-dom at my house!

As for Alfred's, House of the Rising Sun took me a couple of weeks, but it came together ok. Sakura came together easily for me, a very pretty little piece. Danube and Rock a My Soul were next, and weren't too terribly challenging. Calypso Carnival was easy HS, but is giving me fits HT. My teacher chose to skip You're In My Heart, and I just started on Divertimento.

As for my other stuff...Bach's Polonaise Anh 119 started out really easy until my teacher pointed out that I was playing it wrong LOL. She instructed me to play certain notes slurred, certain notes portato (not sure if I spelled that right...separated but less than staccato), more so than what is written on my music, and she also added some more dynamics. It gave me fits for a while, but its coming together much better now. At my last lesson, my teacher said "we'll give it one more week." I don't think it will be finished yet by then, but it's definitely getting there.

Fur Elise is coming along GREAT. Still a lot of work to do but I'm definitely making progress.

We bought a used digital, a Casio Privia PX-120. It's in great shape. It's perfect for practicing on, and I love it for that - I can pop in my headphones and the whole rest of the world goes away and I can really concentrate. My son loves it because it's different and he likes playing with the different sounds and stuff. Of course, it's not an acoustic, and doesn't really try to be. The sound is mediocre at best. But the feel of the keys is GREAT. It really highlights how crappy my acoustic piano is LOL. We've hardly touched the acoustic since we bought the DP.

My son and I are working on Silent Night for 4 hands, which we hope to have ready for the Christmas recital in a couple of weeks. It sounds just lovely, but it's pretty easy, so we should be ready in time.

It's good to hear you're coming along well.

You'd be at a fairly similar spot to me, I'm just starting the hokey pokey this week.

Sounds like you've got some nice extra pieces as well For the last couple of weeks I've been working on the super mario brothers theme, because I really wanted to play it. Turns out it's a lot harder than I originally thought, but it's all finally coming together.

My 'Masterworks Classics' books just arrived yesterday, so I'm hoping to get a start in some classical as well. Book 1-2 look a bit easy though, but looks can be deceiving, I'll report back when I start them.

Also DP's are great, I live in a unit with housemates, and can practice any time I want. And the extra sounds are fun too. Is the PX-120 weighted?