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Congratulations Undone!
I am at the end with the one piece that I have been working on for ... let's see two years now!! Mostly, I have enjoyed playing these pieces. I went back to "Fur Elise" last night and was surprised how much I had remembered some of it. I have the chance to go back through some pieces within the book.
I'm branching out with some fifties, sixties pop music and it feels good to as you put it, "not having every piece planned".

Take care,

Thanks Piano4! Some of the pieces at in the back of the book sure do take time to learn. I figure that if I really have to work at it, I must be making some sort of progress, whereas if I can just sit down and almost site read it, I’m probably not gaining in ways other than enjoyment. So I’m going to try to have plenty of fun, but continue to keep something challenging on the back burner too.

Undone

Whats the hardest piece on here?

Hardest for who?

Key question: For me it was "Toccata" I've tried to go back to it and I have forgotten part of it... to my dismay. But, I take my time and it will come back to me eventually:-)

Toccata, Moonlight Sonata, Trumpet Tune, Fur Elise, and others all take some work. But what was the hardest for me while learning it, may not be the hardest now to “get back” and what I spent the most time on is not necessarily the hardest. As my playing ability grew while working my way through the book I was able to conquer more difficult pieces in less time than I could earlier on. People with smaller hands are going to have more difficulty with Moonlight than people that can easily accommodate the spread needed. So the “hardest piece” will probably vary from person to person. But they don’t call it the “Ambitious Selections” in the back of the book for nothing.

Undone

RE Calypso Rhumba
Undone et al: Thanks for your comments. It's been a while since I took a look at it (I've got a new teacher and we're doing something else). But I played the demo and that goes loco at p 7 second line second ending. Which doesn't sound right to me, since I'm playing 8va the measure before that (the measure before ending 1).
And I don't actually see LOCO written in the music anywhere in my edition (C) MCMXCVI.
If there is a LOCO, I'd expect it on the second beat of the second ending, leading into line 3.
So, I'm just playing the second ending and last 2 lines 8va. Sounds OK, why not? It's just that things like this can be confusing.

Hello,

I wanted to take a minute and introduce myself. Some may know me since I had been posting in the Alfred's Book Two area for a while. I finished book two about two months ago. I'm 40 and started playing the piano one year ago this month.

I'm just now starting on book three. My teacher had me learn a song in between that was in a Suzuki book she had titled Sonatina in C major, op. 36 no. 1 by Clementi. It took me about a month and a half to learn the three parts. I was so tired of that song by the end. I should start playing it once a week though because I can already tell I'll forget it.

I'm currently working on Serenade from String Quartet. The pedaling part has been driving me crazy. That changing from one finger left to finger right and then two fingers left one right has been challenging for me. It's like my brain shorts out and just keeps hitting the one key on the left.

I think that's it for now. I look forward to meeting people and getting advise from everyone here.

Time to revive this old thread!

I'm happy to say that I'm starting "The Tap Dancer" this week. It's almost time for the "ambitious" section.

Cyborg - good to see someone finally post here in this long dormant, but always worthy, thread - good luck with "Dancer" - hope it's not another 4 months until the next reply or post.

BTW - whatever happened to Undone, the last remaining regular here - did he become, well, a, er, undone...? He was a real player and we haven't even heard from him in the Recitals...

Trap

I'm glad to see this thread resurrected also. I'm not in Book 3 yet, and as slow as I'm going through Book 2 I may never get there, but I like reading about what's up ahead. Congrats to everyone who has stuck it out through all three books. I hope that if and when I get to Book 3 this thread is still active.

I work on/off in Book 3 with my lessons, so I don't really post here too much. I've decided I want to try and get out of Book 3 once and for all, so my teacher has agreed to accelerate through the lesson sections quickly and move onto to the "ambitious" section. Also, due to the pieces at the end of Book 3 I might be in it for a good while longer.

I wonder what happened to Undone too. He hasn't posted here in months. I'm more of a lurker than poster but I'm usually floating around at some point. If he has participated in past recitals, then that makes me wonder what's up.

The attrition rate to get to and through Book 3 is pretty high. So I'd never expect this thread to be super active. But anyone who makes it to Book 3 is to be congratulated. Anyone who finishes it is a superstar to me.

I know I was sick of Book 2 when I finished it. I loved finishing it though because of the arrangement of "Canon in D". It's been my favorite Alfred's piece so far. I'm sure that will change in the near future since I'll soon be in the ambitious section of Book 3 and it has several pieces that I've always wanted to learn. I'm real excited again about things to come.

I received this book as a Xmas gift

Still on book 2, but I spend some time ripping the CD > MP3 for my phone, so I can listen to all the pieces in book 3.

For the first time, I can see a light.. some of the pieces in this book are awesome! "unfinished symphony", "toccata" and then the ambitious section.

The whole adult series 1,2 & 3 has a perfect progression of pieces, although if you like more modern pieces, I could understand a disappointment with the collection. For me, the truly great pieces are spread thinly throughout, but with enough interesting lesson pieces to keep the interest.

Hope this makes sense, and doesn't appear to much as a necromancer at work lol

After practicing earlier this evening, I spent some time reading through approximately the first 10 pages of this Book 3 thread. Will continue with the remainder in the next day or so.

I started Book 3 (All-In-One) about a week ago, although I read through the theory pages in the first quarter of the book before that. Like many others have pointed out, some of the "For Fun" pieces seem kind of lame, and I've given myself permission to give them short shrift. So "Super Special Sorta..." and "Calypso Rhumba" I did not spend much time on.

I am working on getting my speed up on Fandango. Jazz Sequences is a little further behind and just tonight I started looking at Serenade. Went through the first repeat section hands separate.

I'm still working on a few pieces from Book 2 (and will be for awhile). Outside of the Alfred books, I'm working on the Scherzo section of Haydn Sonata No. 9 in F major. I started on the "Married Life" section from "Up" but will probably shelve in for now.

I am hoping that the other Book 3'ers will check in with the thread now and then--it's always helpful and interesting to hear how others are faring.

For those who might like to supplement or replace "A Very Special Day" by Willard Palmer with a Haydn (or rather R. Hofstetter) piece, try "Little Serenade."

It features the "new style of bass" featured in the AIO book and looks to be at about the same level of difficulty.

Haydn Little Serenade

I was looking to see if this thread was continuing and I am glad to see familiar posts! I've been away from this thread, but have been working back on the pieces in book 3, the simple and the not- so -simple:-)

"Moonlight Sonata" I've gotten to the end and am working on other music, for my band. Besides that, work intervenes, which is a good thing!

I'm off today because I don't go in until later and it's my birthday, so I can play "catch up" with folks that I haven't heard from.

For those who are just beginning book 3, don't give up. If you have gotten to the "Ambitious" section, take your time. It is well worth the effort!

Keep on playing and Hang in there! Take care

I hope to finish up "Trumpet Tune" this week.

Hey, Cyborg, congrats on being into the Ambitious section. I am oh so tempted to jump into it, but it will be better if I hold off a bit.

Meanwhile--I think I'm finished with Star-Spangled Banner. It is way far from polished, but I just don't enjoy playing it. Swan Lake is coming along, and I've played Scheherazade through HS once or twice. I'm doing other pieces outside of Book 3, so I'm keeping busy. My impression from reading this Book 3 thread is that a lot of people start adding in other pieces at about this point. I'm working on a version of Canon in D that I got from Monica K. I like it a lot better than the Alfred version from Book 2. Getting it up to tempo (lots of sixteenth notes in both hands towards the end) will be a challenge for me.

Hey! I was looking for this thread.. glad it's still going strong!
I've gotten busy with work and busy learning some other ambitious music--playing with a two piece band and continuing to go back and forth in book 3.
It's good to see folks continuing on! Take care!