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The last post in the long running Alfred 3 thread was back in Aug. - and the even longer running and more frequently posted Alfred 1 & 2 threads have been conspicuous more by their absence than anything else recently - whats up with this MIA status? Have they been banished for crimes & misdemeanors against the finer sensibilities of our more delicate members, or have they just died a natural death due largely to lack of interest?

Trap

Everyone finished - great job!

In my case, interest is definitely there, progress has hit a road block. Book 1 still has several newbies, although it's not as active as it used to be. Many of my fellow Book 2-ers have gotten more interested in finding regular repertoire and only dip into Book 2 occasionally. And it looks like everyone from Book 3 must have either graduated or moved on to bigger things.

I miss reading the threads too, but between eye trouble and lagging progress, I haven't been posting much. Hopefully that will change soon.

I got up to the Star-Spangled Banner in book 3, got a bit frustrated with it, and then moved on to other things. Mainly, I downloaded the sheet music for Tom Waits' "Martha" (one of my favorites) and I've been working on that.

I did all of book 1 and most of book 2, but my present teacher is not happy with going through the book methodically and has been choosing a few pieces here and there while supplementing with repertoire and getting me working on RCM exams. I've done only a couple of pieces from Book 3 but she really dislikes the book and I have to say I agree. Not a lot of interesting pieces and seems to me to be kind of a big jump in difficulty from book 2 (but that may just be my own ineptitude). She's going to have a look and see what else she can find to replace it.

And whatever happened to Mark..., the founder and chief promotional agent for the Alfred threads?

Trap

For me it was finding more interesting and better sounding works to learn from like Burgmüller 100, Anna Magdalena notebook,Clementi 36.

I continue to review the Alfred books for music theory and am gradually learning the pieces at the end of book 3.

because book 2 is too boring for me personally. i dunno about book 3 i look forward to it though if i can get thru the end of the back of book 2 hahahahahhaha LOL

LOL

I'm still slowly making my way through. I'm about 2/3 through it and at the rate I have been going it will be mid-summer next year before I finish. That will have been about 2 years for me. Definitely not the length of time I had hoped but it is what it is. I am slow.

I stopped posting in the thread because the only thing I had to offer was what I was working on and how my lesson went. It got repetitious and I didn't want to keep boring people.

DougF, it isn't boring to hear how you're doing.

I quit book #2, and I can sum it up in one word. Blah. I did love the progression of book #1.

Alfred's 2 has great things to learn -- but it is terminally boring. They could easily replace those dog-tired songs with new-age material that would accomplish the same pedagogical task. After two years of fairly productive self-teaching with Alfred's, I got a teacher who gives me assignments I want to play (Mannfred Schmitz - Beethoven Sonata in G 2d Movement, etc.)

I don't think I'll go back, but I respect the Alfred's program and it did a lot for me.

I just received book 1 in the mail, so i'll be posting in that thread soon, probably. Trying to learn Bach's Minuet in G has been so fun that I think I'll always have a classical piece (or two) going on the side in addition to the lesson books.

I am in book 1 of All-In_One. Other sources are Gil DeBennedetti web page, "Alfred Merry Christmas Book" (now at Christmas", "Alfred All Times Favorites", http://www.makingmusicfun.net/.

I thought Book 2 was fairly boring with a few exceptions and Book 3 is even worse to me until the "ambitious" section. I'll be posting in the Book 3 thread real soon.

Somebody PapaPLEASE tell me book 3 isn't anything like Book 2...LOL

I've found book 3 to be nowhere near as overwhelmingly mind-numbing as book two. It does have its dull moments...but it also has some very interesting pieces to learn.

It can't be too awful as I haven't thrown book 3 even a single time! (Book two was airborne quite often and eventually received early retirement.)

yea...i noticed a lot of music theory books, book 2 is mostly HARMONY...probably the most COMPLEX part of music theory I honestly look FORWARD to it though

The theory in Book two is actually useful and well presented. For me it was its non-musical learning pieces that pulled my interest into the abyss whenever I opened its pages. I stopped posting on the Alfred's thread after I realized that all I had to say was "Arghh, rip...tear...mangle".

I've never posted about my progress in book three as I barely have time to practice let alone post about my plinking on these threads.

I hope you have better luck and patience with book two than I did!