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Wow! Thanks for doing the research! Ok.....you've talked me into it.....I'll go to 3a next. But, I am going to work through it quickly! Same for 3b! The catalog has so many different books. While going through book 1, I had the lesson book, technique, and performance books. Which ones do you use? After finishing book one, my teacher assigned pieces from book 3. Then she moved to book 4. I thought we were moving too fast...eventually I switched teachers...due to my work schedule. My new teacher has me working on book my current book (#2)

I'm confused... Book 1 Lesson, Technique and Performance? Is that the regular PA? I thought you were in (or finishing) Adult PA?

Anyway, I'm a fan of having those three books as the core of the method, plus some source for theory if you don't have theory knowledge already. How's your music theory? I think theory is really helpful for musicians, but there are lots of sources besides the PA Theory books.

AIUI the other books outside of those four (Technique, Lesson, Performance, Theory) are for supplementation for various reasons: for fun, or for performance, or for solidifying skills if needed by spending more time at a given level. Some teachers use a supplemental book of pieces of the student's choice from the Faber family of books instead of Performance.

I guess I left out some info! I initially started out with Piano Adventures for Older Beginners book 1. After completion (~9 months ago) I switched to the Adult All in One book 2. RE my theory.....(except for roughly 3 weeks of piano lessons as a kid) I'm a (42 year old) beginner!

Thank you Pianostudent! I will be working on rhythm again today and hopefully a few more pages in.

I know you guys are back and forth on what comes next after the adult books, so I have a question... Does it not say on the very last page, the inside of the back cover? The accerlated tells you what books accompany and what to move on to. Just curious if maybe it has the same "guide" there.

Becca

lol
way to go
becca

looks like Faber is taking over Alfred LOL. Faber books are great

joeb84, lol .

BeccaBb, alas, the Adult books don't say where to continue.

Regarding rhythm, can you keep rhythm if you're not also trying to play the piano? For example, walking at a steady rate, large arm circles (count once for each circle, or once at the top and once at the bottom), clapping, tapping your foot, tapping on the fallboard, tapping or clapping to music on the radio? Can you keep time (still not playing) with straight quarters, so the problem only arises when mixing in half and whole notes? Or are straight quarters a challenge too?

I always thinks it helps to identify just where a problem is arising. It might just be certain types of rhythm, or rhythm when combined with playing music of a certain complexity, etc. For example, can you keep rhythm when playing a single note with one hand, one finger, but are challenged playing, say, two hands or changing notes?

Michael Taylor, that definitely sounds weird of your first teacher to switch straight from Accelerated for Older Beginners 1 straight into level 3, and then to hightail it into level 4 without fully absorbing level 3. The normal follow-on to Accelerated 1 (if not Accelerated 2) would be regular PA 2. That's where a rock-solid grasp of I, IV, V chords happens so you can play them in your sleep and react to them at sight. That way the extra challenges of the pieces in level 3 can be faced, but most of the chords (that are being combined in new ways, and more sophisticated RH parts) are individually easy.

Pooey that its not in the back. Would a comparison of the accerlated book 2 contents to the adult book 2 help? The accerlated 2 says to go to the regular 3A. So if the contents were similar couldn't it be the same or if more advanced for the adult then be 3B? Just tossing ideas....

I can keep rhythm when walking and tapping. I always lose the beat with music but can keep up with bass instead of drums.. (I have no idea why...) Quarter notes and I don't get along.. It actually seems to be the last one. 4/4 time I will lose it on the last note. This seems to be across the board. I either go way slow or too fast. I can't seem to keep it steady. 3/4 I can follow...

Applying all to the keyboard is an entirely different challege. I feel handicapped. LOL I have to concentrate to have any rhythm with the notes and it doesn't sound fluent at all. I hope this changes with practice?

Thanks for the questions, helps me to watch myself and apply these concepts all day long to other things.

Becca

I just learned the first song in big time piano level 3a-3b

it is called song of India
I learned it in about two sittings
about 1/2 hour each.

I like playing songs at this level I dont have the patience to learn a song for a month

I am excited about getting my adult piano book 2 it is on the way

Michael Taylor, if theory interests you, some teachers like Snell for theory for their older students. Of course there are websites too. I learned my fundamentals of theory from Edly's Music Theory For Practical People by Ed Roseman. Then I followed it up with a semester of college music theory, but going back I discover it was already in Edly! (Though in the college class I benefited from doing a lot of harmonic analysis exercises.). I find it enriches my understanding of what I'm playing immensely.

BeccaBb, might it help to break 4/4 down into 2 sets of 2 each: ONE two, Three four. Or even ONE two, One two for each measure.

maduro, congratulations! I think I have Song of India in one of my flute books. It's a pretty piece, if it's the same one. (Well, I'm sure it's pretty even if it's not the same one .)

I just finished learning "Trumpet Concerto Theme" from the PA Adult Book 1 so tomorrow I start "The Entertainer". I just started a few days ago but my previous musical training from other instruments is helping me more than I expected and I've managed to get over three hours of practice time a day for the last few days.

Because I'm moving through this book so quickly, I stopped by the music store yesterday and bought two books for some supplementary practice. I bought the level 2A and 2B performance books (from the standard Piano Adventures). The level 2A is perfect for where I'm at right now so that should help solidify what I'm learning. They didn't have any of the Chord Time books in stock and the Show Time books looked too simple for where I am at.

I also bought the sheet music to "Imagine" by John Lennon, knowing it's beyond me right now. I figured I could plod through it slowly a little bit here and there when I feel like a break from PA. I got the intro down pretty quickly, but I find the right-hand part to be very difficult just because of the reach. I guess I have small hands. The left-hand part is surprisingly easy which is too bad because that's where I really need the practice.

Welcome aboard Dio! Sounds like you have the piano bug like the rest of us. Sometimes I think of these forums as AA meetings....."hello, my name is Michael and I am a piano-holic." My wife won't let me go to piano shops alone....she is afraid that I will come home with a new piano!

Just for grins, I decided to play Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer from the Faber BigTime Christmas book. Much to my surprise, I really like it! I will probably work on it for the next couple of days so that I can play it fluently. I'll try to get a recording on YouTube by next weekend.

I will be participating in my second recital tomorrow afternoon.....I'll be playing 3 pieces from the BigTime Christmas book: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, Carol of the Bells, and Oh Holy Night. Had I know that I would like Rudolph so much, I would have thrown that in there somewhere!

@PianoStudent......I have considered taking a few music courses at a community college, but haven't invested the time to find a community college yet!

@Maduro.....congrats on your achievement! Don't fear the little red light......make a recording!

Michael Taylor, lucky you to have a performance opportunity!

I can't remember if I posted about it anywhere on ABF at the time, but last summer I was at a church-related retreat and for the closing service they asked me to play piano. Prelude a Bach Minuet in G minor, two hymns with melody and chord-root bass line, and postlude a Spindler Sonatina. I was completely elated.

Welcome Dio666! Sounds like you're making great progress. You could try improvising extra stuff for the Imagine LH. For example play the chord tones in succession instead of at the same time, or in blocked style (the bottom note alone, and then the top two notes together), or "Alberti bass": bottom, top, middle, top. Or as an arpeggio: bottom, middle, top, middle. Make up your own patterns. See what it sounds like if you add extra notes: 7th, 9th, 11th, etc.

Congrats on the new song Maduro! I could only wish I could learn a song that fast!

Hiya Dio!

Michael that sounds like lots of fun! I'm working on easy Christmas songs myself but would NOT play them for anyone at this point! LOL

Pianostudent: the 1/2 1/2 breakdown works FABULOUS! I can acutally count and play and not get completely messed up. So I've been doing that with everything and have managed to get another page done because of it. Now I'm applying the rhythm to all the songs I"m trying to learn.

So I've covered and/or am practicing rhythm, 2nds, 3rds, and 3 christmas songs at primer level.

I'm jealous of those of you who are working on Christmas songs. I would like to but I feel like it's a little late to get started since there are less than two weeks until Christmas. I'll wait until next October and buy a Christmas book at a level that suits me then.

So I started working through the songs in the standard PA performance book level 2A and found that it doesn't correlate well with the Adult PA Book 1. I'm most of the way through the Adult book 1, then playing through the 2A performance book I found that the music is simpler but is in a key that hasn't been introduced yet in the Adult book. I guess that just means that the Adult book is giving the student more difficult music after introducing a new concept or key which makes sense I guess. That may explain why there has been so much discussion as to where to go after Adult Book 2. So I bet your idea of going to 3A is a good one, Michael. Even though a lot of it will end up being review.

I did some hunting around on the PA website/forum and found that:

Adult Piano Adventures Book 1 = Primer and Level 1 of the 'child' version.
Adult Piano Adventures Book 2 = 2A and 2B.

After Adult Book 2, you should move to 3A of the child series. You can confirm this by downloading the '2011 Complete Catalog and Teacher's Desk Reference'. There is a link to the PDF on the very front page (lower left) of the Piano Adventures website.

Thank you, CharlieFreak. Which page of the catalog are you seeing the specific Adult 2 = regular 2A & 2B?

What makes it confusing is that the topics in Adult 2 include all the topics from 3A and 3B, and include several of the same pieces. And as Dio666 found, the songs in Performance 2A seem easier than the material near the end of Adult 1.

Accelerated 2 looks like a more near fit with 2A and 2B; at least, it doesn't repeat any of the pieces from 3A or 3B.

I remember reading that in the PA forums, PianoStudent88, but I haven't had much luck finding the post. I did find a post that talks about that exact issue you mention - that Adult book 2 touches on topics from 3A and 3B, however the chart on page 4 of the PDF states:

"After completing Adult Piano Adventures® Book 2,
students are ready for Level 3A of Piano Adventures®."

Hmm. The more I research this at the PA forums, it seems that some teachers are moving adult students into level 4 after they complete the adult book 2. Others suggest using 3B as a review before moving to 4.

So now I'm starting to wonder if I misunderstood what I thought I read, and that the above statement from the PDF might be an error?

Not to keep beating this dead horse.....but



My teacher told me the same thing.....about going to book 4 next. I can play the book 4 pieces, but it takes a little effort. I think it is more appropriate for me to work on book 3.