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AWTPP,

Your performance of L & B was great! Keep the recordings coming

Wrenn,

Welcome; perhaps practicing scales would improve your coordination while doing "thumb under" maneuvers.

As a note on my progress:

I gave myself the pass on Hava Nagila. I spent around 15-20 hours total practicing it yet never played it to my satisfaction. However, I did reach the point where I felt I had "learned" the piece and that it was time to move on. I spent about a day and a half playing the next one, Space Shuttle Blues, and this morning gave myself the pass on it. I am now working on the Olympic Procession.

As a note on SSB: it is an introduction to the second inversion and has a "feel" similar to L & B. I did not find it hard to master and I don't think its worth recording.

So, I did make a recording of Hava Nagila. In no way do I endorse this as being the "proper" way of playing the song but it was all I could muster out of myself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv5PZqiUnvw

As an additional note: I did not do the repeats (the odds of making an error are much, much higher having to do everything twice with a camera menacingly gazing upon you )

Hi guys and gals I’m back, and I have no idea where thoes crazy glyphs in my last two posts came from.

Wrenn – Welcome to the group. Figure out, if you havn’t already, how to make a recording of your playing and post it to the forum. It’s always great to hear how others are progressing.

Waltz – Great job on Hava Nagila, I’m glad you went ahead and posted a recording! You’re right about the increased difficulty of playing such a piece with the repeats. What I especiallly like about your recording was the ending; the way you quickly jumped to a fast tempo for the final bars. I had been quickening the tempo at that point, but not to the extent that you did. I really like the way yours sounds and will try to incorporate that in my own playing of H.N. next time I run through this piece (it’s on my list of things to periodically practice).

Undone

Wow, thanks Undone! I had expected a negative response. Are you still on the Waltz? How is it coming?

The process is simpler than I am about to make it sound.

1. I record the piece using the Casio's onboard recorder. This is an iterative step that, in the case of L&B, took, oh, about 30 takes (a couple of which were better than the one I eventually kept, but oh well, my standards fell as the takes accumulated).

2. When I get a take I want to record, I connect the Casio to a laptop using a MIDI to USB cable (got mine off Amazon for like $9).

3. When I push "play" on the recording, the Casio transmits MIDI (electronic) signals to the laptop. In order to record those, you need some software on the laptop to capture those signals. There are lots of freeware pieces out there that do this (and other parts of this process). But I use Pianissimo, a relatively low-cost virtual piano, to receive the signals and save as a MIDI file.

4. When you have a MIDI, you then need a tool that translates those signals into piano (or harpsichord, or banjo, or what have you) sounds. Pianissimo makes this easy, providing settings that change the sound of the piano in countless ways. I usually leave the defaults in place and say "Mix down to Mp3." And a few seconds later, I have my mp3.

Here I describe how I did this before, in case you are interested in freeware tools and recommendations:

A Note to Myself on recording piano

Pretty much everything I know, I got from here:

How to Record Piano

One more thing just occurred to me on recording piano... if your onboard piano sounds are fine, and if you have a good laptop for AV purposes, you will be able to use the line-in mechanism on the laptop, and record sounds that way. Audiophiles bristle at this, and worry that resulting recordings might have static in them. I've heard AnthonyB's recordings straight off his Kawai digital piano, and I think they sound great.

Which means, among other things, audiophiles would (correctly) say I am not one of them. It also means his piano inherently sounds better than mine, but I didn't buy the Ap-200 because it has great sounds.

Well Waltz, thanks for asking. As a matter of fact I just checked this one off in my “piano diary” last night. I’m still not completely satisfied with my recording (but then who ever is). I know that I could do better, especially in the area of dynamics, given some more time and practice (and I’ll probably do just that – in the fullness of time). But for now I’m giving myself a “pass” on this number and proceeding on to other things. Here’s the recording that I made last night:

http://www.box.net/shared/kjc2ceagag

Undone

AWTPP - Hey, I wish I had things that easy I don't have a laptop and my keyboard is two floors removed from my computer. So I have to record it on the keyboard, make a recording of this on a mini-disk, then transfer it to my computer. This is why I usually save up a bunch of recordings on a memory stick pluged into the keyboard and then spend some time on a weekend moving them to my computer.

Undone

Beautifully played Undone --- and what a pleasant sounding song. I can hardly wait to start it. Relative to other selections did you find this one to be difficult? (I remember you and TTigg discussing its apparent difficult appearance early in this thread)

AWTPP:

Thanks for the answer in detail. I'm interested because I've had the AP-45, predecessor to your piano, for a year and a half. I just love it. I practice at 5:00 a.m. with headphones. I also have a Kawai UST-7 acoustic, but you can see why I use the AP-45 for practice at that hour of the morning in a South Philadelphia row home. Nonetheless, I love the keyboard feel of the AP-45 and the basic piano sound is great. I will try recording on the AP-45, then dumping the file to my computer. I have several sample sets, including Garritan Steinway (terrific), Steinberg Grand Piano II, and Art Vista 2. They're all great fun, though I have a vague preference for the newer approved Steinway.

Thanks, and all the best with the Ap-200.

Knowing that you have a (very nice, might I add) Kawai acoustic, and yet still enjoy playing your Ap-45 gives me some solace. I felt like I would grow out of the Ap-200 with time, but you are suggesting to me that, if I ever do, it's much further out on the time horizon than I first supposed.

As to the sound, the Ap-200 speakers are wimpy, for me. I do enjoy it with the headphones.

I've heard good recordings sampled with that Steinway.

(Sorry to the rest of you for the derail on this topic...)

It didn’t take me as long as I originally thought it might. I don’t know whether this means it’s less difficult then I first imagined or if it’s just taking me less time to complete some of the more difficult pieces in book 2 now that I’m nearing the end (aka improvement) . One thing for sure, its shorter then some of the others I’ve been playing recently and that makes it easier to get a good recording.

Undone

I lol'd at the aka improvement but we really should expect gradual improvement as we go along. . . I often wonder what would happen if I revisited my nemesis La Bamba these days. . . I think I will keep it only a hypothetical

I finished the Olympic Procession and have moved on to Choral (or whatever, won't spend long here ).

I made a poor recording of Olympic Procession. After recording several times carefully and making minor errors (which obviously can't be excused on camera) I became burdened with both frustration and epinephrine and decided to quit at the first tolerable rendition. I'll post it on youtube later and here.

Hope everyone is doing well

W

I was looking at one of the Alfred books on amazon.com. They let you look inside the book.
On the "back cover" it shows this diagram, which purports to guide you through the many available books in the Alfred series.

I'm ruling out the Young Beginner (I'm not young) and the All-In-One Sacred Course (not interested in sacred music). But that still leaves 7 tracks.

But I can't make any sense of it. Can anyone help? Which book(s) should I buy?

• Young Beginner - Prep Course
• Beginner - Alfred's Basic
• Beginner - All-In-One Course
• Beginner - All-In-One Sacred Course
• Beginner - Group Piano Course
• Late Beginner - Alfred's Basic
• Late Beginner - Chord Approach
• Late Beginner - Adult Piano Course
• Late Beginner - All-In-One Adult Piano Course

Unless you only want to play from a fake book (chord approach), you probably want the "All-in-one Adult Piano Course". That's what most of us are using. The first 5 books you mentioned are intended for kids, although some adults do use them.

My "performance" of Olympic Procession (please don't laugh):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_oHpaQre8E

Thanks for the reply.

What confuses me is the mix of "books" and "levels" on the chart.


That was what I was guessing. I can do that (chords/fakes). Unfortunately, that's the bulk of of my experience. I'm just now getting "serious".


Okay, that knocks out 6 of the 9 tiers.

I take it that you're suggesting the last item on the chart ... "Later Beginner/All-In-One Adult Piano Course"?

BTW, just how much of a beginner do you need to be for these books. Since I have several years of (self-taught) experience, will these books be too basic?

Yes, that's the one.

How well do you read the bass clef? It's been said that after finishing all three Adult All-in-one books that you will be somewhere in the early intermediate level. I'm only on book 1 myself, but I started from scratch. You might be able to start with Book 2 or Book 3, but your best bet would be to look at them in your local music store to see which book looks like it would not be too easy for you.

Horwinkle,

http://www.youtube.com/user/PianoNoobAlexMan

The above link has videos to most pieces in Book 1 and Book 2 and a few from Book 3. Check out some of the videos to see both where you stand in terms of skill and if the Books fit your goals.

Best,

W

Good thought, Waltz. Thanks.



My reading of the bass clef is almost as good as the treble clef.
Here's my comfort range.

I especially have trouble with notes written far above the bass clef
(or far below the treble, though that's a bit less common).


Thanks for replying, mom3gram.