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

Just wanted to check in. I'm up to Overture and have it down pretty much to perfection, yet I still have a few places in Guantanamera (sp) that I'm not quite hitting right. Going to get that one closer to being perfected before I try Light & Blue. Not necessarily looking foward to that one, didn't like it very much just listening but maybe it will be more fun to play. My holiday song collection isn't going as well as I had hoped, I've just been too busy to practice much, 10 or 15 minutes here and there isn't cutting it. I probably won't be able to get back to serious practice until the first of the year. Too much to do and not enough time.

I've had the chance to at least work on some of the songs in the basic course the last busy weeks of exam preparations. Like Roman holiday which I finished, tumbalalaika which is at least close to finish, and I've finished Morning has broken as well. So now I've finally at least got the time to keep working more each day. Started La raspa as well, which doesn't look all that hard. Gonna go back to light and blue soon enough as well.

Which brings me to one question on Morning has broken, I can play first version and I can play the second version. But the third version I don't really understand how I play the chords. I've seen these notes in many of harder pieces but I don't really get how I'm supposed to play them. Should I be playing them twice the speed as I were playing normal broken chords? Do I play them as broken chords even? They're slightly confusing :x

Quagles : you play them faster they are 8th notes instead of quarter, I seem to remember that being part of (Optional Material) or something like that. I never really did like the sound of the doubled up broken cords on that song, just didn't sound good to me.

I didn't like it either, but I did the broken chords:

Broken

With strings

I've missed practicing for a few days (my keyboard was inaccessible), but I started on "Morning Has Broken" today also. I've been reading that "hands separate" practice is a good way to get your technique going on a new piece, so I've been giving that a try. I'm going to give "Light and Blue" another day or two of polishing, I think, but am considering "Roman Holiday" and the earlier ones done (unless I decide to go back and review them).

Finally got back to Alfred this weekend after spending two or three weeks on Clair de lune and the Beatles' Yesterday.

Light and Blue is up to tempo and mistake free, but needs work on dynamics and smoothing the transition to the final chord in the second ending.

I could use some help on two questions. After the first ending, do you repeat all the way back to the beginning on page one? I don't see any indication otherwise and the final 4-note diminuendo (if that's the right term) seems to point toward the beginning piano dynamic. Second, the notes say the final chord in second ending can be played as a tremolo. Can someone explain how a tremolo is played and what it is supposed to sound like? The insert seems to show dividing the left and right hand parts of the chord into two pieces each and then playing those pieces in two long beats. Is that it or do you go back and forth repeatedly on these two pieces?

Thanks for the help. I've really enjoyed learning the blues songs we've had so far. Its amazing how, once you get that left hand beat going, the right hand almost can't help but run off and improvise a little riff before returning to the score. Does anyone know of a good supplemental book that concentrates on blues piano that wouldn't be too far above my beginning Alfred 2 level?

MIM - good job on morning is broken. Sounds extra nice with strings.

Jim

I'm working on Alexander's Ragtime Band and have finally figured it out, which means I know what I'm supposed to do, now I just need to do it. I just started tinkering with Solace. starting in the second measure, there is a Bb and C played together LH. Just by itself it sounds awful to me and then when combined with the D# RH, it sounds hideous. Am I alone thinking this? I have played someone's recording and it sounded good but I couldn't really hear the places where the Bb and C were played.

This does not look like it's going to be easy. And then there's La Bamba to look forward to.

Jim I would repeat Light and Blue from the start - and the termolo is repated playing of the notes quickly.

As for me, I'm enamored with chords until an unspecified time in the future.

Just wanted to get this thread back to page 1!

Otherwise, I love playing the Olympic Procession, and am grateful that the "Aloha Oe" number is mercifully short.

Still enjoying Alfred's 2.

I just wanted to say hello! I'm working on "La Bamba" now..it's fun, and since the notes are a little repetitive, it's a great piece for working on the movement of the hands on the keyboard. It's also good for reinforcing some notes on the bass clef. I look forward to going through the rest of this book with everyone here! I've really enjoyed this thread!

Welcome AdultBeginner, hope you enjoy your piano adventure.

Mark...

I just have to ask a question of those that are further along in the book than I am. Does book 2 not seem to have much less growth factor in ones music ability than book 1? Let me explain this more.......

We all know how book 1 started, very basic, but at the end we were playing The Entertainer & Amazing Grace, granted the Entertainer was pretty simplified from the original. So book 2 starts out kind of slow and I go to the last song the Variation on Canon in D and can almost site read through it with only being on the third song in the book, and it is not even a good arrangement. I love that song, but not that arrangement. I don't feel like I'm going to have any big breakthrough when I get to the end of book 2 like I did in book 1. Are the challenges simply more spread out through the book rather than having a big "graduation" piece? Or is there something that I'm not seeing yet?

Barb,

http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/help/level-guidelines

I found that this chart gave me a lot of appreciation for the (level 3!) tasks we're being asked to perform in Alfreds #2. It's also cool to see what we've done in the past!

I think it's the nature of learning many new skills, piano one of them.

You go through a period of rapid, rapid growth during the first year or so, and then things begin to slow down. Alfred's book 2's pieces aren't a huge leap as is when first starting on Book 1, but they each teach a new technique and have interesting challenges of their own. I don't think it's difficulty that changes throughout Book 2, but simply different techniques and mechanics of playing are taught. But it's not going to be "Book 2 beginning ---> playing Rachmaninoff concertos". It's more like "book 2 beginning ---> new skills + better piano player" even if better doesn't mean super advanced.

Carlmc's Recital piece was the moonlight Sonata's first movement (which was played absolutely beautiful), and this is the final piece in Book 3.

Alfred's isn't a "must" to do to learn piano, it is only an option. But most other techniques won't have you playing Chopin etc. extensively during the first year or two, so Alfred's is probably comparable to many method books.

I do think that Alfred's weakness is the LH, which needs to be addressed.

But this is only my opinion.

Barb actually, I believe that once you pass a certain point you'll actually be able to sight read the majority of pieces. Sure, often you'll have no chance playing it but sight reading most of it isn't all that hard. I can sight read most pieces as long as they aren't with more than 2 "Sharps" or "whateverotheriscalled" determing which scale you're playing.

The complexity in playing higher pieces lies more in tempo and the dreadful moving around your two hands at nearly same time in different ways.

I'm actually curious, does Alfred teach you how to play..I guess you could call em some sort of "broken chords" but they go over longer distance. Imagine you're playing with your r hand one part at the right end of the piano, lets say a some repetitive involving max one octave. At the same time your left hand is supposed to play 4-5 keys at a rather reasonable piece. But for each key there's 4 key interval. Ill try to make it clear, your LH starts at key 0, then play key 4, then key, 8, then key 12, then key 16. Then when you're done, repeat the same pattern again.

This way it is impossible to reach from start to end by just stretching. I can't really explain it but I've just seen in different pieces where your LH will play over quite long distances with long spaces, and curious if the book will let you learn this.

Anyways back to the book, I finally got it at last. It seemed something was faulty with my delivery address so I had to get it sent to somewhere else I live, so after just about a week popped up in mail. So I'm gonna get started for real today even if I have already finished some of the beginning pieces while waiting form the basic book.

This is why I took a pause and I'm now doing chords. However, there is no way I could understand and play all kinds of chords (major, minor, diminished, augmented, suspended, 6ths, 7ths, 9ths, 11ths, and 13ths) without having done Alfred 1 and most of Alfred 2. Alfred does help with lots of ideas, and a great foundation. I don't regret it.

I was also able to almost sight read the next few pieces past "Light and Blue". I think it's been helpful to have fairly easy pieces to work on, though, so I can focus on the "extras" -- the 8va jumps, dynamics, pedaling, tempo changes/accelerandos, etc. I didn't do book one (just started with two after a many-years-long piano hiatus), so I'm not sure what all was covered there, but I kind of like being able to master the notes fairly quickly so I can get to the musical stuff. I'm working on some supplementary stuff that's a little more challenging so my left hand doesn't get too bored.

Hi all! I finally finished Book 1 and I'm now officially joining you in Book 2!

Welcome and good luck...you will enjoy this.