Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Alfred's Basic and ALL in One Adult Piano Course Book #1

I am at "The Stranger". I played it for an hour today. I have a
question for all you Alfred All In One students. How do you practice? So far I have just been learning one song at a time,
reviewing songs(at least once a week) and just playing from the All In One book. Like tonight I wanted to spend 30 minutes apiece on 4 new songs for a total practice time of 2 hours. I only spent two 30 minute long practice sessions learning "The Stranger". BTW I got a new DP for christmas and
it is Williams Allegro. I love it, it is a big step up from what I had.

Smells, I practice in 20 minute segments (usually adds up to about an hour.) I have so many pieces on the go that I generally have about 7 minutes for each piece and an extra ten at the end of it all to work on something I feel needs extra. Three pieces are being polished right now, so those I focus on just playing with dynamics and expression and slowly speeding up. Basically I'm enjoying them. Then I have two songs I'm learning so counting, correct notes only at this time. (Once I learn them I add the dynamics.) I also do a sight reading stint, and warm up with scales. When warming up with scales I practice on something that needs work. Right now that's evenness and loudness.

Whatever I'm working on I have a focus for that piece.

Congrats on your new digital! Play the keys off it... hehe

An hour on one piece is not efficient at the Alfred's stage; it is more efficient to develop a wide range of skills in that time.

Are you working with Alfred's exclusively? I would not. But you need to invest time in a wide range of skills each day. These include memorising something every day, reading something every day, work on mechanical skills every day and develop memorised/practised repertoire every day.

At the Alfred's level, set your kitchen-timer for 10 mins. Take the first line/phrase of your current piece.

1) Can you read the RH on it's own? Work out the notes if you can't. Repeat with the LH.

2) Can you memorise the RH in a few plays? Reduce the length, if you can't, to something you can. Repeat it 7-10 times from memory. Speed is immaterial, the brain doesn't learn the speed - it learns the muscular actions. Once learnt it can repeat those actions at many different speeds. Repeat with the LH.

3) Can you play the phrase up to tempo in RH? If not repeat the actions at a speed you can actively control about 7-10 times to get used to the stretch, leap, or whatever is making it difficult. Repeat with the LH. When you're up to the last phrase play through the whole piece, hands separately, once or twice each day.

4) If you can play the phrase each hand individually put the hands together at half speed or slower. Can you co-ordinate the fingers at that tempo? If you can't, reduce the length of the passage and the speed until you can. Repeat each fragment 7-10 times up to the end of the phrase. You might stop on the first note note of the next phrase.

5) Can you play the whole phrase, hands together, either up to tempo or at a reasonable one? If you can't, play it 7-10 times at a speed you can manage with accuracy.

Stop when your timer goes off and start again at step one the next day until that phrase is done to step 5 and then move on to the next phrase.

When you've done the phrase, move on to the next one. When you've done the last phrase, try the whole piece. You might add the discipline of memorising each phrase, hands together, first but it's not important unless you're going to use the piece for repertoire/recital.

Spending more time (that day) on one piece will not improve it significantly without sleep intervening. Think of it like physical exercise - it's not the time in the gym that builds muscle, it's the sleep that follows.

In 30 minutes you can work on three pieces. In an hour you can add scales or other technical exercise, building a memorised repertoire, read or review previous material, work on aural skills (learn a Christmas carol by ear), sing over simple chords. You learn C, F & G7 early on in Alfred's - that gives you a few simple rock songs you can try. Try early Elvis, Chuck Berry etc. for starters.

Thank you BeccaBb and zrtf. Your comments have helped me too. Last evening I reviewed my practice routine and how I have been going about it up to this point. I do feel like I am missing something. I can spend hours at the piano, but I always ask, am I doing the right thing? I can tell this is where a teacher would be extremely helpful. Unfortunately that just can't happen right now.

All of the comments in the forum have been great in shaping this process for me.

Do you have any trouble with the big jumps of "The Stranger"?
It is the most difficult piece for me until now.

Hi! Unfortunately the book I purchased did not come with an Accompaniment CD. Is there any way I can get access to just the CD? Or has anyone uploaded their version of the pieces to serve as a benchmark to my piano playing?

I play the pieces given in the book but I've nothing to compare myself to. I maybe making mistakes but I guess I'll never know. So, does the CD contain the polished correct version of every piece given in the book? What exactly is in the CD?

The CD is not a polished piano version, but a mixture of digital instruments. It would somewhat help to see what the piece should sound like if you are not familiar with it, but it really sounds awful. There are polished versions of most of the pieces on Youtube.com as well as well as at the beginning of this thread, and some scattered throughout this thread. Many of them are excellent and should help you to hear what you are aiming for.

zrtf90,
That's an excellent post! I think one other type of practice can be very useful for self learners. For want of a better name you might simply call it relaxation practice. spend some time on your pieces and drills playing them very very slowly (not paying attention to tempo or dynamics) and for each note pay attention to your body. Check to find any places where there might be unnecessary tension in the body. Maybe the neck tenses, or the shoulder lifts up, or the structure of the hand collapses (fingers go flat), or the elbow lifts up and out to the side. Maybe your posture goest to pot, or your pinky lifts up, or any number of things. If you can learn where your body is tensing up during a certain piece, you can work to eliminate (or at least reduce that tension).

I initialy studied not the AIO version of Alfreds but the Basic Adult Piano lesson and theory books, but I believe the CDs are the same. I was disppointed in them. 1. because they do sound awful and they were of strings, horns, percussion, etc and 2. were not the piano parts I was expecting. They helped a bit to get a sense of the rhythm until I got a handle on the counting aspect of the lessons. IMO a waste of money.

The CD has piano in the right channel and crappy accompanying instruments in the left. The best way to listen might well be with headphones on and leaving the left ear out. It's very distracting when played stereo.

Getting the DVD with the book is the best option. You can hear what the piano is suppose to sound like and you get to see the fingering. As of now, I think the DVD is only with Level 1, you can see it here.

Now, there are several places to look for the material as pointed out previously.

1. youtube. You can hear the tune, but the dynamics and tempo are lacking in many examples. Remember, most of the examples are from novice players that post their work. Just like myself, they are without teacher and are working through it alone. Their uploads may or may not be what it should really sound like.

2. Search right here on PianoWorld.com! Do an advanced search on the Adult Beginners Forum for any song you are looking for. It has really helped me (thank you fliper!) I suggest listening to several examples.

Again, I am starting out into the forest, alone, with a piano strapped to my back. I have no idea what is out there and what trials and tribulations that lurk. I do know one thing, there is a big difference between pressing keys in the right order and making music. My goal is develop musicality.

For example, I am currently stuck on Alpine Melody (page 69). I can play it without issue. But I am having a difficult time doing so completely in piano, without quickening the tempo; and another issue is striking the keys of the D7 chord at the same time. At some point I will have to move on. But I digress...

What a weird post.

In the All Time Favorites, one of my favorites was page 34 Cuddle up a Little Closer. A bit of a challange but not too bad and so very rewarding when you get the rhythm right All the youtube vids I saw/found all play and sing it much too slow IMO. Try it out.

I originally saw this in one of my mom's old books but the arrangment was beyond me at that point. Was glad to see it in this book in a simpler version

Here is my rendition of Alpine Melody (page 69). This took me awhile. I do think it is a great learning piece. As someone else pointed out, experienced hands can make this tune very pretty while inexperienced hands can make it sound clunky.

Alpine Melody
https://www.box.com/s/jirp6ikvtnbnaph3j23q

I'm officially no longer in level one. My teacher bumped up into level two! YAY! Good luck guys! I'll still pop in here once in awhile.

Congratulations BeccaBb!

Thanks! I'm pretty pleased with myself right now. LOL

Richard,

Thank you very much for your documentation of a practice routine. These things are almost exactly what my teacher has been telling me for the past four months, but I have not taken notes....and at my age I should know better. So I have printed it out and taped it to my piano.

I am using the Alfred series almost exclusively (primarily because that is what my teacher started me with), and you mentioned that you would not. I am open to adding some new material. Bearing in mind that I am a very new student, do you have any suggestions for what I may add?

Thank you again.

Bruce

What kind of music do you like?

Sort of!

I would want to follow a classical path up to around Intermediate level because that's the fastest and most efficient route to where you have sufficient skills for any genre you want to get into. It takes about three to five years whether you practise 30 minutes a day or two hours a day. It's not the amount of time you spend on the bench - it's the amount you concentrate while you're there and the amount of time you sleep afterwards.

Classical music is good music. Nobody studies it without developing a liking and appreciation for it; it's where all Western music springs from.

If I were starting with a teacher then method books might make for good sight-reading material and base covering. But as an adult with a teacher's guidance there's no excuse for not starting on material that teaches the learning process. Alfred's uses pieces that are learnt in hours or days. Intermediate material takes weeks and months. It demands breaking pieces down and isolating them.

Once you get beyond the beginner level learning a piece means isolating small sections of intellectually and aesthetically engaging music and working on it at the speed at which you can play it. Harder music slows you down. But at the end of it you have a piece of music you can perform and enjoy for the rest of your life.

Just last night I was working on Mozart's K.545. I started learning it over 35 years ago. I'm still working on it, still improving it and have never once got bored with it.

It doesn't matter if you take thirty seconds for a bar of music. It matters that you get it right. If you repeat it you'll get quicker at it without trying. If you repeat it often enough you will be able to play faster than you can think about it. Speed increases naturally with playing time. Trying to play faster is the fastest way to slow your progress.

Compare handwriting. Most adults want to improve their handwriting. It's theoretically easy. Pick an alphabet designed for writing (Italic) and slow down. Write at a speed at which you can control the pen. Speed will come in its own good time. But try to write faster and you lose control. And it's so hard to recover from.

For self teaching I think Alfred's combined with John Thompson's for the first two volumes is a better start than either could provide on their own. The third volume of either series is not necessary as by that time the skills will have developed enough for tackling more traditional starter material, Bach, Kuhlau, Clementi, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Burgmüller, Bartok, et al.

Alfred's is a good solid starter with a smooth progression, filling in all the bases but it doesn't use music engaging enough to occupy an adult. Thompson's is better in it's choice of music but not necessarily in its pedagogy. Both combined is a stronger basis than either on its own. I know nothing of Faber's, Piano Adventures or Bastien's (or any other popular method). All these method books are over-fingered.

You should play from music without the finger numbers written in except where changes are required. Self-teaching books must have the fingering written in for the first time studying it (or ideally on a crib sheet at the back of the book) but not after.

Alfred's, by using easy songs, encourages playing a piece through until you get it at song speed. This, on its own, is about the worst way of learning piano music. It's fine if it's only a part of your practise regimen. Playing from the score and sight-reading are essential practise but so is memorising and practising without the score.

MIDDLE C POSITION

Waltz Time
https://www.box.com/s/tkf73odif22ju2grsv4d

Happy Birthday to You!
https://www.box.com/s/aejlvcld6upvo948wyng

Standing in the Need of Prayer
https://www.box.com/s/hr4o7m22fzh64r18lmbk

Alouette
https://www.box.com/s/nypxe341qh8gym4gv4np

---------------

Clearly recording a piece changes the game (the red dot effect). I tried to be faithful with each one. But again, I feel that I am only gaining by recording and sharing. A bit selfish, I suppose.

I am slowing down a bit with AIO1. Mostly because I am working on supplemental material.

Things I am working on:
- keeping steady rhythm
- not to be so clunky with the hands (although I realize this takes time)
- memorizing more

I do practice quite a bit. But never more than 30 minute intervals. One thing I have noted is that I hardly, if ever, look down at the keyboard when I play. I know there is something wrong when I hear it. I assume this is a good thing.

A teacher is in my future; exactly when I do not know. It just does not work right now. The hard part is that I am confident with a teacher I would be taking off. In any case, I have been toying with the idea of using the Music Development Program as a guide. Any comments would be appreciated. Thank you.