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

Thank you so much for your great explanation, Richard.
Sorry that I could not thank you earlier,
but I was not on Piano World for the past days (cough, sneeze, cough...)
I shall print out your suggestions to think about them
and I thank you again for your kind effort,
it is very much appreciated,
Kristina.

Hi everybody!

I decided to have a go at this course book. I have already finished Denes Agay's "Learning To Play Piano 1" and halfway through 2nd book.

Based on the recommendations from PW forums, I thought Alfred's course book would be a nice sight-reading fodder.. At least first 50 pages or so. I just skimmed through the pages and saw "The Entertainer", I guess it's a heavily watered-down version, but still way above for my petty sight-reading level.

You're right, not everything in the book is super easy. A few of the songs near the end can be pretty tough, especially when you're working through the book for the first time with no previous piano experience. Alfred likes to tease us with a few more difficult songs mixed in with the easy ones. It gets worse in the second book

I'd say, start sightreading at the beginning. By the time you get to The Entertainer, Amazing Grace and what have you, it may already be easier for you. Also, even if you cannot play it entirely as written, you can try to either play it more slowly, or leave out a bunch of notes, simplify chords; anything that's necessary to keep tempo.

new guy here with a question I hope I can make clear!!
on page 40 in Bastien's book and page 49 in ALFRED they both show the right hand moving right to play the F chord. Both books show the left hand simply stretching the little finger 5.
Why should the right hand move rather than again simply moving the little finger 5 over to the A?
In other words why use two different patterns for this chord and not the others?
tom in Indiana
thanks

jonkertb, are you talking about the fingerings shown for the C chord CEG vs. the inverted F chord CFA?

In the LH the standard fingering for CEG is 531. In the RH the standard fingering for CEG is 135. No surprises there: lay your fingers over five white keys, and press down every other key.

When you come to CFA, the standard LH fingering is 521. The standard RH fingering is 135. In both cases, the thumb and pinky cover the outer two notes of the chord, and then an intermediate finger is used for the middle note. In the LH, the thumb reaches right to get the A, and then 2 is the most comfortable finger for F. The pinky stays on C. In the RH, the pinky reaches right to get the A, and then 3 is the most comfortable finger for F. The thumb stays on C.

One might think that 145 would be a better fingering in RH for CFA, and then you just have to reach with 5 instead of also changing which key 3 lies over. But using 4 on F would induce an uncomfortable stretch between 4 and 5. Normally we prefer to stretch between 1 and the other fingers, but keep the other fingers closer together if possible.

So basically, the difference is because our hands are asymmetrical. So the mirror image RH acts differently than the LH over the same notes.

I don't see this on the F chord. I see the LH 5 staying put on C (compared to its position for the C chord CEG). Are you mixing this up with the fingering for the inverted G7 chord BFG?

[ETA: oh wait, maybe I see what you mean. Are you looking at the pink diagram of a keyboard with the fingering for CFA at the top of the page?]

on the left hand F chord pg 48 they simply have you reach w/1
the F is played w/two in it's "home" position
in the right pg 49 they show both 3 and 5 shifting right...if I find it easier to mirror the left, playing F w/4 and the A w/5 why not do it that way?? Are they just accomidating folks w/weaker pinky?? I'm at those pages and don't want to move on until I can understand if there is a reason to do it differently w/the right hand??
thanks for your reply and thoughts!!

The reason is not to stretch between fingers other than your thumb if you don't have to. There are six white keys between C and A, so there has to be a stretch somewhere where a finger is not over a white key. The standard LH (521) and RH (135) fingerings both accomplish that, placing the gap between the thumb and the other fingers.

I agree that when first learning it feels easier to just stretch out the RH pinky and play 145, but IMO it is worth the effort to learn the standard fingering. When you start developing further skills from these positions, for example arpeggios, using the standard fingering will stand you in good stead. Also you will not always be coming to CFA direct from CEG, so having the standard comfortable automatic RH 135 on CFA as a practiced shape is important. Furthermore, learning to move your hands will also stand you in good stead as far as developing skills for more complicated music where your hands move much more.

That said, there are other styles which use other standards for fingerings. For example, I remember someone here saying that they use RH 124 on CEG, and then no move at all is required for RH 135 on CFA. And sometimes people have very large hands and even RH 123 feels comfortable on CEG. But for starting out, absent some compelling reason, I think it's worth learning to navigate the standard fingerings as shown in Alfred's.

thanks
....I guess it is kinda foolish of me to even ask as both books had that as the fingering method.....I started on those pages today and worked to make the "un natural" natural as per those who have gone before w/a lot more knowledge than me!
thanks for the patience pianostudent88.....I'll hush up and do as I'm told LOL

jonkertb, not foolish at all. Please keep asking questions.

For example, somewhere in the book is a version of, I think, Jingle Bells that doesn't use the rhythm we're used to hearing. So one question is, why do they do this? I think it's because the normal rhythm uses dotted notes, which haven't been introduced yet at this point in Alfred. Another question is, does it matter which way I play it, the way it is written or the way it should really go? And that has multiple possible answers. My answer is, it's useful to learn to play it as written at least once as an exercise in mind over matter and checking that you can read and play rhythms as written. But for actually playing it, I say the heck with the written rhythm and play it the way I'm used to hearing it.

And you will surely come up with other interesting questions about other aspects of the book.

Welcome to Piano Forums.

Hi Everyone!
Nice to meet you all. I am so happy to be on here as this is my first time posting on these forums. I think it's great how helpful and encouraging everyone is to one another. I just wanted to share that I am currently working on the Alfred's Adult All-In-One Course/Level 1 book with a piano teacher. I am a complete beginner, never having had any lessons growing up, until now. I started taking weekly lessons about 5 - 6 months ago and things are progressing slowly but surely, so to speak. I am currently up to page 78, The Amazing Aerobics of Hanon. I have the accompanying CD and it's been extremely helpful for me because I'm not familiar with alot of these songs, so it's good to be able to hear how they are supposed to be played. Right now I'd say my biggest challenge is still in correctly identifying and reading the notes. I have some flash cards that I'm using to help me with this as well as just regular practice.

Hi All,

jonkertb's question got me wondering about a simular experience I've recently come across.

On page 118 it tells me to practice the Fmaj scale RH with 1234 passing 1 under 4 continuing on to 4. At the moment I'm working on Chiapanecas (page 120)and I noticed on measure's 26 & 27 after C it staccato's Fmaj fingering 12345 (which is contrary to page 118) then repeats to Bb 1&3 at measure 11. To me it seems a bit awkward as written and wondering if it's just me or not. Wouldn't it be easier to finger 1234 1 under 4 then to 1&3 Bb?

Cheers! :-)

I am looking for a technical exercise book to order online as an adjunct to Alfred's AIO Level One. Has anyone used the "A Dozen A Day" technical exercise books by Edna Mae Burnham? If so, did you use the "Preparatory" book and then book "One", were these a good fit?

NoteBender, I have "A Dozen A Day, Book One". I use it for warm up exercises, no more than 10 minutes. Some days I do the exercises, some days I don't. I think the Preparatory Level is pretty basic. If you decide to purchase, there are versions which include a CD so you can hear what the exercise is suppose to sound like. Unfortunately I do not have the CD. I think the exercises are useful.

Hello everyone.
I started the Alfred Book 1 a couple of years ago and then I broke my wrist!

I actually kept playing because it helped with the therapy, but then just lost interest until a couple of months ago.

So I have started all over again from page one and am now playing "The Stranger".

Oh, I also had lessons (many, many years ago!) when I was about 10 for about a year. This is a huge advantage because I already know how to read music.

So I'm excited to be playing again and I love reading this forum!

just4fun, I remember you, welcome back from that terrible wrist injury.

Thanks for the welcome, Mark.
I can't believe you remember me!

Glad to see you still visit us book one folks.

Video update time! Once again, thanks for any comments or criticisms.

Blow the Man Down!

Cafe Vienna

Rock It Away

Joy to the World

Cockles and Mussels

Your user name just seemed to stick...and I remembered the injury.

The Alfred threads are like my grown children...I leave them alone, but still keep an eye on them...

Applejack- Nice job! That's a lot of songs to have ready at one time.

I finally gave myself a pass on "the stranger" and was able to immediately
play Greensleeves and Go Down, Moses.

It's odd how one piece like The Stranger was so difficult to get right, and yet others that look to be at the same level come so easy.

Guess I'm grateful for the "easy" ones.