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Today's weather forecast for my location is 102deg (39C) and for tomorrow 104deg (40C). Wow. Even as someone who prefers hot weather I would take a 5C day over a 40C day any day of the week! As a kid I used to live in a place that could (but would rarely) hit those temps and it gets old real quick. I am still struggling with lullaby, I can play it at a very slow tempo though which is a good sign. I feel if I can play something even at a very slow tempo I can sit down to practice for 10 mins and it feels productive compared to making endless errors. I also picked up some music from church last night! Church music is on lead sheets similar to Jazz, but the songs are usually very simple chord progressions and simple clear melodies. Great fun for a beginner pianist. Here's one I recorded before https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddnttg-9334 I might try to get some more like this passable enough to record as well. I think the chord style learning is a good way to break up the frustration of notation based learning, you feel like more of a musician anyway. For me though playing a song out of the middle of the Alfred's book is much harder than bashing along chords to a church song.
Last edited by AndrewAJC; 07/13/14 07:52 PM.
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TX-Bluebonnet: Glad you sort it out and you are welcome to PM me if you have any question.
Well, I didn't do well yesterday with Jingle Bells! I don't know, I need a DP. Training with synth action is not the way to go.
AndrewAJC: Nice/warm video ;-) Is the pause at 18th second intentional? Another question, how do you know what is the tempo? In the book they don't mention the tempo (or is it only in the beginning of the book?).
I'm currently training Jingle Bells at 140 bpm (is it 'Alegro' maybe).
After all it is a great experience (Learning Piano with Alfred's books). I love it. I should have done that years ago! It opens for me so many things and I'm only in the beginning! I like this book a lot, I feel it very good thought of.
I'm thinking of buying Kawai ES100 because it says it has built in Alfred's books lessons, although it is not the All in one series. I think it has Level 1A and 1B. Let's see what my final decision will be when I go to the shop next month :-)
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AndrewAJC: Nice/warm video ;-) Is the pause at 18th second intentional? Another question, how do you know what is the tempo? In the book they don't mention the tempo (or is it only in the beginning of the book?).
I'm currently training Jingle Bells at 140 bpm (is it 'Alegro' maybe).
After all it is a great experience (Learning Piano with Alfred's books). I love it. I should have done that years ago! It opens for me so many things and I'm only in the beginning! I like this book a lot, I feel it very good thought of.
The pause is intentional! It is a 'fermata' sign. It is described on page 76 in my book as a pause on a note, whereby you roughly double the time value of the note. Not saying I did it perfectly, but that's what I was going for at least. The tempo for BTMD is given as Moderately Fast. I think all the tempos are pretty vague, really just play it as it sounds good to you I think, at least that's what I'm doing. I guess you could listen to the CD if you have it hah, mine's sill safely in the pocket at the back of book. I just youtube a few examples if I'm curious to how the song is meant to sound.
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Andrew: I was looking at your YouTube channel. Wow, you're really flying through the songs! I liked the way you played "Harp Song." It sounded really nice. But unless I'm misunderstanding, there are actually two suggested variations. The first one is to play the 3rd and 4th measures one octave higher (but don't move the 1st and 2nd measure), so it's played across 3 octaves, not 4. Same thing for the second variation, just the other way. Looks like you combined the two together and made a third variation. For some reason I'm not able to get the church song to play. I'll try again later. EnGee: Don't be too hard on yourself. You're trying to get your hands to do something your brain isn't used to. Just give it some more time and I'm sure you'll get it worked out. If I remember correctly, it took me more than a few days to get it. And are you really trying to learn it at 140 bpm? Can you do it HT at a slower speed? I wouldn't make a DP buying decision based on having Alfred's lessons built in. Just get the best one you can afford. I've noticed the Alfred's Books song tempos are all over the place on YouTube. I know I play some of the songs slower than most people. For example, "When the Saints go Marching in." I mean, they're marching along, not running. Here's a tempo article on Wiki. Me: Today I worked on "Harp Song" and the 2 pages after it, so up through page 63. I'm going to stop here for a bit (maybe a week or so) in order to review and practice everything I've been learning up to this point. Plus I have some other songs I'm working on: "You are my Sunshine" from Alfred's Pop Song Piano Book. "The Yellow Rose of Texas" from Alfred's Country Piano Book. "Minuet" from 42 Famous Classics Arranged for Easy Piano. I hope everybody is having fun. I know I am.
Linda Casio Privia PX-850 (home), Yamaha Upright (lessons)
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Looks like you combined the two together and made a third variation. whoops! Oh well it can be my first original composition! I tried to read the fine print a couple of times and it was too confusing for me. I was able to get through the book fairly quickly to this point but I'm not really a total beginner. I have been playing drums and guitar in church for 10 years now! Probably about only once or twice a month but still pretty regular, although really I play those instruments at a very basic level it is usually enough for church. I had the basics of reading treble clef (as long as it stays in the lines!) and I know how chords work fairly well from guitar. I have even played keyboard at church once or twice (with a band) just slowly playing 4 easy chords or something like that. I've certainly stopped breezing through the book now though, the last few songs have taken a lot of effort but it is nice to enjoy the process of not being able to do something to be able to do it as well. I'm tempting to put in another order to amazon for some more books soon. Is the famous classics one good? I think I will try to pick up a beginners Classical book and maybe a Jazz or Blues beginner level book as well (and of course Alfred's Book 2!)
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Yeah, I agree, they could have made those instructions a little clearer. I tried teaching myself guitar once, 10-12 years ago, but didn't even last a week. As for learning to play piano, right now I need to slow myself down to make sure I'm getting all the dynamics of each song, and to work on my sight reading and forming chords more smoothly. Lucky for me I rather like all the songs so far, so I don't mind doing them repeatedly. I bought 2 books of easy classics: Big Book of Beginner's Piano Classics and 42 Famous Classics Arranged for Easy Piano. I don't know enough about them to recommend them or not, though they both have good reviews on Amazon and I think I'll make good use of them. But if you're interested in easy classical pieces in their original form (instead of arrangements) then maybe someone else can help you find some, since I don't know where they are.
Linda Casio Privia PX-850 (home), Yamaha Upright (lessons)
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AndrewAJC: Yes you are right about the pause (fermata sign, I don't know it yet). I found it after searching a lot in the book (they really should numbered the pages in the kindle version the same as the paperback version). You are quite ahead Andrew. Have you finished the book? Or almost? Will you buy additional book beside Alfred's level 2?
I bought the kindle version of the three levels of Alfred's books. They are great books when I was looking fast at the pages. Actually, I bought two books before that: "Understanding Basic Music Theory" and "The Complete Book of Scales & Chords". You might find the second book in your level (the notation is still hard for me now).
TX-Bluebonnet: I took your advice tonight and I'm slowing down. I'm almost there with Jingle Bells, but I want to be without mistakes every time I play it. In the other tutorial, I did "When the Saints Go Marching in" (only melody without chords), and the teacher said in a video that there is two versions a slow one and a fast one (I think the slow one is the original one). I did it moderate (110 bpm).
I also self taught myself playing a Classic Guitar a long time ago. I did it for one year then for some 'life' reasons I couldn't continue. I had a great book at that time (forgot its name now!) but most of the pieces were in a Spanish style. I loved it. I chose the piano for now. I don't think I can play the classic guitar at the same time because I need to grow my right hand's nails again which won't do for the piano!
It is a great idea to review from time to time. I will do the same maybe after two weeks.
A question for all, do you memorize the pieces you play? Do you think we should memorize it and play it by heart? For me I have a weak memory (if not very weak!), so memorizing is really tough for me, but if I play the piece, say, for 30 or more times, I might be able to play it without looking at the staff! :-O
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The best classical books for the early beginner I have found are "The Joy of First Classics" Books 1 & 2 edited by Denes Agay. Both volumes are the same level with around 80 original miniatures works per book. For me they have a secondary use as sight reading material at a level suitable for me.
Another series of books I use is Keith Snell's "Essential Repertoire of the 17th 18th & 19th Centuries". I can't speak for the early grades of this series as I began on book three. But I like the choice of works they have included, so much so that it is the basis from which I have chosen a lot of the pieces I have learned. These books come with a CD as well and are very reasonably priced in my opinion.
Beginners keen to learn classical work will often be advised to learn from "Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach". This I believe to be great advice and you can purchase the notebook(s) in various selections. The Essential Repertoire series also has more than a few pieces from the notebooks.
So if you did not know already, so much of the classical works are free to download and the most popular site would have to be imslp.org. It seems you can find just about anything there and probably all the content of the books I have mentioned as well. Though the quality can be a little poor, lack of fingering etc, and I personally prefer to have a book as someone has selected the works to be compatible with a particular learning level in mind.
Sorry to go off topic, I would not want to tempt you away from Alfred Book 1 which I think is an excellent book. But soon enough everyone starts to ask what is next and what other books are there.
Surprisingly easy, barely an inconvenience. Kawai K8 & Kawai Novus NV10 13x
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Thanks for the advice on books guys, might order next week or something and make a decision then. Will definitely have your recommendations open in tabs on amazon. AndrewAJC: Yes you are right about the pause (fermata sign, I don't know it yet). I found it after searching a lot in the book (they really should numbered the pages in the kindle version the same as the paperback version). You are quite ahead Andrew. Have you finished the book? Or almost? Will you buy additional book beside Alfred's level 2?
No not really even close. I am at Joy to the World which is about 2/3 of the way through the book by pages. However, I think the songs get more demanding as they go along and the last 5 or so songs will require some serious work to get down so I think I'm safe from running out of material for quite a while yet. I don't memorize the pieces. Sometimes I do 'accidentally' which I'm sure you've experienced as well. You just play it 10 times in a row and it's really quite a simple piece and then you suddenly realise you don't even need the music anymore. Learning to efficiently memorise stuff is an important skill but for now I'm trying hard to develop my notation reading skills so I try not to play stuff from memory but make the connection with what I'm seeing. I think if you really want to nail the performance of a piece it should be memorised even to the point where you don't need to think at all about what to play anymore, in my experience on guitar at least. Then 100% of your focus and concentration can be on phrasing and dynamic expression. Likewise I think focusing on dynamics and expression too much before you are sufficiently comfortable with just the notes and rhythm of the piece might bog down your learning as well.
Last edited by AndrewAJC; 07/14/14 07:51 AM.
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If you guys are interested in learning classical pieces, I strongly commend Rachel Jimenz's "Fundamental Keys" Method. It's a beginner's method, but the repertoire is all built from classical music. And with one or two exceptions, the pieces are not simplified versions of songs, they are the original pieces written by well known composers (who wrote them for teaching their own students back in the day - so they are pieces at an appropriate level written by accomplished musicians).
I think fundamental keys would be an excellent companion to Alfred's, as the pieces have a very different character. For example, the pieces in Fundamental keys will really work your hand independence more than the Alfred's method, where as the Alfred's method will get you more grounded in playing different chords. The two together would be a fantastic combination for a beginner to learn from.
Warm Regards,
Nord Stage 2 HA88 Roland RD800
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AndrewAJC: Exactly what I believe and concluded these days but I need to check always with other learners and see how am I thinking/doing. For now I think I'm doing ok and enjoying a lot the learning. I just need to buy a DP and I might also buy the paperback version of Alfred's book, because it really worth it and I can use it without the need of being 100% digital :-D
fizikisto: Thanks for mentioning this book. It seems there is only a paperback version. I tried to search for it here in NZ, but nothing yet. I doubt I can find it. I also checked if Lulu.com (funny name :-)) has e-book edition, but no luck. Anyway, I might find it in Amazon/Australia or as a kindle version one day.
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EnGee: In case you're not aware, you can use the magnifying glass to search for a word or phrase in a kindle book. That should save you some time. We should probably start sending out invitations for Andrew's going away party next week. For "Jingle Bells," I'd say if you can play it fine most of the time then you're probably ready to go to the next part in the book. The 110 bpm should be fine for "When the Saints.." I think the more important part is to play it in a marching way. I don't try to memorize any of the songs. Just sort of happened with a few after playing them umpteen times. But all too soon I start forgetting bits and pieces if I don't keep playing it at least every other day or so. I've never been good at memorizing stuff. I'm hoping I'll get good enough at reading music to get through the songs I want to play. earlofmar: Thanks so much for all the great information on easy classical pieces. I've made a copy of it for future reference. Andrew: Ah, so you'll be around for another week then. If we need to memorize a piece in order to nail it then, well, I'm in trouble. Looks like we have different approaches. I like to start adding in the dynamics and phrasing before I have the song perfected. Well, I guess now I'll also be adding in the pedal. I'm not sure, but I think the pedal will be the last thing I add in. I'll have to do some experimenting to see what works best for me. As far as I know there's not a set way to learn a song. But of course I could be wrong. fizikisto: Thank you, I checked out her website and ordered one of her videos (#11 - Your first two classical pieces!). Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out how to download it so I sent her an email. Hopefully it'll get sorted out soon. I'll report back once I've had a chance to check it out. My update: Not really much of one. I'm still going over some of the previous material and songs. Today I was focusing on good posture and hand position, and sight reading. I'm also taking the occasional break to play some non-Alfred songs.
Last edited by TX-Bluebonnet; 07/14/14 10:04 PM.
Linda Casio Privia PX-850 (home), Yamaha Upright (lessons)
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Made some good progress after getting a bit hangup on Lullaby.
Lullaby - tough! Didn't seem too hard at first but took a lot of practise to get consistency.
Rock it Away - Easy one! Remembering the f# in the D7 caught me out quite a bit but fairly simple rhythm/chords.
Joy to the World - Moderate. Luckily a very fun and recognizable tune made putting in some time for this one fairly painless. I just imagined I was playing to a full cathedral on Christmas Day with a 400 year old organ.
Cockles and Mussels - I cheated the fingering quite a lot with this one (ie. even more than usual for me!) but in doing made it very easy to play for me. Maybe this is badly cheating myself in the long run, I'm not sure how important it is.
Got Those Blues - Lots of notes here but really each bar is just a chord played with a set pattern. Still took quite a bit of practice, the quick G7, F chord transition being the hardest bit.
Chasing the Blues - Something about this song really annoyed me. Did not enjoy practicing it.
Blues for Wynton Marsalis - Really fun song. Still not sure I would call it blues, more like a pop song with a tiny bit of attitude, but still fun nonetheless. Took quite a lot of practise and I have huge amount of work to do on dynamics and rhythm to really get it down.
[video:youtube]FrNRoiACG7c[/video] I also got my sound finally recording properly after getting a new cable down town today, and also changed my video a bit, I think it's much better quality now.
edit: I really need to learn to proof read.
Last edited by AndrewAJC; 07/15/14 07:32 AM.
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TX-Bluebonnet: Thank you. The search is working fine in Kindle! It is the first time I use Kindle (in my PC). I think I still prefer if it was a pdf file because I can print some pages while the Kindle application won't let me print anything. Yes, I know a workaround but it is not as good as a native support by the program.
Andrew is doing great. I like in the video how he plays with confidence and in a relaxing mode. Hmmm, I don't think he would leave us so soon. He still (according to my Kindle) 71% of the book. I guess he would spend another month before he go to Grade 2.
earlofmar: Thank you for your suggestions. I have just bought "The Joy of First Classics - 1" (the kindle version). I couldn't see it because Kindle gives me error downloading it! But I will see what I can do. Hmmm, it seems it is not compatible with Windows 8! I could see it in Kindle Cloud but it is with a small font and can't zoom in!! I think I will return it for a refund. [sigh] I was very excited to start with it. I think it is better to buy the paperback tomorrow from the city.
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Hi there!
I've started playing the piano about 4 months ago, and I'm also working on Alfred! At first it went really smooth (I already knew how to read music scores, since I used to play the saxophone) but I'm currently progressing very slowly. I'm at Chiapanecas now. What do you guys do when you're kind of stuck on a song. Move on or just exercise it until you're going crazy?
PS: English is not my native language so I already apologize for grammar and spelling mistakes...
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Andrew: Nice job with the better video/audio quality. I watched some of your videos last night and will look at some more tonight. On "Cockles and Mussels," are you holding the bass chords through the rests? It sort of looks like it, but hard to tell. BTW, I like your commentary on each song.
EnGee: It sounds like classical music is having a hard time with modern technology. Hope you get it sorted out.
Gravity blues: Welcome to PianoWorld and the Alfred's Basic ... Book 1 thread. How long have you been stuck on that song? What kind of problem are you having with it? Maybe you almost have it perfect and it's time to move on? Some more information would be helpful. Just don't go making yourself crazy.
Linda Casio Privia PX-850 (home), Yamaha Upright (lessons)
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Barry1963 and JayG42: If you guys are still around, how 'bout stopping by and letting us know how you're doing.
Linda Casio Privia PX-850 (home), Yamaha Upright (lessons)
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Andrew: Nice job with the better video/audio quality. I watched some of your videos last night and will look at some more tonight. On "Cockles and Mussels," are you holding the bass chords through the rests? It sort of looks like it, but hard to tell. I think you're giving me too much credit, if that is the worst mistake I made it's probably one of the more accurate ones I've done. Out of all the things I'm sloppiest about I think RH note length is one of the worst, I think it's because I'm still very much in the guitarist mindset of 'play it however you want, but use the music as a guide'. Last night I went through the book again working up to my current position. Very satisfying going through old songs that gave you trouble. Welcome Gravity. You're at the business end of the book and I think you'll find most people here are behind you. I find finding a balance between banging your head against something and doing other piano things a fine one, but also necessary. If I spend 20 mins on the one song I might persevere to 30 mins if I feel I'm making progress, but also other times after 5 mins I've had enough and will do some scales or some other easy songs or material I've got lying around. Also jumping ahead in the book and spending 5 mins on a more advanced song is fun. The goal being not to learn it properly but at least play the melody and get the feel for it or see what the LH is doing etc. My process is to do a song until I can record it without any massive blunders, and then move on to the next one. This usually requires an ability to play through a song 4-5 times in a row without mistake with a recorder off until you can play through it once with a recorder on! This is a good way for me to make sure I play somewhat competently even songs I don't like and systematically work through the book akin to how a teacher might guide you. One of the pitfalls of self learning is progressing too fast and only focusing on things you like, not things you need to focus on. Not at all saying this applies to you, just in my own experience. Anyway, whatever works for you! Keep us updated on your progress.
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Andrew:On "Cockles and Mussels," are you holding the bass chords through the rests? It sort of looks like it, but hard to tell. I think you're giving me too much credit, if that is the worst mistake I made it's probably one of the more accurate ones I've done. I think I understood that. I got a chance to watch some more of your videos. I liked that last blues song and "On Top of spaghetti Old Smoky." You seemed like you were having fun with those. I've tried a couple times to do an audio recording of myself and I can't do it without goofing it up. I imagine I'd be even worse if it was a video recording. Well, tonight I took a stab at "Beautiful Brown Eyes" on page 65. I think I'm going to do OK with that one. I just need to smooth it out and get it up to tempo. Oh wait. I just realized I hadn't tried adding in the pedal yet. That's going to take some getting used to. I'll work on it tomorrow, see how it goes.
Last edited by TX-Bluebonnet; 07/15/14 10:10 PM.
Linda Casio Privia PX-850 (home), Yamaha Upright (lessons)
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I've tried a couple times to do an audio recording of myself and I can't do it without goofing it up. I imagine I'd be even worse if it was a video recording. Typically I get the song good enough to play through 3 or 4 times right through then I hit record and give myself 5 mins to get a clear take. I don't think I've ever gotten it first go. Usually I play through it once with record on at a much slower tempo then I practised, then that gets your confidence up so you do it at proper speed... then you screw up the last bar and have to do it all again. It's fun though and there's a great sense of accomplishment in uploading a piece, even if only 3 people ever watch it! I'm currently stuck on Good People. It's really different to all the other songs so far, you could almost call it jazzy! I think it's gotten into my head a bit as 'too hard' but in theory it shouldn't be. I do love the sound of the chromatic runs though and don't mind persevering with this one. I'm also trying to learn a classical style piece that is probably way too hard for me, but it's certainly fun trying. I want to play it for the forum recital so that gives me 30 days to get it. In some ways that sounds like a huge amount of time but in other ways I feel like a need 100 days hah!
Last edited by AndrewAJC; 07/16/14 08:46 PM.
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