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

Oops! Sorry! I misunderstood.

OK Ladies now listen up!

You will find many jazz and blues pieces in Alfred's, and if you give it a fair chance I think there is a lot of learning and fun to be had. Learn the blues chord progression first, and then try to add swing. It's not really hard to do, and it adds a lot of fun and emotion to the piece.

There should be lots of video examples of how to do this, but basically you are adding a half beat to the first note, and subtract a half beat from the second. Not quite like a dotted note.

Hey, if you can't figure it out Skype me and I'll show you how it's done!

I think this must be my American pride showing here. We have not really added much to the musical culture in our short history; jazz and the blues are our major contribution to the musical world.

P.S. Add to the fact that probably half of all rock tunes have some kind of blues progression built into them.

BrianDX

Country and Western Music and Rock and Roll both originated in America. Many sub genres within rock (Mowtown, grunge, etc...) were also primarily developed here. (Also let me give a shout out to Bluegrass which I also love also started in my old central kentucky stomping grounds.) Much of the technology (Radio Transmission, first developed by naturalized american citizen Nikola Tesla, the phonograph which came out of Edison's Labs, etc...) used to bring music to the widest possible audience were also developed in the states. Also the first synthesizers, the first computers, the hammond organ, and more were developed here. American contributions to music are legion in number.

To be fair, we did also give the world disco....so sorry about that! But at least we can blame Justin Bieber on Canada.

Fizikisto:

You are SO right in many of your points! Country Western is pretty much pure Americana.

The reason I did not include rock 'n roll is that there seems to be controversy as to where this genre really originated from. Of course I say America, but not everyone agrees with me on that.

Certainly England can claim they perfected rock and expanded it far beyond Bill Haley and the Comets.

P.S. And yes, we will NEVER be forgiven for Disco!

Haha. I was posting every day trying to keep this thread alive, but I'm trying to get a better balance in my life and not spend so much time in forums. (They're addictive!)


Well... a funny thing happened today. I started in on this first blues piece and it's more challenging than I thought it would be. Not in a bad way, though, and not just the swinging part. For example, going from forte to piano in measure 4 the tempo doesn't change but my hands want to go ritardando as I play softer. Grrr. Then a few measures later it goes back up to forte. So I really want to get these dynamics right and the staccato chords sounding better and... Ok, I admit it. I'm having fun with this piece. There. Are you happy now!?!

And thanks, Brian, for the skype lesson offer. I'm not set up for something like that but I do have a question that I'll PM to you.



Hey, I remember enjoying some of this disco stuff way back when. Saturday Night Fever, the Bee Gees, strobe lights, polyester suits, etc. Good times.

Linda;

When you get a chance I would try to add the Skype program to your PC.

It is very easy to use, and the video-based "calls" you make to folks cost very little (A few cents a minute, if that). If your PC does not have a camera (or you don't want to talk to folks in your bunny slippers ) you can make voice-only calls.

I use Skype to chat with family members who live overseas. If you are self-taught and can build a small network of fellow beginner like yourself, this can be a valuable tool to get feedback and suggestions from your fellow learners.

Good luck!

Hello!

I'm in the early stages of Book 1 (introducing B for left hand) and so far I have been getting things immediately, although I'm sure that will change very shortly! I hope to be able to sight read more efficiently by Christmas.

Hello MrsM
Welcome to the forum. You've found a great place to come visit where you'll get lots of support. Good luck on your piano journey!

Welcome MrsM. Am I right in thinking you might be a fellow Aussie too? This site is great, everyone is so friendly and helpful.

Brian that's a great idea about Skype, I don't have it set up but will certainly look into it.

Linda it sounds like you've got it under control now, which is great. I went and replayed that Got Those Blues and I think I am really struggling with getting that Blues sound right. I don't know if it's because I haven't had much exposure to Blues music before so the sound is a little unfamiliar? I had a go at The Marine's Hymn today, but it was more of a play than anything as I'm still trying to get the Can Can right.

Hello, Mandy!

I'm actually a Floridan, where the sun never sleeps and I am baked to a golden brown, haha!

Thank you as well, Fizikisto! I am very excited to be here!

Mrs M,
Just curious, do you have a teacher? or are you a self-learner?

Hello MrsM and welcome to PW and the Alfred's thread! That's great that you're catching on quickly. Wish I could say the same for my, but I still remember struggling mightily to get hands together on "Jingle Bells." Well, come to think of it, just about everything is a challenge to me, but overall I am very much enjoying the process.

Mandy, I'm still working on that blues piece. I can only practice it in short sessions because I'm finding it really hard to stay relaxed while playing all those staccato notes. Like you, I'm not familiar with this style of music. Have you already played the other 2 blues pieces; "Chasing the Blues Away" and "Blues for Wynton Marsalis"? I just noticed the tempo of those 2 songs, the first is slowly and the 2nd is lazy. "Got those Blues" is moderately slow, but I feel like I keep gaining speed when I'm playing it. Like I said, a work in progress.

Brian, I didn't know Skype could be audio only. I'll have to give that some thought.
Wait.. what? Exactly which folks have been wearing my bunny slippers!?!

Fizi, I'm a self learner! I'm in my mid 20's and played Orchestra in my school days. I suppose I'm a bit musically inclined like my dad.


Bluebonnet, it took me a few tries to get Jingle bells down but now I can play it well. I'm trying to polish up ''When the Saints come Marching in'' and its a bit tricky to get my fingers to switch the chords on my left hand. Getting there!

Hmm. Disco=Bee Gees. Bee Gees=England

OK, well maybe England invented disco, but we in American took it to a whole new quite despicable level.

Hi all!

Been a while since I've last visited and it sounds like everyone is having a lot of fun with their progress. After reading the comments I find myself thumbing thru AIO 1 book reviewing what I've learned and relearning some of the songs I enjoyed.

Just as a matter of interest, how do those of you who see a teacher approach your lessons and how often do you have them? By that I mean for me, I see my teacher every two weeks & think of my lessons more as coaching to keep me on track.

Cheers,
Alux

I thought they were Australian, but I didn't want to say as I couldn't bear the shame of our country being responsible for the horror of men wearing white satin jump suits.

I have a teacher that I have weekly lessons with, and to be quite honest I don't think I could learn the piano without her. I have nothing but admiration for those who are self taught or self teaching as I personally couldn't do it, and that is in no way a derogatory comment to self learners. I don't know if it's that I lack any natural talent, or I'm in a rush, or if it's due to my lack of confidence (or ability!) but I need my teacher to encourage me and to explain things that I am not sure about. Alternatively I also need her to pull me up on things I thought I was doing ok but it turns out I'm not. It can be frustrating at times because she is very particular, so it can take ages to move onto a new song, but then other times what she says clicks and I can fly through a song. I also think I need a teacher because I am the kind of person who will take short cuts and skip stuff (such as dynamics) if I can and she wont allow that and makes me play it correctly.

As for lessons we generally start on scales. She makes me go through the one I learnt the week before and then teaches me a new one (or makes me continue with the existing one if I'm not up to scratch). Then we work on my Alfred's book for most of the lesson. For the last 5 minutes or so she will help me with something I might want to learn such as Stuekchen which I am learning for the Schumann recital on here. If I am totally over Alfred's and want to do something else she is happy to spend the lesson doing another piece, every piece I present she still teaches and focuses on the little important things I need to know & even if it has things above my level she is happy to explain them and let me have a go at them.

The Bee Gees were born on the Isle of Man, lived in England for a while and then migrated to Australia. The rest is history as they say but they did not start the genre, that was the Americans.

+1 (Almost word-for-word).

And if I may say, it's this "stuff" that really adds the human touch to any piece. But when you are a beginner, there is an overwhelming amount of things to keep track of (like proper fingering) and things like dynamics, ritards, accents, etc. can get overlooked.

And folks who have the kind of teacher that Mandy seems to have, and the one I have, these details will NOT be missed.