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I like the Blues - Got Those Blues is the first one. So Blues has a standard chord progression. I always find difficulty making a smooth transition to the G7 (V7) chord. Don't know why that is - I can do the exercises smoothly.....just the one hand v two hand thing I guess. The other thing is learning to swing the eighth notes.....that is fun to experiment with. I am polishing the next 2 after that one so will be done those soon. I also have that Martha Mier's book and plan to look at that after I have 'What a Wonderful World' in hand.

Sounds like you are in a group class with mostly kids. The thing I am understanding about young kids is that they are more natural learners in that they don't have any shame or tension about making mistakes. That perspective actually allows them to learn faster. It might be good to try and pick up that same perspective from them. I am reading a book called 'The perfect wrong note' that goes into depth on this subject - what we are doing is really all about joy and happiness. Several experienced members on this site have pointed this out as key - I believe it!

Thanks so much! My teacher actually started me on Prelude in C major last week, so that's been fun. I love the way it sounds, and I'm excited to tackle it. Right now I've got the first few measures down, but my tempo is WAY slow. That'll come in time though I suppose.

Otherwise, yes I'm still putting about 30 min into the Alfred Book a day. I should be finishing up the The Marines' Hymn today. I think I'll just have a couple more months of Book 1, and then we'll see if I continue on to Book 2 or just let my teacher guide me.

I'm going to see if I can find any other Grade 1 pieces that might interest me. Just something to look foward to!

I have the same problem, but with the D7 chord. It's never smooth for me. I guess with time, it'll get better for us.

Yeah, it's a group class. The oldest kids are maybe in there early teens, and are working towards their Grade 5. Our teacher round-robins among all the students twice. So, we kinda get a total of 10 minutes each. But he covers a lot considering the time constraints, I must say. I can get individual lessons as well from the same instructor, but I like having people around me. It somewhat reduces my inhibition. The disadvantage is that, there's hardly any time to ask for help on the supplemental pieces I'm working on. There's this guilt that I'll be hogging all of his time. Maybe, when I finish the first book, I will try to schedule a couple of individual lessons a month.

Regarding kids being natural learners.. I have noticed the same about them too. They play with so much joyful abandon.. Will try to check out the book you mentioned. I like the title already!

Good for you! Playing slow and steady is the way to go, they all say. This one is in Alfred's Book 3, as far as I know. So don't be too hard on yourself, ok. You'll get a lot of confidence, when this one's done. And it sounds like you have a fab teacher!

This week, I worked on a piece called "Fantasia in G minor", by Telemann. It's really easy. Some four measures repeat all through, and just one page long. It's supposed to be in the Baroque style, but I like to play it whichever way I want. Because (A) I don't really understand what "Baroque" is yet, and (B) After spending so much time on the Minuet (which is still a work in progress), I feel I've earned the right to butcher some pieces here and there!

I've looked ahead in the book till "Cockles and Mussels", but my formal progress is currently restricted to a piece a week from the book. May ask my teacher to assign me some extra ones from Alfred's as homework. Actually he used to do that, but then, one week I couldn't practice much. To make matters worse, I bull-shitted my way out complaining about "work pressure" and such! Since then, it's been one per week. We dig our own graves sometimes

I just looked up "Fantasia in G minor". It sounds beautiful! Maybe I'll make that my next piece to learn. Where did you find sheet music for this piece?

In Alfred's I'm up to "Good People". I'm able to play most of it around 50 bpm, but need to work on some of the transitions and the end. I found the first 8 or so measures of this really difficult for some reason. I was able to nail most of the call and response right away though.

Still working on Prelude in C (and probably will be for the next month). I had the first page down pretty nicely, but will still mess up stupid stuff all the time. Like I can never play it 100% every time. Now I'm working on the 2nd page veryyyy slowly. We'll see how it goes.

I picked it up from "Essential Keyboard Repertoire- Volume 1". I'm really liking this book. Contains as many as 100 grade 1-3 level pieces! Very good value for money.. I am learning Minuet in G from here itself. "Fantasia" was listed as the simplest of all, and it's a very nice little piece to get acquainted to the key of G minor. You can download the sheet music from this link though:

https://www.pianotv.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/09-Fantasia_in_G_Minor.pdf

Take your time on the Prelude in C. It's a keeper. You would enjoy playing it for many years to come.. I listened to "Good People" on YouTube. It's rather nice. Actually, I like all the Alfred's pieces in the "Blues" section. Earlier I couldn't tell one from the other. But now upon repeated hearings, they all sound very distinct.

My progress with Alfred's is a tad slow this week. My teacher got super happy, when he came to know I got a weighted console (he had been throwing subtle hints for some time now ). And to celebrate this, he decided to give me a break from Alfred this week. He got me started on a Trinity exam piece called Landler (By Schubert). I love these extra pieces.. Sure breaks the monotony. But It's a little challenging for me, and is taking up most of my piano time. I'd kind of completed "Rock it Away" and "Lullaby" last week though. So, will try to get the metronome practise done, and draw the curtains on these two. "Lullaby" took me a long time to finish. But "Rock it Away" was really easy. I guess it was put as a breather amid all the rhythmically challenging ones. I want to finish these pronto, and get to the Blues section, which for some reason scares me.

So, this is interesting:

Before Christmas, my teacher gave me a break from Alfred's (I'm basically up to "He's got the Whole World in His Hands")...but in the subsequent weeks since, we haven't touched the book at all. Instead, he is giving me a few classical pieces to see if I like them...along with building on a couple of other songs I've had.

It's kind of fun! Can't say I really miss the book songs at this point.

I have a pretty simple arrangement of "Pavane" that is really nice...but I find that I am now only using the sheet music to see what chords come next (the melody I have essentially memorized). I don't know how to not memorize these things--especially the ones I tend to practice a lot. At one point, I had to use the music for the melody, but it seems my "muscle memory" took over?

I am starting a version of "Clair de Lune", and as I am practicing, I am desperately trying not to memorize anything

That sounds really cool - I'd say you have an excellent Teacher! The point is to have fun (in the healthiest way possible!) and nice to hear of the fun direction change. Keep us in the loop even if you don't come back - great sharing the adventure....

I guess i missed something....you are trying NOT to memorize? I think that's sort of natural thing (to lesser or greater extents) for all of us. I fall on the side of lesser natural memorization - but if you repeatedly play something it's going to happen.....I think

Thanks! Yes--my teacher is great!

So my problem is that I am terrible at reading music--even for as far along as I might be (in book 1, that is). I hate to admit this, but often I still look at the staff and then in my head go through "E-G-B...ok, that's a B" I typically will slog through a new song VERY slowly because my sight-reading is deplorable...but as I practice, I essentially end up memorizing where my hands go...to the point where I am not really reading the music at all. My teacher wants me to try and NOT memorize, but I honestly don't know how to do it. I've just started Clair de Lune and I am going to try my darndest to not memorize.

Incidentally, that is why websites like "HD Piano" work so well with me: If you show me where to put my hands, eventually I'll memorize it. Not the best for actual learning of music theory, I suppose.

Anyhow, it's a constant struggle with me, and when I do play at my lessons my teacher always asks "so, about how much of this have you memorized?"

Sounds like you need a note recognition app/game on your smartphone to spend 10 mins a day with!

That is an excellent idea---thank you!

There is a little flashcard exercise that my Roland Piano partner app has...but my FP-30 is now at my work apartment and I'm not up there too much. Although with the impending snow storm, who knows!

Thanks again for the link!

No worries, a similar note recognition app solved my 99% of my note recognition problems. (I personally use this one, but it is only available for iOS.) Even 5 mins a day is enough to banish those note reading struggles for good, I found.

Played absolutely horribly in my lessons today. And I really practised this time (I swear!). The piece was the Schumann Landler I mentioned last time. Currently, I'm playing on weighted keys at home, and today I got the un-weighted keyboard at my lesson. The keys were also a lot smaller in size. My fingers were slipping all over the place. I managed to hit most of the right notes through sheer force of will. But the dynamics go right out of the window, whenever I'm concentrating on playing the notes correctly. And there were some wrong notes as well. My teacher must be thinking I'm chilling all the time. He sure wasn't happy..

There is just one DP in the studio, and whoever is having a "lucky day", gets it. So I need to play equally well on both weighted and un-weighted keys. You guys got some tips? I do still have my un-weighted keyboard, though I was thinking of selling it off. Should I practise on it in parallel? It's already been packed off, as there's not much free space left in my apartment. But I can get it down, if required..

@Pathguy,
You are working on some fine pieces! Also, thanks to one of your posts, I remembered about the PianoForAll course I had bought. And I'm now using some of it's stuff for warm-up. I'm quite liking it. About memorising, I tend to do the exact opposite. I try to memorise whatever I'm playing, to avoid changing the scores on the stand. I guess that's bad? Falling into all wrong practise habits lately. Should visit this forum more.

@Tyrone,
I have the music-theory app, but didn't use it much after the initial days. Mostly because, I read somewhere that identifying intervals is more important while sight-reading. But now I see that you guys are working on note recognition too. A little confused now.. Which one (intervals/note-identification) helps when? Or do they somehow work together in synergy? BTW your username reminds me of Tyrion Lannister, who is one of my favourite book characters

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention.. Even though I played rubbish, my teacher didn't insist on spending another week on the Landler. He's too kind and gentle for that. But I bet he thinks I'm dumb as a post! Anyway, he got me started on "Cockles and Mussels" and "Got Those Blues". I also mentioned the problems I was having with the Minuet, and he said he'll help me with it. So yay to that!

Tech-key we all have those days. I tend to not play well in front of my teacher all the time. I think it's a combination of me wanting to do well, nerves, and the fact that I'm not as comfortable on his piano as I am on mine. No worries: you're starting to get into some of the "meatier" songs in Alfred's: I actually liked the later songs much more because of it. You'll have fun!

I don't think that memorizing is bad: I just want to rely on reading a bit more as I play...more work to do in that area for me.

@Tyrone I am going to download the app you use--I'm looking forward to using it!

I use Tenuto for all recognition except chords right now (only because I am not that advanced with chords), so notes, intervals, key signatures, scales. I also use Note Rush, which has both iOS and Android versions, as a game for mapping keys to notes.


Nah. My handle is based on Tyrone Slothrop, the main character from Thomas Pychon's Gravity's Rainbow, a US Army Lieutenant in WW2 London. But... I did go on a GoT tour of Dubrovnik (aka Kings Landing) though this past summer, and that counts for something

Pathguy,
I don't know if it was just nerves, though I'm sure that was the main issue. I tried again with headphones on, just after he had walked off. Didn't work out then either. But I could play the Alfred pieces ok enough on it. I'll just see how it goes next week. If the problem persists, the un-weighted keys will make a glorious comeback

Also, like you, I'll try not to memorise as much. Because if I don't play a piece for a week, it vanishes from my brain anyways. Hence, no real point in mugging all of them up. Maybe, just the ones I wanna keep for a longer time..

Hmmm, I just checked.. I have Tenuto too on my phone. One day, I went a little crazy and downloaded all the apps I could find. But I don't use any of those, other than the Metronome one. I found them a bit boring. Note Rush sounds good as you say it has a game-like structure. This should keep things interesting.



Don't know who that is. But he must be good at his job, for you to choose his name. Ok.. Just read the wiki page; seems like quite an epic. This line, ahem, raised my interests:

Although selected by the Pulitzer Prize jury on fiction for the 1974 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the Pulitzer Advisory Board was offended by its content, some of which was described as "'unreadable,' 'turgid,' 'overwritten' and in parts 'obscene'". No Pulitzer Prize was awarded for fiction that year.

HeHe.. Some uptight jury that year. Might pick it up, once I finish reading the book I started last month. This idiot of a piano has been keeping me away from my primary "hobby". And to top it all, it has started acting a little mean to me lately. Not cool!

And WOW on the GoT tour you got! My ex-boss went to Iceland a couple years back (I can't afford), and visited Jon and Ygritte's cave. I was green with envy

I think it is funny how we all have our unique challenges....I thought i would share my most recent thing which is now the THIRD time I have confronted this. As I was learning the Blues stuff and all proud of myself for learning how to swing the eighth notes - my teacher uncovered a general lack of rhythm problem (from one line to the next in this case). So she asked me to count out loud while I played something and I did not nail it. Ugh! From the beginning I was not good at being able to count out loud and play at the same time. I learned how to do that. Then when I got to eighth notes the counting changed and that was a big challenge but learned how to do it. But both those times I did not keep on counting all the time. When I start a new piece I always count but drop it after I feel like I got that down. This was a mistake for me. I think you have to keep doing it until it gets really hard-wired into your playing - and I think that takes significant time to get that way. So now I am back at counting out loud - 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 EVERY MEASURE. I can actually hear the improvement immediately, and strangely I think it is helping me look a measure ahead while playing. Maybe I'm on to something.....

Of course when sixteenths come along the counting changes again - but this time I will be better prepared.

I always start out horrible at lessons then settle down as it goes on.

Give Tenuto a try. After all, you must have even purchased it (since it isn't free). It is really a power-app for music theory, and in this case, recognition of various sorts. Give it a try in the simplest note recognition mode.


Yes, the power of gamification. The most boring things become doable when turned into a game.


LOL... well he is good at one particular thing... He's the veritable definition of promiscuity and it seems German V-2 rockets land wherever he has a sexual conquest So I suppose this makes him good at being a rocket homing beacon


Well, it did win the National Book Award here in the States and almost 5 decades later, it perennially appears in lists of the top 100 novels of all time. However, along the lines of your Pulitzer quote (which was just mean spirited), I loved reading this 'meta-'review of the novel! Anyways, I'm sure Pynchon just laughs all the way to the bank about this sort of snarky crapola. I love many of his other novels, and my other favorites include Mason & Dixon & The Crying of Lot 49


If you need to look up any references, bookmark this website.


My piano has been keeping me from stuff too. A good friend gave me a Playstation VR headset for Christmas. Sadly, four weeks later, it is still in its box unopened, something I feel guilty about since they are hardly a cheap present. But the piano gives me little time for anything else consuming (and gaming is a bit consuming).


Yes, lots of fun. Visited the main places including the Red Keep. My wife passed on a driving tour outside of the city though to look at filming locations further out, but checking out the filming locations in the city was more than enough for me.