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Oh, Tyrone and NobleHouse, thank you so much!!! I really needed to hear this! Feeling a little more positive now that I’ve had some time to reflect. Will be back at it again tomorrow!

Fran...

Funny, I'm the opposite. I can't get 5 seconds into a recording without messing up. I do ok for my teacher though. Not optimally, of course, but maybe 80%. I can play normally in front of friends and family, unless I say, "Hey, listen to this!" Then I can't.

All the time, pagirl, all the time. *Sigh*.. My teacher probably thinks I’m braindead. 🙃 On some rare occasions, I play well in my lessons. Just by fluke, I guess. I can count those days on my fingertips. Will need just one hand.

By the way, there are some other adult students in my time slot. And they also fumble sometimes. So I suppose, the teachers must be used to all of this. Happy practising 👍

This happens to me too in practice and at lessons. Some lessons I just nail everything and some days I bomb. My teachers is used to it I guess. I think it is impacted by how stressful my day at work was and if I'm just mentally and or physically washed out or really tuned in mentally.

Mom's health still steadily slipping so I'm spending a lot if time at the facility where she lives. I'm playing my electric bass (headphones + backing tracks) a lot because it is portable. Piano I get in a little each day at home so making some progress in Faber 3a just very very slow. Some days I just play things I already know. She is in failing health but looks and feels surprisingly good for her age and is mentally alert enough to play Suduko or cards with me when not asleep so really don't know how long this phase (weeks, months?) of my life will last.

Thank you all! I am so encouraged by what you are telling me!!! I am ready to get back at it this morning. I also received a book I ordered called, The Practice of Practice, and it really opened my eyes on this subject! Such a great read! I saw it recommended on one of the threads here, and decided to give it a shot. So happy I did! Just started reading it, and already am a fan! Happy Practice to all of you, and have a great day!!!

Fran...

Chili-Time, So sorry to hear about your Mom! Music has got to be a wonderful release for you! Hang in there, things will get better.

Fran...

Hi all,

My lesson yesterday went fairly well even though my playing was hit and miss. We spent some time getting the "misses" ironed out, quite a bit on technique, along with a smattering of music theory thrown in. My assignment for my next lesson is to rework the last 4 pieces and learn 2 new ones using less "active" (typing motion) fingers and more transferring weight from one key to the next. That's going to take some getting used to!

How's everyone else doing? Making progress and having fun?

I just started reading this thread and have never heard of these Faber books. I'm looking for a few recommendations on good books to follow at home.
Why is Faber popular? Thank you.

Hi everyone,
I was sucked into the wonderful Online Piano Converence put on by Alyssia at PianoTV and along with work it's had me off my usual routines.

I'm entering what I believe will be my last week of 3B. Smoothing out Pachelbel and beginning Aurora, the review piece at the start of 4. I have to admit I just quit Gypsy Camp. I got it sounding GREAT at about 92 bpm. The problem is the darn thing says 126. Nope. No even if I worked it for the next year to the exclusion of all else. Just not happening. Maybe in a few years I could come back to it and be there, but right now my arthritic stiff hands won't do it despite regularly doing 120s on some of my exercises. Go figure.

Mid-July is my one year anniversary of serious piano practice. Defined as deliberated going from noodling around whenever on whatever to a planned schedule with 5-10 hours a week practice and some level advancement goals. In that year I worked through Prep Levels I'd started over on 4 times in my life: as a child, in my 20s, 30s and 40s. No surprise that went fairly quickly. Since January I've been pushing Level 1 RCM (Faber 3b), pretty hard and as I said, I think this will be my last week.

It's exciting to be moving into Faber 4. I use the lessons, theory, technique and sight reading books, which I have planned to take from 12-14 months. I don't use the performance books, but I'll be supplementing with RCM Level 2 materials as well as Josh Wright's ProPractice beginner level. Lot of Bach there along with some Beethoven and Chopin. I've put some watered down Gershwin and some Jazz Rags and Blues on my play list for the coming year, too.

Happy Practicing Everyone

I enjoyed the online piano Conference as well.

I'm still working on the piano convention! I found that when I open them and already have them in my browser, they don't expire there, so I have about 10 tabs open right now with different videos. Lots of REALLY interesting ones!

Congrats on finishing 3B, HollyBytheLake! I'm finishing it up, too, and should start 4 on Wednesday. I haven't pulled out my metronome on Gypsy Camp, and now I'm a little nervous to do so! That slurred note into a staccato at the bottom of the first page really throws me for a loop! It's a super fun, dramatic piece though! I also loved the Rondoletto in the technique book that went with Canon.

I have the lesson and technique books for level 4, and my teacher is lending me the performance book. I'm so excited to get started! Level 4 is equivalent to RCM grade 2/3, which is super exciting.

Chili_time, I'm so sorry to hear about your mom

MistyB, I started Faber after researching online a while. Most of my favorite piano YouTubers preferred it, so that's what I went with. I've had two teachers since then, and both have been more than ok working through Faber. If I recall correctly, the reason people prefer it to some others is because the pieces are a little more interesting (subjective, I know, and I haven't looked at the pieces in other method books, so I don't know how true it is), and also because it works more on hand independence than some that focus more on chords. I've felt like there has been a lot of work with chords in Faber, so I don't know. I've really enjoyed the series, and I'm very happy with my progress.

That sounds promising enw10. 🙂 How long have you been playing for? So I just ordered Adventures All in one today! I have actually had a teacher/lessons for the past year but financial circumstances means that I have to let that go for the time being but I don't want to drop anything practice wise so I'm arming myself with goals and decent books. One thing I dont feel I have enough of is understanding/knowledge practice is the theory/scales etc, so hopefully I can get a little deeper into it with the books and this great supportive forum. ☺️

Hi Misty, I have been working out of PA AIO since April, and I really like the way the lessons are presented. Easy enough for a beginner to play, but enough content and technique to really learn from it. I may have to stop my lessons for awhile starting in September, and I fully intend to keep using the materials. I also use the App for my iPad so I have the actual music to learn from, so that I can hear what the music is actually supposed to sound like. You can also slow the tempo down, so you can learn the piece easier...without mistakes...from trying to go too fast! Which I am struggling with right now! There are other advantages that really help, and it’s only $4.99 for the App, I think you will really love learning from it. Enjoy your journey!

Fran...

Hello 😄 and thanks for the tip pagirl. Yes I've had to stop lessons too so my journey from now on is my own. I'm looking forward to getting started with this book and even though I already know the basics, I'm hoping to improve on much of it. I'll check out the app.

I have a Casio Privia 160, and just found out there isn’t any conversion software for the .CSR file it generates from the piano recorder. So, I can’t convert the files I record on the piano to .MP3 or .WAV so I can send them to anyone. Now I’m looking for the best way to record a piece, so I can send it, but I can’t afford expensive recording equipment. Are there any good alternative...ways...software out there? I have both iPad and Windows 10. I would really appreciate any suggestions.

Fran...

Hi Pagirl! I record from my Casio Privia 150 with the help of Garageband. You can both get it for iPad and for windows (but I record into a macbook.) There are also alternatives to Garageband, but I think that is the kind of program you will need.
And now for a piece of advice you didn't ask for. If you have some money, and it is not much trouble to connect your computer to your piano, I would recommend you to get Pianoteq. The sound is so much more beautiful than the sound of a Casio Privia! A very good extra is that Pianoteq automatically records any piece you play with it.

Wow! Animisha, I wish I had that option right now! Maybe in the future. I wish I had known more about digital piano’s before I purchased one!!! Mine isn’t even compatible with GarageBand or WavePad, on the iPad. I have experimented with both the iPad and windows with no luck! I did get the folders to show up in windows, and that was where I found out about the files. Have been working on this problem all week. Thank you for the info on Pianotek!

Fran...

Fran, your Privia PX-160 is indeed compatible with GarageBand. You just need the right cable to connect your DP to your Mac.

Hi Tyrone, I was using my iPad to access my piano, and couldn’t get anything but a blank folder, so wrote to Casio and they said my piano wouldn’t work with the iPad. I was so disappointed! When I hooked up my Windows 7, all the files from the Privia 160 came up, but the recorder file couldn’t be changed to a .MP3 file so I could work with it. Then found out GarageBand is just for Apple. There are some similar programs, but it’s my piano recorder file that is the problem. So I am looking for a recorder program for my iPad with a built in mic. Maybe then I could just set the iPad in between the piano speakers and record from there? Wouldn’t be near as good, but maybe my teacher would be able to judge from that???

So checking the manual, p. EN-25, I see that your DP does support USB-MIDI. So to connect to the your Windows Computer, you will need a cable with a USB Type-B connector on one end and USB Type-A on the other (commonly referred to as a "printer cable"), such as this one:



To connect to your iPad, you probably need a MIDI cable like this one here:



I say "probably" because it will depend on the version of iPad you have, which should be printed on the back of the iPad where the serial number lives. If you have a new iPad, the above cable will not work.

Software configuration, can be handled next, but will depend on which of the above options you decide to go with.