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I agree, beautiful job David.

Praise the Lord!

I feel more emotionally connected to the hymns compared to the other music I've had to play in this course.

God bless,
David

Here is a song from lesson 39. I'm currently working on lesson 40 although there is one more song in lesson 39 that I need to tighten up before I can feel done with the lesson. Duane did not arrange this song but left it up to the student. I'll play it as written and then arranged. The piano sound is the Garritan CFX Concert Grand.



God Bless,
David

A piece transformed!

Thanks.

I threw into that song a lot the basics that Duane has taught in this course. Alberti bass, runs, chording and upward inversions in the left hand, octaves and chord notes under the melody in the right. I had to practice the runs a lot.

God Bless,
David

Outstanding David, I loved your arrangment!

Thanks.

I'm glad these hymns are sprinkled throughout the course. It's interesting to transition from practicing this beautiful hymn to the next song in the lesson called There Is A Tavern In The Town.

God Bless,
David

Here is a pretty song from lesson 40 (In The Gloaming). Nothing new covered in this lesson. In this song Duane had us focus on "color tones" e.g., 6ths 7ths and 9ths. He left most of the arrangement up to us so I threw in some runs in part B. As written the song was recored using the VSL 1895 Bluthner, but for the arrangement I switched to the Garritan CFX because I think it sounded better for this song.

I've started lesson 41, but I still have another song to finish in lesson 40 before I officially finish that lesson.



God bless,
David

When I saw you'd posted, I had to have a listen Great job! Very pretty. Like that last run.

Big celebration when you finish lesson 52? You will really be in the tiny minority to make it. You already are in the tiny minority to get this far

A big +1!

I travel a lot in the summer which totals over a month away from home. Thankfully, that's all done for this year.



Thanks. I worked that out in a hotel room last week.



Thanks. It is a pretty song. Like many songs in this course, I never heard it before. I had to look up what "Gloaming" meant. It's an Old English word for twilight/dusk.

God Bless,
David

Huzzah! My account got approved finally. Long[ish] time lurker, first time poster. I read through this thread over the weekend and ended up purchasing the Crash Course based solely on David B's videos. I've always blown off the course as overpriced and outdated, especially with no real information on what to expect from it, but now that I've seen the real world results (based on dedication and a lot of effort, of course), I'm excited to start. It was the Jingle Bells video that sold me, too. When playing the "as written" portion you [David B] looked as excited to play it as I was to listen to it, but at the "Now Add Shinn" mark we both came alive

Welcome to PW! Dedication and effort seems to be key. Maybe if you start posting your efforts week by week, this can also serve as an incentive to keep it up. You'll need the incentive and motivation. Based on my research here and on PianoStreet, few make it to David B's point in the course. Good luck!

Welcome. Thank you for introducing yourself.



Fantastic observation. That's exactly how I feel (board to death!) playing many of the songs as written, but then the arrangement happens and the song comes alive.

Jingle Bells is the first time I ever played in a Jazz style (Duane calls is "playful"). It was fun to learn that arrangement. I believe Duane has a course dedicated to Jazz. Besides the 52 Week Course, I also purchased His Praise and Gospel course so that I can learn how to make hymns come alive through arrangements. I'll start that course when I'm finished with the 52 Week course.

I want to encourage you to stick with the course. Put in the time and you'll get the results. It might be a long course, but it will lay a strong foundation for whatever type of piano genre you're interested in.

God Bless,
David

This is very true for me. Just knowing that there are a few people (a few friends a family, and some following this thread) bearing witness to what I'm doing, serves as a great incentive to do it right. I would have probably completed this course by now if I was't posting my progress online. I would have gone over some lessons quicker and maybe not learned some songs as well, etc.

Having someone witness what you're doing can help to keep you honest. I'd suspect that's what it's like with a piano teacher. You don't want to show up unprepared for the lesson.

This thread originally started out as a study group for the 52 week course and I can see the benefit and need for that given the length of this course and commitment required to finish it.

We all need encouragement sometimes and it feels good to receive it from people who know what we are going through.

God Bless
David

I always follow your progression.

+1

+2

+3

You guys are awesome!