Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum A perfect beginner's piece...?

This is a piece I wrote/designed for people who are still in their first months of playing. While it obviously isn’t going to cover everything, it actually covers a TON of stuff. If you just want to go straight to the video, it’s here: https://youtu.be/uO-enZ2ZN6U

Here is the score: http://www.mediafire.com/file/lir65s612wroh0j/OkayScore.pdf/file

And here is an mp3 if you want it: http://www.mediafire.com/file/zz00w4259lcmzoh/Okay.mp3/file

Some will find it easier than others, of course. That’s just how playing the piano works. But I think if you’ve been playing at least a month then you can definitely give it a try, so long as you’ve been taking it somewhat seriously.

I’ll point out just a few of the things it covers.

1. It spans the first few keys on the sharp side of the circle of 5ths. It starts in G major and goes to D major and then finally A major, so it’s even sequential. I think people should learn the sharp side of the circle of 5ths first, personally, because the fingerings for the scales get awkward fast on the flat side. You should be able to identify some common chords between the keys also, which may help you understand how these three keys are similar and different. Key changes are kind of interesting, too, and you might get a bit of a feel for how to do them if you have any interest in composing.

2. There are simple rhythms for the most part. There are only a couple of spots some may find difficult, notably the 16th note triplets that include ties and rests, but if you take it slow and work out how to count them, they’re really not that bad. I included them because I wanted this piece to have some challenging parts, but also because they’re nice little flourishes that can really spruce up your playing if you learn how to do them. If nothing else, you can hear how to do them, though you really should learn how to count them.

3. There is a 2-octave A major arpeggio near the end, and the chords are all arpeggiated. The latter you should be familiar with, the former you can easily do a Google search for to find the correct fingerings.

4. There are no fingerings. I think if you’ve been playing a month or two already you should be able to figure them out with little trouble. You won’t always have fingerings to rely upon so you may as well start practicing.

Anyway, hopefully some of you will try it. I will probably do another one of these if there is enough interest in it (I already have another piece I can translate into this kind of project).

If you get something out of this, please take a moment to either subscribe to my channel or hit the like button, and of course, comment here or there if possible. Feedback is appreciated.

I'd definitely try the piece. A lot of teachers get their students into playing 17th & 18th century pieces out of the "Notebook for Anna M Bach". These are learning pieces with many recordings already online. Some beginners prefer to learn pieces others are doing or easy arrangements of familiar pieces such as the Christmas tune "Joy to the World".

There are people like the ones enrolled in a Suzuki program who wouldn't learn pieces outside the Suzuki Books until they're done with the required playing pieces.

I went to a birthday party. There were 3 kids in front of a digital piano. They all had lessons for at least a year. There was a piece on paper with 4 lines. They took turns trying to decipher the piece for at least an hour and none came close to reproducing the song. Not sure if a sound recording was available, they would be able learn the piece easily?

I'm used to learning pieces in a systematic way RH separate from LH starting with 1 measure. Not everybody is comfortable deciphering symbols on a page. With a sound recording for reference is definitely easier to learn. Thanks for sharing...

Thanks for the feedback. As you mention, having a recording to follow along to is very useful. The video itself is also very useful because it follows the score along as the piece is played, which should aid in deciphering the different notations, though I'd always recommend looking something up that looks foreign to you. There are many tutorials on YouTube for that kind of stuff.

I thought some might prefer to download the video directly instead of watching on YouTube, so here is the link for that: http://www.mediafire.com/file/wbc4acu77y19lko/Okay.mp4/file

One more thing I should mention. I know this piece will look challenging to a lot of people just starting out. That's because it's meant to be. It's supposed to be something that helps you learn, by trying new things. But I think the new things are introduced in a way that's manageable to the motivated learner. I'm referring to things like note ties, counting rhythms that are off the beat (syncopated), triplets, etc.

Kudos for the work. are you being serious in that you only need to have been playing for a month to play that?
(in that kind of manner as in the video)
I am a complete novice, been playing for 3 weeks and cant even imagine getting near that in 3 months let alone 4 weeks! (practicising an hour a day including learning to read music etc)
Previous hsitory of good hand eye corodination (in sport) and committed practice but veen so.
Id be unterested to know others thoughts.
In now way disparaging of your great work, just questioning the month thing, I think that way beyond anyone but a prodigy.

I would say for someone that has no prior musical experience, this would be a piece for 6 months to a year of piano playing. I dont see a true beginner with 3 or 4 weeks tackling this. Just the hand coordination would already be a significant challenge.

Exactly.

The idea that someone should be able to figure out fingerings after a month makes little sense to me and makes me think the composer hasn't taught many beginners.

I personally didn't find the music appealing. I think the title of the thread is quite presumptuous.

Well, perhaps I didn't explain myself well enough. I did qualify the name of the thread with the "...?" because I wasn't sure if it was a "perfect" piece.

I will also say that I absolutely think someone a month in could at the very least start to learn this. No one expects perfection from someone who has only been playing for a month on ANYTHING really, so expecting to play this perfectly is unrealistic, at least not without a fair amount of practice.

What I think makes this at the LEAST a good piece to learn is the fact that there is a lot to learn from it. The rhythms are more complex than most things you'll see in say an Alfred's handbook, but if you put the effort into it you can learn it. I never intended this piece to be a cakewalk. If you aren't being challenged with the kind of stuff in Alfred's, you're probably not going to make great progress.

I will also point out that I said those at least a month into playing could give it a try. I never said you should be able to play it perfectly. Starting to learn things above your current level is something I personally did at a month in, and I think it helped.

It very well might take those with no previous musical experience and who are not taking this that seriously around 6 months of practice before being able to play this. But I know I could've played this probably perfectly at around 3 months or so, and that's my true target audience. I also believe I would've attempted this around 1 month. Who here has tackled Fur Elise at a month or even a couple of weeks, played the easy parts, then either abandoned the rest or waited until they were more experienced to finish it? You can do the same with this, which is comparable to Fur Elise (the easy parts, the harder parts of Fur Elise are much more difficult than anything in "Okay"). The main melody sections are totally playable even by someone at a month...again, though, so long as you've been taking this seriously.

That said, if I was presumptuous in the titling of the thread, and perhaps I was, then I apologize. My intention wasn't to offend or condescend.

I should add that the vast majority of people are considered beginners for around a year or so of playing. Someone said 6 months to a year for this piece...well, maybe so in some cases, but does that mean it's not a beginner's piece?

One more thing: the fingerings are, for the most part, pretty simple IF you've followed some kind of regiment in something like an Alfred's book. The bass fingerings are almost exclusively 5-3-1 or 5-3-1-3, and the RH involves basic crossovers with the index or middle fingers. If it ends up being a huge problem for some people then I might consider penciling the fingerings in and scanning in an optional score, but I think trying to figure them out on your own is a good way to learn.

As a 2+ month beginner I feel that your 3 month beginner target sounds about right (the topic seems somewhat controversial but I can only speak from my perspective). This looks challenging but learnable. Thank you for sharing!

Thank your for sharing.

There are a few measures where I'd be frustrated a lot if I were to try this after just one month of playing (like bar 14). Other than these trouble spots, I think it is doable.

The word is "motivation". There are people who would be playing nursery tunes and easy pieces for the first year. I came across kids at a party who can barely read a piece that is 4 lines long after taking lessons for a year.

Many students get into playing 1 of the few Minuets from the "Notebook for Anna M Bach". Some of these are written in 1 page with top & bottom repeats. The LH part doesn't have many notes to play... more like 1 or 2 notes per measure. The 2 repeats make a piece longer to play but you're learning only 1 page.

A lot of beginner pieces have easy LH accompaniment like long notes or chords that take up the whole measure. And the pieces would be in the same Key to the end. There are pieces with a short intro, then the main melody and back to the intro to end the piece.

A student may get a piece like this to work on for a year. I'd be learning easier pieces throughout the year and work on the challenging piece in between like 1 - 2 lines at a time.

I've yet to meet "a perfect beginner..."

Regards,

Thanks for sharing, nice composition.

If you could have played this after only one month, as you say, and played it perfectly after only 3 months.... kudos to you my friend. You must be a natural virtuoso. And I say that in all honesty!

I like the piece, btw, very nice. I’ll run a print for sure.

Thanks for the music!

Muskie

It looks not easy at all first. Then I realized low voice is almost static , with very slow key change . so it's easy , only need to focus on high voice .

I appreciate the feedback on the difficulty. Sounds like there are some pretty varied opinions on it. I agree with Tom that measure 14 (and 15) might be particularly problematic, but I also think it looks/sounds harder than it is to play. One thing you'll notice is that the 16th note triplets are performed on their own, meaning while the LH isn't doing anything, so you can concentrate on the triplet somewhat freely. Everything else is pretty straightforward rhythm-wise.


Yes, motivation always plays a part, but my personal feeling on this is that if this piece takes someone an entire year to learn, then they're not putting in the time they need to truly learn the piano. This piece wouldn't be intended for such people. Anyone wanting to learn this piece, if they really want to, could start to do so very early. As I said, you may not master it for a while and you might have to put off certain sections, but the main melody at least is quite easy to play and can surely be tackled by just about anyone.

Also, I'm not sure if you're saying the LH accompaniment is difficult here, because I really don't believe it is. They're all basic major and minor chords in basic rhythms. The trouble, if there is going to be any, I imagine would be playing the off-beat notes on the RH and getting used to counting the ties, or at least doing that while keeping the LH going. But the LH should be simple enough in nearly every measure (there is an exception or two) to where you shouldn't have to pay tons of attention to what it's doing.

Again, as Tom said, there are a couple of difficult parts, and maybe that is a deal-breaker for some. And maybe I'm not empathetic enough to those who prefer to play pieces that don't challenge them, but I don't believe the hurdles in this piece are too high for the motivated learner.

Someone did say that it seemed clear to them that I hadn't taught many new students. I've taught no one and am not a teacher. I put this piece together using logic based on my own experience...maybe that's a problem. The video has 81 views and only 1 like, which is pretty dismal. Can't say it's motivating me to try writing another one.

Would be nice to hear from people who've actually tried to play it...

PS....Looking forward to your next piece. Like I said, I like this one. I hope you do another!

PSS... I think fingerings are always welcome on beginner pieces. Keeps ‘em from playing it wrong. Eases frustration. Very helpful.

Muskie

Well, I played the guitar for many years, so that likely helped my hand coordination. But picking the piano up I found not to be easy at all, however I did practice a lot starting off, usually about 2 hours a day at least.

And thanks for the compliment on the piece. I look at it as a sort of lullaby.


Thanks for this feedback, much appreciated!

Perhaps I'll do another one. This one hasn't garnered many likes on YT so it seemed to me people didn't really like it...

Maybe leaving out the fingerings was a mistake. While I don't think I'm going to fix that for this one, I will include them in the next one (assuming I do another, I've not yet decided whether or not I will yet).

I wouldn’t let the lack of “likes” dissuade you. I don’t think many people even look at that thumb up/ thumb down thing. I seldom do. Look at any vid on YouTube and compare the number of views to the numbers of likes/dislikes. I’d guess 100 to 1, if not more.

I went back to the vid and gave you a “like” for encouragement. LOL

Muskie