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SommersBlommer, interesting that "Why Am I Blue?" is a struggle for you. Surely it's easier than the classical pieces and film scores you worked on, & the pieces after it? I wonder if being American & having grown up with that kind of music makes it easier to learn? Maybe not.

Congrats on your progress. Hope you'll post a picture of your signed diploma when you get it

No_Expectations, I think it’s a combination of the fact that I am not familiar with these songs and that I simply have a much stronger affinity for the classical stuff, meaning I get more enjoyment out of learning classical and I can play it over and over and over again without getting tired of listening to it. The swingy/blues/jazzy stuff annoys me fairly quickly (to the chagrin of my father, who’s an avid jazz musician).

I can’t wait to advance to books 2 and 3, which seem to have more of an emphasis on traditional classical pieces.

Finally conquered “Why am I blue?” yesterday after a productive online lesson with my teacher! 🙌 On to the next challenging piece!

Good! Glad your hard work paid off 🌟👍🌟

Actually, not that much. If I were you, I would ask your teacher, or us, for a complementary book with classical pieces.

I agree with Animisha. About 1/2 way through book 2 my teacher at the time introduced me to the RCM syllabus and I started learning Clementi. Check out the Alfred's Masterwork Classics Series. Books 2 and 3 would be good to use in conjunction with book 2 of Alfred's Adult series if you like classical.

Hello all.

Just starting out myself, this book should arrive today. I've been wanting to this for a life time but felt it was out of reach and watching videos of the classics being played made it seem even more so but it's time to give it a try.

For the last maybe, 4 weeks I've been using flowkey and moving through that app but feel I'd like another source to keep things moving at a good pace.

I have a lot of interest in playing classical music and learning to site read, site reading is my main goal. Kinda blew my mind when I saw that the bass clef is a different set of notes, the thought of playing with both hands while reading different notes and keeping a different rhythm on the different staff's seems like quite a challenge.

Welcome KJP, and it is a challenge! But don't stress, give it time, and learn this step by step.

For playing classical music, it is not that important to be able to sight read well. Classical pieces will need a lot of practice. Why is your main goal to sight read?

Thank you, bSharp(C)yclist and Animisha, for the advice. As I wrote in my previous post, I am already working on (easy) classical pieces and film scores on the side both with my teacher and without I also already own a couple of books with easy classical compositions, but I will take a gander at the Masterworks Classics Series at some point for sure.

Welcome KJP_65! Have fun exploring the book!

Welcome to the Alfred's group, KJP_65! Please feel free to post your thoughts, experiences, & questions. We aim to encourage, here in our little Alfred's group 🙂

Thank you

Why is that?

And I'm seeing that!!! The first piece I'm choosing to learn/work on is Claire De Lune and my god! I thought watching ppl play classical was amazing but trying to learn it gives you another BIG level of appreciation on what it takes to play something complicated on piano. I'm in NO rush whatsoever to learn it, I realized starting it with all the use of 'double keys'(not sure of the proper name for that) that's it's going to be a long road, especially at this point when I have no real skill or technique.

I assumed that was everyone's main goal when learning piano, is it not? To be able to open up sheet music and be able to just play it? Are there accomplished pianists that don't site read well, that just learn songs by repeatedly practicing small bits?..... That is how I'm starting to learn Claire De Lune, drilling a couple measures, memorize them, rinse & repeat.

Thank you!

I've been through about 20 pages the first day(yesterday) so far so flowkey is definitely helping. I do like the app, just hoping switching things up with another book would assist.

Thank you.......long, long, long road ahead it appears

Question on alerts for this site - I have mine set to get an email when a reply is posted, I do not, is that feature broken here?

Clair de Lune is a beautiful piece - best of luck with learning it piece by piece (or measure by measure in this case ). I want to learn to play some Debussy myself at some point, but right now I'm working on the first page of Für Elise. I don't particularly love the piece, but when I was a child I really wanted to be able to play it because I saw one of my classmates perform it, so I'm learning it for my younger self

Thanks Sommers. It's a SLOW process as I expected. I honestly didn't really expect this far so that's a plus. And yeah, it 2 or 3 measures at this point, those triples and jumping around while landing on the right keys seem quite daunting. I'm also starting Hallelujah today, my wife can sing and loves that song and after 4 or 5 measures it's already work! I think 2 complicated songs are more than enough at this point along with flowkey and the all-in-1 book. I have habit of overloading and wanting it ALL now and from what I've seen over the last month of learning that's not going to work out well.

I wish I had taken something up as a kid but oh well, time to just move forward.

Exactly!

No, it is really not everyone's main goal. But, for instance, if you play together with other people, and it happens that new scores are handed out regularly that you start playing immediately, yes, in those cases it is important to open up the sheet music and play at least a rudimentary version of the notes. But all accomplished pianists, yes, they practise! They practise a lot. For instance, take a look at Tiffany Poon's videos on youtube.

To try to learn sight reading from the start is also just not a very good idea. Start by learning beginners' pieces. Slowly you will start to recognise some patterns and after a while you may start to add sight reading to your practice routine. My five cents.

I have to admit, it is racking my brain trying to do everything at once! I guess that's why flowkey begins theory at the end of the course!

Another update: grew to like “Why am I blue?” So apparently I don’t hate all blues music 😄 Absolutely hated “Little Brown Jug” though, despite the fact that it was fairly easy. I just don’t enjoy listening to it at all. “Chiapanecas” was super fun and I passed it with flying colours during my lesson this afternoon. Spent the evening learning all of “O sole mio” and I reeeeally enjoyed learning it. I spent so long on it that I can almost play it perfectly (except the last two measures).
I feel like I’m suddenly making progress a lot faster than before even though the pieces are getting harder. Perhaps because the pieces begin to sound more like proper music, so I enjoy practising (and listening to it over and over again) more.

I like revisiting those blues tunes, trying different tempos, slip notes, & even a little improv. Good for fooling around, experimenting. Glad you liked "Why am I Blue?" too!

I still can't nail those LBJ intervals with 100% accuracy yet & am not as smooth as I'd like to be on "Chiapanecas." I'm in awe that you sailed through them on to "O Solo Mio"! 👍🌟🍸 "Chiapanecas" is fun to play with the marimba voice.

Great to hear about your quick progress. Your happiness shines through & is infectious 😀

Question - after finishing alfred's all in one adult book 1, would it be reasonable to start attempting some abrsm grade 1 pieces?

Absolutely, go ahead!

Oh dear, that rolled C7 chord in O Sole Mio...🤪😑. Elvis must be rolling in his grave, if he's listening in on my butchered attempts. And the succession of intervals using 5-3, then 4-2, then 3-1, where the emphasis is on the higher note -- it's gonna take a lot of sloooow practice. Good thing we're in a snowy weather pattern. Nothing else to do except read, shovel, & practice piano!

This piece sounds great in the guitar voice with extra reverb. Also imagining The King singing, "It's now or never..."