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Hi Ralf and others.

Yes definitely send us links to your tunes.

It is definitely nice to hear people you know play and the feedback (positive and improving) can be very useful.

I have uploaded piano versions of my tunes to YouTube. Here are the links.

Sakura: https://youtu.be/cBQiHhDNDf0
Looking glass river: https://youtu.be/sP7nYavgfVQ
Carnival of Venice: https://youtu.be/_R78V0s5aGQ
Tropical Fish: https://youtu.be/_2Kt2PFvGLM

Regards

Mario

Mario;

Nice job on your pieces! I especially like your recording of "Tropical Fish". To me, this little piece in the Technique book is one of the reasons I love Faber; lots of skills are required to make this sound proper, but at the same time it is fun to learn and practice.

For folks who are not yet at Level 3, listen to this piece to see the fun stuff you have to look forward to.

Tropical Fish does sound fun. I prefer your version, Mario, to the one recorded by Alan Chan on youtube which sounds a bit rushed and soulless. Great job!

That is one of the issues I have with the Chan pieces; generally played too fast without the prerequisite feelings.

I think the Brent recordings are a bit better in this regard...

This is a test of my new Soundcloud account. I recorded a short piece I have been working on called March, by Daniel Gottlob Turk. Despite the complete absence of instructions on Soundcloud, I managed, I hope, to effectively open a Soundcloud account and to post my performance there.

This is my first real venture into the key of G, and the most taxing level of left hand accompaniment I've attempted so far. I want to do some of the tunes from the Faber Developing Artist book I just bought, but the left hand accompaniment in those pieces is a little more advanced. So, I thought I'd do this one first. Here is the link, let's hope it works!

https://soundcloud.com/user-907897415/march-daniel-gottlob-turk

Fingers crossed.......

Hi Brian and Trevor. Thanks for your complements.

Ralph that sounded very good.

There is a guy named Bruce Seigal who I think has only played one of Fabers tunes called Fascination (from 3B if I am not mistaken). You should watch and listen to this guy play. He puts so much into it. Every bit of of his person is in the music. He is truly inspirational to watch. Here is a link.
https://youtu.be/B0jd8T5ZmS0

I can't wait to get to this piece. Brian you must be getting closer to this piece if you have not already passed it.

Regards

Mario

Thanks, Mario. It's funny how meaningful letting others hear my music is. Just after I posted the piece, I started fly-specking it and found an error in my playing. Then today, while I was out refereeing soccer matches, I thought of another place where I think I erred. The first measure consists of three quarter notes followed by two eighth notes. I have a tendency to accelerate into the eighth notes too early. In this case I played it like one-two-threeand-four, instead of "one-two-three-fourand", which the score requires. It still sounds nice, but is not correct. It's been bugging me all day, but I've only now arrived back home. I think I'll play and record it again tonight, only properly this time.

Thanks for the link to the Seigal fellow. It was nice. Like so many times since I've joined this forum, I recognized the melody of "Fascination", though I have no idea from where. It must have been a part of a famous movie or something.

Well, I'm going to relax and websurf for a while, then get to the keys. Good evening, all.

Are the Faber sight reading books a new series? I looked them up on their site and there as almost no information. Going to the music store this week to check them out. Please let me know how you use them? Do you just play each piece once a day?do you return to the old pages?

I love any opportunity to speak highly of these books. I believe they are one of the best investments I've made.

They are "supplemental" to the Faber series. In my case, I am using the Piano Adventures series, having completed the Primer Level, and now working on Level 1. On the http://pianoadventures.com/ homepage they are under the heading of "Basic Piano Adventures", but the books are titled just "Piano Adventures".

Their purpose is to provide many samples of sight reading material so you can continuously present yourself with new, unmemorized material to play. If you follow the instructions on every page to the effect of "Do Not Practice This", you will have to play without memorization, forcing yourself to sight read. I found this feature EXTREMEMLY HELPFUL, as I was continually requiring numerous passes through each lesson book piece in order to master it. In the process, I was memorizing the piece, usually long before having it mastered. So, I was not really exercising my sight reading capabilities, playing from memory about 90% of the time, while only sight reading the first 10 or 15 attempts.

My current practice sessions include playing through the entire book from beginning to the point I am currently studying at, but only allowing myself ONE ATTEMPT at each piece. I play once, and turn the page. Personally, I find the prospect of having to leave behind an unsatisfactory performance a powerful motivator to play attentively and properly the next night. It is working for me. I hope it works for you, too.

I think they are a great addition to the Faber series.

Mario;

Coming up in a few weeks!

Hi Ralph;

I have brought the level 3B sight-reading read to my lesson a few times. According to my teacher, I am "allowed" three passes through the piece. The first one is just scanning the piece, no playing. The second pass is playing through very slowly. The third pass is playing with all dynamic markings, proper note valuations, etc. After that iteration I'm done.

In her opinion, the phrase "do not practice" does not completely equal "play only one time through", but pretty close to that.

Hi Folks! I haven't posted in a while, but am still getting in some piano time every day. I've completed the lesson and theory level one books, but still finishing up some pieces in the performance and technique books. I'm half way through sight reading book 1.

It was great listening to everyone's video/audio uploads. It has me thinking about setting up a soundcloud account for myself.

Brian - My practice times are split up into multiple sections each day (5 mins here, 10 mins there, etc, so I mostly work in one book per session. My Alfred pieces are coming along at a slower pace since they aren't getting as much attention now as the Faber ones.

Ralph - For your Journey Through the Classics book, does it not have "Audio Access Included" on the upper left corner of the front cover and an access code on the first page? As for your piano class, I couldn't imagine learning all those scales at once.

Trevor - Thanks for sharing those YouTube links. Mostly I've been using Tiny_Mozarts videos, but it's good to see other people playing as well.

John - Welcome to the forum. Are you only using any of the other supplemental books besides the technique one?

All the sight reading pieces have a repeat, is that what you're referring to as the "second pass"?

Also wondering how are mistakes handled? Stop and correct or just keep going?

Hi,

I do the 2 passes system. The first is scanning the music and sometimes just touching the keys (not actually playing them) for slightly complicated passages and the second is actually playing it with all articulation.

I agree getting it wrong and that sinking feeling you get that you are not allowed to play it again is a great motivator for scanning it much more thoroughly and getting it right the first time.

Regards

Mario

Hi Linda,

From what I understand you just continue playing and not stop and correct the mistake. In fact there is sight-reading software out there (Wessar??) where the passages disappear as you play them, thus not allowing you to go back.

Regards

Mario

I'm sorry to be so late responding to this. I had intended to do so earlier, but somehow forgot.

I've been reading some about trying to use my Privia DP as a midi controller, and sending its signals to my laptop which will house software with sound samples of very nice pianos. The desired outcome would be that I could play on my Privia with its graded hammer action, but get the benefit of rich, luscious sounds taken from some of the world's greatest pianos.

During the course of those readings, I have stumbled onto quite a few articles specifically addressing getting midi signals out of the Yamaha P-105, a well regarded digital, and into a computer/ipad/or android device. The P-105 may be comparable to your equipment, as, it does not have midi in or out ports. Rather, it has a port labeled "USB to Host". This USB port carries midi signals to a computer via the computer's USB port. Apparently there is available to Yamaha digital owners a Yamaha program or "app" (free, I think) that does exactly this (kind of like a garageband program). I don't know if it works with other brands of digital pianos.

As for myself, I use a laptop, which has a Linux operating system, and onto which I have loaded Audacity, the sound recording/editing software package. It has a capacity to take my digital piano's "line out" signal, record it, and then save it as an MP3 file. I'm guessing that the Yamaha "app" referred to above, is similar.

The actual connections I use are: piano "line out" to a "1/4 to 1/8" adapter to a 1/8" stereo cable to a 1/8-to USB adapter, which gets plugged into the laptop. Audacity recognizes the signal so inputted, records it, and saves it as an MP3 file.

I think the search term "softsynth" might get you pointed in the right direction, or somewhere close to it.

I hope something in here is of help to you.

I think I like that approach. I am weak at recognizing dynamic markings while playing, staying busy enough to just get the tempo and pitch correct. The slow pass especially seems appropriate for me, as that would give me one pass through to get the melody settled before adding dynamics. Yet, it is few enough passes that memorization would not likely be a problem, and sight reading would still be needed and exercised. I think I am going to try this.

The way I did it (when my computer was closer to my piano!) was to record my playing via USB MIDI in Pianoteq, then save it out as an MP3 file.

I've only done it once, mind, a while ago… https://soundcloud.com/antikewl/largo

You should be able to do something similar using Garageband on the iPad.

Hi Linda

Thanks! My teacher is just having me use the Lesson and Technique Book at this point, along with another technique book called Dozen a Day.

regards

John

Until reading your post, I had not realized that an "Audio Access Included" version of that book was available. Your post prompted me to go to its website, and sure enough, there is one that comes with Audio Access for only a few dollars more. It might not have made enough difference for me, as, I do not have internet at home, relying instead on a nearby public wifi spot for internet.

I've grown quite fond of listening to the music while following the score with my eyes. I think, somehow, that will be help to me in aurally recognizing intervals, both melodic and harmonic. Also, it helps me develop and internal guage for things like the actual volume difference between forte and piano, how much slowing does "ritardando" call for, etc. I think I learn a lot from the CD performances. And, I like the music and enjoy just listening.

I probably will not go back and re-purchase the Audio Access version, as, I currently have a couple of books with CD that have ample music to keep me occupied long enough that I may be ready to attack level 2 by time I learn a lot of those pieces.

My scales are coming along just fine. C is a breeze, G is about a breeze, and D I can reliably do, though it takes a more concentrated effort. In D, I still rely fairly heavily on counting my fingers as I play them. I wouldn't say it is committed to memory as well as needed just yet.

Announcement to follow!?!?!?!?!?!