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Joined: Jun 2020
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Started working on Brahm's Lullaby today. Surprise -- reduced fingering notation! It's like the training wheels got removed when I was looking the other way. I stumbled through the piece, then found a fingering for it online. I don't think I would have figured it out on my own.
AmyKaye, I downloaded the first Fingerpower book to my Kindle. Something so gratifying about playing the first exercises. Thanks for recommending it.
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There seems to be ample fingering on Brahm's Lullaby in my book, I'm not sure why you needed an offline source... what were you missing?
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Re Lullaby fingering notation, in my book (Adult All in 1), beginning in bar 10, there are only 5 fingering notations for the last 23 notes. The online notation I found suggests some things I wouldn't have naturally tried -- like using the 4 instead of the naturally positioned 3 finger -- but they work very well.
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Yes, that is the intent. Either they have provided the fingering already and it's a repeat, or you use the natural fingering in between... there shouldn't be any confusion at this stage.
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AmyKaye, I downloaded the first Fingerpower book to my Kindle. Something so gratifying about playing the first exercises. Thanks for recommending it. You are welcome!!
Last edited by AmyKaye; 07/27/20 02:44 PM.
Korg SP-170 Czerny Op. 599 to get my fingers moving again...
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Looking for advice from experts (and also from my fellow beginners). I started on Alfred’s Adult All-in-one Piano course Level 1 a month ago. Running into 2 issues:
1. How fast am I supposed to proceed? Right now I’m 30 pages into it and I’m playing “Jingle Bells” (but I play it super slow right now - attempted it thrice). If I put my mind to it I can certainly memorize it and play it faster. But is that what I'm supposed to do? Wouldn't that slow down my ability to sight read? And what’s the point in memorizing Jingle bells (unless it helps me become a better piano player)? So I’m inclined to move on to the next section of the book. What do you think?
2. So far the book doesn't talk about what we should be practicing (i.e. besides just going through the book). I want to obviously progress as quickly as possible in my journey to be a better piano player. Is there a recommended practice routine that can be used in parallel to using this book (for e.g. practicing scales)?
By the way, I do practice the opening lines of Fur Elise 10 mins. everyday (playing Fur Elise fluently some day is one of my ultimate goals).And although I’m not good at it (too advanced for my level), that’s probably the most fun part of my piano learning experience so far.
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Holy smokes. 434 pages. What's the consensus, main agreement, common theme, popular sentiment, (insert adjectives here), in regards to this book/guide?
I'm starting on this program with a teacher.
Yamaha P-515 Kawai K-300
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Holy smokes. 434 pages. What's the consensus, main agreement, common theme, popular sentiment, (insert adjectives here), in regards to this book/guide?
I'm starting on this program with a teacher. It teaches chord piano, not classical piano. If you want a popular book for classical piano, there are the Faber books.
across the stone, deathless piano performances "Discipline is more reliable than motivation." -by a contributor on Reddit r/piano "Success is 10% inspiration, and 90% perspiration." -by some other wise person "Pianoteq manages to keep it all together yet simultaneously also go in all directions; like a quantum particle entangled with an unknown and spooky parallel universe simply waiting to be discovered." -by Pete14
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Holy smokes. 434 pages. What's the consensus, main agreement, common theme, popular sentiment, (insert adjectives here), in regards to this book/guide?
I'm starting on this program with a teacher. It teaches chord piano, not classical piano. If you want a popular book for classical piano, there are the Faber books. I don't know if you said that randomly or because you remember I only want classical. If it's that latter, then I'm impressed. Thanks for the heads up. I'll get Faber materials as well.
Yamaha P-515 Kawai K-300
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Holy smokes. 434 pages. What's the consensus, main agreement, common theme, popular sentiment, (insert adjectives here), in regards to this book/guide?
I'm starting on this program with a teacher. It teaches chord piano, not classical piano. If you want a popular book for classical piano, there are the Faber books. I don't know if you said that randomly or because you remember I only want classical. If it's that latter, then I'm impressed. Thanks for the heads up. I'll get Faber materials as well. I have a problem with my memory. I remember far more than I really want to.
across the stone, deathless piano performances "Discipline is more reliable than motivation." -by a contributor on Reddit r/piano "Success is 10% inspiration, and 90% perspiration." -by some other wise person "Pianoteq manages to keep it all together yet simultaneously also go in all directions; like a quantum particle entangled with an unknown and spooky parallel universe simply waiting to be discovered." -by Pete14
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Archery -- good training for mental concentration, applicable to piano playing. In archery, do you have to be mindful of your breathing too? That would help with dealing with nerves while piano playing. The other day I was almost through The Notorious BTMD and realized I'd made no mistakes -- which made me make a mistake Half through Alfred's. I hit BTMD & the short waltzes, & needed to slow down, as many have mentioned. Plus I'm alternating with chord-heavy Piano For All, so was feeling much soreness. I only play until I feel fatigue coming on, then quit until evening for another short session. That's helped a lot to alleviate various aches. Before, I was having so much fun that I'd practice for 2-3 hours straight. Not a good idea for an older beginner. I definitely get nervous too and it’s a problem I struggle with both in archery and in piano. When I practice I do just fine, but when I compete in archery competitions or when I have to play in front of my teacher, I tense up and make more mistakes. But I think it’ll get better with time as I get used to playing in front of someone else. As for soreness - try to relax when you play? But of course this is the hardest thing to achieve, the more I think about “I need to relax” the less I am able to do so! I am impressed by how you can play 2-3 hours straight! Passion is definitely the best teacher!
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Looking for advice from experts (and also from my fellow beginners). I started on Alfred’s Adult All-in-one Piano course Level 1 a month ago. Running into 2 issues:
1. How fast am I supposed to proceed? Right now I’m 30 pages into it and I’m playing “Jingle Bells” (but I play it super slow right now - attempted it thrice). If I put my mind to it I can certainly memorize it and play it faster. But is that what I'm supposed to do? Wouldn't that slow down my ability to sight read? And what’s the point in memorizing Jingle bells (unless it helps me become a better piano player)? So I’m inclined to move on to the next section of the book. What do you think?
2. So far the book doesn't talk about what we should be practicing (i.e. besides just going through the book). I want to obviously progress as quickly as possible in my journey to be a better piano player. Is there a recommended practice routine that can be used in parallel to using this book (for e.g. practicing scales)? Do you have a teacher? If not I’d say you can move on when you think you have sufficiently mastered a song. The beginning ones aren’t very demanding so it’s ok to move fast through them. Later ones have a lot more dynamic marking etc that you need to be aware of. I recommend search the songs on YouTube to watch others playing, find one you like and compare your own recording to it. The book has some finger exercises, a couple Hanon exercises that are helpful. Scales are good too (they’re introduced later in the book) if you already know the correct fingering. Try other scales beyond C Major if you’re feeling adventurous.
Last edited by Yao; 08/02/20 04:18 AM.
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Looking for advice from experts (and also from my fellow beginners). I started on Alfred’s Adult All-in-one Piano course Level 1 a month ago. Running into 2 issues:
1. How fast am I supposed to proceed? Right now I’m 30 pages into it and I’m playing “Jingle Bells” (but I play it super slow right now - attempted it thrice). If I put my mind to it I can certainly memorize it and play it faster. But is that what I'm supposed to do? Wouldn't that slow down my ability to sight read? And what’s the point in memorizing Jingle bells (unless it helps me become a better piano player)? So I’m inclined to move on to the next section of the book. What do you think?
2. So far the book doesn't talk about what we should be practicing (i.e. besides just going through the book). I want to obviously progress as quickly as possible in my journey to be a better piano player. Is there a recommended practice routine that can be used in parallel to using this book (for e.g. practicing scales)?
By the way, I do practice the opening lines of Fur Elise 10 mins. everyday (playing Fur Elise fluently some day is one of my ultimate goals).And although I’m not good at it (too advanced for my level), that’s probably the most fun part of my piano learning experience so far. Hi JM77, welcome to the Alfred's forum! I don't have a teacher and I just finished up the last song of Level 1 today - Amazing Grace. It took me about 6 months. I found the first three quarters of the book a breeze, then the difficulty suddenly went up and my progress slowed to a crawl. The second last song (The Entertainer) took me 3 weeks, and the last song (Amazing Grace) took me a month! Practice was starting to get really boring but luckily I had a week away from my piano keyboard. I think the week off helped as I came back with renewed enthusiasm, and my playing didn't seem to deteriorate much. For some of the more difficult songs, I played through so many times (probably about 20-30 times) that I found I had unconsciously memorised some parts. I think that cannot be avoided though. To improve your sight reading specifically, other members of the forum have recommended sight reading books/courses but I've yet to check them out for myself. I haven't used any other material regularly as I really wanted to finish up the book. But when I was bored I messed around with chords and chord progressions that I found off the internet. It was fun to play chords and sing along to popular songs. Wishing you all the best with Alfred's and your piano journey - try and keep it fun!
Last edited by Eugene S; 08/05/20 10:18 PM.
Alfred's All-in-One Level 1: February - August 2020 Alfred's All-in-One Level 2: July 2021 -
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Somewhat passed the entertainer — the difficult part is keeping my right hand steady and close to the keys even when the left hand is very “bouncy”.
Im now working on Amazing Grace and Over the Rainbow. OtR finally has some interesting stuff for the left hand that’s more than just chords, and the melody is so beautiful that I’m really enjoying it.
This thread is so quiet, i hope that’s because everyone’s busy practicing!
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I am busy practicing! Plus, we had a 5 day power outage after a tropical storm came our way. Having a keyboard that runs on batteries is a nice thing to have, though I only played a little each day (it was my last batch of AA batteries; I'd better restock in case of another storm.)
I bought a nice book of supplemental material that I'm enjoying very much: Big Book of Beginner's Piano Classics by Bergerac & Dutkanicz. They are super-simplified arrangements of bits of classical music, but I'm thrilled to play them, even if they are dumbed down for beginners. Chopin's Funeral March -- to hear that somber passage by my own hands is pure magic. Anyway, they're nice pieces to mix up with the Alfred's material, & about the same level as mid-book All In One.
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Last week I started practicing with Alfred's Basic all-in-one book. I had a few years of basic music theory and guitar lessons when I was a kid (early 90s) but the only thing that stuck with me after all those years are the treble clef notes and some concepts. I feel a bit overwhelmed with the journey ahead of me but I'm hopeful that I will be able to finish the level 1 course. It's somewhat encouraging to discover such a huge thread regarding this book as I did not have any guidance in choosing how to start my self-study journey aside from internet resources. I'm not going to read 400+ pages of comments but I hope it's not mostly complaints . I may be getting very much ahead of myself here but is it generally recommended to follow through with levels 2 and 3 of the book when level 1 is done? Or is it more of a 'it depends' question?
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Hi I've just finished lone star waltsz I'm teaching myself from the book, can someone recommend some easy modern pop songs I should be able to play now? I feel like I need something a little longer and style of music I enjoy. At the first page of this thread there's a link to a thread for supplemental pieces to alfred 1 but it doesn't work.
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@Firebirdie - I see no reason for anyone to make comments of crit. about your post but would love to see 300 pages of support for you he he. I am total opposite to you in as much been playing many instruments for decades and love to spend hours meandering through songs and music that enters my head. BUT - I have just ordered my copy of Alfred complete book one - maybe just for the heck of it you may say but feel that in most of my time in this field it is no bad thing to return to the start and go over what I surely must have either forgotten or missed completely. Best of luck with your journey and please keep us posted on your trials and tribulations as you go.
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I may be getting very much ahead of myself here but is it generally recommended to follow through with levels 2 and 3 of the book when level 1 is done? Or is it more of a 'it depends' question? If you enjoy Alfred's and you feel their teaching suits you, yes, following through with levels 2 and 3 could be a good idea. But, if you are here on the forum a lot, you'll notice that there are other methods, and you may start thinking that they will suit you better. Or you decide to get a teacher, and this teacher doesn't work with Alfred's. Personally, I never finished Alfred's third book, and I don't think I ever will.
Playing the piano is learning to create, playfully and deeply seriously, our own music in the world. * ... feeling like the pianist on the Titanic ...
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- I have just ordered my copy of Alfred complete book one - maybe just for the heck of it you may say but feel that in most of my time in this field it is no bad thing to return to the start and go over what I surely must have either forgotten or missed completely. How interesting that you're using Alfred to brush up on basics. I hope you'll post random thoughts about it & your "Journey Through the Past." It will be interesting to have a perspective from someone other than us struggling newbies. I posted earlier about a beginner book of classics that I enjoy. And I'm using Piano For All, & have picked up on things from YouTube, plus some fun noodling about on my own. I figure it's all good supplemental learning to Alfred's & will converge eventually into deeper knowledge. At least I'm getting better intuitive feel for the keyboard geography by all this disparate play. All of which may be thrown for a loop when my new digital piano arrives today, a Korg C1 Air. I've had a lot of enjoyment from my 61 key Yamaha Piagerro (wonderful tones, many useful features), but I'd like a more piano-like keybed. I was at a point where I could play an octave accurately without thinking much about it, but the Korg has slightly wider keys, so might need an adjustment period. What do the rest of you do on piano during your non-Alfred time?
Last edited by No Expectations; 08/19/20 10:39 AM.
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