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Can someone please direct me to the thread regarding Alfred’s Adult All in One Level#2? I’ve read here the thread exists. However, I’ve searched with no luck. Thanks, Muskie
Been going through the book at a fair rate and have just hit my first real hurdle.Blow the man down is proving to be tricky proposition ,any one else felt this was like a major jump in ability? This is definitely gonna take some time to get down.
well it finally clicked,guys!Played it real slow over and over and finally it all came together! Thanks for all the encouragement,on to the next page!👍
Based on this thread I bought this course and started going through it to improve my skills. Got to "Blow the Man Down" this evening and now understand what the hurdle is for most people and think I can offer some input.
Disclaimer: I'm not an instructor, and have had no formal piano instruction. I started learning organ at age seven (1973) by sitting down and working my way through the books my mom bought along with her organ. My parents put me in accordion lessons for the next three years. I learned guitar and bass through YouTube, etc. over the past 10 years and got back into piano/keyboard over the last year.
I haven't read all 451 pages of this thread, so maybe this is covered somewhere. An instructor may tell me I'm wrong on this one, but at some point you have to move away from being purely mechanical and start to "feel" the music. In the case of this song, I think if you try to strictly count out every note/beat, you're going to struggle. You need to "feel" that off-beat note and just play it. Your left hand is playing the steady three beats. Your right hand plays the first note and holds it just a bit longer than usual, "stutters" the third note between the second and third beat of your left hand, and then both hands play the third beat together.
Even this description over-complicates it. I'm not saying you abandon the counting completely; you'll need it to figure out new pieces. But "feeling" the music is probably just as important as (and some would say even more than) being strictly mechanical.
Hi nkb4691, and welcome to Piano World! Thank you for your explanation. Actually, I think it would be a good idea to start a thread called Blow the Man Down, so everybody can share their problems and their advice for this piece.
Playing the piano is learning to create, playfully and deeply seriously, our own music in the world. * ... feeling like the pianist on the Titanic ...
Yeah,it's a great explanation,after a while it just kind of flows and the rhythm just comes automatically!After blow the man down there's a couple of straightforward pieces then comes Lullaby!That took a while to get down but learning blow the man down before it is a great help and lullaby clicked too after a few days.I'm up to joy to the world now,really enjoying this book👍
I've written previously that I'm going through the whole book again (getting about 80% in the beginning of the year and starting again in august). I just got back to blow the man down and..... it was really easy the second time around! I assume because I spent so much (frustrating) time on it the first time around. So just stick to it, practice slowly, and you WILL get it
@Scientist I watched one of the videos— she goes a great job with her video lessons: well planned snd clearly presented. Indeed, you should find them very useful 😊
Still chugging along,just finished the Can Can ,which is a fun little piece to play.There's such a great sense of achievement when you look at a new piece and think,no way,that's impossible,then after a couple of days it's done and dusted!The pieces are starting to be proper songs now as as well,which makes things even more interesting👍
Thanks for the compliments! I will let my piano teacher know. I know for a fact it took a lot of efforts to make these videos. It saddens to see these top-quality teaching videos got buried under thousands of low-quality YouTube videos.
Thanks for the compliments! I will let my piano teacher know. I know for a fact it took a lot of efforts to make these videos. It saddens to see these top-quality teaching videos got buried under thousands of low-quality YouTube videos.
I know exactly what you mean. Success on YouTube is not only a matter of quality. You need to be a bit lucky to get seen through all the noise and to get picked up by enough folks to the point that your video starts to show higher up in searches (assuming you're not paying for SEO). I started a channel myself (not about piano) because I realized none of the existing videos on the topics I wanted to teach were good enough (I use these videos to complement what I teach in the classroom. I point my own students to them and their feedback has been very positive.) I've gotten some traction recently, but nowhere near the amount that other videos (on the same topic) get. And I honestly believe my content to be better. Anyway, it is what it is. I've watched a couple of your teacher's videos and I *really* like them. I've subscribed to her channel and plan on watching more. Best of luck to her.
Talão
Yamaha U3 and Kawai MP11SE My piano journey (playing since July 2019) 10 weeks into Duane Shinn's 52-Week Crash Course
Managed to get through the whole book! Woohoo! Took 10 months almost to the day, but I did other things as well - Simply Piano app on my own, then with my teacher pieces from the Bastien Classics book and from the Joy of Boogie and Blues, as well as some Czerny etudes, scales, theory book etc. I worked through it pretty diligently and didn't skip a single page. As everyone noticed, it gets a LOT slower and harder as you progress through the book, compared to the beginning. I didn't get the pieces to sound perfect. I still have some hesitations on occasion, but I don't think the goal is to get to perfection with these pieces. I'd prefer to reserve that for some good items I would keep as potential "show" pieces - although I have yet to formally play for anyone or participate in a recital. For next step my teacher wants to move into the book 6 Alfred series, which have some nice progressively challenging pieces, and we will also start working on the Burgmuller Op100 etudes. I'll also continue the Czerny Op599. Any thoughts on this plan? I'm kind of excited to start slowly exploring some classical standards - I gravitated towards an almost exclusively classical (with all the reservations regarding that term) focus, even though as a consumer I am interested in everything from medieval music to the latest rap... (passing through some Jazz and rock on the way) Cheers, and enjoy the pretty sounds.
Managed to get through the whole book! Woohoo! [...] For next step my teacher wants to move into the book 6 Alfred series, which have some nice progressively challenging pieces.
Congratulations rocdoc! So nice to be finished with the first book. But from book 1 to book 6? Why not continue with book 2?
Playing the piano is learning to create, playfully and deeply seriously, our own music in the world. * ... feeling like the pianist on the Titanic ...
Congratulations rocdoc! So nice to be finished with the first book. But from book 1 to book 6? Why not continue with book 2?
Thanks Animisha. To clarify, book 1 is the adult all-in-one. Book 6 is from a different series, so it's not like I'm skipping 4 entire books to get there. There is something to be said about continuing progressive concept learning, but the actual material in book 2 is not really great - most of the songs in book 1 weren't my taste either, but they served a purpose. I'm curious for more input like yours though. I do have to say, the first pages in the book 6 lessons book are a bit daunting, but seem doable with slow, methodical practice. Burgmuller on the other hand, starting at the beginning, is definitely approachable. When I search here, there are as many approaches as members opining, it seems.
the actual material in book 2 is not really great - most of the songs in book 1 weren't my taste either, but they served a purpose.
I totally get this. Once upon a time, I also started with Alfred's and I also like very different pieces than those in Alfred's AIO books. Still, when I see the contents of book 6, that would be too big a jump for me. But you are probably a faster learner than I am and can handle this jump. God luck!
Playing the piano is learning to create, playfully and deeply seriously, our own music in the world. * ... feeling like the pianist on the Titanic ...
But you are probably a faster learner than I am and can handle this jump. God luck!
LOL I doubt I'm a faster learner than anyone. My teacher has been pushing me to try to get me to progress, but at times she has pushed a bit much in my view, so I definitely take your words to heart. For the first week in this new phase of my training I am working through the first piece in Burgmuller and continuing the Czerny Op599 etudes (I'm around no. 15 or 16), and working on my scales, which I feel I don't do enough of, and see how things shape up. The pieces from the Bastien classics and, with a different focus, those in the Joy of Boogie and Blues, have definitely pushed my skills. So much so that then going back to the Alfred pieces they seems a lot easier to tackle. Still, the last few songs in the book were not very easy.
Want to share some teaching and demo pieces from my piano teacher. Even I study with her in person, I found these extremely valuable. She did a wonderful job analyzing the music, even gave demos for the wrong way of playing. It helps me understand and appreciate how a simple piece can be played at different levels. By the way, Dream Echoes really sounds beautiful, could not believe this is a beginner's piece.
Miniature Waltz
Dream Echoes
Last edited by scientistplayspian; 09/27/2101:42 PM.