I find this video by Dr. Shijun Wang quite enlightening on how to understand slur in regard to phrasing. It also answered my question on why slur is needed when in certain music notes without slur are also played in legato by default.
Faber All-in-One Piano Course Book 1
iternabe I find this video by Dr. Shijun Wang quite enlightening on how to understand slur in regard to phrasing. It also answered my question on why slur is needed when in certain music notes without slur are also played in legato by default.
Thank you, iternabe. That was interesting to see how he counted time by the measure on a fast piece. His talk of shaping, though, was more interesting to me since it's more within my reach as a beginner. I think I naturally do some shaping sometimes, like with a higher note in a song I know. Other than that I'm sure I have been playing the notes mostly evenly. Well, now I'll be thinking more about shaping within a piece.
Kaydia Oh. I was thinking a slur was treated like a phrase.
A slur arch is a notation on how to play the notes contained within the slur. As you will learn, there are different ways to play notes. (Legato, Staccato, Marcato, etc) It is the technique between those different ways of playing which is indicated by the notations in the score. (Arches, dots, accents, hairpins, and so on.) Those differences create the "flavor" of the music beyond the melody/harmony.
You will learn all of this (and more) so don't fret about how much of it there is right now. Asking questions about things you don't understand is the right way to move forward as you follow the lessons in the book(s).
Player1 You will learn all of this (and more) so don't fret about how much of it there is right now. Asking questions about things you don't understand is the right way to move forward as you follow the lessons in the book(s).
That's good advice. I got stuck on this for a bit, but I'm ready now to get back to my lesson books. Thank you.
Just a brief update: I moved on to learn a couple of pieces for practicing staccato notes. They were "Theme from the 'Surprise' Symphony" and "Hungarian Dance". I think they both went fairly well.
Player1 I wouldn't say that the early lessons are extremely easy: nothing is, for a beginner 
What really is easy is to forget how difficult everything was at the beginning... 
Player1 Good. Keep it up but be aware that the early lessons are extremely easy and you will slow down as you progress, with the result that each piece will take longer to learn.
Thank you. I'm trying to soak it all in as I go along and not rush through the book. So actually, as the pieces get longer maybe that'd be a good thing as far as pacing goes.
Gooseberry I wouldn't say that the early lessons are extremely easy: nothing is, for a beginner
I hear you, @Gooseberry! My finger dexterity and hand coordination are barely keeping up with the lessons. Hopefully working on the 40-pc challenge will help with that. 
Kaydia Hopefully working on the 40-pc challenge will help with that.
Exactly. That's why I'm taking up the challenge too!
Gooseberry Exactly. That's why I'm taking up the challenge too!
That's great! I'm about to get some more practice in now on another piece for the challenge. Hoping to finish it up tomorrow. Good luck on whatever you're working on.
Gooseberry I wouldn't say that the early lessons are extremely easy: nothing is, for a beginner
On the monetised forum, there was a long thread by a beginner, called Nothing is too easy.
I know that quite a few people breezed through Alfred's 1 - I was not amongst them. Just learning to do something else with my right hand than I did with my left hand, mamma mia! It took me a long time. I also needed to play many more easy pieces than Alfred's provided. But I did, and in the end, I learned. 
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... feeling like the pianist on the Titanic ...
Another short update. I completed "Shepherd's Song (From the Sixth Symphony)". I was enjoying this one, so I stayed on it
longer. In doing so, I could really feel the difference in my playing as I was able to play more relaxed after repeated play throughs now and again over the past few days. I'm not saying it sounded better; more so that the physical aspect of it felt better. 
- Edited
I always get a kick out of going back to really early (now easy) pieces and find that I can basically play them flawlessly first run through. Then of course I got back to a piece that I just practiced a few weeks/months ago and can't string two notes together... wondering how on earth I managed to get a near flawless recording and then obviously promptly forgot all about it immediately afterwards. Learning piano is a weird thing 
Sophia I always get a kick out of going back to really early (now easy) pieces and find that I can basically play them flawlessly first run through. Then of course I got back to a piece that I just practiced a few weeks/months ago and can't string two notes together...
I find this depends very much on the piece. With pieces that have a simple melody with chords structure, it is easy, because chords like C F G D, I can basically play in my dreams. But in pieces that I call polyphonic, in which both the right hand and the left hand have a melody, after a while I need to relearn them as if I never learned them before.
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... feeling like the pianist on the Titanic ...
Animisha But in pieces that I call polyphonic, in which both the right hand and the left hand have a melody, after a while I need to relearn them as if I never learned them before.
Do you at least find those pieces easier, quicker to relearn? I went back and relearned Jingle Bells, which I really struggled with to get HT and no hesitations. It was definitely easier and quicker to relearn. But that's a simple piece so perhaps not a good example. Maybe it doesn't work the same for more complex pieces.
I'm not THAT far ahead of you, Kaydia, but I'd say it's definitely easier/faster to relearn pieces a second time
Animisha But in pieces that I call polyphonic, in which both the right hand and the left hand have a melody, after a while I need to relearn them as if I never learned them before.
Kaydia Do you at least find those pieces easier, quicker to relearn? I went back and relearned Jingle Bells, which I really struggled with to get HT and no hesitations. It was definitely easier and quicker to relearn. But that's a simple piece so perhaps not a good example. Maybe it doesn't work the same for more complex pieces.
Actually, half a year later I find that I have completely forgotten those pieces, and it will take a lot of time to learn them again. The only way in which they are quicker to learn is that compared to years ago, I have become just a bit better in learning polyphonic pieces.
Jingle bells is a good example because it uses intervals that by now are so, so familiar to me that I hardly need to spend any effort reading and playing them.
Here is an example of an easier polyphonic piece - I find polyphonic pieces never easy, but easier. I learned it five years ago, and I would need more effort in order to learn this again, compared to pieces with a melody-accompaniment pattern. For instance, Oh when the saints go marching in from Alfred's, I can play correctly immediately.
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... feeling like the pianist on the Titanic ...
Animisha Here is an example of an easier polyphonic piece - I find polyphonic pieces never easy, but easier. I learned it five years ago, and I would need more effort in order to learn this again, compared to pieces with a melody-accompaniment pattern. For instance, Oh when the saints go marching in from Alfred's, I can play correctly immediately.
Well, I did I did some quick research on what a polyphonic piece is, and yes I can see why they would be harder to learn/relearn. Something else for me to look forward to. 
For the benefit of any other beginners wandering through, here are a couple of resources I came across that provide at least a basic overview of polyphonic music.
1) What is Polyphonic Texture in Music? on the Hoffman Academy website.
2) A brief, 43 sec video with 3 examples of piano music textures (Monophonic, Homophonic, Polyphonic)
