WieWaldi When I read Alfred AIO1 I am thinking about a beginner trying to get the first notes somehow pressed. Yours doesn't sound like that, not a little bit. Somehow you manage to make those Alfred pieces shine, as if they were intermediate pieces. Maybe because you have a good balance between both hands, maybe because you keep the tempo right and steady, maybe you add some nice and very controlled dynamic changes, maybe it is just you grand sounding amazing. I don't know - I can just say I enjoyed it a lot. And of course the best video capture is yours: looks like you got 2 camera men working for you. On top, nice hat!
Wow, thank you so much for this! I really appreciate all the "little" things I worked on not going unnoticed as well! 🙂
rogerch Nice expressive playing of this beautiful piece! Your playing is very smooth, you do a great job bringing out the melody line, and I love the dynamics. Very well done!
Thanks a lot! 👍
Sophia Haha I know the feeling! Now of course I’m “forced” to revisit the book and learn Over the Rainbow properly at long last. You’re lucky there, you already have a lovely recording lying on your digital shelf 😸
Indeed, how fortunate for me! For once, I'm ahead of things. 😂
But overall it seems we’re travelling a similar path, piano wise. Do you have any idea what you are going to move on to after Alfred 1? Alfred 2 or something else altogether?
Great question!
For the longest time, I was thinking I would ditch Alfred's and move over to Supersonics. I was worried that my left hand wasn't getting as much of a workout as my right hand, but my real complaint was that the earlier arrangements in Alfred's were thoroughly uninspiring while many of the Supersonics arrangements looked like a great deal of fun.
However, as I near the end of Book 1, I've realized that I have quite a bit to learn and as the arrangements have become more complex, they've become more interesting. There are things I find very interesting like the swing rhythms, blues, and so on, and I appreciate what Alfred has to offer here as a general introduction. I feel like I need to develop more ease with playing the Alfred pieces nicely.
This is what sealed the deal: I peeked at the books, and went ahead and bought Books 2 & 3. I'm so excited for all the final pieces in Book 3. This is exactly the kind of music I want to be playing, and if Alfred will get me there, I'm all for it!
The final piece in Alfred Book 3 is literally Moonlight Sonata! I'm so looking forward to getting there!
All of that to say, my boring answer is that I will stick to Alfred's for now, and work on side pieces as I can. If anything, this recital has proven that it's never too late to get working on Moonlight Sonata!
Edit: And yet, every time I see a Faber video, I'm so envious.