Alfred's Adult All-In-One Piano Course: Level 1

PPlayer1 · 2 Jan

You probably already know at least 1 scale... C Major. C,D,E,F,G,A,B,C. All white keys. That's where everyone begins when they start learning.

There are things that go along with each scale you need to learn too. For beginners those are:

Chords
Chord inversions
Key signatures. (For C Major there is no Key Signature. The staff is blank with no sharps or flats at the beginning next to the Clef. All other keys have some combination of sharps or flats at the beginning of the score. The self study books do a very good job of not telling you that stuff.)

As you progress you get to learn new terms and other stuff like relative minors, but that's for later so don't worry about them now. Concentrate on your lessons and ask questions about stuff you don't understand clearly.

PPlayer1 · 2 Jan

Kaydia I will do my best to learn and memorize them, but not so much on the speak/define/explain part since I've never been good at doing that.

Test yourself.

Make flashcards of chords and scales. (The card should just say "C Major scale" and nothing else. No explanation or description.) Place the cards face down and pick one card at random when you're getting ready to practice. Speak it. Play it. Verify if necessary that you did it correctly.

Do this at the beginning of your practice session for the day.

Otherwise it's difficult to test yourself when you're in a room by yourself so you have to find a way to give yourself a self test where you don't think of the answer first then ask yourself the question. Flash cards are good for that.

Kaydia · 2 Jan

Thank you Player1 for the suggestion. I agree flashcards are a great tool. I have already been using the sightreading.training website now and again to help with note identification. The site does have flashcards for chords, but I haven't used that feature yet. I'll probably make use of it to help reinforce the chords that I've already been presented with in my method books. But not until after I've nailed down reading notes better. I can only learn/retain so much information at a time.

Kaydia · 2 Jan

Pallas There's a good reason to follow a method book! I've seen plenty of people try to firehose all of the information up front only to get overwhelmed and lose motivation and interest.

Yes, I've 'been there, done that' with other stuff.

Pallas You sound like you know how your own mind works and what's best for you. Bravo to you!

Thank you. Getting old has some benefits, I guess.

PPlayer1 · 2 Jan

Kaydia

Note reading will get better with time so don't stress on that. You'll learn the other things as they come along in the series. So, again, don't stress on it.

The method books work, lots of people have used them to become pianists. Do the lessons, ask questions about things you don't understand, and take as much time as you need to progress. It's not a race and your progress is yours alone and shouldn't ever be compared to someone else.

Kaydia · 2 Jan

Player1 I appreciate the encouragement. Thank you.

Kaydia · 5 Jan

I've now learned the F Major chord for the left hand with "I'm Gonna Lay My Burden Down", and then for the right hand with "Waltzing Chords".

Next up was moving on to G position, and practicing the melodic and harmonic intervals with "Love Somebody" and "A Friend for You". I'm happy to report that on that 2nd piece, after quite a bit of practice, I finally had some success with the suggestion from Lets Play Video Methods to try connecting the moving notes in the chords.

Then it on to learning the sharp sign with "Money Can't By Ev'rything!". I didn't have any issues with this one, so I focused on the dynamics and phrasing. The phrasing in particular, because I still keep having to remind myself to lift up between phrases. I'm wondering if this is something that becomes automatic with time.

The last thing I worked on was A Leschetizky solution. What really shows up here when I do these exercises is that both my pinkies, but more so in my right hand, tend to get 'stuck' when going from extended to curved. From what I've read it's called trigger finger. It seems one of the possible causes may be due to arthritis. I've been diagnosed with 3 types of arthritis, so it's something I'll just have to deal with.

That's it for now with the Alfred's book. I'm now going to get cracking on a supplemental piece for the 40P challenge.

Kaydia · 8 Jan

I learned a couple more chords since my last update: G Major and D7. The practice pieces in the lesson book for these included "The Cuckoo", "Harp Song", and "Liza Jane".

The most challenging one was "Harp Song". Mostly due to adding in the pedal and getting the up and down timing right. But also, for some reason, it felt more awkward to play the D7 chord in 3rds than as a whole. I kept missing or slipping off the F# until I eventually got the hang of it.

Sophia · 8 Jan

Ah the Harp Song. My first encounter with the pedal. Can you tell I'm pedal obsessed? It's true But it's one of those skills that take a minute to learn and then a lifetime to master. I love it!

Congrats on your progress!

Kaydia · 8 Jan

Thank you, @Sophia. I'm envious of your obsession with the pedal. I wish I could say I was looking forward to more pieces with pedaling, but I'm not feeling it at the moment.

Sophia · 8 Jan

Right???? Well as a child I watched people playing (grand) pianos often, and always tried to figure out how they did that exactly. It seemed so random! I'd ask my mom (pianist, but obviously not a teacher type) how she did that, and her usual reply basically was "you just do it". So it took me all these years to finally learn it, and it was this post that suddenly made the light bulb explode inside my head:

WieWaldi when the hand goes down (in my case LH), the pedal goes up.

It was like the sun started to shine, rainbows in the sky, birds singing, springtime at last.... EUREKA! So simple!

But yeah, then of course getting the actual coordination of limbs to cooperate, that's an entirely different story. But that too is gradually happening to the point where sometimes, just sometimes, I am pedaling without actually thinking about it

Edit: omg, I now realize I probably told that story of the pedal fascination 3 million times by now. Please forgive my senior moment in the endless repetitions of the same statement in endless variations

P.S. Have I ever mentioned before that I have a pedal fascination? Well............ Ok I better run before the men in white coats are sent this way

Kaydia · 9 Jan

Sophia It was a good read. First time I've heard that story. Though, to be fair, in my elderly years I do sometimes forget things. In any case, I love the enthusiasm. Maybe I, too, will one day have a similar eureka moment.

Sophia · 9 Jan

Kaydia Maybe I, too, will one day have a similar eureka moment.

Haha, yeah, you never know. Might as well have fun with our hobby, right?

PPlayer1 · 9 Jan

Oh, just wait until they stop putting the pedal notations on the score. Then youse guys will really be having fun.

Kaydia · 9 Jan

Sophia Haha, yeah, you never know. Might as well have fun with our hobby, right?

Absolutely!!

Kaydia · 9 Jan

Player1 Oh, just wait until they stop putting the pedal notations on the score. Then youse guys will really be having fun.

(I'm going to pretend you're being sincere about the "having fun" part.) Sounds good. Looking forward to it.

PPlayer1 · 9 Jan

Kaydia

When you get to the Intermediate level, the pedal markings start to just disappear without warning. By this time you should know "how to do it" and not need notation on the sheet for it.

Which you will so don't worry.

This piece is an example. It has no pedal notation in the score and if you go to youboob and read the comments you can find out why.

Kaydia · 9 Jan

@Player1 Once upon a time I had a Gordon LIghtfoot album. Brings back memories. Anyway....

I read the comments and saw her reply to someone where she said, "It should be assumed for music at this level that the sustain pedal should be used tastefully (i.e. change the pedal with harmony shifts)." Per my googling, a "harmony shift" could be a chord change. That sounds helpful. But I can imagine it's not that simple.

Well, for now I'm grateful for the pedal markings so I have the visual to help coordinate my hands and feet.

PPlayer1 · 9 Jan

Kaydia

As you progress you'll find it actually is that simple. You'll hear the harmony shifts as well as how the harmony gets muddy if you don't lift when you should.

But for now, just follow the book. It'll lead you to where you want to go.

Kaydia · 9 Jan

Player1 As you progress you'll find it actually is that simple. You'll hear the harmony shifts as well as how the harmony gets muddy if you don't lift when you should.

But for now, just follow the book. It'll lead you to where you want to go.

That's good to hear. Thanks again for your help.