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

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.

@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.

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.

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.

I'm working on two pieces at the moment; "Beautiful Brown Eyes" and "Alpine Melody".

I started with "BBE" and thought I had it down fairly well when I wrapped up my practice yesterday. But today I thought I'd run through it one more time, and when I did that it all fell apart. So it for sure needs more work. My 2 biggest issues are hesitations between the chord changes and timing the pedaling to be after, not on the note. I'm having the same issues with the other piece, "AM" as well.

It's time to focus on focused practice! And slow practice. Slow, focused practice.

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

I have those scores without pedal markings, but I put them in myself on places where there is some irregularity - where I either need more pedal changes, or less. It is not difficult, you'll learn to hear it very well.

Animisha I have those scores without pedal markings, but I put them in myself on places where there is some irregularity - where I either need more pedal changes, or less. It is not difficult, you'll learn to hear it very well.

I'm glad you said, "learn". It'll be great to one day hear what other people are hearing when they leave comments on videos where they're offering pedaling critiques/suggestions.

Kaydia This day will come!

Two more pieces completed: "Beautiful Brown Eyes" and "Alpine Melody". Basically was just more practice with chords and pedaling. On these two my chord changes took longer to smooth out than the pedaling did. Admittedly, by smooth I mean playing the chord in time, not necessarily that the 3 finger chords always sounded as one. Looking at you D7 in the RH!

Congrats on your progress Both very sweet pieces, you might find yourself revisiting them quite a lot.

I've moved into the Middle C Position section. First was an easy two-line piece called "Thumbs on C!". I basically sight-read that one and quickly moved on.

Next was "Waltz Time", which didn't sound like something I'd ever want to dance to. But I kept with it until I had the cres + dim parts sounding reasonably decent.

After that were two similar pieces: "Good Morning To You!" and "Happy Birthday To You!" They're the same, except HBTY replaced some quarter notes with eighth notes. It was actually a bit of a challenge to not automatically use eighth notes on the GMTY piece.

That's it for this update!

I worked through the rest of the Middle C section. There were a couple of short (2 lines each) pieces for more eighth note practice, followed by "Standing in The Need of Prayer". Next was practicing dotted quarter notes in "Alouette". I didn't have any issues with any of these. Being familiar with how they all sounded helped get the rhythms down quickly.

@Sophia Did you see me waving as you zoomed on by? It's a bit lonely in here, so it's nice to see someone else, even if only briefly. Sounds like you're rapidly overcoming your temporary setback. Yay!

Oh, was that you in the rear view mirror??? Shoulda waved back
I will probably spend a few more days with Alfred 1 to get my footing back, so you won't be alone again just yet. I had forgotten how nice some of them were, even Little Brown Jug is really fun to play! <runs before Nightowl starts throwing rotten eggs>

Sophia Yes, that was me!!! (Well, I assume. It's possible it was a lurker.) Have fun with relearning the pieces. Not too much fun though. I'd rather not have to worry about rotten eggs flying around.