Alfred's Adult All-In-One Piano Course: Level 1
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.
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For the past two days, I have been back with Alfred 1 as well 
Yesterday I couldn't string two notes together and it felt like I was back to zero. But today I played for about 30 minutes, and by the time I reached Jericho, it felt like things were gradually getting back to normal. I didn't manage to play it very fast, but at least my fingers started to obey a little better.
Who knew that six days of not playing (ok, and many sleepless nights and an overloaded brain elsewhere) could cause such a (obviously temporary) setback!
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>
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Sophia Yesterday I couldn't string two notes together and it felt like I was back to zero.
Quack quack quack ...
Sophia But today I played for about 30 minutes, and by the time I reached Jericho...
Ok, this sounds more like you. Jericho is on page 127, meaning you play over 4 pages per minute. C'mon, my metronome goes barely faster. 
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<being guilty, but looking innocent>
Psst! WieWaldi! <distraction time>
<ok, let's try now that nobody is listening>
Well, I played through a few more pieces and I'm happy to say my mental block seems to have vanished. I even played <checks if earmuffs are still in place, oh good> I even played the first blues lesson lick again, the one I had started and then completely abandoned... and it went okay.
It seems that I'm back at my usual self and might leave you alone again with Alfred book 1 after today, @Kaydia - but of course will continue to cheer you on from the sidelines again
<drops mic, leaves stage>
OMG.... I really must invest in better earplugs.... you weren't supposed to hear any of that! Should I mention that I played Jazz Ostinato from memory AND error free? No? Too soon?
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I was just happy to finally get through the Country Blues. One time; error free. But veeeeeery slowly, no rhythm and without phrasing. Actually, I was very proud of me. It lasted for 15 minutes. And then this:
Sophia Should I mention that I played Jazz Ostinato from memory AND error free? No? Too soon?
Edit: Ahhhh -shut up. Gimme that earplugs.
That's great, @Sophia, that you're back to your usual self so quickly. Thanks for cheering me on! I'll see ya around. 
My latest two pieces, "Lavender's Blue" and "Kum-Ba-Yah!", took longer than expected. I spent some extra time on these to work on voicing the upper notes in the right-hand chords. I am happy to say I had some success. I can get the top note louder for the most part, just not at a very controlled volume. Also, for these two pieces, all the top notes were played with the #5 finger. So I haven't tried this with other fingers yet. But it's a start!
Nice! LB is a very pretty piece too, but I didn't care much for KBY. It was slightly interesting with the time changes, but once you know what to do it loses its luster quickly. LB is very lyrical, I really enjoyed playing it (again, recently).
