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!

4 days later

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

  • Post #131
  • Edited

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!

    @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.

        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. 😄

              • Sophia

              • Post #136
              • Edited

              WieWaldi Quack quack quack ...

              I'll give you some quack quack quack... talk about respect for your seniors. I have a good mind to put you on permanent KP duty from now on!


                <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>

                  Sophia I was back to zero.

                  WieWaldi Quack quack quack ...

                  Sophia my mental block seems to have vanished.

                  Told you!


                  <running away - is faster after mic drop>

                        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?

                          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.

                              WieWaldi shut up

                              Nope! I'm too happy to quack quack quack. And we're completely poisoning poor Kaydia's thread.... she must think she landed in the madhouse.

                                  Sophia 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 😃

                                  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).

                                      Sophia I agree, LB sounds really nice. It really contrasted with KBY which I played as if I was at a very enthusiastic religious revival. 😆