Player1 Statistically, most self learners drop out of the method books somewhere in the middle of book #3.
I am one of them, and one of the reasons was that I simply did not like the pieces in Alfred's.
Furthermore, I was really - really - struggling with the Unfinished of Schubert, trying to count it as best as I could.
Not fun at all!!
*
... feeling like the pianist on the Titanic ...
I hear you, the stuff in the method books is terrible. Even the RCM isn't so wonderful but it's better than the method books because it's not arranged into insensibility. It's still pretty bad though - chop, chop, chop, go the fingers on the keys...
At least I found other sources of music to play which are fun. And in that playing I have realized how much I've learned and that knowledge has opened even more musical doors.
iternabe Nice video, thanks iternabe. I have found that sometimes pieces which I didn't like much at first end up growing on me, which is great when it happens. I think Alfreds could easily update their method books to include a few popular modern pieces, but they are keen to avoid paying copyright fees so that's why most pieces in their books are at least 70 years old.
@MandM - yes, I have the Broadway Hits book 1 and sometimes I play something from there as a welcome distraction. I have another hits book too, but the pieces in that are too advanced for me (or were when I last looked at it a couple of months back - maybe I'll take another look soon).
@Player1 Thanks, I'm trying to be patient. I'm also trying to find the beauty in each piece, like the guy in the video suggests, but when playing such gems as He's a Jolly Good Fellow and the wedding march there doesn't seem to be much beauty to be found!
As for goals, there are a few classical pieces that I want to play one day, and there are arrangements of them for intermediate players - so I think if I can attain grade 3 competency then I'll probably be happy to continue at that level. I can't imagine going much beyond that - maybe grade 5 at an absolute stretch if I keep going for another few years, but I'm 63 now and my memory is not what it was 10 years ago, so I'm keeping my goals realistic.
PS: @Player1 - you've not played for 10 days?!? This is so unlike you! I hope you get back on the bench soon, we can't have our tame tiger giving up at this stage!
"Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)
Nightowl I'm keeping my goals realistic.
Yes, that's exactly what I'm doing too. Whatever greatness I might have achieved was an opportunity I purposely never pursued and I have no intention of starting now that I'm north of the half a century mark 
In fact I'm enjoying the relaxed feeling of learning at my own pace, stress-free and no end goal in mind.
However I would like to reach a point where I can sit at the piano and crank out improvisations of my own imagination, or open one of my intermediate books and play a pretty piece relatively effortless.
My more immediate goals though are finishing all three Alfred books and the blues course. I'm in no hurry with either!
I'm having some medical issues to go along with the burnout. They're changing my tremor meds again so I'm shaking like an aspen leaf in a hurricane. I had a back procedure last Monday (spinal epidural injection), and I'm seeing (hah!) the Opthomologist on this next Tuesday. You know how it goes when you get old and I'm older than you.
I tried to clear some time for today, no luck. Not even now, I'm heading off to fix dinner for tonight.
Maybe tomorrow.
Player1 Oh, that's not nice, I'm sorry to hear that Player1. Coping with multiple medical issues is no laughing matter, I hope you get some effective treatment soon.
Sophia I can't imagine trying to create an original piece of music that would be worth listening to, I don't think I could ever do that. In fact I wonder how anyone manages it nowadays, because most people have heard thousands of songs/pieces over the years, so coming up with a completely original piece that does not replicate any existing pieces must be quite tricky - I think the problem is referred to an unconscious plagiarism? Ed Sheeran had to go to great lengths to fight claims of plagiarism made against him, in court he said that certain chord progressions/note riffs are commonly used in modern music and we all use "the same 12 notes" so similarities are bound to occur. (To be honest, that seems to happen a lot with his songs - many of them sound really similar to each other!)
"Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)
I don't remember if I posted this video before but I'm sure you could play this piece if you had the sheet music. It's really lovely to listen to and the fingering isn't complicated at all.
You can play it a lot slower than the guy in the video does, it's supposed to be a slow waltz. If you pause the video in the beginning you can write down the score when he holds up the page. I also did a search and found a score online but I don't remember where other than it was free.
I haven't tried to play this yet but I probably will at some point just because it's so different.
Here's a slow version
Nightowl can't imagine trying to create an original piece of music that would be worth listening to
Ah, yes, composing music is an awesome skill. But that's not one of my aspirations 
What I meant is improvisation - for example what you see in a jazz combo where each player gets to play a solo that they make up on the spot while the others keep the chords and rhythm going.
Sophia Ah, yes, composing music is an awesome skill. But that's not one of my aspirations
Hey Sophia, if improv is your goal, it's definitely a good idea to try your hand at composing. One way to look at it: Bill Evans said that improvisation is creating a minute's worth of music in one minute. That's very fast composing! Pianists are used to learning to do things quickly. And how? By practicing slowly and building up speed. Well, the same approach can be used for improvisation. First, you create one minute's worth of music in 30 minutes. You keep practicing, you will get faster and faster.
In reality, this is just one direction from which to attack the problem of improvisation. If the goal is the spontaneous creation of music, first in the heart and brain, and then faithfully transferred to the fingers, the problem needs to be attacked in multiple ways. But my point is that composition practice definitely helps improvisation.
Player1 Thanks P1, that's a lovely piece and I enjoyed both versions. I like most waltzes and luckily many of them are within my reach. 
@Sophia I take your point about the difference between improv and composition, and although I admire the skill of jazz players that style of music is not my thing. To me jazz music is just a bundle of random notes, but I can understand that for some people that randomness is part of the appeal. Luckily the piano is such a versatile instrument that it can accommodate many styles of music. Talking of pianos, I posted on the other thread about novelty keyboards... I won't repost it here but I had some thoughts about the options.
"Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)
Well, I just started Love's Greeting. It's hauntingly beautiful. but I know for a fact that it is going to take me a long, long time to master learn! Even at a fraction of the speed of this teacher's demo:
Yes, this is a very lovely adaptation. It's very thrilling that the pieces are sounding more and more beautiful, instead of the horribly butchered renditions of early Alfred (shudder, Brahms Lullaby in book one).
Yes, there are certainly some nice pieces in book 2, among the mundane stuff. I'm still working on Calypso but I've recently started the Div. in D piece and it's not too bad - I don't love it but as an exercise piece it's fine.
There is no version of the B Lullaby in my version of book 1, but it appears soon in book 2. I'm not keen but I'll give it a go (that phrase seems to be my mantra at this stage of book 2). Hokey Pokey is also coming soon, but I'm swerving it - I saved one of my free passes especially for that hideous aberration. 
"Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)
Haha I fully embraced my crude side there and loved Hokey Pokey! All jokes aside though, I think it is a good exercise in many ways - especially the parts where the left is staccato throughout and the right hand alternates between staccato (easy) and legato (hard!). Plus it has a lot of syncopation and other tricky parts. It's probably quite a bit trickier to play than you'd expect from such a silly piece!
The Lullaby version is the second book is a lot nicer than the one in book 1 - you missed nothing there. But yeah, hang in there, the latter part of this book really has some gorgeous pieces and they are not ALL excruciatingly hard to play. I expect that this new piece is going to be hard though... but completely worth it. Definitely not something I'll be able to play flawlessly anytime soon. It's probably something I will not be able to perfect in one go, and will have to continue to get back to it even after I moved on to other pieces.
Sophia, from what you said I think that Hokey P is that deadly combo - tricky but annoying! I really dislike the strident tone and style of the piece, which seems to scream "You WILL enjoy yourself! This is FUN!" As I type this I'm suppressing ancient memories of wedding receptions when this piece was played and everyone was encouraged onto their feet to perform the hideous dance that went with it.... shudder. Now, as then, I reserve the right not to participate in this annoying abomination! 
<Flounces off and ponders how it's possible for someone with such innate musicality to enjoy inflicting such a horrible sound upon herself, unless she has masochistic tendencies.>
"Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)
Hehehehehe.... You be careful now... if you keep going like that I might record a version that doesn't involve kittens and play it on a loop for you 
