Sophia Very fun! Sophia you're a natural!

    There are no words... 😂

    "Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)

    4 days later

    Player1 I blame you P1, Sophia has always been your favourite, you've never been as stern with her as with the rest of us, so it's not surprising she's gone completely off the rails.

    "Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)

        Nightowl

        Me?????? No way. She even said it was rogerch whodunnit.

        See this is how bad reputation start. Not that I don't deserve a bad reputation, but I'd like to get one on my own instead of being saddled with someone else's.

          Hehehehehe!!! But I'm having so much fuuuuunnn!!!

          Actually, I was about to post some progress (or lack thereof) in the blues thread, but I'll do it here. I'm still trying to get Salut d'amour in my fingers. It's a slow progress, as expected, but I can now play the first half okay-ish, albeit ever so slowly. The second half is still very much a WIP! It's such a pretty piece though that I don't mind spending a few weeks with it... it'll be worth it.

          Alfred book 2 is nearing its end, but as with the last pieces in the first book, these seem quite a bit harder all of a sudden. I might have to spend as much time on the last 5 pieces as the entire first half of the book 🤔 I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there isn't a Laura type piece hidden within those last pages!

          The blues lesson (yeah I know, I should report it in the other thread) is a very long one, with no less than four new licks to master. There too I'm about halfway now - two licks mastered, two still to learn 🙂

          The REAL bad one was @Rubens - he filled my big head with kitten pianos. That simply proved irresistible. Though @rogerch is to blame for talking me into improvising, that's true 😃 Of course you were the one who made me feel welcome in the other forum @Player1 and caused me to stick around - so you're definitely not without blame! 😛

            Sophia

            Guilty as charged! I take full blame. May the others be freed immediately and may I endure the punishment that will be for Sophia to choose. I know it will be a difficult choice. (Sophia's Choice, get it?).

              Haha ohhh my punishment is severe... 😃 How about you treat us to a little performance someday in either the recitals or the Member recordings section?

              Seriously though: no pressure 😃 I'm teasing all in good fun!

                Sophia
                Your wish is my command. Your desire is my order. I will participate, someday 😅.

                  Sophia

                  I never did say I was completely blameless but I'm thinking it's maybe around 2%. Kind of like that milk that isn't really milk. So whatever blame is on me, isn't really any blame at all.

                  I did play again today. Just re-familiarizing myself with Wolf though, nothing from the lesson book.

                    Blame? Why are you all talking about blame??

                    It’s credit!! Kudos to Sophia for the awesome meowprovisation, riffing on top of the classic hokey pokey on such a fun innovative instrument!

                    I am honored that anyone thinks that I may have played a tiny part in any of this. Really I did nothing, it’s all Sophia with possibly an assist from Rubens.

                    Blame? Sheesh!!

                      rogerch

                      So you're saying it's all Sophia's fault we turned her into a musical monster?

                          Player1 Ha ha ha, "musical monster" indeed! 🤣😆😂🙃 Well, I guess Sophia has found her inner child and this is only going to get worse. The signs were there when she admitted to enjoying Little Brown Jug in book 1, and now she's picked the worst piece in book 2 to relentlessly torment us with - she truly is an incorrigible child!
                          That said, as @Rubens so brilliantly said above, it's Sophia's Choice, and however naughty she is we love her anyway. 🙂

                          @rogerch - I'm not sure that you should be rewarding her bad behaviour with praise - it will only encourage her! 😁
                          [I'm off to find some earplugs before the next onslaught from naughty Sophia.]

                          "Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)

                            I love this forum

                              Sophia Right back at you, Sophia! 😃

                              "Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)

                                Brains are funny things 😁 I have not exactly been stuck, but with the recital recording, the blues lessons and silly kitten keyboards, plus limited time at the piano, Alfred was pushed to the back burner for a few weeks.

                                Today for the first time I managed to play Salut d'amour without errors, though still in super slow motion. It is a real challenge with the three flats and all.

                                But then today I looked at the next piece (Mozart), another piece with 3 flats, and suddenly it seems almost "easy" in comparison. Suddenly all those flats seemed almost natural! (see what I did there? 🤣)

                                I like that phrase "super slow motion" - I think I might adopt that to describe my own performances. It sounds so much better than the word "slow" by itself - it makes it sound like playing very slowly is a super power that others only dream of! 😁

                                "Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)

                                24 days later
                                Sophia changed the title to Alfred Adult All-in-One Course Level 2 and 3 .

                                Well, I'm happy to announce that I finished the second book! I just started the third Alfred book, which in true Alfred tradition, starts with a few easy pieces to lull you into thinking playing piano isn't all that hard 😃 The first piece is A Super Special Song which is, well, not all that special really... but fun to play.
                                Then on page 3 or so it bursts out into a lot of theory mumbo jumbo, which thanks to some very kind forum participants now makes sense to me... at least why it is important 😂

                                I will be going back to the second book quite a lot though. I have found in my piano journey that (at least to me) there simply is no direct, linear way to learning the pieces thoroughly. When I was in Alfred book 2 I played through book 1 quite a lot and every time the pieces went better and better. Now that I have started book 3, I plan to do the same with the second book. I guess I'm the zig zagging type, but it seems to work for me. As long as I don't feel that I'm hitting a solid brick wall, I'll continue on this path... forward a little, back a lot 🙂

                                So rather than starting yet another thread and abandoning this one, I have changed the title to include both book 2 and 3. I think right now @Nightowl and I are the only ones at this stage in our journey... everyone else is either way ahead of us, or following other books/methods.

                                I'm really excited that I made it this far! For reference:

                                I started the first book in January 2024. Because I was just catching up with previous skills, it only took me 6 weeks from start to finish (most of that time on the last pieces in fact). Mid February I started Alfred 2. It took me almost seven months to finish that. If that is the expected pattern, then Alfred 3 will take me about 2 years to finish 😂

                                It's been so much fun to learn piano and I can't emphasize enough what a help and encouragement this forum has been throughout. I could kick myself for giving up so many times in the past, but I won't. This is now - and the future is full of endless possibilities. Learning blues... finishing the Alfred course.... continuing where I left off in the John Thompson method, playing duets, and then moving on to pieces of my own choice rather than just following a method book... improvising... I want it all 😃