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 😃
