Any piano teachers here tonight?

[oxocube]

Can I ask your advice? I've been following the Alfred series (Adult beginner) since September and have almost finished book 1. Does anyone know roughly what grade this would be? I just want to know as I've seen some piano books on line which have some lovely arrangements and say they are about grade 4 difficulty. I think they would be a little hard for me but want something to work towards! I forgot to ask my piano teacher and won't see her now for another 3 weeks.

Many thanks in advance

It takes most beginners with no previous experience about 3-5 years to get to Grade 4 level.

I would imagine that the book you have been using is pre Grade 1.

At the end of book 1 adult Alfred you wouldn't be able to play those books if they say Grade 4. Woudln't even get close - sorry.

Oxocube, piano pieces very a lot and some pieces for grade 2 a harder then pieces for Grade 4. The best thing to do is to go to your local library and borrow some music. It could be classical, jazzy, pop, any stile you like. May be some songs you always wanted to play. One of my students has made a real progress when she borrowed Disney songs because she loved the music, knew how it should sound and she was truly happy to spend longer time then before playing the songs. After that she was asked to accompany the choir at her school! She was about Grade 4 level when she started to play Disney songs. I think the key to success is to like the pieces you are playing. Alfred's course has some nice pieces but some music I find a bit borring and you certainly don't have to learn a piece after a piece going from one page to another. Bach's prelude in C major is one of my favourites. All my students love it. Also some little preludes by Chopin are lovely. You have some experience now and you could find some nice pieces while your teacher is away and when she is back you could surprise her with some new music you've learned. Anyway, good luck!

thanks for the wise words. I went on the internet again and found a site where I could view (not download) lots of pieces and where it gave an approximate grading beside each. Of course you are all completely right and the grade 4 pieces are way too hard. There were quite a lot of pieces graded as level 2 which I could manage with practice so I'll bear this in mind when looking for new music.

I'm new to piano but played violin for about 5 years and did A level music which is helping a lot. Thanks Fedda for the Bach recommendation. I have this and love it

I'm very glad you love Bach's prelude. I'm back from the library and i saw a lot of books for grade 2 level. While viewing is very helpful, it's even better to have some music at hand and have an opportunity to try it for free. You'll be surprised how many beautiful pieces you can borrow. I never go back empty handed. Anyway, have fun!

thanks for your advice fedda and will look out for the simple Chopin preludes. I'm so enjoying learning piano - its something I've always wanted to do but until recently, have never had the opportunity or the money.

I'm driving everyone up the wall with practising (at least an hour a day) - at least I'm fortunate to live next door to a deaf 80 something year old! I decided to mail my piano teacher in the end who said that I should look around the grade 2 level when buying new pieces but she also kindly offered to go to our local music shop with me and look for stuff which would be suitable .

Thanks to you all for taking the trouble to reply (and for the reality check )

You'r very welcome. I'm glad you're practicing for an hour or so and your experience in violin and A level will certainly help you progress quicker. Good luck!

oxocube - can you tell me where online you can buy piano music?

buy or download? (not sure about the legality of this mind you) There are sites like Limewire which my 11 yr old ds recently introduced me to where you can download some sheet music for free although the choice is limited. There is another I've seen called www.sheetmusic1.com where some stuff is free but you can sign up for about $US 3 per month and there is a huge choice of classical music to download. If you google sheetmusiconline or something similar, you should come up with lots of options

Thanks.