Bastien, Faber, other for beginning piano?

[Holly in FL]

If you have taught your child piano...what have you used? Likes and dislikes of methods such as Bastien, Faber, etc.

 

Thanks!

~Holly

[mktkcb]

Faber would be my choice, especially over Bastien. I love the musicality of Faber, and how they get kids used to playing all over the keyboard pretty early. I prefer the landmark/interval approach to learning note reading as well. I believe that Bastien takes more of a positional approach. Faber is fun also because they have numerous fun books in different styles at each level. JMO.

Kayleen

[Suzanne in ABQ]

If you have taught your child piano...what have you used? Likes and dislikes of methods such as Bastien, Faber, etc.

 

Thanks!

~Holly

 

I taught my children for one year using Faber. Dd was in her third year, while ds was just beginning. I really liked the way the books were coordinated, so I always knew which songs in the Performance book, and which lessons in the Theory book, and which exercises in the Technique book went with the songs/lessons in the Lessons Book. The songs are fun, but build skills incrementally. The pages are brightly colored with illustrations, but not too busy. My kids liked the songs.

 

Dd is almost finished with Book 4. That's the highest level in Faber. I don't know how high Bastien goes, but that might be a consideration.

 

I don't know if Faber is better than Bastien, but my dd's original teacher, who was quite professional and rigorous, liked Faber better. I don't know why. I know some teachers prefer Bastien.

 

If I were going to choose, I'd go to the store and look at both of them. Take time to see how they're organized. Determine of the format would be a good fit for my children.

 

Good luck!

[Jane in NC]

Our piano teacher used Bastien: the regular book and the accompanying technique and theory books for each level. It was the latter that she particularly liked.

 

In addition, she would assign performance pieces that were worked on outside of Bastien. Depending on the time of the year, these might be recital or Christmas pieces, the latter often being from Faber books (which tuck some theory in).

 

The drawings in the Bastien books were cartoon-y--not my speed--but maybe they have changed over the years.

 

We were very happy with the foundational work laid out in Bastien.

[Michelle in MO]

Our piano teacher used the Bastien series as well; at first for everything (piano literature, technique, and theory), and lately just for theory.

 

Jane is right; it is cartoon-y for the beginning levels, and the piano literature is the same way, but the intermediate and advanced theory books drop the cartoon approach and contain some very dense music theory.

 

For piano literature, our teacher is now using Suzuki, but really a student can branch out into almost any type of piano literature after the beginning levels of Bastien. I think I was the one who introduced her to Suzuki, having grown up with modified Suzuki piano myself. Suzuki is essentially classical music, and the arrangement of the pages and fingering is great for many beginning to intermediate level piano students. The notes are smaller, but not too small. Suzuki makes for a nice transition to more complicated works than other publishers do, like Henle and Schirmer, which tend to use much smaller notes.

[Holly in FL]

Thanks, everyone! I'll have to do a comparison.

 

~Holly

[Debbie in IL]

:iagree:

[Debbie in IL]

Just one thought here - I believe that there are 5 books in the Faber series. (Just doublechecked this with a peek at the Faber website; they do show book 5). I have taught piano lessons for 15 years and love using the Faber books. I have used Bastien as well, but I do prefer the Fabers for many of the reasons already articulated in this thread.

[Melinda]

I like Alfred's the best. :)

[Holly in FL]

Thanks for the info!

 

~Holly

[Holly in FL]

Would you be more specific as to why you like it?

 

Thanks!

~Holly

[love2read]

For teaching myself, I like the Alfred series. It's very well laid out and has good, systematic information for the new teacher so that you don't miss anything. I have started all of my children with the Alfred prep. line and then moved them into the more advanced books. Our piano teacher uses Faber, Schaum, Thompson and Aaron. She uses Alfred too because I have them around. Our previous teacher prefered Thompson, Aaron and Schaum.

[Holly in FL]

Thanks for giving me all these details.

 

~Holly

[Lawana]

Another factor in favor of Faber is that they maintain a website that has video demonstrations of Nancy Faber teaching the Primer level lessons. http://pianoteaching.com/teachers/index.html Look on the left.

I see they also have videos for the My First Piano Adventures series. Replaces Primer for young students (5-6).

[Suzanne in ABQ]

Really! Maybe my local music store just doesn't carry it, or maybe they were out when I was there last, or maybe Book 5 is new? Whatever! Thank you! I'll look for it.

[Mom-ninja.]

I like Alfred's the best. :)

 

These are the books we are using now. We used Bastien and Piano Adventures in the past. The piano teacher we are using now really likes the Alfred books.

 

One thing about Bastien is that the pictures are very colorful and large, and for some children it's distracting. One teacher also told me she didn't like the "floating" notes in Bastien.

[Holly in FL]

Thank you for the input.

 

~Holly