NotSoObvious Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 I am looking for a set of books that will help me teach my girls to read music and play the piano (not play by ear). I play at a basic level...it's been a while...but I read music well. I'm looking for something easy to use, open and go, sequential and logical. I'd love to have books to play from plus some sort of workbook for theory (coloring or labeling notes, etc). My girls are almost 10 but they still love all the cutesy stuff, so I'm not worried about them being too old for something. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollyhock Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 I really like the Faber Piano Adventures series. I'm using it with my boys. It's easy to follow and there are workbooks if you want them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allearia Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 I really like the Faber Piano Adventures series. I'm using it with my boys. It's easy to follow and there are workbooks if you want them. :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotSoObvious Posted May 23, 2012 Author Share Posted May 23, 2012 Great, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonflyAcademy Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 my children are enjoying Hal Leonard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sixpence1978 Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 I third the Faber Piano Adventures. My kids are using them at piano lessons and have learned so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly1730 Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 I third the Faber Piano Adventures. My kids are using them at piano lessons and have learned so much. This is also what one of my boys uses for piano. They both have such a good "ear" that the teacher didn't want them to use the same books for fear of them just listening to the other's lesson and picking it up that way, not truly reading music SO the other one uses Alfred's Premier Piano. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amsunshine Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 We really enjoy a series called Piano Town by Keith Snell/Diane Hidy (with Lesson Books, Theory, Technic and Performance). The first two books of the series also come with audio CDs, which is helpful for beginners. You don't hear about this series much, but it's wonderfully straightforward and easy to teach (especially if you already read music). It progresses into real classical pieces fairly quickly and is designed to be used along with Snell's Piano Repertoire series (which also comes with CDs for all levels) starting with the Preparatory level about halfway through the 2nd book. We are almost finished with the 3rd book and will continue with the 4th and final book of Piano Town. After that, we'll transition into just repertoire using the Snell series of books and a smattering of others. I did look at Piano Adventures when my girls first started out, but didn't care for its "busy-ness". I haven't looked at anything other than the beginner level, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
besroma Posted May 24, 2012 Share Posted May 24, 2012 Another recommendation for Piano Adventures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GingerPoppy Posted May 24, 2012 Share Posted May 24, 2012 Piano Adventures is my favourite to teach from, with Alfred and Bastien being my second and third favourites. It depends on the type of student. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunshine clementine Posted May 24, 2012 Share Posted May 24, 2012 when i was teaching piano i used piano adventures most frequently..with children and adults..sometimes a little bit of alfred books..they have a massive library of books for each level..if your children are very young like 3-5 years old, i always taught using alfred's music for little mozarts. the children start playing right away using a finger numbering system on the black notes..and then by the second book, they are reading the music..it's a very slow and steady process appropriate for the very young. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eschuetter Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 Another recomendation for Faber Piano Adventures. And a fun (helpful) thing we stumbled upon... many songs can be found on YouTube: some videos are teachers that have recorded songs as demonstrations for their students and other videos are piano recitals. These videos have been very helpful when my boys are "stuck" and can't quite figure out a section of a song. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LillyMama Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 I teach my kids and my students (friends' kids) with Alfred, but they are young. I like the Alfred series because they have a lot of corresponding books you can pick and choose from. My daughter loves the theory books while my son loves the ear-training books. One of my students likes the recital books. I just like that I can do different things based on the kids' interests and abilities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 My DD is doing Faber with a lot of the Alfred extras. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cougarmom4 Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 We also use Piano Adventures. The most helpful thing for me is that on their we site, they have videos showing how to teach the lessons. This is incredibly helpful for someone who may be teaching their own kids but not necessarily be a piano teacher. The link is pianoadventures.com/guide/contents.HTML Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinkgumby Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 I've tried various things with my 10 yo son that didn't stick . . . then I downloaded the Jon Schmidt book, and did the first lesson with him. He went through and did the rest on his own (read the teacher notes, practiced the songs) faster than it even said to. In less than a month he went from basically only knowing where middle C was (but being able to play some things by ear) to being able to sit down and sight-read some pretty complicated music. I HIGHLY recommend it, especially since it's just $15 or so. You can even download the Jon Schmidt note-reading method for free! Here's a link: http://www.jonschmidt.com/catalog/ed_pianoteachers.php?osCsid=85ce77287d81414acd09e90049a99d3e#1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sara in AZ Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 Piano Town is fun. Th Faber books are pretty tried and true. A PP mentioned their website, which is a great place to get teaching hints. Last time I wAs at the music store I noticed a hard bound Fabrer teacher's guide that went piece by piece with great teaching suggestions. It was pricey, but would be very useful for a parent seeking to teach their own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcgenesis1 Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 As someone who has taught piano and have sampled pretty much all of the method books. I've used Hal Leonard, Piano Adventures by Faber, Bastien, David Carr Glover and some others. But the one that I love the best in Celebrate Piano. Because it takes some time to emphasize interval reading before bogging the student down with too much note reading. This method has been proven to improve sight reading music immensely. Students play along with a CD too which helps develope ear training. Which is a MUST for mastering the piano. Here is the website....http://www.celebratepiano.com/ I can't say enough about it. The results are great! There are levels 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B and levels 3 and 4. At level 3 or 4 it is totally fine to introduce the classical repetoire...usually is Celebration Series Perspectives. The theory books are suppemented with another series. Any will do for the basic theory levels. There are flashcards too withthe Celebrate Piano book series which have theory in them too. My vote is for Celebrate Piano!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
susankhan Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 This is not a set of books per say but great FREE resources :) http://www.pianodiscoveries.ca/ Susan Khan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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