Iskra Posted March 4, 2019 Share Posted March 4, 2019 (edited) I haven't posted here in forever. I hope it is still a very active place full of wise contributors, because I need some advice. Ds is entering 9th grade next year and somehow we completely missed the boat on his music education. He had piano lessons for 3 years. He was doing very well, his teacher often said that he was among the brightest students she had ever had. Everything clicked easily for him and he was moving fast through the books. Then circumstances changed and his teacher could no longer come to our house and we stopped lessons altogether. That was 4 years ago. I thought he would just continue on his own because of how well it was going for him, but it fizzled out and he hasn't done any piano in 4 years. For a while he became interested in electronic music and was messing around with different software trying to make music for his computer games, but this was on and off and not taken very seriously. Now he is finishing up 8th grade and looking towards the high-school years he really wants to get back to the piano and take it seriously. Private lessons are definitely not in the budget at this point. How can we make this work for him? He has a math brain and anything logical/math related comes very easy to him, so I think he could very easily do an advanced music theory course at an accelerated pace (does this exist?) to serve as a refresher and make-up for 4 years of no instruction. This course would need to be part of a piano course and not just a separate music theory class, so that he can get back into practicing the piano, but at the same time learn theory at high-school level. So, please help as I do not know/understand the different stages/levels of a music education. Can someone who plays/teaches piano suggest a piano curriculum for him that won't make him waste time on stuff he already knows, but would quickly just review the beginner stuff and then move him through the rest of the material at an accelerated pace? It would need to be something that is self-taught and it is fine if it is aimed at adults. Edited March 6, 2019 by Iskra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskra Posted March 4, 2019 Author Share Posted March 4, 2019 I should add, I don't want to rule out video instruction, but he is definitely more of a book kid, and would prefers books to videos if all else was equal. Also, if this helps with placement, the last thing he played at a recital before he quit 4 years ago was Bach's Minuet in G major. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 4, 2019 Share Posted March 4, 2019 (edited) Can he take a College class piano class DE? These are designed for people who need a set level of proficiency for their degree, and move at a very fast pace. There are books designed for such courses, but it would work better with an instructor. Here’s one that is fairly widely used. https://smile.amazon.com/Alfreds-Group-Piano-Adults-First/dp/0882846531/ref=sr_1_17?crid=3IQ1HHDD6HKMG&keywords=class+piano+for+adult+beginners&qid=1551724110&s=gateway&sprefix=Class+piano%2Caps%2C155&sr=8-17 Edited March 4, 2019 by dmmetler 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted March 4, 2019 Share Posted March 4, 2019 Some teachers will barter/trade work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purpleowl Posted March 4, 2019 Share Posted March 4, 2019 14 minutes ago, PeterPan said: Some teachers will barter/trade work. This is what I was going to suggest. When I was in high school, I traded student aide work for voice lessons for two years, and another year I traded babysitting for lessons. Yard work, peer tutoring for the instructor's kids, house cleaning...lots of possibilities if you can find someone willing to barter! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73349 Posted March 4, 2019 Share Posted March 4, 2019 Did you keep his old books? It might be a good start to go back through them and see what he remembers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calm37 Posted March 4, 2019 Share Posted March 4, 2019 The Alfred Adult All-In-One Course is inexpensive and an easy way to see if starting with a book would work for him. I have worked through this course myself as a refresher from childhood piano lessons. I know an adult college student who was recently using this for a beginning piano course at school. It is just $12 at Amazon for Level One. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PinkyandtheBrains. Posted March 4, 2019 Share Posted March 4, 2019 41 minutes ago, Calm37 said: The Alfred Adult All-In-One Course is inexpensive and an easy way to see if starting with a book would work for him. I have worked through this course myself as a refresher from childhood piano lessons. I know an adult college student who was recently using this for a beginning piano course at school. It is just $12 at Amazon for Level One. This is my suggestion, one of my teens just started piano with this book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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