Adult Beginner's Book

[merlin_emrys]

A friend is wanting me to help him get started with piano.  He is an avid listener of classical music, but has no experience playing.

I have done quite a bit of reading on various forums, and it seems that the Faber Adult Piano Adventures seems like a good place to begin.  But which would be better -- Accelerated or Adult?  And what about additional material in terms of pieces to play?

Many thanks!

-merlin

[maryruth]

I actually prefer the Accelerated Beginner Series.  I've used the Adult Beginner Book, too...I don't like it as much.  The pages are too busy or something.

[merlin_emrys]

Hi Maryruth, and thanks for your response. 

With the Accelerated Beginner Series, do you use the other books of the same level to augment the learning?  By that I mean Theory, Performance, Popular Repertoire, and Technique and Artistry.

-merlin

[chocolatedog]

I'm the opposite - I found the Adult course quite good with an adult learner who had no prior muscial knowledge. It moves quite gently and doesn't seem to assume anything, and she's enjoying it. I've also used the Accelerated course, but with 10 to 11 year olds, but abandoned it in both cases after book 1. Having said that, it was quite a good start for them, and put the basics in place for them.

[maryruth]

The main reason I like the Accelerated Beginner Book as opposed to the Adult book is basically an esthetic preference.  I personally don't like the look of the Adult Beginner book.  There's too much going on on each page.  It's distracting.  The music is fine, though. 

Some other great beginner stuff, if you want to tackle some classical--Kabalevksy Op 39.  This is a nice collection.  KJOS puts out a cheap version ($3.95 US).  Plus, you can purchase a separate CD, I believe so you can hear what your goal is. 

Also, FJH just put out a new series of Classical collections at different levels.  It's called "Succeeding with the Masters:  The Festival Collection".  Each edition comes with a CD that has all the pieces on it.  The book and CD together are only 7.95m which I think is reasonable.  Each book has somethings from each time period, and I think Level 1 would be a great start for a new adult student that wanted to start some simple classical pieces.  If you find these really easy then you can do Level 2, etc...

[kimba1055]

A friend is wanting me to help him get started with piano.  He is an avid listener of classical music, but has no experience playing.

I have done quite a bit of reading on various forums, and it seems that the Faber Adult Piano Adventures seems like a good place to begin.  But which would be better -- Accelerated or Adult?  And what about additional material in terms of pieces to play?

Many thanks!leg me said how i feel i'm 31 years old i play only for 3 year and 75% of what i play is j s bach and the other 25 % is czerny and in tree years i'm playing level 6 and 7 so i rec you to give him bach if he really want to learn i think is very very good for beginer

-merlin