Which tutorial series is recomended for adult beginners?

[russellambrose]

I am looking for the most popular series of piano teaching books. Your comments please

[m1469]

I cannot discern from your post whether you are looking for the books so you can teach, or if you are looking for the books so you can learn how to play the piano yourself.

In short, there are a number of popular books out there : Bastien, Faber and Faber, Alfred... to name a few. 

I generally do not use "method books" at this point, mainly because I have not found anything that truly covers the scope I wish to cover with my students.   So, sheer popularity does not necessarily equate to a perfect or even good fit for the individual.   You want your pianistic/life goals, whether as a teacher or player yourself, to have a leading role in what you decide on. 

My own goals for my students and for me as a player happen to have been fairly specific from the start, and in many senses only continue to get more so.  That has something to do with my decisions on this matter.

In my mind, the more specific, the better (and one can always change course once recieving more information).


m1469

[russellambrose]

m1469,
Surely the most popular books as chosen by the teaching profession represents the best method to teach piano. If this were not the case they would choose a different book or someone would write a better book. It should be easy to acertain what the most popular series of books is. Does anyone know the figures?
Russell

[bernhard]

m1469,
Surely the most popular books as chosen by the teaching profession represents the best method to teach piano. If this were not the case they would choose a different book or someone would write a better book. It should be easy to acertain what the most popular series of books is. Does anyone know the figures?
Russell

Er... Surely just because 2 billion flies eat dung does not mean that it is good for you. "Popularity" is hardly a parameter for quality (Just look at Britney Spears sales)

The teaching profession does not have access to all possible methods ever used, and then goes into a detailed comparison of its merits in order to select the best one, which then become an instant best-seller.

More often than not the teaching profession uses the methods their teachers used mostly because methods are very boring and they are all itching for the student to move on beyond them so that actual repertory can be tackled.

Sometimes big corporations like Hal Leonard and Alfred will send their material as promotion matierial to teachers, so that teachers will use them.

Like m1469, I do not use methods, since I feel they are really unnecessary - unless the teacher is very inexperenced and need some "ready made" material to fall back on.

Most methods represent particular ways of teaching that proved highly successful with certain students, so that the teacher who developed them dedided to write about it. But piano teaching is of necessity highly individualised. What works with a student may not work with a different one. Certain teachers are very selective and end up teaching only students that can be taught by their methods (the others being labelled untalented or other label as such). Tej deççusion fo the "superiority" of the method is thus ingrained. So unless you are one of these students, you will not profit by the method. Hence the enormous variety of methods in the market.

If you want to go by best-sellers, you will end up with Hanon!

Teachers who prize themselves in being able to teach any student, rarely develop "methods" for the reasons stated above.

In any case, have a look at these threads, since they may answer your question:

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2192.msg18542.html#msg18542
(methods for very young students – Candida website)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2979.msg26080.html#msg26080
(Methods)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,4405.msg40979.html#msg40979
(method books)

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[elspeth]

I am one of the legion of dreaded adult beginners... and I don't use a method book, I have a teacher whose knowledge of beginner's repertoire is big enough to teach me from 'proper' music. The only thing even close to a method book she gave me was a photocopied page (from a book that's out of copyright, fully legal!) showing types of scale and associated fingering.

If you choose the right repertoire and have the right approach you don't have to limit yourself to somebody else's teaching ideas. Broaden your horizons and develop your own! Teach music you and your student both like and base your lessons on the content of the music.

If my teacher had tried to give me a method book, I would firstly have asked if that was their only approach and whether they were prepared to try working off script, and if the answer had been negative I would have found another teacher. I suppose there is a proportion of adult beginners who do get on ok with method books. But I'm not one of them and would have lost interest extremely fast had I been made to use one...

[ingagroznaya]

Oh my... so negative, Elspeth. Sounds like you really need some good russian spanking. So what is the first " proper" piece you played after looking at type of scale and associated fingering?

[bernhard]

Sounds like you really need some good russian spanking.

It surely worked for Percy Grainger.

[sauergrandson]

Barenboim did learn piano ONLY with Mozart Concertos and Beethoven Sonatas. There are scales, arpeggios, chords.   Or not?

[elspeth]

Oddly enough my teacher's Russian... I'm learning a couple of Bach's 2-part inventions at the moment - because I like them, not because they're useful.

[ingagroznaya]

Oddly enough my teacher's Russian...

I do not find it odd at all. You did not answer my question. What was your proper pieces before you turned to Bach?

[ingagroznaya]

It surely worked for Percy Grainger.

The spanking was australian, I guess. Don't ruin my reputation, Bernhard. I am more in to feet.