Beginner books in all keys

[keyofc]

Does anyone know of a beginnier method book that starts kids in all keys?
I have noticed this is a big problem when going through easy material.
What's the use of teaching beginners key signatures when everything is written
in C, G or if you're lucky, key of F is included.

If you don't use other sheet music - the student feels intimidated by the time they get
a piece in C # because it's been held back so long.

thanks!

[nanabush]

I sometimes have the same problem - a book will cover "c position", "g position" and IF I'm lucky "f position" hehe.  Then at one point it will just start jumping all over the map, and the student will say "what position is this?".

What I'll try to do early enough is get them memorizing the key signatures for scales that they play.  I see kids playing a scale purely from muscle memory, then when I say "how many sharps were there?" they have no idea.

If you can get a beginner to learn at least the major scales up to 4 sharps (all the same C major fingering), then slowly ease in the tricky scales with different fingering, and constantly quiz them on the key signatures, relative majors/minors, then they will grow used to it.

I like seeing a kid start a new piece that has say 2 or 3 sharps, and they say "oh it's got 2 sharps, like D major"... I find that much better than circling every C and F so that they can remember to play them sharp.

A method book would be way too long to cover each key in enough depth that it can be retained, but scales do go a LONG way! 

[honeywill]

I use 'Get ready for Pentascale duets' by Wynn-Anne Rossi for most of my beginners - a great little book that gives students a chance to play something in all 12 major and minor keys, within a 5 finger position. It is good for getting them used to playing on the black keys, introducing major and minor tonality and setting them up for transposition of simple exercises (like Dozen-a-day for instance). The duet parts for the teacher/parent are tuneful and presented in different styles, so there is potential for discussion about musical periods and composers etc (maybe re-visiting the books later with a more advanced student who can read through the 'teacher' parts).

[keyofc]

Thanks for your comments!

I haven't seen the book you mentioned - thanks - I think I'll pick that up.

I have always thought about starting a student on C# Major
and seeing if it's really that hard for them - sometimes I think we make it
seem harder than it really is by the long delay.