Teaching beginners

[Jacey1973]

I was wondering can anybody recommend books for beginners?

When i started (at the age of 6) my teacher used Fanny Waterman's "Me and my piano" books 1 and 2. Then i moved onto the John Thompson's series (which i didn't really enjoy).

Does any other teacher use these books (tell me what you think of them) and are there any other alternatives for young children-and older students beginning to play?

[BoliverAllmon]

I was wondering can anybody recommend books for beginners?

When i started (at the age of 6) my teacher used Fanny Waterman's "Me and my piano" books 1 and 2. Then i moved onto the John Thompson's series (which i didn't really enjoy).

Does any other teacher use these books (tell me what you think of them) and are there any other alternatives for young children-and older students beginning to play?

Thompson sucks. They put the fingering on nearly every note. Therefore I was learning to read fingering and not notes.

boliver

[pianoannie]

Oh my Jenni, there are SO many choices now!  I'm glad you're wanting to steer clear of Thompson---doesn't have much kid-appeal, that's for sure!

I start my beginners in Hal Leonard Student Piano Library.  My students have done very well with this method.  It really "hooks" the kids on piano quickly, because the accompaniment CDs for the books really make the simple little pieces sound big and full!  The CDs are truly excellent arrangements.  I also like the improvisation included with HL; each book has several "My Own Song" assignments that the kids love.  There are several books at each level; I tend to use Lesson, Solos, Notespeller (for level 1) Theory (level 2 and up), and sometimes Technique.  But I do a lot of technique by rote so the book isn't necessary imo.

Another great series is Faber's Piano Adventures.  They also have accompaniment CDs, which I highly recommend.  I like to use Lesson, Theory, Technique&Artistry (this book is *excellent*---don't skip it), and for students who need more time to let concepts soak in, I also use Performance.  PA also has a huge selection of supplementary books to correlate with each level.

Both HL and PA give very good discounts to teachers (this is not why I use them!) so you would be wise to order some of these just to look through them.  HL often runs 50% off specials, plus they will give you an intro packet if you call and ask.  PA always gives teachers 40% off; just call and request a catalog, then call and order at the discount.

You can probably find the phone numbers if you search online.  If you need, just ask and I'll look up the numbers for you.

[johnkeller]

Even if they dont finger every note, methods which stay in the one hand position for a long time promote the idea that each note belongs to a certain finger, instead of a certain white key. The result is that changing to another hand position becomes a big problem. John Thompson wrote his middle C method in the 1930s. It was popular and still is because a lot of teachers teach how they learnt, and dont make the effort to look at newer ways. There are heaps of other method books. Look for ones that have various fingers on notes, and emphasise reading notes relatively (by intervals and patterns). And groovy looking new methods arent necessarily the best ones either. I see Annie has posted a reply while I was writing this. I agree with her choice of methods. I also like to teach kids those popular rote tunes before they learn them from other kids, - you probably know the ones I mean (on black keys).

[Jacey1973]

Thankyou very much for the advice. I will print this page out and check out these books! 

[sonatainfsharp]

At the moment, I refuse to use anything other than Piano Adventures by Faber. This may change over time, of course. And don't get me wrong, you can use bits and pieces from other methods to supplement.

[maryruth]

Yes, Faber is great.  Also, look into "The Piano Un-method:  Use the works of Great Composers to improve skills and expand artistic thinking" by Cassandra Carr.  The website is

www.unmethoders.com

  It charts the works of Bach, Bartok, Beethoven, Bloch, Bolcom, Burgmuller, Creston, Debussy, Dello-joio, Diamond, Granados, Gretchaninoff, handel, haydn, heller, Starer, etc...by level (1-10) and by techniques used in each piece (articulation, counterpoint, dynamics, interpretation, key changes, left hand, pedaling, range of motion, reading challenge, rhythm, voicing). 

[kingofthepiano]

I thought all the Piano Books were so bad that i created my own and it has worked very well. John Thompson is ok in the later books but not at first. Me and My Piano has fingers on EVERY note. And most other books are crap. American books are extra crap. Books written in the UK have far better tunes and far better teaching methods. But my own still works best.

[will]

...most other books are crap.

Agreed. Teaching exclusively from method books is a sure path to boredom for both teacher and student. Other than that most beginner books are much of a muchness.

[whynot]

I don't use method books anymore.  I start with super-easy pieces from the repertoire, plus write out little songs as needed to get started, then we go many different ways depending on age and interests.  I've never been terribly organized about it, I just keep lots and lots of music handy and try to respond to their interests and personalities with specific pieces.  I would LIKE to be more organized, though! so have been very interested in Bernhard's lists and also the "unmethod" mentioned above.  So thanks, guys!     

[i_m_robot]

drop em in at the deep end with Rachmaninov's preludes

[maryruth]

More about the Unmethod--The other handy thing this book gives you is a chart checking off what skills each song covers at each level (levels 1-10)....Skills included
ARTICULATION
COUNTERPOINT
DYNAMICS
INTERPRETATION
KEY CHANGES
LEFT HAND
PEDALING
RANGE OF MOTION
READING CHALLENGE
RHYTHM
VOICING
So, you can either look it up under specific skill....For example Counterpoint, Level 1 choices include Bartok "First Term at the Piano"  #2,3,4,5,6 Kabalevsky OP. 39  #1, #4
or Starer "Games with Names, Notes..."  #4.

Or, you can look up a specific collection....for example Kabalevsky OP. 39 #23 (waltz) and see that it's at level 5 and works on Articulation, dynamics, interpretation, left hand, range of motion, reading challenge, and rhythm.  Oh and it also makes a good performance piece.  There's a brief description, too:  "gorgeous, LH leaps, accidentals, combined articulations"

I think the book is really quite handy--particularly for a new teacher just getting acquainted with categorizing the classics and teaching them specific to student skill needs.

[ptmidwest]

The UnMethod Website doesn't seem to work...any other site to let us see what it is?  Thanks!

[maryruth]

Hmmm.....the site works when I click on it.  Try typing it into your webbrowser---or try


www.unmethoders.com/about.html.  That's the homepage. 

[ptmidwest]

THANK YOU.  It must have been my computer--whole thing stalled up, but now the site seems to work fine.  How many pages are in the book, though, and does it have material not covered in Jane Magrath's book?

[keys]

I'm amazed at how many of you recommend Faber's Piano Adventures. They are my least favorite series that I have taught. Even my little typists (the children who are in it for their parent's sake and don't really care) fine the melodies boring. I've had much more success with Alfred’s. The Alfred’s series leaves more room for teaching where as the Adventure series has everything spelled out to the very last detail.

[maryruth]

PTMidwest---there are 153 pages in the UnMethoders Book.  The authors do use Jane Magrath's Leveling for the most part, but they've categorized it even further.  I can't answer the question exactly, as I still haven't got my hands on Jane Magraths guide to standard teacher and performance literature.  I have it on order....but it is a different take--the book helps a teacher set up a teaching style that doesn't rely solely on method books and uses original pieces from the very beginning. 

Could a teacher with years of experience with this do it without the book?  I imagine, yes, but if you're trying to go to this way and have questions...it helps.  It also helps you quickly find exactly the right piece for a certain skill at a certain level.  That's the handiest feature, I think.

I will say that they use a lot of modern composers.  The classical period and baroque period are limited a bit in choice.  These are the book they categorize:

J.S. Bach--"An Intro to His Keyboard Music"  (alfred pub)
JS Bach--Little Preludes 1-19
Bela Bartok--First Term At the Piano, For Children, Vol I and II
Beethoven--"An Intro to his Piano Works" (alfred pub)
Ernest Bloch--Enfantines
William Bolcom--Monsterpieces
Burgmuller--Etudes, OP 100 and 109
Paul Creston--Five Little Dances, Op 24
Debussy--Children's Corner
Norman Dello Joio--Suite for the YOung
David Diamond--Album for the Young, Eight Piano Pieces
Enrique Granados--Cuentos de La Juventuid, Op 1
Gretchaninoff--Children's Album
Handel--Six Fughettas
Haydn--An Intro to his Keyboard Works (alfred pub)
Heller--Etudes, OP 45, 46 adn 47
Kabalevsky--30 childrens Pieces, OP 27 also Op 30
Khachaturian--Children's Pieces
Witold Lutoslawski--Folk Melodies/Three Pieces for the Young
Mendelssohn--Kinderstucke, Op 72
Mozart--"An Intro to his Keyboard Works" (alfred pub)
Robert Muczynski--Fables, Op 21
Vincent Persichetti--Little Piano Book, OP 60
Octavio Pinto--Scenas Infantis
Francis Poulenc--Villageoises
Prokofiev--Music for Children, Op 65
Satie--Children's Pieces for Piano
Scarlatti--Intro to his Keyboard Music (Aldred pub)
Schumann--Kinderszenen Op 15, Album for Young Op 68
Shostakovich--Dances of the Dolls
Robert Starer--Games with Names, Notes, and Numbers, Sketches in Color
Alexandre Tansman--Happy Time Book 1, 2, 3.  Pour Les Enfants, Book 1, 2, 3, 4
Tchaikovsky--Album for the young, Op 39
Joaquin Turina--Ninerias, Op 21
Ralph Vaughn-Williams--A little piano Book
Heitor Villa-Lobos--Guia Pratico, Albums 1, 2, 3, 8, 9.   Suite Infantil, Albums 1,2

[ptmidwest]

Maryruth-- I appreciate very much the information you provided in that last post--quite a bit,  thank you!  Every teacher will benefit from the useful list you have given us, whether we end up using the book or not.   Thank you.

[possom46]

I used to use Waterman Me and My Piano, but have recently changed to the Schaum colour books. I found that pupils were reading numbers too much with the Waterman books, and as I teach reading mainly by recognising intervals, the Schaum book helped me reinforce this, as well as some excellent exercises to help prepare for each piece. They might be old fashioned, but the pupils i've swopped them too love them