Piano Lessons, Book 1

I have been teaching the piano for over 12 years and this book has served me very well.Even though the content is targeted towards younger beginners I use it even for adults, simply because of its logical format. I've tried numerous other books that seem to be filled with page after page of mind-numbing studies for each hand in the most un-musical fashion before gradually introducing 'hands together' pieces. What the authors of this book clearly recognise is that learning does not simply take place in a linear fashion; you also learn in hindsight and from experience - this is demonstrated by the fact that the first two-handed piece is introduced very early on in the book; a challenging contrapuntal study that is followed by a series of easier pieces for each hand separately, before gradually building back up to hands together pieces.The book starts with rhythm exercises to introduce note vales, something which many other tutor books miss out. It is interspersed throughout with note-finding exercises instead of restricting these to the beginning of the book and it is this sort of feature which clearly shows that it is designed for use by teachers.I only have a few minor points which I would change:- there seems to be a rather large gap at the end of the book between the last 'study' piece and the 'repertoire' section, which contains pieces of at least grade 1 - 3 standard. This means that the teacher has to find appropriate pieces to fill in the gaps- time signatures, sharps, flats and key signatures are all introduced in the book, however unfortunately the authors have failed to embed these concepts into the pieces that follow and again the teacher is forced to find appropriate pieces containing sharps, flats and different time signatures to compensateAs long as the teacher is aware of these important issues then this is a very useful book for the beginner

This arrived after about a week. It’s a good book to use to learn piano and obviously cheaper secondhand. There are one or two pen written things in it and quite a lot of pencil which I have tried my best to rub out.

I have no music experience at all, so I can’t even read music. I am so glad I bought this book! Even though it is aimed at adult beginners, it still explains things very simply and right from the basics. I’ve already done chapter 1-3 and it has covered hand and seating position, some basic note reading, the positions of the notes on the piano, some simple tunes and hand exercises. I’m teaching myself without a piano teacher and I’m really enjoying it! I also chose this book because it was written by English piano teachers, so all of the musical terminology is the English version (American terminology is different). This was important to me as I plan to do my piano grading exams here in England and I didn’t want to get confused by learning the American terms.Update: After completing the learning chapters, I started learning the pieces of music at the back of this book but they are a massive jump in difficulty from the tunes within the book. This can be too challenging and quite discouraging for a beginner. I almost quit learning because I felt that if I couldn’t complete level 1, then there was no point in continuing. Luckily, I spoke to some teachers and they said that those pieces were too advanced for a level 1 book. So beware!I also moved on to using the Alfred All in One level 1 Book after finishing this book and Alfred is soooo much better!! It explains music theory in so much more detail. It covers melodic and harmonic intervals which aren’t even mentioned in this book and it gives much more practice playing chords too. Alfred is also about 3-4 times the thickness of this book, so you get a much more in depth level 1 course with Alfred. I wish I hadn’t bought this book and had gone with Alfred from the beginning.

This book is not for a young beginner, it is all in black and white and will not engage a 7 year old like other books can. It introduces concepts exceptionally fast and all notes are thrown at the learner straight away. It progresses very fast and would be more suited to an older child or adult beginner. It’s good value for money as will last up to grade 1, however a younger child would benefit from a shorter more engaging book and to feel sense of achievement in finishing it much quicker. This book could take at least a year and would need a piano teacher to teach it to the student. Great for older beginners, not for 5 to 10 years.

Probably one of the best instructional books for Piano out there.

Ok so lets see...either go through 10 pupils and gradually experiment with how to teach, or start on the right foot with this excellent teaching resource for piano teachers, parents and perhaps music teachers as well.This is aimed at younger starters but will work equally well with any age group as long as they are willing. It could also be part of a self teaching resource for adult starters.While there are many good teachers and methods out there, this has to be one of the best. Nothing fancy, nothing outlandish, just good, useful common sense approach to helping youngsters pick up the piano.There is a recognition that no one is immune to boredom so there is plenty to keep youngsters happy like duets and other fun exercisesAll in all a good product. Anything by someone with a name like Fanny Waterman must be good

Well laid out and took me through the first steps of learning the piano.