Piano Adventures, Higher levels vs Grades Options

[dolce@piano]

Thanks, I've just taken a look at the Piano Literature Book 3 which says it's Level 4 and there are some G1, G2 and G3 pieces in there. But then Book 4 (Level 5) has a G6 piece in it!! What a jump.

I know grading pieces isn't vital but I do like having an understanding of level. It helps me build up a bigger picture.

Hi, the Book 4 I was talking about was the Piano Adventures Performance book, i.e. part of the regular method books.

The Literature books are quite different, I think. I have one of them (can't remember which off-hand) but I think book 2 would be about Grade 2 (and, yes, I like to have a rough idea of grade levels too).

[Aquarelle]

I've just ordered the Papp method you suggested dolce@piano. I thought it might be an alternative to my intention to use Ministeps with my mixed language pair. It was 31.85 euros but I haven't got a lot of other stuff to order this year so splashed out. I could have got it cheaper on amazon.fr but for some reason they won't recognise me. I haven't had time to sort them out! Anyway it will be interesting to look at something different.

[dolce@piano]

I've just ordered the Papp method you suggested dolce@piano. I thought it might be an alternative to my intention to use Ministeps with my mixed language pair. It was 31.85 euros but I haven't got a lot of other stuff to order this year so splashed out. I could have got it cheaper on amazon.fr but for some reason they won't recognise me. I haven't had time to sort them out! Anyway it will be interesting to look at something different.

Ouch, that is quite dear !

I do so hope you like it now . . .

Just to add, it does start from the very basics but I always give my absolute beginners (even the teenage ones) the Hal Leonard baby primer book first.
For the little kids (who on average take about 3 months to get through it) I find the HL makes sure the real basics are covered and then I can assess whether to continue with the HL books or, as said before, if they are moving quite fast I can put them onto the Papp book.
For the teenagers, I lend them the HL book and they go through it in 3-4 weeks but then take off flying with a more grown-up book.

So that's my only proviso i.e. that I haven;t used it as an absolute beginner book.
Apart from that, I really enjoy it - just to add, I once had two 9 year-olds who were both doing very well after the initial couple of months. I moved one onto Papp and the other onto the Herv?/Pouillard Premiere annee de piano published by Lemoine which, on the face of it, seemed a well laid out, nicely presented method book, although a bit overly 'technical' perhaps. Anyway, I knew that a lot of teachers here use it so I thought I'd give it a go.
In short, the Papp girl did infinitely better, and I enjoyed it far more too - it just seemed a lot better all round. And further experience has backed that up.

Do let me know what you think.

PS Sorry to everyone else that this is a bit specific and also rather off-topic but it was just possible that someone else was thinking about the book too so I left it as a public message.

[Seer_Green]

Thanks, I've just taken a look at the Piano Literature Book 3 which says it's Level 4 and there are some G1, G2 and G3 pieces in there. But then Book 4 (Level 5) has a G6 piece in it!! What a jump.

I know grading pieces isn't vital but I do like having an understanding of level. It helps me build up a bigger picture.

I think the difficulty is that in the US, they don't seem particularly bothered by exams so it's really difficult to equate their books with our grades. They also seem to have a different approach to pedagogy and so things which might in the UK seem quite a jump might not be so much so in their context of their approach.

For me, Piano Adventures works very well as long as the lesson book is supported by the theory and technique books. I find that the progress in the lesson book alone is rather quick for most children. I do like the series though.

[agricola]

If pupils are moving fast and have started scales and sight reading I divert to pre-Grade 1 / easiest grade 1 pieces at the end of PA1. Otherwise I wait until about half-way through PA2A. I prefer to move off PA at this point as although I like the pieces, they stay in 5-finger positions rather too long.

For slowish pupils I use 3A and 3B performance books after Grades 1 and 2 respectively as the pieces sound impressive and move around the keyboard but are quite quick to learn so give the idea that the hard work has been worthwhile!

[Aquarelle]

The Lajos Papp book arrived this morning. I knew it was ring bound, dolce@piano, as you have said so, so I had already prepared myself to overcome my horror or ring bound books. There was, of course, the usual one page only half bound and lots of pages dtuck to one another at the binding point so I turned through the lot very carefully!

On to the content. It does look very interesting. I think it might well suit my bilingual pair as they have actually covered some music basics in class music lessons with me. For me it will make a nice change from the American methods - which I like but which, like anything one uses a lot, can get a bit stale. I'm going to play through this afternoon and I think I will use it - perhaps in conjunction with other things but I don't think it was a waste of money, not by any means (the price did include postage!)