Hope someone can help. I have a couple of pupils learning using the Dogs and Birds books. These two are my guinea pigs, as I'd never used this book beofre, but it has worked well for them, as neither were confident readers when they started with me. They both play confidently with both hands (one is a little more plodding than the other, but still ok) and are especially fluent with the two-handed rhythms.

My problem now is, how do i transition to regular books, and, more importantly, which books should I transition to? Anybody have any experience of this. I normally teach using the All in one course, although i've recently started using Me and My Piano with some kids.

Thanks in advance.

I've only used the first Dogs & Birds book so I'm not sure what range of notes/note values they get to in book 2, assuming you have worked through both books.

I think you should look for some easy repertoire books and maybe something like Dozen a Day exercises to build technique. I've used Alan Haughton's Roundabout with a number of young pupils - in fact at least two came to me with Me & My Piano and I used Roundabout when they were getting towards the end of Me & My Piano 2. They are around Prep Test level and are described as such in the book. I should say though that the size of the staves is smaller than Dogs & Birds so it might be trickier for them to read - they are not very small, probably around size of Me & My Piano at a guess.

How old are your pupils?


Louise

They are 5 and 6. I've began to talk about the note names, substituting D for dog etc, although not all the time yet. You're right about the size and look of the notation being quite different. I'd say the note range in Dogs and Birds two is similar to Me and My Piano 2, although Dogs and Birds introduces some nice little repetitive exercises too, which I'm quite impressed with.

Thanks for your advice.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that the Bastien books are a good follow-on. Sorry, I cannot be more precise.

Have you got a good music shop near you where you can go and browse a bit?

A couple of other ideas -

Abracadabra Piano Book 1 which is designed to be used alongside a tutor book and has lots of short pieces. It also includes creative activities for improvising, transposing, playing games with the teacher, teacher duet parts, listening/copying games etc.

Me & My Piano Repertoire - lots of short pieces

You don't say if it's the end of book 1 or 2. About half way through book two I introduce First Pops which has quite big notes, so it's a good transition book. At the end of book 2 they are ready for Up Grade 0-1 by Wedgwood (or various other 0-1 books, although I did get one that's bright blue - possibly by Haughton, can't lay my hands on it, think have lent it to someone for sightreading and it was very hard for a 0-1 book), as long as you have taught them about quavers. I do this by introducign Flip a Rhythm when they start Book 2 Dogs and Birds.

Just googled to look for first pops and this came up on the Dogs and Birds forum, may be worth having a look there for other ideas.

First Pops for Piano by Jane Smisor Bastien ISBN 0-8497-6154-9.

Hi Barcarolle,

Please could you enlarge on Flip a Rhythm?

Flip-a-Rhythm are books which contain rhythm exercises for clapping etc. I've seen them but haven't used them. See link below:

http://www.boosey.com/teaching/sheet-music...Rhythm-1-2/3274

I can't recommend these highly enough - my pupils LOVE them!

my students don't have problems playing in time - probably due in large part to developing their sense of pulse through lots of rhythm exercises including flip a rhythm. - so it's really a brilliant book!

[quote name='Louise H' date='Mar 17 2010, 03:01 PM' post='932092']
[quote name='fizzyorange' post='932086' date='Mar 17 2010, 02:38 PM']

Me & My Piano Repertoire - lots of short pieces
[/quote]

I've been going with this too. Sorry if this is an obvious point but I think it important that, whichever book you choose, you carry on with the same methods - such as the singing pieces first - that help to make Dogs and Birds work so well.

You don't say if you have started to wean the children onto the blank notes rather than the animal notes but this has been helpful to me in the past too.

Wow, thanks for all the responses. Hils, I am still using the animal notes, which is why I am a little concerned. I think I will start supplementing Book 2 with some easy short pieces, from Me and My Piano or some of the others mentioned. Both the pupils are pretty switched on in general, so hopefully will be fine.

Thanks again for all your comments. (Will definitely check out Flip a Rhythm - sounds interesting, and maybe similar to the rhythm exercises in Dogs and Birds, which I really like.)

Agree also about replicating the techniques from D & B with other books.

I'll let you know how I get on.

You mean you are not using the blanks edition of book 2 alongside the animals one? I have found that a way around this is to set the work one week using animals, and then the second week (or when the child is ready) ask child to play the same piece in animals. Or for example play it once in animals and then 2 x in blanks book.

Barcarolle, no I'm not using the books in tandem, although I can see that would be a useful approach. Trouble is, the D & G books are quite expensive, so I wouldn't expect the parents to buy both. Do you keep your own copy of the blank edition and just use it in the lesson?

Hi fizzyorange, I have my own copy of the blank edition and will be using that with the animal edition when the little girl I am working with is a bit further along. We have only had three sessions. Like yourself I thought it would be too much to ask the parents to cough up for both, although it would be nice for the children to have their own to practise from when they get to that stage. I suppose it probably wouldn't be the right thing to photocopy from the blank edition.

Everyone has their own copy of both books. They work really well, much better than other tutor books I have found and no one has ever objected to the cost. I used to work through animals and then introduce blanks but have found that it's much better to work with them in tandem, that way the note reading doesn't get left behind and they don't become totally reliant on having the animal notes book. Because they are expensive I do pass on my teacher discount.

I've recently moved one 5 year old pupil from the 1st D&B book onto John Schaum pre A. I thought she may struggle with note names instead of animals but she's surprised me and is doing quite well. Steady progress but not bad considering she doesn't do that much practise.

I'm using Piano Adventures Primer (but not the off-stave work at the beginning of it) in tandem with D&B book 2, as well as various things I make up myself from time to time. I have found that, even though the PA notes don't have animals and are smaller, my 6 year old is moving easily from one system to the other because she is at a more advanced stage in the D&B book than she is in the PA. The PA is also very imaginative and has a series of videos with notes, to give you ideas of what you might do in a lesson: http://www.pianoteaching.com/guide/contents.html I use my own copy of PA.