There have been one or two discussions of Alan Haughton's Play Piano books for beginners which came out earlier this year. I've enjoyed Alan's other material, and I'm using the first book with a couple of pupils, and so far am quite liking it. However ...

Has anyone else bought the theory-activity book (grade 0-1) to accompany this piano teaching book? I recently ordered a copy online to see what it was like. I discovered there was an error on one page (two key signatures/ names have been swapped, so F major has 2#s and D major has Bb). Clearly a mistake in setting up the page for printing, but one which may well confuse a pupil if not spotted and corrected by the teacher first. A child working through the book without a teacher could be badly misled.

I e-mailed the publisher with this bit of information - and they seemed quite unaware of the error. Anyone buying or thinking of ordering this book may like to know in advance - Kevin Mayhew don't seem particularly concerned by this failure of their quality control - looks like they need a proof reader or something!

For interest, their reply is copied below ...

Play Piano will have the error amended when the book is reprinted as our editorial department have checked it and you are correct. Due to high stock levels a reprint is not possible yet.

In other words, they will continue to despatch their faulty copies until they are used up. Hmm. Doesn't encourage confidence - but it's good to know I'm correct !

Did you offer?

Thanks for the heads-up .

That's shocking! I like Alan's material too and have started using the Play Piano series with my younger pupils. I haven't bought the theory book as I use my own worksheets and MTIP.

It would surely be possible for Kevin Mayhew to print a sticker to correct the mistake. Just selling it as it is, is not acceptable!

Perhaps we could all pretend that we have bought the book and want to know what game they're playing. If maybe fifty people email in the next few days they might see it as a problem?

Good idea John ! I will pm you my reply to the company - which I think (hope) makes the point.

YAP - I thought of it but decided I wouldn't want to work for a company that can treat accuracy so lightly

It's usual for the publishers/printers to issue an error amendment with the copies of the book they have in stock. However I doubt very much if they would "scrap" their entire inventory because of this one error, it would cost them too much money. These things happen from time to time.

Yes - it is usual, but they so far haven't even said they will do that.

Mayhew are not good at proof reading. I boggled at a page in Let's Play Flute Book 2 that was entitled 'Practising using the octave key'.

(For non-flautists amongst you, the flute doen't have an octave key. My guess was that it came from a sax edition.)

What does a flute have then? I thought it overblew in octaves

Yes, it does, but you make it happen by changing the shape of your lips, not by opening a key as an oboist would, or, I think, a sax player.

So until the book is reprinted, D major will have a temporary change of key signature!

That would be a nightmare if you were teaching yourself... "What octave key? Oh no, my flute is faulty!!"

Yes, you would think they would issue a correction sticker, _particularly_ if they have loads of copies to sell before they do a new print run.

Both ways work on sax. The real challenge is stopping it jumping an octave when you don't want it to!

Really, its unacceptable that they can't be bothered to do anything about it, after all, it is their fault.

Yes - and F major too !

I had an email reply this evening from someone else at KM - here's his reply -

Thank you for bringing this mistake to our attention. It is a great shame, as we are known for the quality of our editions and are particularly proud of the Play Piano course. I am surprised that after all the copies we have sold and all the magazines it has been reviewed in, this is the first time the mistake has been brought to our attention!

The book will be reprinted just after Christmas, so we will certainly rectify this awful mistake in the new edition. Thanks once again for bringing it to our attention. If you would like to return the book, we will of course give you a full refund.

"known for the quality of your editions" ? Hmmm - I'll see what he thinks of Andante's comment!

Shall suggest he keeps me up to date with progress on reprinting - and sends me a complimentary copy of the reprinted version! In the meantime the faulty one is proving useful in "spot the mistake" games with my younger pupils.

That's good.

I'll still send them an email about it.

Good for you John.

I have asked the guy who replied what they plan to do about the faulty copies in the meantime.


I have also asked for comments on the mistake that Andante found in Play Flute.