Hi everyone!

i have a new piano student starting in a few weeks, she is 14, and i was wondering if you could guild me in the direction of some suitable tutor books?

I am used to younger students, but not teenagers!!

Please help!!

many thanks

Hi,

I'm 15, but I don't know if I can help or not - I seem to like different music to most of the people my age!!!!

If I choosing a piece for myself, I'd find a nice and pretty song with a nice melody or something. Or maybe a faster and fun piece might work quite well, although it might be seen as a bit young/cheesy depending on what song you choose.

Maybe get a few different pieces together, and play them to her....ask which she likes. Or ask her what type of music she listens to or is interested in playing, and go from there.

Sorry that wasn't much help. Good luck.

Laura

I've just started a 14 year old girl on the new Alan Haughton books for teenagers. She seems to like them - we've got the repertoire book as well, so she has plenty of material to work on and doesn't get too bored. Shame you can't see a picture here - they are nice colourful books.

I also like Carol Barratt's tutor book for older beginners

Like yourself, most of my pupils started a lot younger and used kids tutor books, but I had a 13 year old start just 2 weeks ago.

It's an awkward age since the books I usually use are definitely a bit childish, so I risked using an adult book with her (Carol Barratt's, The Classic Piano Course). She seems to have taken to it like a duck to water - but she's played cello in the past and, I think, guitar, so some of the concepts are not new.
In addition, she was referred to me - her little sister's best friend is a fairly new pupil of mine - and she's been having a look at my pupil's books, which has given her a head start. We'll see how it's going in a month...
I'm sure you'll get other suggestions! Hope this helps.

I like Carol Barratt too, but it moves rather quickly for some, so it might be a good idea to use something else alongside it. Even printing lots of suitable short pieces from the internet as support material would be an idea. (See General Music Forum - Car Expert's FAQs - there's a list there of suitable websites, many of which have free downloads.

I received my free copy of Piano Works by Alan and Janet Bullard this week. Free because I sent off for one following the ad in the latest copy of Libretto. I'm very impressed with it, and would be tempted to use it with this learner if I were in your shoes.

cheers
Karen

You just can't generalise about a 14-year-old - I know some who only want to play classical music, some who only like jazz, or pop, or folk, or TV themes, or movie soundtracks.... or a combination of some or all of the above.

The best thing is to get to know the child, find out her tastes and take it from there, making sure to feed in a bit of other stuff (unless there's a truly massive resistance) to make sure they develop a broad taste and can play in differing styles and genres.

A few will just shrug (frustratingly), in which case you need to employ some ingenuity. Good luck!

HI!
thanks you for all your helpful sugestions! I have a few things to have a look at now.

thanks again