I am fairly new to teaching, so I wondered what everyone would recommend for teaching an 8 year the piano, who already has 1 year of music knowledge through playing another instrument. I have looked at john thompson, chester and alan haughtons play piano. I quite like the look of the play piano, but am wondering if it is too young for an 8 year old?? Does anyone use this book, have any comments on the others, or could suggest a different book for me to look at? thanks!

I like the Alfred's Premier Piano series for this age group. They are on the expensive side as you have to buy three books at a time - Lesson, Performance and Theory, but they give a very solid grounding with material presented in imaginative ways, with plenty of varied repetition. The children I have used them with have progressed more quickly and with better understanding than others who have not. The Lesson and Performance books come with playalong CDs. I took advantage of the publisher's (Faber) offer of a free set of the 1A books to teachers - I don't know if they are still doing this, but it might be worth enquiring.

Piano Adventures!!!

I agree with aspiringmusic teacher -- I've been teaching for ages and the Piano Adventures books are the best I've ever used. You have to explain a few Americanisms, but they have proved very popular with my pupils, in fact I frequently get the comment "I love this piece !"

does anyone use any of the play piano series?? thanks

I really like "key club" books by Anne Bryant. Really fun, they seem to love the pictures too and make up stories to go with the music. 'Tunes for 10 fingers' is another good one of 'piano time' if they are quick learners. good luck

I like the Hal Leonard series and find they work quite well with lots of supporting material. Good luck,

Tasha

Hi,
this is my first posting so I hope i get it right!
Many of my 8+ yr old students start on Pauline Hall's Pianotime 1 - it is aimed at youngsters but not babyish, includes puzzle pages and new and familiar pieces which all the students seem to enjoy!

I went to nosey around a local piano shop today and found it had a great stock of piano music. Piano Adventures was there. I bought 'My First Piano Adventure' for the young beginner - pre-reading. What a lovely book it is - has anyone used this very first one in the series?

No, but I've got a copy on order as I have some very young pupils just starting, so I'm glad to hear it's a good one !

I haven't used it yet but I am going to select some arm-weight exercises from it to use with some pupils today

Would they be a good idea for a 7 year old who seems to be a bit stuck with other books like Piano Time?

I have been using Piano Adventures for about 10 years +...when they first came out.

Probably the only series that I haven't tired of quickly. By the way, the Primer Gold star book is fab.

Another BTW , on the faber site, there are a number of videos showing Nancy teaching the pieces from the Primer book. They are really good. Very imaginative.

I haven't used the new First Piano Adventure as I find the Primer slow enough

The technique books are fantastic BTW.

Thanks for that. There seem to be a lot of different ones, which is a bit confusing unless you know exactly what you're looking for. (I see there are theory books too).

Which one would you recommend for a bright 7 year old who has been playing for about a year, but is a bit stuck in the middle of Piano Time 1? I'm worried he's getting a bit frustrated and need something that will really motivate him.

Yes! They're great: well paced and interesting pieces. By the time you get to the end of Book 2 you're probably ready to look at doing Grade 1. There are errors in the Theory Book so don't bother using that.

Agreed. Don't bother with the theory book.

Go for lesson bk 1 to start your boy with. If it's a little easy, then that'll boost his confidence.

I have the whole set of everything as I've been collecting it for some time. So I use the tech (if they aren't spending much time on scales), and the lesson book.

But...if they are having a problem with a particular skill, I use the performance book. The performance book has extra pieces working in the same order as the lesson book, so they get extra reinforcement of the skill, rather than putting the same piece down again each week.

The lesson book gives the page number for the relevant performance book, and I know that if I turn to that page, there will be nothing extra added. They will have covered everything required already....just that new skill to master. I only lend the performance book.

I also have the midis. I have an acoustic, but also a digital piano. With some of them, if they get the piece well enough, I'll pass it when they can play with the midi. This certainly shows whether they can really do it well. I can change the speeds on the midi which really shows me who is playing in automatic mode. Slow it down and you really have to think.

Less waffle Louise! You only really need the lesson book and if possible the Technique book.

Oh, and one more thing. Those that are really good, get to transpose the pieces. That's fun

I like the Piano Discoveries supplementary books as sideways learning material.
There are 3 I think at each level so there's a choice... or if someone is really moving slowly there's more to go at.
I do sometimes find it quicker and easier to order a few at a time form an American site though... can be cheaper too even with shipping.