I am looking for something that is a fairly complete unit of music, studies, scales, introduction of techniques, etc. for piano. Level is tricky, I got to preparing for grade 4 then didn't take the exam, then when I went to college I had to take piano second study because I didn't have my grade 6, and the teacher was going to put me in for grade 7 at that point and then I dropped piano as second study because I was over the required minimum standard to be allowed to be excused piano.

That was a while ago now, and in any case I am missing a lot of techniques from the intermediate stages, basically I can play baroque and early classical at a grade 6 standard but anything romantic or modern and the grade 3 syllabus gives me a heart attack. Scales, well I can do some of the more advanced ones fine, but F Major still eludes me. So level I guess would be broadly working towards grade 4, with a view to being ready to enter grade 4 at the end of the year (I won't, but it's a goal I can pin down).

There is absolutely not a penny in the kitty for taking lessons at this stage, hence I am looking for something that a returner to the instrument could pick up and run with on a day to day basis. I can probably afford 2 books if they are not too dear (£6 each tops) but they really need to see me a good number of months.

Any recommendations?

Hi Rose,

this is a really tricky one, because I think anything we suggest you are going to grow out of quite quickly, I'm not sure about tutor books at this level as I stop using them very early on.

When you say grade 4 at the end of the year, do you mean the school year, or 2009, or even 2010?

I would probably suggest the music library, the classics to moderns books will give you a good variety of styles and techniques and the classical baroque ones will increase your confidence, but then the level - possibly book 3, some of the romantic pieces in there are set for G3 trinity at the moment.

Another option to make the money stretch further I've just had a look on ebay and there are loads of old 1980's exam books on there for 99p starting bid.

I'll keep thinking, I might be more help later.

Ah yes, that's a point - also have a look at the Carol Barratt classic piano course, book 2 or 3 might keep you going.

Thanks. I have sought some of those out online but I shall have to wait to try to get a look inside them. Should the Hal Leonard be available on its own? I can only find it with a CD, which I really won't use, not least because the piano and the hifi are in different parts of the house! But also because I really don't learn by ear, I am a printed music type of person.

I don't seem to be finding the complete version of the Piano adventures either, it seems to be several small books at different levels and with 'performance' pieces separated from theory. Maybe the "accelerated piano adventures for the older beginner" in book 2 might suit. It's hard to know where beginner really feeds into intermediate.

I did find an awful lot more old exam books than I expected stashed in my piano folder, though. That was rather embarassing all the grades I intended to take and then chickened out of! I have 2 or more of everything from grade 2 to grade 5.

Have you looked at the "Piano lessons" range by Fanny Waterman. They're quite old fashioned but they have lots of technique tips and are quite comprehensive I think. I've never actually used them with pupils but I've dipped into them for ideas for teaching certain techniques.

Might be useful for filling in the gaps....

I think that one problem with this sort of request is that tutor or method books have probably long been left behind by this level.

I think your best bet is simply playing lots of repertoire at the right level - and then move on to more difficult stuff once it stops being a challenge. There's a Burgmuller book of 'studies' (I can't remember the precise name as a pupil has mine on loan at the minute) in which each short piece tackles a particular technical difficulty. Of course, you can find technical difficulties in anything, but what's good about books of so-called studies is that the technical aspects of the pieces there are defined in the titles. You don't need to practise pieces first in order to see if they contain what you're looking for that you need to work at. Without a teacher you may not actually know what you need to work at - so this book will let you see what's what and you can consolidate what you can already do as well as see what skills there may be that you haven't thought of.

If money is a bit tight for buying new music try looking in your local library (or heading up to the nearest big town's library). I'm sure it will vary throughout the country, but I was pleasantly surprised by the variety of music in my library - from beginner through to advanced, and a wide variety of styles (also found a few books on piano technique). It can't hurt to have a look and could be a good way of trying lots of music for free!

I've also managed to pick up a few bargains from my local Oxfam shop!

Good luck