Piano at Home

[Rebecca]

I am planning on beginning my seven year old on piano at home next year.
Does anyone have a recommendation for a course I could use?

I will be teaching him. I do have a musical background and can read music, etc.

Thank you,
Rebecca

[WTMindy]

th Bastien series for my kids. My mil is the official piano teacher, but I practice with them (I play piano) and I think it is a pretty good series. There are theory, practice, performance, and sight reading books for each level. There are also Christmas books for each level.

[Einen]

We're doing Alfred's Basic Piano Library here. We just started a few weeks ago but things are going smoothly. It was the main program offered by a local music store.

[Midwest Momma]

We used Piano Course for Christians for years now, and it was great for us. We began with the Preparatory Level as soon as our kids could read. The books come with tapes, and they are well worth the investment. The tapes will help reinforce the books and let you know what the music should sound like. You can learn right along with them...or ahead of them. We asked a friend who is a piano teacher to see the kids maybe a couple times a year to evaluate their progress and make suggestions.

The Preparatory Level begins right off using both hands (though not at once). This was really significant to me. It was not so intimidating to have the left hand play a few notes WHILE the right hand plays because the left hand had been on the keys and playing a few notes.

She introduces a lot of musical notations...and a lot of familiar songs:
Oh, How I love Jesus,
Beethoven's Hymn of Joy,
Jesus Loves Me,
Sweet Hour of Prayer,
and others.

I would add that we wait until the child has pretty good reading skills as well. This makes it easy to read the instructions with each lesson.

And if you don't decide to buy the whole package at once (we didn't), make sure you get the tapes. She adds some helpful information...and the student gets to hear what the song should sound like. I would "graduate" them from a song when they could play it with her virtually error free.

You can get more information at Davidsons Music Homepage
http://www.davidsonsmusic.com/teacyourmus.html

The program really served us well.

[Beth in Central TX]

I started off with the Usborne 1st Book of Piano and then moved into the Bastien series. It worked well for us.

[dragons in the flower bed]

I am planning on beginning my seven year old on piano at home next year.
Does anyone have a recommendation for a course I could use?

I can't recommend Phonics4Piano/Pianimals (http://www.pianimals.com/) highly enough! It really works, very gentle. Some of the great features

-- play-along CD with each song in practice and normal tempos, with the piano part and without,

-- "fleas" marking the spots that are tricky for most kids and should be practiced over and over

-- starts kids playing recognizable songs right away using numbers for fingers, then gradually introduces a single notation symbol at a time, so that by the time kids are reading notation they also have the skill to play any song really well

[Mamabyrd]

I have Pianimals for my youngest kid. Faber and Faber's Piano Adventures for my middle kids and Faber's Accelerated Piano Adventures for my oldest.
They are all good. I also have, but haven't used, the Alfred series and it looks good, as well.

[~Puddins~]

My 6yr old is using the Bastien series right now. I debated between that and Alfred's, in the end went with Bastien's and he loves it. The books are *fun* and keep his mind engaged, but at the same time, lessons are short and to the point (I am teaching him). I think he would have enjoyed Alfred's just as well however :001_smile:
Has your son studied music at all or will he be a beginner?

[Tressa]

I have used John Thompson's Easiest Piano Course for all three of my kids. I only use the first book. It teaches the kids one note at a time. It focuses on time signatures and counting. There is just a little theory, but not overwhelming. It is cheap. It is $5 for the book. After they finish this book, I move them into Alfred.

My biggest issue with some of the main theories is the emphasis on posistion playing in the earliest books. I think it is really important that kids learn to read the notes rather than just moving up and down the keys. Alfred does use some posistion playing, but if they have a good understanding how to read the notes before beginning Alfred it shouldn't be an issue.

I know that I am really in the minority, but I have taught piano lessons in the past. I have picked up students that have had lessons for a year, and the only note they could read was middle C. So, note reading is very important to me. :001_smile:

[Narrow Gate Academy]

I'm using Bastien here as well with my almost 7 and 9yo DDs. It's working great for us, and both girls enjoy it.

[ABQmom]

I took 7 years of piano as a child. I'm not very good, but I can read music and the Bastien series has been easy enough to teach. I'm using it with my dd's aged 11 and 9, and have been using it for about 2 years. We like it.

[Musical Belle]

If you some basic piano background, you might like Piano Adventures by Faber & Faber. They introduce each concept separately so the student learns in stages. The series includes lesson, theory, techinque, and repertoire books for each level. You can get the books at your music store or Amazon.

[coffeegal]

I learned on Bastian as a child and enjoyed it. It was easy to understand and I enjoyed the pieces. My son is using Alfred's Piano course (with my help). We're finding it easy to understand and we both enjoy the pieces. My recommendation is for either Bastian or Alfred's. :thumbup:

[brehon]

Another vote for Bastien. I teach my two olders (6.5 and almost 5) using this series (I majored in music many moons ago). My dh, who supervises practice time when I'm on duty and who isn't musically trained in the least, finds it easy to review the various lessons. Good luck choosing.

[Rebecca]

Thank you so much for all these replies.
I am looking at every program mentioned.

A friend recommended John Thompson's first book and then the first grade level-
but then I wondered what came next?

Thank you!
Rebecca

[BarbaraL in OK]

The Schaum series is great. I started teaching my boys, ages 12 and 8, after we received a piano not quite two years ago. (I studied piano throughout middle & high school, and sang in choirs through college.)

Over the years on the original (!) WTM boards, I heard great things about Faber, Bastien, and Schaum. I used Thompson as a kid. We tried the beginners' book of Bastien and Schaum, and I had a slight preference for Schaum. I am very happy with the series and the helps for teachers and students that are incorporated in the lessons. We use the lesson books, note speller books, theory books, and enrichment books (popular songs, Christmas music, etc.).

Good luck, and have fun!