Customer Reviews for Alfred's Basic Piano Course - Lesson Book (Level 1A)
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Location: from Long Island, NY
Difficulty Level:
Beginner
July 28, 2012
Alfred's Basic Course Book
Wonderful for beginners as the simplicity of the songs, easy to read notes and finger placement guides on each page help the beginner feel more confident about following and learning the notes, as well as playing the song.
15 of 32 people found this review helpful.
Piano Teacher
Location: from Australia
Difficulty Level:
Beginner
June 4, 2011
Excellent Book
I use this book for all my young students. It's the best book to start learning piano on.
27 of 54 people found this review helpful.
Infinity
Location: from West Orange NJ
Difficulty Level:
Beginner
April 28, 2011
Good for slow and young
Good for kids that need to progress slowly. Or for the very young.
29 of 55 people found this review helpful.
Location: from
Difficulty Level:
Beginner
April 9, 2011
Relies too much on position playing
I used the Alfred series when I first began teaching but switched several years ago to Faber (Piano Adventures). The biggest weakness is that Alfred teaches "position playing". Putting your hands in the exact same place for every song makes it very easy in the beginning. But when students suddenly have to start reading the note and figuring out which finger goes where, it is very overwhelming and frustrating at that point. This is when many students give up on piano! I had to supplement a LOT with this method in order to avoid the "position playing" mentality. (Hint: If your student is always asking, "where do I put my hand" or "which position is the song in" there's a really good chance they don't know how to read music.) The second reason I switched is because of a lack of technique. I taught all technique myself since there was practically no mention of it in the lesson book.
27 of 60 people found this review helpful.
Sarah
Location: from Buchanan, MI
Difficulty Level:
Beginner
October 16, 2010
The main cirriculum of my piano studio
I've been teaching piano for over 10 years. The last four years I've been using "Alfred's Basic Piano Course" as the main curriculum of my studio and I've been very pleased. I've had experience with Bastien and Faber as well, but Alfred continues to be my favorite. I like the simple, uncluttered lay-out of the pages and the pictures are entertaining but not dominating. Each new piece requires more from the student and challenges them towards musical growth, but doesn't move along so quickly as to overwhelm them. I actually remember using a few of these books back when I was a little girl taking piano lessons. Some of my favorite pieces back then were from this curriculum. I would recommend this to any teacher or student of the piano.
39 of 71 people found this review helpful.
Kara
Location: from Cincinnati, OH
Difficulty Level:
Beginner
April 11, 2009
Nice starter book
You can't beat Alfred's for piano lessons: I use it with all my students. This is a nice introductory book. If I had to change one thing, I wish they would get into the grand staff quicker: some of my students spend weeks before they ever see a clef.
32 of 63 people found this review helpful.
Anonymous
Location: from Columbia, SC
Difficulty Level:
Beginner
March 6, 2007
Piano Teacher's View
This is an excellent work for the younger beginner, from early ages to about 2-3 grade, depending on the learning methods of the child.
13 of 30 people found this review helpful.
Cassandra
Location: from Knoxville, TN
Difficulty Level:
Beginner
September 28, 2006
Nice beginning book
I started teaching my 8-10 year olds with this book last month, and they are progressing very nicely. They actually want to practice the music, and sometimes they push themselves ahead, so I think it will be an excellent book after all. The illustrations can be a bit dorky for the older girls (9-10 years), but they get over it when they realise that there is a LOT of information on each page to help them learn about music. Plus, the teacher duet parts are REALLY easy to sight-read. :)
18 of 35 people found this review helpful.
Kevin Coan
Location: from
Difficulty Level:
Beginner
August 2, 2006
Good Foundation Course
Alfred Basic provides a solid foundation to beginning piano through use of an intervalic approach to reading. Lots of preparation for the masterworks as well. The drawback is that the introduction of key signatures is painfully slow: the key of F is presented for the first time in level 3 (the fourth book). Users of the course should consider supplements to develop key awareness.
15 of 33 people found this review helpful.
Anonymous
Location: from
Difficulty Level:
Beginner
June 7, 2006
Great book to begin with!
My piano teacher started me with this book when I started piano. I went through the whole Alfred's Basic Piano Course and it really helped when I started playing harder music. It's a great beginner book for ages 6 to 9.
13 of 23 people found this review helpful.
Stephanie Davidson
Location: from St. Helens, OR
Difficulty Level:
Beginner
August 5, 2004
Great for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders
This book is a lot of fun, and has in my experience been best-suited for ages 61/2 to 8. If a student is in pre-school or kindergarten, I would suggest the Alfred Prep Course Level A. If a student is 9 or older, (or a very smart 8-year-old), I would recommend Alfred's lesson book, Complete Level 1. All in all, Alfred's Basic Piano Course is one of the best series. I have found much success with it.
10 of 17 people found this review helpful.
CH
Location: from Oklahoma
Difficulty Level:
Beginner
September 29, 2003
Good starting book!
I've taught over twenty kids with this book, ranging in age from 6-12. It starts out with the finger number approach, then to reading on the Stave. By the end of the book the student will have learned sharps/flats, basic dynamics, some accents and three positions - middle C, C and G. On average it takes 6 months to go through this if you are using Technic, Theory and solo/recital books along with it. The one "weak" spot is in the middle - learning to read notes on the stave. But this is a problem area in all the method books I've seen (Faber & Faber, Bastien, etc) - I usually have my students take this section slowly - a great time to review old songs or learn new ones that are easy (using correlating Alfreds' level 1A books helps) - This is my all time Favorite book for my students aged 6-12
9 of 18 people found this review helpful.