Customer Reviews for Mikrokosmos - Volume 1 (Pink)
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Location: from Sharon, MA
Difficulty Level:
Beginner
October 22, 2011
Bartok Mikrokosmos I
This is a wonderful beginner's series for the adult student and can also be used for children who are studying the piano seriously. However, I would recommend a prep series and a note speller before assigning this volume to children.
6 of 15 people found this review helpful.
Location: from
Difficulty Level:
Beginner
September 14, 2011
Bartok Microcosmos
Everty piece in these volumes is a tiny masterpiece. What an act of love Bartok this was for his young son. Amazing what the child can learn here, even when his hand is quite small.
10 of 20 people found this review helpful.
Jacobien
Location: from Amsterdam, NL
Difficulty Level:
Beginner
July 7, 2010
Great for the adult beginner
I love this book: it guided me through my first steps on the piano and that was a very good experience. Contrary to other beginner methods, this one makes you play in all kind of key and modes, not only in C-major. The tunes are surpring and interesting. The only thing that can be frustrating for beginners is the metronome numbers given; I never got to that speed. Now after two years of practice, I use the summer vacation to start all over and play them at the mentioned speed.
20 of 34 people found this review helpful.
Anonymous
Location: from Vermont
Difficulty Level:
Beginner
March 26, 2009
Excellent for piano and lever harp.
Best beginning method for piano I have found anywhere. The emphasis on playing the same notes with right and left hands is most helpful in training both hands in dexterity from the beginning, and allows the student to focus on the melody before all else. I wish my frustrated piano teacher 54 years ago had had access to this series. I am using Volume 1 as exercise for my Lever Harp students, for easy sight-reading, exercises for two-hand dexterity, and for practicing crossing over and under. Best material I have found for this use.
18 of 36 people found this review helpful.
Anonymous
Location: from Sacramento, CA
Difficulty Level:
Beginner
March 19, 2009
Good for the Adult Beginner
This is a great book for those of us who are learning piano as adults. Too many progressive piano books are riddled with obnoxious tunes. This book is free of all that. However, it has no instructions on reading music. If you already read music, want to learn piano and enjoy Bartok, this book is great!
18 of 33 people found this review helpful.
P. Brown
Location: from Red Hook NY
Difficulty Level:
Beginner
March 16, 2009
Helpful in many ways
What I like about this work is that there are fingerings by Bartok, there are metronome indications,the pieces provide a progressive way to play without having to look at your fingers. While the music is not , to my ears ,as interesting as Bach, these pieces are much better than playing exercises which I consider to be largely a waste of time.
12 of 22 people found this review helpful.
Elliott Jacobowitz
Location: from Boston area
Difficulty Level:
Early intermediate
July 16, 2007
Mikrokosmos: Still a winner!
I had this same book almost fifty years ago (albeit with a different cover back then), when I was a kid. Now I use it for my late beginner/early intermediate students. I still think it's a great book; in fact I probably appreciate it more now than I did back then. It's given my students lots to work on and lots for us to talk about.
11 of 20 people found this review helpful.
Anonymous
Location: from North of Boston
Difficulty Level:
Beginner
August 28, 2005
A mile stone in music teaching.
I respect the Mikrokosmos more now than when I used it to learn my first few steps decades ago. One thing that you should do when using it is to read the introductions by the composer and his son, Peter Bartok and to take the advice given there. Use these pieces to learn solfege and transposing, both useful and highly practical skills. The pieces are so short and the number of notes used is so small that you can learn both of these very useful but neglected skills with little trouble. I also assign my students their first experiments in fingering as we transpose the early pieces into other keys. This way the beginner can isolate problems to work on and to see what works musically for the individuals hands.
4 of 6 people found this review helpful.
MFJ
Location: from San Carlos, CA
March 13, 2004
Real music for beginning piano students
This is a very good piano teaching method, designed as such by a famous composer. Starts beginners right off with both hands playing in unison 2 octaves apart. The melodies and rhythms used are changed subtly, thus teaching student to be observant to minor changes. Melodies are not all Western major or minor modes, different folk modes [Dorian, Aeolian] are used, accustoming the student's ear to different musical styles. Key signatures used are not standard, only the accidentals used in the piece are indicated in the key signature, AND they are placed on the line or space used in the actual piece; this avoids the confusion presented to beginning students by the standard key signatures. Useful for beginners of all ages, especially older beginners since it's not "baby stuff", rather it's real music by a real composer.
3 of 5 people found this review helpful.