Alfred's Basic Piano Course Lesson Book, Level 1A

By Willard A. Palmer

I have a number of 6 and 7 year old beginnibg piano students, and this book is (and has been) perfect for them. The lessons cover the material well, in enough depth for them to get the information needed – but not so deep as to confuse at that young age...

. The layout of the book allows you to move at a pace tailored to the young mind, i.e. slow and varied enough so as not to bore--quick enough to excite. I heartily recommend!

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.

I use this book for all my young students. It's the best book to start learning piano on.

Good for kids that need to progress slowly. Or for the very young.

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.