John W. Schaum Piano Course: Pre-A - The Green Book

Leading to Mastery of the Instrument

By John W. Schaum

Love this book! I started using it to supplement the Alfred’s A and B early beginner books. I finally dropped the Alfred’s with my student and went completely with the Schaum when my student was doing so much better with this. My student learned to read music much...

faster with this course. It doesn’t depend on learning by “finger number” as many of the other methods do. Most of the newer methods spend an inordinate amount of time with “pre-reading” stuff, meaning the student has to depend entirely on “finger number” reading than actual note reading. A previous reviewer didn’t seem to like that this book stressed “note reading” over “intervals”. I didn’t find that to be true at all. Unless the teacher is lazy, they are going to stress both. Having a Ph.D, I certainly haven’t found a pedagogy course that states learning to play by intervals is more preferable than learning to read notes.

As a teacher, I have been using Schaum's Green Book for over 20 years. I prefer it to the primer levels in other methods because it starts with note reading immediately and the pieces are of very high quality.The revision with color pictures was a huge success, although...

I do prefer the old version of "Eskimo Boy" with the chromatic notes. I just write them into the score and students adjust fine.Pretty Polly is the toughest to teach because of the crossed thumbs. Leave it out if you have to.

I teach all ages as beginners. This book is not too fast and not to repetative so it is great for all ages. I reccommend it to any piano teacher for their students. I actually switched from another book to this one.

I started using this method approximately three years ago after trying Alfred, Bastien, and other series. This has been the best by far! It moves along at a comfortable pace that students seem to really enjoy. "The Funny Bunny" tends to make young, beginning students feel like they are playing...

something fabulous. "Hot Dog Stand" has just enough movement and such a great tune that every single student has loved (even older beginners). I can see why this book has been around so long.

Young children benefit from this great method of learning piano. It is the same one that I learned with as a young child, and I am finding it easy to teach my niece using John W. Schaum's orderly method. The best pianists begin with a good foundation, and this...

series has it. I use the adult series to teach adults, also.