Premier Piano Course, Lesson, Theory & Performance 1A 2012 (Value Pack)
By Dennis Alexander

I have been using this Lesson book, along with the Performance (or Technique) and Theory (or Notespeller) for helping my beginner students age 5-9 to read music. I like the pacing of the pieces and concepts, and the use of landmark notes plus steps or skips to guide the...

student. The music is mostly quite appealing, and if you also use Premier Express website to download backing tracks, some of the pieces in here overlap and have great sounding orchestral accompaniments that help motivate students. I have been using the Premier Piano Course books with my students for several years, since they first released it. I may supplement with other books, but these books have been at the core for the first year or 2 for my young beginner students. It would be cool if every piece had a free MP3 backing track.

This course deviates from traditional hand positions (i.e. "C" "G" positions) and immediately has the student using different fingerings. It begins with rhythm and playing on black keys. It transitions to the grand staff about midway through the book. After years of students being "stuck" in hand positions, this...

course does assist in changing their thinking and giving them freedom on the piano keyboard. I also use the theory and technique books with every student and the flash cards. I am very pleased with Premier Piano Course.

I have been teaching from the Alfred series for over 10 years and was very surprised to order this "value pack" and find that it's substantially different than the other Alfred books. I am only half way through with my student, but I am finding that it has completely...

departing from teaching "positions" (i.e. "C position, etc.) and immediately has their hands all over the keyboard from the first lesson. I have seen the struggles of students when they have to start straying from the basic positions, so I can appreciate what they are trying to do, but I also am not yet sold that it is the best way to inspire confidence in the young beginner. Time will tell if this is a good change, but as you purchase this, keep in mind that this is a different system than what the other 1A book provides, and I'm not sure if this is going to completely replace it or be a different option for the new beginner.