Alfred's Basic Course Level 1 Lesson Book

I have been playing the piano for 30 years and teaching for 18 (I started teaching at age 15) I have mostly used the Alfred books the entire time I have been teaching though I did not "grow up" on them Honestly from a purely "piano" point of view Alfred books are not the best There are other piano courses out there that are better especially for a purely classical approach HOWEVER the Alfred books do have a complete approach to teaching music and are affordable There are no piano curriculums out there where you can get all the technique hymns recital solos fun songs and Christmas songs all in one book Each level's book would be enormous and each would include many songs that would be "wasted" and not used by the student Piano books are arranged by difficulty so the easier songs come before the harder ones A student would most likely be in one level in January and another the next December So when Christmas comes along get the Christmas book for the level they are currently working in I have found the Alfred books to be very easy to use and I have found that they lay a good foundation for a variety of music that could be played and studied later on I try to give my students a well-rounded MUSICAL education and Alfred books help that The notespeller books really help with note-reading and the ear training books are a wonderful plus Both these books as well as the others are optional but I believe they are important if you want to learn how to understand MUSIC and not just play the piano One of the benefits of the Alfred books are how they line up the books with each other I would recommend starting a very young student (say between 5 and 7) Primer Level But as they grow and become more advanced they may grow out of the Primer Level On the back of the book you can see which Basic Level book would line up with which Primer Level Book I have my students get the Lesson Notespeller Theory Technique and Ear Training books for each level This is not that much money considering the benefit that you will receive from doing it all As far as Fun Songs and Hymn books go I recommend them (especially the hymn book for Christian students) but they are optional Christmas and Recital books are chosen when Christmas and Recitals come near The Recital books really do offer songs that are much more suited for a recital than the Lesson book I rarely have a student play a piece out of the Lesson book for a recital One last comment: I have found my students ready for simple classical pieces after Level 4 I do not mean that students do not need the Lesson books after that I have just found that Alfred gives a strong enough foundation to be ready after Level 4 for some classical music and also hymns from the hymn book at church

Although I am still a student of music I have been teaching piano for several years to various children using this series I do agree that the "Complete" Level 1 book should not be used at a very young age (such as 3-6) The reasons being that many children at this age do not have large enough hands to fit the fingering (which can be corrected by penciling in the finger numbers) and that the pace is very fast I highly recommend using the 1A and 1B books as they are slower paced allowing younger children to catch on more easily and with less frustration First and foremost the parent/teacher should expect to spend more than one school year to complete the Level 1 book especially if you are teaching a younger child Here is an example of the quick pace: On pages 2-3 the student is taught the proper posture different types of pianos (spinets uprights and grands among others) the finger numbers piano tones and how to hold hands on the keys Page 4 explains the different black key groups and by the end of page 5 there are two simple songs to be played on the black keys note values (quarter and half notes) measures bar lines and more This can be a bit too much for a wiggly 4 year old to digest in two 20-25 minute sessions! One of the downsides of this book is the teacher preparation involved Before teaching anything I had to read over the pages make sure that I understood everything in order to explain it to them simply know how to play the songs and know which pages to use from the supplementary materials that round out this course Still having to do school I found this very time consuming and I often had to stay up late the day before teaching to "cram it all in" I don't think it would be honest to say that this book is a complete total program with no supplements needed The �complete� refers to the fact that it is a compilation of topics covered in both the 1A and 1B books This brings me to point out another con: the number of supplements needed In the front of the book there is a rather large colored box that lists all of the books CDs flashcards etc that you could/should use along with the book Some of these include the following: Composition Book Ear Training Book Elementary Musicianship Ensemble Book Flash Cards Fun Solo Book Hymn Book Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! Ensemble Book Note Speller Recital Book and Sight Reading Book Since I was only 12 when I taught this I had no financial means of obtaining all of these items! If you're going to buy any of the supplements I would recommend the Theory Technic and Sight Reading books Flashcards are very helpful but those can be expensive You can always make them yourself Obviously not all of the materials listed are needed just there in case you were in need of ideas for achievement solos sheet music and reinforcement of what is learned in the lesson book It would also benefit the teacher if he/she has a little background in music; even a year or two of musical knowledge would help immensely when teaching Alfred - or any other series for that matter In my opinion Alfred doesn�t have the best method for teaching the student to read notes and they don�t emphasize sight reading and such I supplemented with theory and technique books from the Piano Adventures series However this depends on the teaching style of the parent/teacher and the learning style of the student On the upside they do provide an excellent variety of songs for the student to learn In Level 3 for example some of the pieces learned are: �Goodbye Old Paint� �Waltz Pantomime� �Light and Blue� �Village Dance� (which is reminiscent of a tune from the movie Fiddler on the Roof) �Fandango� �Intermezzo� �Scarborough Fair� and �Raisins and Almonds� The Alfred series is also correlated with a line of books titled Masterwork Classics which provides the teacher with more difficult pieces to assign the student All in all this is a serious study of piano and once you have gone through all six books your student will have a solid working knowledge of music and a varied repertoire of challenging pieces to perform