Last spring I was looking for a piano book to teach my son with, but I was disappointed with so many of them. I just wanted a simple book that started with all five fingers on five keys starting with C, and taught several pieces of music in that position to start off, so he could get a clear feeling of how to use one finger per key. So many of the books seem clever and entertaining but also distracting (sort of like children’s TV!).
Finally I found the right book, and as I was paying for it, my friend who owns the store commented on how old the book was. She was right. I discovered when I looked it up that the book was published in the 1940s. Yet it had a great, simple, workable method.
I teach violin and not piano generally, though piano was my first instrument, but I decided to work with my son for a little while because I was disappointed with how distracted my son was with 2 different piano teachers. Not necessarily their fault but we decided to give my son a break from official lessons. We tried this book just to give him some basics, and that worked pretty well for a while. Fortunately we were able to give him a chance to try many instruments, and he has gravitated more seriously to drums, which he takes lessons in now, though he also has fun pretty consistently with pennywhistle, fools with the piano, violin and some wind instruments we have lying around.
Do you use the latest books, or do you have some that haven’t gone out of fashion for you? So often we look for the latest in everything. Software has to be less than a year old, and a computer is a dinosaur if it’s over 3 years old.
Share with us, if you like, some old tried and true music book titles you like to use with your students! Add a comment below, and thanks.
by Barbie — Wed Aug 13, 2008 @ 10:24 am
by Vanessa Chasney — Thu Aug 14, 2008 @ 8:10 pm
by Ed Pearlman — Sun Sep 7, 2008 @ 10:34 pm
by Claire Brown — Tue Sep 9, 2008 @ 6:34 am