Hello Nguyen,

I think it's very admirable how much you want to approach this the right way. I looked at all the methods available, and as a teacher, I didn't feel that any of them quite fit with the way I wanted to teach. So, I developed my own materials. Recently I created a book out of them that is designed to be good for both children and adults, even self-learners like you. (You can follow the link in my signature if you are interested).

I think you need to look at all the methods available and see which ones appear to move at a pace you feel comfortable with and that focus on the kind of music you want to play. My method, for example is exclusively classical. People have had success with all the methods you have mentioned, so I don't think you can really go wrong.

Best of luck!

Thank you teacher Rachel,
I have only been looking at the Piano Adventures series to supplement my Alfred Adult series because they have very good reviews. At my level, I’m afraid I will not be able to gauge which is good for me without a teacher. I will pay your site a visit and do some study to see how I feel.

Thanks again your kind suggestions and opinions.
Nguyen

Hi Nguyen,

I have all the Faber lesson books because my daughter is a piano teacher and uses the Faber books for her lessons. Her students range from as young as 4 years old to teenagers to adults.

Your assessment of the different Faber series is pretty much correct, except that you missed the biggest series of all, the "Basic". The Primer series is just a precursor for a young beginner (age 6-10'ish) to start out before moving on to the Basic Level 1, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 4 and 5. The Accellerated series has 2 books. Book 1 is equivalent to the Primer + Basic 1, and book 2 is equivalent to Basic 2a + 2b. The Accellerated series is designed to appeal more to teenagers in case they consider the Basic series kiddies' books and don't want to be associated with learning from kiddies' books. But my daughter tried it out (the Accellerated) and doesn't like it, so she prefers to use the Basic series on her teenagers students as well.

I'm a beginner myself and have recently completed the 2 Adult series books on my own. I could have had my daughter teach me for free, but I'm a self learner and like to go at my own pace. The Adult series 1 is equivalent to Basic 1 through 2b, and Adult 2 covers pretty much the rest (equivalent to Basic 3a through 5).

I don't think any of these books "skip" any basic materials. Maybe the Accellerated and Adult series are more condensed in presentation and have more mature-oriented music pieces, and taught at a faster pace with less drills and exercises. But they're fairly complete themselves. Each of the Basic level has several separate books for Lesson, Theory, Techniques, Performance, Popular Repertoires, etc, while the Adult books condense these areas into Chapters so have less materials per se, but still cover all the basics nevertheless.

My daughter prefers to put her teenage and even adult students through the Basic series all the same, instead of using the Accellerated or Adult series on them just because the Basic is more thorough and has more materials and exercises. I myself started out with the Basic 1 books, but found that I'd prefer to be self-taught and just get to the "meat" of things and move on quickly. So I switched to the Adult books. But now that I'm done with the Adults books, I'm going back through all the levels of the Basic series' Performance and Popular Repertoires books to get more practice materials out of them before I start trying out real-world pieces.

So if you want to be thorough, use the Basic. If you want faster pace, use the Adult. Keep in mind that you'll need to buy a lot (30+) of $7-$8 lesson books if you go with the Basic, while you'd only have to buy 2 $22 lesson books for the Adult.

Volusiano, Thank you very very much! This is the exact information I was hoping for when I revived this thread. So, if I have the Alfred Adult Book I under my belt already, it’d be a good idea to supplement it with the Basic series instead of going back to the very beginning with Primer? I am going to start this series this month so your explanation is tremendously helpful. This place is great. We have so much knowledge and experience here. Without a teacher, I’m so glad I have found this.

Thanks again Volusiano, Teacher Rachel, Keystring, Teacher John v.d.Brook, and everyone else for creating, supporting and giving your 2 cents to this thread. I am, and I’m sure everyone else searching for a method as well, are very thankful for this.

Nguyen

No problem, Nguyen. I don't think you need the Faber Primer if you already got the Alfred Adult Book 1 under your belt already. If you want to go with the Basic instead of Adult Faber books, yeah, they're a lot more books to buy but you won't have to buy anymore when your kid is ready to be taught by you in your 10-year plan!

Volusiana, what kind of material do you consider "meat"?

Hi keystring,

Loosely speaking, if you take a Faber Basic series level of books like Lesson, Theory, Performance, Technique & Artistry, and Popular Repertoires, I think the "meat" definitely is the Lesson and Theory books. You can't really skip those things and must learn them. The others are more for practice purposes although I don't want to discount some of the Technique/Artistry items.

Although I'm a beginner adult piano student, I've played drums for a long time and had been in a family band in my younger days, so the rhythm stuff is no sweat for me, although I just play drums by ear. My focus is to learn the theory like staff, scales, chords, inversions, etc.

Thank you, Volusiano, that's what I needed to know.

I have to ask, since it's been mentioned here:
thread - Celebration series
What about this? I understand it's the same as what we have in the RCM in Canada. Must it be a method book?

Let's not confuse two things here.

Celebrate Piano is a piano course designed for children.

The Celebration Series is and 11-level graded anthology. There is a repertoire book, an etude book and a CD for each level as well as a fabulous teacher's handbook, but it is not a method as such. It is just literature and etudes.

I sit corrected: I never noticed the Celebrate/Celebration difference. Is the Celebration series the same as the RCM system? I only have the grade 1 book for piano and when I was taking lessons it was not officially piano. But the book I have mentions: repertoire, studies, workbooks and then the CD and handbook for teachers. I assumed that the repertoire + studies would be like what we have for violin, where they go hand in hand. We always did the studies and technical things first, and then repertoire tended to use those things. So probably I would be playing grade 3 pieces and working on grade 4 technique, etc.

My thought for adults is that the music and the approach are both mature, and since it's not a method book but still organized, that it might give flexibility.

I am not familiar with methods, btw.

Yes, it's the Canadian version of the British system. Forgot about the workbooks since I don't use them. Piano etudes are not as formalized as etudes for other instruments, imo. The handbook is very helpful in organizing the materials. It integrates the etudes at each level with the repertoire.

Within each repertoire book, the literature is organized by time period, not by difficulty. The handbook helps sort that out some.

Nguyen - it's been a few weeks but if you are still considering this question:

I too am an adult beginner, starting into piano for the long haul. I am just finishing up the Alfred AIO Book 1, and now progressing into Book 2.

For the past 4 months I have been taking lessons with my son's teacher. She recommended that I jump into Piano Adventures, and prefers it over the Alfred AIO Book 1, which she thinks is too accelerated and does not take the time needed to build up the fundamentals.

(She asked me if the cartoons and stuff will bother me, I said no way, grown-ups like cartoons too. I looked at some of the adult books and they seem kind of joyless somehow next to the fun kids books! Not Alfreds AIO series though... I really like that one.)

Anyway, I finished Piano Adventures 2B, and am now halfway through 3A. These are from the "Basic" series. I find them to be challenging but fun. From my experience I would say that the end of the Alfred AIO Book 1 corresponds to end of PA 2B or beginning of PA 3A.

Also, she has me working in John Thompson's Modern Course for the Piano, Level 1. I love the old-school marginal notes, and mini history lessons and stuff. The tunes are just challenging enough delightfully rewarding to play. I'm currently around page 50, and in a few months I will move along to Level 2.

Best wishes for your success!

Hi Zenobe.
I don’t recall your Alfred Adult 1 graduation announcement. That’s great. I’ll join you in Alfred Adult 2 soon. Do you think we should start a thread in ABF for PA? Something like “Piano Adventures Study Group”? And yes, your post and the above are very helpful. It’s the exact information I was hoping for. I am very glad you like PA. Hope I’ll like it just as much as Alfred.
Thanks- Nguyen

Has anyone tried the Hal Leonard Adult Method that came out maybe 4/5 years ago? I'm kind of amazed this whole conversation hasn't mentioned it once (either good or bad). It does lots of the things discussed above and in a very adult manner, but still moving quite fast (which suits the way adults think) and covering issues very thoroughly.

Any feedback??

I love the Hal Leonard method books! I love the pace they go, introducing new concepts one at a time instead of throwing everything at you all at once, like Alfred and Bastien tend to do. The adult series combine the theory and exercises with the method book, which makes it easier to tote around. Plus it's easy for the adult student to go ahead a little bit and do things on their own.

Any other thoughts on this topic? I am meeting with an adult student today who will be a beginner. I'm thinking of just having the talk with him and asking him whether he wants to go slowly but steadily/thoroughly or quickly but brief. Also do cartoon pictures really bother most adults learning as a beginner? Is repertoire really that important as well?

I'm leaning towards Faber's adult method or Alfred's since it looks like it will teach how to read lead sheets/chords according to this but I am concerned it will move too fast.

For what it's worth, as a student, I am loving the original Fundamental Keys book by Rachel Jimenez. Although much of the learning is not new to me, I feel like I'm learning it properly now; I wish I had started with this book. I appreciate the clarity with which concepts are presented and the music selections are lovely (that makes such a difference, I think). It's a classical approach, of course, so not the route if you are wanting lead sheets. And HelloMNI, personally, as an adult, I'd find cartoon pictures hard to take.

As a student, I'd prefer that the teacher make the decision, and not ask me. You're the expert. Pick a method book that you like, for some reason, explain the reason (or not) and start lessons. If the book moves too quickly then supplement with other materials. If the book is not working, then switch to something else. But be the expert.