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I'd advise accompanying Alfred's with an preparatory level book of traditional classical teaching literature, like the Keith Snell Piano Repertiore series from Kjos or the Festival Collection by Helen Marlais from FJH.

I liked these series myself because I could listen to their CDs and choose to learn & polish the pieces I most enjoyed listening to. While Alfred's is full of chord-y gooness (very handy to learn), the classical stuff seemed much better to me for learning finger independence.

But looking back at my learning process (I used just the classical stuff at first), I think I would have done better to use a judicious mixture of that with a structured method like Alfred's. At the time, I didn't find the Alfred's tunes inspiring enough to compel me to the piano, but when I went back and started using them for sight reading practice, I found them very, um, nutritious.

At the time, I didn't have the mental concept for the "weekly throw-away" piece, but if I were to do it all over again, I'd use the Alfred's pieces for that, and use the baby classical teaching pieces which caught my ear and circled enjoyably in my head as my selections to polish.

I'd suggest holding off on the early repertoire until about page 100-110 for the classical repertoire or supplemental pieces. The thing about Alfred is, they aren't really pieces you want to polish. You just want to learn the theory and technique (and get a gradual piece to work on).

As for throw-away pieces, I don't think they hold any value until you are at a bit higher of a level: out of the method books, for instance.

Thanks tangleweed!
II: when is the best time to start the repertoire? you mention '...after about 100-110 from classical repertoire/supplemental'. does it mean until after I master Alfred's?

Typically teachers don't start students on repertoire until they complete a few levels of a method series. I personally start adults sooner rather than later because I feel they are better equipped (less coordination issues, more developed brain, etc) to start it after they learn the fundamentals.

If you really want another method that will dive straight into classical music, Keith Snell also has a 'Beginning Piano' series:

http://kjos.com/sub_section.php?division=5&series=248

Completing that would prepare one for the prep level of the same series. I happen to like it very much. Otherwise, yes, around page 100 or so of Alfred is when I think an adult could handle beginning classical music.

Edit: by the way, for those of you afraid of key signatures (!), the Multi-key Reading book is an excellent supplement to any method.

Edit 2: The Beginning Piano series can also be used right from the beginning of the Alfred's if you want supplemental material, or by itself as its own method!

This is precisely where I ended up in my "After Alfred's Level 1 - Am I ready for a repertoire" thread:

http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1636074/1.html

Now that I'm in Snell's preparatory classical book, I see that it has much more finger independence than Alfred's. In Alfred's, most of the left hand is either chords (which could be inverted) or it plays when the right hand is holding a note. This makes it easier. In the Snell book it seems both hands move independently. I thought the prep book would be easy since I had finished Alfred's level 1 but it was not as easy as I thought so I'm glad I started with prep.

I will still do Alfred's two but I will suplement it with the Snell & Festival Collection series. The CDs included with Festival is a good deal so that I can pay attention to the more subtle things like dynamics, expression, etc.

The good thing about a method book is that it will teach specific things such as passing the thumb under the fingers or playing right hand over left, for example, and then have a song where that is required.

I don't mind spending extra time at the prep & level 1 levels because I think with a solid base one can go quicker at the higher levels.

I agree, it can be really difficult to select something from the wide selection now circulating the market. We asked our teachers to list their top three picks and they chose: Faber & Faber, Bastien, and Alfred. If you want to check their responses, you can find them here: http://www.musikalessons.com/news/1/ask-a-teacher-piano-methodologies

Targeted to especially train adult beginners for classical music, not boring you by kids/folk/country/movie pieces but only presenting classical tunes, this book is an excellent one and I am surprised that it isn´t more popular:

The Classic Piano Course, by Carol Barratt
(I recommend the Omnibus Edition, comprising books 1-3, subtitled 'The Complete Piano Course for Older Beginners', because it costs almost the same than buying only one single book out of the series)

It in my opinion is perfect for
a) total (adult!) beginners having the support of a teacher.
b) the adult beginners with previous keyboard instrument experience from the past, at least basically remembering how to read notes, who now are about to restart learning piano playing from scratch; you need some self discipline, because it advances quite quickly with each piece introducing two new difficulties at a time.

Instead of biasing you to largely end up in the left hand with chords only playing, this method nicely trains hand independence and as well a nonconstrained left hand use.

Lullaby,

I'm here in the States, and using the ABRSM grades as a "teacher-less" strategy. I've no plans to take the exams. I'm now getting ready to start working on grade 2 pieces. I've worked on about 10 of the grade 1 pieces over the past year.

The thing I like about the ABRSM scheme is that the ABRSM has assigned a grade level to just about every classical piece known to man. That keeps me from attempting pieces that are much too hard for me. (They all LOOK hard when I start them!)

You might find the forums on the ABRSM.org site helpful. The teachers' forum has discussions of method and repertoire books for students at various levels.

Often the books they use in the UK aren't sold here. I've found that ordering them online from the ABRSM store or www.musicroom.com is easy.

I had some piano lessons as a kid, and had played other instruments a bit, so when I wanted to take a stab at piano again on my own I got The Piano Handbook by Chris Humphries. I like it because it works with classical pieces. However, it's not for a true beginner.

A number of reviews of the Alfred books on Amazon.com complain that they use the "Middle-C" method (which, as I understand it, has the right hand thumb, and possibly the left hand thumb pretty much fixed on middle C, and other fingers relative to it).

The reviewers seem to think that this teaches bad habits, causing students to translate directly from position on the stave to finger, instead of from stave to note name, and note name to keyboard location. Also that it teaches a habit of keeping the hands stationary which will need to be re-learned as the student advances to pieces that use a wider range of notes.

Is this a valid concern--especially at the complete adult beginner level? Or are these reviewers just forgetting that we must learn to crawl before we walk, and walk before we run?

This may depend on which Alfred book we are talking about. However, I am on page 105 of "Alfred's Adult All-in-One Course Level 1", and from what I can remember, only 3 (maybe 4) pages were devoted to "Middle C Position". I don't think we revisit Middle C ever again. This is just my experience.

I agree with Marc Harris that Middle C Position for too long teaches bad habits, for all the reasons he discussed (particularly the fact that the hands remain stationary and the association from the note on the score to the finger-"Oh, that one is on the second line from the bottom, so that means I use 3" and immediately playing whatever note 3 is on at the moment.

I'm just a beginner myself, I finished Alfred's all in one book 1 and took a break after that. But I do play from fake books twice a week. I don't know how to explain it but I play intuitively based on intervals. Whatever finger I'm playing, if the next note is one note above I know it's the next finger. If it's two notes above I know to skip a finger. I don't even think about it, it just happens.

Is there a name for this?

so I wouldn't worry about the alfred's book using positions. once you start playing music without the finger numberings you'll figure it out on your own. it becomes intuitive.

It's called basic sight-reading.

When you get to the more advanced levels of reading, instead of picking out the music note by note like this, you will, without thinking about it, be reading ahead of where you're playing, and reading a series of notes at once instead of just one at a time. This will enable you to sight read faster and more cleanly. Getting there is a gradual process. I could go on and on about this (I've actually given talks on it) but I will stop before I'm carried away with my rant.

I thought sight-reading meant when you can play music seeing it the first time.

I think of it as "playing by intervals". since i'm just seeing the interval and then playing the finger corresponding to the interval. so the playing is based on intervals and not note names.

in any case I think the alfred books are great. After book 1 I went to a classical repertoire book and i lost interest. I'm not too much into classical music. so if one prefers folk music then Alfred's is quite good.

The most important thing is to just play regularly and not stop.

Your thought was correct.

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The go-to book around here seems to be the Alfred Adult course and I don't understand why because I find it moves around too quickly. I tried the Piano Adventures Adult
books and I also didn't like them because each new piece felt too far from the last
one I had just done. So I'm now using the Piano Adventures kid's books and I find
these really easy and a gentle gradual progression. I don't mind the coloured pictures
which are kind of sweet and I just really enjoy not having to leap from one big
idea to another.

Ther has been this kind of feedback before. I also remember an adult student whose teacher recommended that he use the children's book, because it was more thorough, since he was serious.

Hmmm I like the Alfred adult books, but I do find them jumpy. I think I'll pick up the kids books too. Thanks for the info!

OK ... so after much poring over the Alfred Premiere and Faber Piano Adventures books, I broke down this afternoon and bought Faber Piano Adventures. I bought 3A - the ones aimed at kids. And I am so glad that I did! I bought the lesson book, theory book, technique book and popular music book. I have honestly gotten so much out of just the first few pages of the lessons and technique books. I am excited to see where this leads me