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Hello all. Hope everyone here is doing well.

I wanted to reach out to get some advice and figured this group would be a great way to get some honest thoughts (you guys don't hold back ). I've just finished the first draft of my ebook on sight reading. The method I've developed and have been teaching is different than the "Every Good Boy" way that has become the most common. What I need, before releasing this to the public, are some reviews. So what I'd like to do is offer to send it to whoever is interested, for free, and in return you give me the good, the bad and the ugly on what you think of it.

Ideally I'm looking for complete beginners to sight reading, or people who have struggled in the past (skeptics welcomed too). I'd also love to get some testimonials for the site if you're comfortable doing that, but mainly I just need some feedback, good and bad. I'm hoping to not only get a feel for what strangers think (my friends can be biased), but hopefully catch any problems before I actually launch the site and release the book.

PM me if you're interested and I can email you the book (pdf format). I will also mention that I respect your privacy and would never sell or use your email address for anything other than sending this book.

Thanks! I look forward to your feedback.

Hi Brian
I will be teaching a friend's 6 year old boy the piano. His family still has to buy him a keyboard and today he touched C D E F G for the very first time on my piano.
Is this suitable for him ?

It really depends on the kid. 6 is a little young though. I've successfully taught this to kids as young as 7, but not all 7 year olds can grasp the concept. When I teach kids that young, I usually stick with traditional rote/position/1 note per finger type learning until they get to the age where both attention span lengthens and understanding of concepts starts to stick.

But if you want to look at the book, PM me your email. Happy to send it to you. Could be helpful for teaching this kid in a year or so.

Thanks Brian. I could buy the book from you in a year or so when it's a finished product after you receive feedback from people here.

Does this mean, for example, C = thumb, D= 2nd finger, E = 3rd finger ?

Yes, that's exactly what I mean. A lot easier for a young mind to understand at first.

Hello Brian, I'd love your e book please- I'm a beginner and not very good at sight reading. I tried to PM you but when I click to send PMs my avatar is there filling up the whole page and obscuring everything! Does any of the mods or site techs know how to fix that please?

I just sent you a PM to see if you're able to reply.

Thanks for confirming Brian. I'm not a teacher so I'm just making everything up as I go along. It's challenging for me. Fortunately that's how I taught him and his 3 year old brother yesterday.

I saw the alert but my inbox is still the same- my avatar is huge covering all- caqnnot access anything in my settings Brian- I will have to post a help to the mods.

Hi Brian. Just realized your not having issues it's someone else.. Sending a pm your way now. I'm in my first year of learning.

Hi Brian.
Is there a specific date by which you would like to receive your feedback?

Mark

Hi Mark. One of the things I'm interested in is how long it takes a person to go through the book and absorb the material. The easier it is to read, the closer I am to my goal. There's really no specific date I'm shooting for though. Just check in when you feel like you have some feedback. Thanks!

I got your PM now Brian!

Just read it brian,will pm my views.

Hi Brian,
I am not a beginner but my sight reading is terrible and always has been. I do not play by ear but have always tended to memorize everything and it takes a long time for me to learn a new piece. When I was in college, memorizing was easy but at my age, it's not so easy anymore. I returned to the piano and lessons after not having played in over 35 years about a year and a half ago. While I am playing intermediate level classical music, I have difficulty sight reading even the simplest pieces. I have recently started playing with a friend who is a cellist so I really need to improve my sight reading. If you think my situation is appropriate for your book. I would love to try it. However, I can't figure out how to privately PM you.
Thanks, Judy

Judy, just sent you a PM. So you should see a little flashing envelope thing at the top. In the future, you can click on anyone's name and a little menu comes up. "Send a PM" is one of the options.

Got it Paul. Thanks!