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I certainly thought they were. The half-dozen or so pieces I learned in that book were in original form, I checked.

However, now that we have switched to the Faber Developing Artist series, there is no doubt about it. I actually called Faber about this very point and they confirmed all pieces in the various levels are original form.

Wow! I'm in a bit of a post-recital funk. My practice has been less than enthusiastic the last couple of days. I've had to force myself back into the lesson books, against my greater desire to start on another recital piece. I think I miss the rush of preparing and polishing a recital piece that all will hear. But, I'll get past this.

Linda: Nice to hear from you. Have you made any progress in finding a replacement teacher?

On the teacher topic, I may have one beginning this coming week. In another thread here at PW, someone commented on the great value in taking a piano class/lessons from a local community college. I am a fan of community colleges, having personally benefited from one years ago. So, I quickly researched all the CCs around Dallas and found one close by that starts in a couple of days (Monday).

I researched the teacher and am optimistic. His reputation is that of one who does not care for slackers, does not waste any more time that necessary on those students who have obviously not put in the time and effort to improve, and who shows great enthusiasm for students who work hard and apply themselves (that is ME!!!). He is also reputed to give exactly the grade the student has earned, no more, no less. This is the type of teacher I admire and respect, and is the type of teacher I was when I was in the public schools.

So, I'm excited about the prospect. The class size limit is 14, but, I truly anticipate many will drop along the way as they discover that this guy does not give the "free lunch." I will not be surprised at all if this class dwindles down to less than 10 students. My daughter took a piano class last year at her CC and she reported that, despite the classroom format, the teacher had more than ample time to provide guidance, correction, and direction for each of the students (Her class had eight students). Lastly, the weekly meetings for an entire semester cost only $115, which is well within my range. So, after work on Monday, I'm heading over there to enroll. The first class is Monday night, so, time will be tight. But, I intend to get it done.

I think I'm doing well in my self guided studies, but, I have lingering fears of developing bad habits that even a clever fellow like myself can overlook. Even if I get nothing from the course, I'll only be out a small amount of money. So, there does not seem to be any downside. I'm excited.

Linda, have you considered the CC option? Have any of the rest of you experience with CC piano courses?

That's great to hear, Brian. Thank you! I'm going to take a look at the Developing Artist series.

I hate to come across as a Faber enthusiast, as I am well aware that there are many other successful lesson methods out there, as well as countless teachers who present their own lesson plans without method books at all.

However, since my return from Japan 10 days ago I have come across another example of why I like Faber so much, and why it works well for me. Before Unit 5 of Piano Adventures Level 3B, I have been exposed to the following key signatures:

C Major
D Major
F Major
G Major
A Minor
D Minor
E Minor

In addition, in earlier books several other major and minor pentascales have also been introduced.

However in Unit 5 they finally introduce all 12 major and minor pentascales. I know why they do this. Eventually, in order to "graduate" from these books I will have to be able to play in any key signature. However, right now I know I won't be able to process and play in all of these keys fully; too much information.

However, pentascales are a quick and less stressful way to get introduced to say, Eb major, or F# major. After 10 days I'm already becoming comfortable playing lots of "black keys". For example, the Faber composition "Tropical Island" has three or four sharps that repeat throughout the piece. It took me only 30 minutes to learn this.

Later on in Levels 4 and 5 the circle of fifths is completely presented. By then, playing entire pieces in these key signatures should be less overwhelming.

Hey, snap out of that funk!! There's a monthly piano bar thread where you can share audio and video recordings of your playing.


I think I found one today, actually. I have a first lesson scheduled for Sunday, August 30. I'll be learning from a concert pianist, in my home on my digital piano.


Both the class and teacher sound great. I think I read that same thread you're referring to, and how the class size typically dwindles as it goes along. So you're in the Dallas area. It's a small world after all.


Me, too. That's why I'm trying again with another teacher. Fourth time's the charm, right?


Yes, I have. There's a group Piano Class for beginners starting September 10 at Brookhaven Community College in Farmer's Branch, about 15 minutes from where I work in Dallas. It's a 2 hour class that meets for 7 weeks and costs only $98. Then it continues with Piano Class Part II for the same amount of time and price. That works out to a mere $7 an hour. But I didn't find out about this until a few weeks ago and I don't really want to start all over again. And I'm hopefully all set now for a private teacher.

Linda: Small world, indeed! Brookhaven is where the course I'm looking at is offered. It is part of the regular college offerings, and goes for the whole semester, two hours each Monday evening. The professor is Octavio Gutierrez.

I saw the class you are referring to. I think it was offered through the Brookhaven Arts Academy. But it has a different teacher, (Ditucci was the name, I think) about whom I could not find much information. And, it meets on Thursday evenings, and I'm usually working then. I'm hoping for the Monday evening class.

I hope all goes well with your new teacher.

Thanks for that Brian.

I think I may use the 2nd edition books as my primary books and pick bits and pieces from the 1st edition books.
Does that sound like a good plan?

Get your wife to join the discussion group. She and I are at exactly the same level. It would be interesting to exchange notes.

Regards

Mario

Just checking in because I haven't done so for a long while!

I had a few weeks away from the piano and was afraid that I'd forgotten it all as I sat down to play. I couldn't remember anything! Fortunately, and to my surprise, my memory and fingers returned after just a few minutes of stumbling around.

Now: I'm up to The Entertainer towards the end of Adult All-in-one Book One. I had tried to play this previously when I had just started the book and really had no idea how to play it. I was all over the place. This time, though, I had the basics down in half an hour! Now just need to work on accuracy and speed.

One of the reasons I got back into playing the piano was because of ragtime, so I'm glad to be playing this simplified version of the Joplin classic (even though I'm more of a Maple Leaf/Pineapple Rag kind of guy, myself). Sad to see that this appears to be the only piece of ragtime in either of the all-in-one books, but I think there are a few in the supplemental books.

Anyway, that's where I'm at. Glad to see everyone else is making good progress, too!

Ralph - Until you pointed it out, I didn't even know they had credit courses for piano. Google always just took me to the Arts Academy section of that college website. Were you able to get in on the class in time? I hope you did! I'd love to hear how it went.

Trevor - Welcome back. I know The Entertainer is toward the end of the Alfred's AIO book. Are you referring to that book, or is at also at the end of the Faber AIO?

Hey, Linda.

I had some success, but did not get all that I wanted. On Monday, I registered in person at Brookhaven for a course with the professor I wanted and meeting on Monday nights, a perfect time for my schedule.

Tuesday, while I was at work, they sent me an email saying that the course had filled and that I was not in. The email offered other sections of the course by the same professor, but, only one of those was remotely possible, requiring me make major modifications to my morning commute and to adjust my work hours slightly.

While checking that possibility, I took a look at another CC, Richland College. It is actually closer to me, but I had previously dismissed it because I really wanted that professor from Brookhaven. But, I found a morning class that I could fit in on my way to work without modifying my work hours. This professor has impressive credentials (Doctorate in Piano/Music from Yale, plus numerous other recognitions), but I was unable to find any information about his teaching effectiveness.

In the end, I decided to take that second choice from Brookhaven with my chosen professor. So, I called the lady in registration who was working with me to register. To my disappointment, she then informed me that it, also, was now filled and closed.

So, I went back and scrutinized the Richland College opportunity again, and eventually settled for it. I registered, and start Monday morning. The two possible benefits are the the professor might teach as well as he plays, which would be great for me. The second is that registration closed today, and only 8 of the 15 slots had been filled. So, it could end up being quite a small class, again to my benefit.

So, I'm keeping an optimistic view of it, as, it cannot hurt me and might turn out quite well.

And, since you had not perused the "for credit" courses, you will be surprised to learn that despite meeting for two, one hour sessions per week, it ONLY COSTS $59 FOR THE ENTIRE SEMESTER!!!!!! That's 32 total hours of small group instruction for $59. It should easily be worth that.

The course uses the Alfred's AAIO book, so, I may be habiting the Alfred's thread some through the fall semester.

So, even though I didn't get my first choice, I think I have made a very satisfactory arrangement.

Fingers crossed!

Thank you, yes, it's in the Faber book too in Unit 14 (of 16). In the key of C Major, teaching accidentals.

Hi everyone:

I hope it's ok for me to be here. I am not using the faber aio. I am using the regular faber books. I wish I did start out with faber. I started out using alfreds basic adult. I did books 1 and 2. My teacher moved me over to faber book 4. In the beginning it was really difficult but now it's a little easier. I like the faber series much better.

I will be ordering a couple books from sheet music plus. Is anyone else taking advantage of their 20 percent piano method sale? Right now I'm just doing the lesson and performance books plus learning to use a fake book and some classical. What other books are most of you using?

Welcome dat77

So you are currently in the standard Faber Piano Adventures Level 4 books? I think that is as far as any contributor to this thread has gotten I believe.

I'm 2/3 done Level 3B myself.

Because my teacher doesn't want to use the Faber method, and I still like it, I'm using the books to supplement my study on my own. I know this is going to be difficult to know when to progress, but I'll see how far I can get. Because it's a year since I've last used a Faber book in a lesson, I've gone back to close to the end of Book 3A and I'm working on Battle of Jericho. This piece is much more advanced then the work I'm currently doing in Bastien Book Two and my progress moving forward will be very slow. I"m hoping to finish this book by christmas and then starting Book 3B after that, but I'll have to see how things go.So far I am only using the lesson book.

I'm coming to the end of the Faber Adult Book 1. I've had it for a long time, but was using Alfred as my main lesson book. I bailed about a third of the way through Alfred AIO Book 2 - it just got too hard for me without a teacher. And that led to a long time of not playing. So I've been working on completing the Faber book, as well as a bunch of other books around levals 1-2. Working on the 40 piece challenge.

I found (for me) that the pieces in the Faber adult book were easier than the ones in Alfred,....but the Alfred was much easier to understand. I'm not sure where I'm going when I finish Faber Adult Book 1. But I have a lot of supplemental books that I bought, or were given to me, that I can work on while deciding. I'm tempted to try the Accelerated Book 2 but don't know if I can move into that seamlessly.

mom3gram:

I think there is some overlap between the end of Faber All In One Adult Book 1 and Accelerated Piano Adventures for the Older Beginner Book 2. That's OK, you can skip by the material you have already learned (or review it )

The nice thing about Accelerated Book 2 is that when you are done, you move seamlessly into the "Regular" Piano Adventures series Level 3A, which will continue you all the way through until you finish Level 5.

I just started 3A yesterday, hurray!!! I LOVE Faber, it's so non-threatening, LOL. So I realized that some of the pieces in AAIO book 2 are actually 3B pieces, or very close to 3B. That's why I was so stuck when I got to the inversions unit. Inversions aren't even covered until 3B! Now I feel better, and 3A is starting out great.

Hey, before I forget, if anyone needs to correlate the new 2nd Editions to 1st Editions (levels 2 and 3), here's the link how to do this if you have (like I did) some books as 2nd ed and some as 1st. I just found the link, it's pretty cool!

http://pianoadventures.com/secondedition/correlations.html

Sounds like everyone's moving right along, awesome job everybody!!

I was tempted, but I didn't order anything. I have my levels 3B and 4 already, that's plenty, lol. I did just pick up 3A sight reading, which I wasn't planning to use, originally, but decided to go ahead with it. Got that on Amazon. And I bought "Amber Glow" by Vandal at my local shop. It's a wonderful piece, I love that type of music! Anyone else play Robert Vandal? Oh, and a romance collection by Martha Mier. I love her.

Ralph - What a bummer to register for a class and then find out you're not in after all, and then a no-go on your second choice. Hopefully you'll find you like the teacher and small class you ended up with. The low price is a definite bonus, as is the location being closer to you. So is it two hours every Monday morning? Or just one hour classes? Are they going to go through all of book 1 during the semester? I ask because it looks like piano class part 2 starts with the 2nd book.

Trevor - Hope you're doing okay with The Entertainer. I've got 4 songs to go before I get to it. I'm looking forward to learning that one.

Dat77 - Hello and welcome! Are you saying you went from Alfred's adult book 2 to Faber book 4? What about level 3 stuff?

Alans - I agree that it's hard to know when to pass yourself on a piece, especially when you suspect a teacher would be adding to the piece to enhance its musicality. I'm not sure where you left off with your Faber last lesson, but maybe it'd be better to start at the beginning of Book 3A if the latter part seems like too much of a stretch.

Mom3gram - Congrats on your progress. I should be done with Accelerated PA level one by the end of next week, so it was interesting reading your comments. In some ways I wished I'd just gone with the Adult AIO book because juggling the various accelerated books is a pain. So I'm tempted to switch over to the Fabers Adult AIO Book 2. Maybe if I listen to the songs in the AAIO level 2 book it'll help me decide.

Ebonykaway - Congrats on your progress as well. So some of the pieces in the AAIO book 2 are actually level 3? It sounds like the AIO book moves along more quickly. I'm not sure I'd like that since I sometimes suffer from too-much-too-soon which can be stressful.

I'm having a lot of fun with it. As ever (increasingly so as the pieces get harder), it's relatively easy to get it to 75%, but that last 25% of nailing and polishing it is the tricky bit. It's slowly working itself out, though!

dat77: Thanks for the heads up on the Sheetmusic Plus sale. 3A is pretty far away, but buying them now would save a bit.