I'm exploring some different books for teaching young children (approximately 5 years). I know Faber's Piano Adventures is a favorite, but I wondered if anyone had experience working with the new Bastien New Traditions All in One Piano Course? Or Alfred's Premier Piano Course? I appreciate your feedback!

I mostly use My First Piano Adventures for my littles.

It is a pre-reading series that when completed, the student is ready for Red Level One.
Instead of the purple primer, the student works through Writing and Lesson Books A, B, and C.

I have not used another pre-reading series.

However, if the child CAN read, and has a sibling close in age also taking lessons, I put one child in PA, and the other in Alfred's Premier. Both teach mostly the same concepts just in different orders so the siblings cannot compete over who is faster.

I prefer Piano Adventures because it has more improv and ear training.

Good to know. Thanks, Missbelle!

Hi Tessstudent,

A colleague of mine likes Bastien New Traditions, but I'm not sure what ages she uses it with. I like Alfred Premier, but don't generally use it with children less than 7 years old. It's a bit fast-paced for a 5-year-old, IMHO.

I've mostly used My First Piano Adventure with my 4-6yo students, but Piano Safari recently came out with a method for ages 4-6 called Piano Safari Friends, which I love! My three 4-year-olds currently have both MFPA and PSF. I came up with my own order for integrating the two methods, as there are wonderful features in each.

Edited to add: An all-in-one course doesn't have as many pages devoted to each concept as you would get if you bought separate books (like Lesson, Theory, Technique, Performance, etc.). It would be a more condensed version. I don't think that's a good way to thoroughly introduce concepts to a child as young as five.

My two cents.

Thank you, Andamento! Good things for me to explore/think about. I appreciate your feedback.