Premier Piano Express, Bk 1: All-In-One Accelerated Course, Book, CD-ROM & Online Audio & Software (Premier Piano Course, Bk 1)

I am a piano teacher and use Alfred's Premier Piano course for all of my students. I just found out about the Express books and tried them. They do move along slightly faster and I enjoy the additions that are not in the original series. I love having everything in the same book. It makes sense to me. I do wish the songs were more current and exciting for my students to play, but I think they're well written/arranged compared to any other series I've tried. One final wish is that my students would practice more. ;)

This is a fast-paced introduction to the piano. It is probably not best for a tiny child, but exactly suited to an older, more self-directed piano student. Great stuff and interesting tunes. I love the CD!

This is a really great for older kids, about middle school age. It makes them feel more grown up than carrying around books that have kids' pictures on them! Covers the same material but goes a little quicker through it.

great first book for new piano players

Premier Piano Express is written in a pace more suitable for children than adults. The "songs" start out at the most basic level and don't really progress much before the end of the book. So by the time you complete it, you're not much better off. The tunes are not only not-familiar songs, but generally very awkward and not at all fun to play. I started this book with some, albeit very limited, understanding of music and I learned nothing new after several weeks before I gave up on it, along with the instructor who recommended the book. This book might be ok for children. But the material isn't remotely fun so even then I don't see children staying interested in playing the Piano if this is the book they start out on.Through my next instructor, I picked up Alfred's Adult All-in-One course and was immediately impressed. I was leaning new concepts on the first night and overall the material is more engaging, more challenging and more fun.If you're an adult and even considering this book.. just don't. Instead, get Alfred's Adult All-in-one course.

Good book for beginners but very disappointed because the CD doesn't work.

I have used this book with an adult student who is dyslexic and she has found it to be very helpful. It moves at a slow pace which allows her to develop the music reading skills adequately before moving on. I will use Book 2 with her as she is nearly finished with Book 1. I will be using this series with another adult student who can move through the book quickly if that works for her. I would like to see more songs interspersed with the technical exercises toward the beginning, as it seems a little dry to me in that section of the book. My frustration with most adult books is that they move too quickly for the average adult student.

As a piano teacher I like the approach as I teach intervals. The relationship of one note to the next. This moves pretty fast to get a faster understanding. After the 1st 3 units, definitely supplement with an easy version of a familiar tune. I use Billy Joel's Piano Man. It's patterned and repetitive. Introduce the LH accompaniment split between the hands, then LH alone. Keep up with this theory book too, but always include a piece the student can relate this information to that enjoyable and motivating.

As a piano teacher, I would recommend Alfred's Premier Book 1A for 5 - 8 year olds, Alfred's Express for 9 - 11 years and the adult course for everyone else. This book is too young for teenagers. I use Alfred's as it's the only series I know which doesn't use the 'both thumbs on middle C' approach which causes students to associate certain fingers with certain notes - a habit hard to break. Alfred's approach encourages the student to read the music. As I'm in the UK, I pencil in the UK terms so my students know both American and British music terms.

igual el error fué mío al no estudiar bien el contenido del producto antes de comprar. Creí que llegaría un libro de partituras clásicas de nivel principiante. No es así.Es un libro que da teoría elemental de notas y teclas. Como máximo sale una línea de partitura aquí y allá. Y esos fragmentos no son clásicos, sino canciones populares americanas.El libro en sí no está bien o mal, es simplemente que no son partituras básicas de piano clásico. Ni contienen ninguna. Eso sí, te irá bien si te interesa leer sobre notas de piano, para iniciarte en los conceptos (y no es lo que buscaba yo).

What the teacher requested for my son.