Since these tutor books were published in 1996, I have used them on a regular basis. Randall Faber, in his blog post dated 3rd February 2016, discusses how a 4-5 year old requires a piano teacher to enter their world. He states "to be fully effective we combine visual, auditory and kinesthetic experiences with a spirit of play, including playmates - the "friends at the piano" of My First Piano Adventure®".
Randall Faber talks about there being a new adventure in the learning process with each piece. This starts with the visual; the pages are beautifully illustrated which helps to engage the learner. Each of the books comes with a CD and this can be used to help introduce the auditory aspect of the learning process. At this stage of the 'adventure', singing along with the CD helps to engage the learner even more, as all of the pieces have words to the music. I always encourage the learner to sing along with the CDs. The next part of the 'adventure' is to make it tactile by starting to play the music. Often in this stage of the learning process I ask the learner to 'play in the air' by wiggling the appropriate finger as appropriate before using the keys.
Some younger learners will require frequent changes of activity during the lesson. When introducing a new piece and/or concept do they have to be sitting on the piano stool? Sitting on the floor looking at the tutor book or standing by the piano with the tutor book on the piano stand is just as effective in the initial stages of the learning process. I often let the learner use a percussion instrument to beat along in time to the beat with the CD. When the learner is ready to play the music, they can then sit on the piano stool.
Book A covers the initial aspects in the learning of playing the piano. Some of the aspects it covers are technique, rhythm, expression and directional pre- reading.
Book B covers reading on the staff, however only seconds (steps) are used throughout this book. Before the learner reaches this book it is advisable to spend considerable time teaching and reinforcing the concepts of note reading using games, flash cards, worksheets and so on. And, whilst the learner is progressing through this book these activities should continue as appropriate.
Book C, the final one in the series, introduces thirds (skips). As with Book B, the learner will need to have learnt the reading of thirds prior to staring this book.
These tutor books are incredibly effective, not only for young beginners but for older beginners too. There have been many times where one of my pupils has said, "that part was in" and they name a piece that was earlier in the book. Although each piece introduces new material and concepts there are often concepts and material present that the learner has encountered before. This gives the learner confidence knowing that not all of the material is unfamiliar. It has been my experience that some tutor books move too quickly before a concept has been reinforced however this does not occur in this series.
There are other books available in this series that support each of the Lesson books.
This series is one of my favourite sets of tutor books and I have never encountered a pupil who does not like or relate to them. They are always fun and rewarding to use and are reasonably priced.