Step by Step Piano Course - Book 1.: Sheet Music: 01 (Step by Step (Hal Leonard))

This book was recommended for my 7 year old granddaughter who has just started learning the piano. It is perfect for her

Excellent for introduction to playing with both hands.

easy to follow..

Fantastic book easy to follow

En inglés , básico, dirigido a niños.

Good

There is a reason for all the 5 star reviews!!! I can't say enough good things about the Edna Mae books!!! Sorry about the lengthy review but I want readers to understand why I love this product so much. My very bright daughter (6 when she started and now 7) and I are both learning piano. I am learning with the Adult Alfred's books and she was learning with the Alfred's Premier Course. At first she was so excited to go to her lessons (which she begged for) but soon got bored. I figured it was just her age and everyone who plays told me they also hated practicing so I assumed it was that. Now I know the pace of the Alfred's course was too slow for her. We ended up moving after 3 months of lessons and while I picked a new teacher, I downloaded some piano lessons from eartrainingandimprov.com and also from makingmusicfun.net. I did these with her at home and she enjoyed them and soared through the first making music fun course and learned all her pentascales and little arpeggios from eartrainingandimprov. However, I felt there were some gaps and that she was not learning how to read the music for the now harder pieces she could play. She has a great ear and was memorizing the songs instead of reading them. I pulled out the Alfred's again to fill the gaps. She was not enthusiastic about starting again with the Alfred's series. As a matter of fact, she pouted, she moaned and groaned and pretty much drove me crazy. I wanted this to be something special we would learn together, not happening. She did not want to start lessons again with a teacher either (maybe because of the Alfreds?). Frustrated, I gave up and decided to give her a break. In the meantime, I read reviews and thumbed through different piano programs. I ordered Edna Mae's preparatory A Dozen A Day book based on a recommendation for hand exercises for myself. The fun songs and titles peaked her interest again. She wanted to just do these all the time. On a whim I ordered this product, Step by Step Piano Course Book One. I decided to start with book one to reboost her confidence since it had been months since she played. When I received it, I thought I would send it back because at first glance, it looked too simple for her. I sat with it at the piano and fell in love. I did the whole book myself in one night! The book starts very basic but is designed to help the student learn to read each note in a thorough way without putting too much focus on finger numbers. The songs are short, cute and fun to play. They look super simple but actually give the student opportunity to play each note just right. They allow them to focus on holding for the proper count while introducing playing with two hands and playing notes together right away. Genius! The songs are not boring because although short, they are somewhat challenging. Because they are so short, you don't get frustrated with the songs. They allow them to feel successful right away. As an art teacher, I know how important that is. My daughter instead of pouting by the end of practice, asks if we can do "just one more page?" THAT is music to my ears! She asked me if we could order all of the Step by Step books because we are already more than halfway through. I went ahead and put the Alfred's books away for good. :) I also started doing the My First Piano Adventures with my 5 year old who wants to learn piano so much like her big sister. We love how fun that series is for her age and appropriate for her little hands. All of my kids, and friends kids love doing the fun songs on the CD and listen to it all the time. However, when the time comes to really do more than introduce her to the piano I will definitely start her on this Step by Step Piano Course. It is the best!

Starts students on the grand staff immediately, but introduces concepts gradually and with a good foundation. I also use Leila Fletcher with beginners, but for struggling ones, I just have to go back and put them through this and it works better.

A nice book for a beginner of any age even though it is geared toward children. I consider myself late beginner and I went through this book for sight reading practice really.