Karen’s Favorites

I love this book!  It includes the Major and Minor scales, chords, arpeggios and cadences.  The front cover lists the Major and relative Minor key signatures including the sharps and flats in the key signature. The back of the book lists chromatic scales in parallel and contrary motion, and enrichment options.  Students can use this book throughout their entire music career.

A Dozen A Day Mini Book is the first in the series of Edna Mae Burnam’s series of technical exercises.  I recommend this book for very beginning students.  They can learn to read from the staff as they also learn note values and names.  The exercises are simple and give the student a feeling of accomplishment.

I use the blue Dozen A Day for an older beginning student.  It’s a step up from the Mini book, but is simple enough for new students. You can also advance your younger students to this book before they use Book I.   This book is less expensive than Book I, II, III and IV.

My first piano teacher had me use this series of technical exercises.  I’ve used it with my students.  Edna-May Burnam brilliantly wrote and illustsrated this universally recognized practical technique series.  Each book has fun and educational finger warm-up exercises.  The series goes from beginner to book 4.  I use the Mini book for my beginning students and move them up as they progress.

Book Two is great!  As the student becomes confident in playing, Ms. Burnam adds challenging exercises.  In Group V (toward the end of the book) she has 4 note chords with various accidental changes through four octaves.  She then breaks those chords down in another exercise into four octave sixteenth note runs.  The teacher has the opportunity to educate the student in speed, accuracy, counting and finger placement.   

Book Three in the Dozen A Day series gives the student an exciting look at music snippets used in the more advanced compositions.  Examples from the book:  sixteenth note chromatic scales in 3rds and 4ths; arpeggios reaching four octaves; octave internal training; arpeggiated chords, etc.  Always worth the money.

Theory Time is an excellent book that teaches students the fundamentals of music.  The lessons in each book can be done away from the piano, or at the piano.  I recommend this book along with method books to give students basic theory instruction.

Hanon – The Virtuoso Pianist For the Piano offers exercises necessary for students to acquire agility, independence, strength and perfect evenness in the fingers, as well as suppleness of the wrists.  All of these skills are qualities for fine execution.  The exercises teach students to play with rapid movement. I encourage my students to memorize 3 exercises at a time.  This helps give them confidence and proficiency in playing.  The back half of the book offers exercises in the Major and Minor scales, Chromatic scales, trill and interval work.  I highly recommend this book.

Hanon Jr. is an updated version of the original Hanon For the Virtuoso Pianist.  The main difference is it’s written in 8th notes rather than 16th.  It makes reading the notes easier for the early piano student.

This is a book I like to use along side Hanon.  It is an incredible study in piano technic and offers exercises that sound and feel more like musical compositions rather than exercises.  Carl Czerny was an Austrian composer, teacher, and pianist of Czech origin.  His books of studies for the piano are still widely used in piano teaching.  He was one of Beethoven’s numerous pupils.

I used Wieck piano studies as a student.  They offer this book of exercises free online.  The link   https://imslp.org/wiki/Piano_Studies_(Wieck%2C_Friedrich)

Over the years I’ve seen a variety of method books.  Alfred instruction is very popular and an excellent method series.  Alfred Basic Piano Library Course Pack Level 1A – Four book set includes – Lesson, Theory, Technic and Notespeller Books.  As the student progresses the levels of the Alfred method continues to teach and challenge them.

Alfred 1B lesson book gives the progressing student a sense of confidence.  Each page has a musical concept and the corresponding music arrangements enforce the concept.  This is an enjoyable and educational method book.

Alfred 1B Recital book will be a hit with students who are progressing rapidly with piano.  The book has fun music that will challenge and teach students music theory and practical application.  They’ll be able to play these songs for recitals or for their family or as part of their weekly lesson outline.

Bastien is another favorite of mine.  Many students that have transferred to me began using the Bastien method.   These books offer theory, performance, technic and piano.  Bastien Basics uses a gradual multi-key approach, with reading beginning in the C five-finger position.  There are several levels for progressing stduents.

Piano Adventures Performance book 3 gives the intermediate student fresh music while reinforcing basic theory and challenging pieces that include odd meter timing.  There’s a nice mix of classical and modern music. 

Piano Adventures Lesson Book Level 3 offers the early intermediate student more indepth music theory and challenging music.  Students will fall in love with the song selections in this book.

John Thompson Modern Course for the Piano has been around for many years.  When I began taking lessons, it was really the only book available.  Now, years later, John Thompson’s solid piano teaching methods have bridged the decades.  One of the things I love about his choice of music is that he used many folk tunes and original compositions to introduce new technics.  He also incorporated important theory homework in each of the grade levels.

John Thompson Book 2 offers the advancing student insight and excitment into classical and modern music arrangements.  Mr. Thompson teaches excellent technic, fingering, timing, and dynamics with each lesson.  This is one of the first “method” book series to be published, but his teaching is timeless.

This is a fantastic intermediate plus piano book.  I met Nancy Bachus at a piano workshop in Houston a few years ago.  She’s spent her life teaching piano and writing, arranging and adapting music for serious piano students.  This book:  The Classical Spirit is extraordinary in the fact that Ms. Bachus breaks down all the ornamentation in famous classical compositions to show the student how they’re to be played.  Her books also come with CD’s of the music brilliantly performed by an excellent pianist.  There is a Classical Spirit Book 2.

This is another one of Nancy Bachus’s piano solo books.  The Barouqe era music has a unique sound mainly because this type of music was written for and performed on a harpsichord.  Ms. Bachus added the dynamics, phrase markings, ariculation, tempo and other performance instruction for modern day pianos.  It’s just an excellent book.  There is a Book 2 on The Baroque Spirit.  CD’s included.

The Romatic era followed the Classical period.  Nancy Bachus, an accomplished music historian, brings us “The Romantic Spirit.  This book is for our early intermediate to intermediate piano students.  The book contains information about the composers of the Romantic period as well as the style of their works and the mechanism of the piano.  This is an excellent book with each piece of music recorded beautifully by an excellent pianist.  There is a book 2 with technically challenging arrangements.

The cover of this book has been updated but the music remains the same.  This is by far my favorite classical piano book.  Denes Agay selected and edited the content.  He also published other volumes from the different keyboard “literature”.  It was this book that gave me a love for Beethoven and Clementi, not to mention Haydn, Kuhlau and Mozart.  You will not be disappointed.

There isn’t an image of this incredible book on Amazon, but they do sell it.  It was arranged in 1921 by The New England Conservatory of Music.  The contents include Sonatinas and Sonatas by Clementi, Porter, Beethoven, Kuhlau, Krause, Mozart, and Haydn.  The book recommends you alternate the compositions with pieces in shorter forms such as Scherzos, Nocturnes, Waltzes, etc.  Your students will learn to love these composers and their timeless works of art!

This handy tool is a music notes flash card. It is laminated in a heavy plastic and has fishline that you pull between eyelets from behind to quiz your students on the treble and bass clef notes.  The note pulley allows them to learn 4 notes above the staff and 4 notes below the staff as well.  The one I have has held up through many piano lessons.  The students find it easy to read and fun!

A good metronome is a must for music teachers. My first teacher had one of these Wittners sitting on her baby grand and now I have one sitting on my piano.  It gets used almost every lesson.  It helps my beginning students recognize the importance of consistent counting and it helps my more advanced students increase their speed and agility.  Plus metronomes help the average pianist with all tempo notations.

Over the years I’ve had need of a good music stand.  This one is easy to transport and holds up under long term usage.  And, the price is right!